SOCCER Under-21 Internation/ Republic of Ireland 1; Sweden 0: All roads now lead to Azerbaijan as the Republic of Ireland saw off a Swedish side whose ticket for the European Championships group stage is already secured.
Ireland face the Azeris in the preliminary stages in May and manager Don Givens will travel for the first leg with confidence following this result, secured late on by in-form Bohemians striker Stephen Ward.
Buoyed by their success in the Madeira tournament, the home side, although fielding just three of the team which beat Portugal in the trophy-clinching game 12 days ago, started brightly.
Mark Yeates was a threat on the left side of a forward three while Willo Flood was equally tuned in down the right. Yeates was, more often than not, the target of those searching passes and with Flood cutting in to good effect, the duo made hay in the opening exchanges. Flood frequently had full back Oscar Wendy back pedalling but on his first attack he squandered a chance when blazing over Abbas Hassan's goal.
Sweden soon settled and grew in confidence. Samuel Holmen was the catalyst behind the visitors' more menacing attacks while strikers Henok Goitom and Fredrik Petersson ran superb angles which had defenders Paul McShane and Alex Bruce flummoxed. Only for two superb saves from goalkeeper Darren Quigley did the game remain scoreless by the half hour.
But Ireland refused to buckle. Glenn Whelan became a force in the centre and when he linked well with Flood in the box it only needed a finish but the former tangled with the onrushing Michael Timlin and Sweden cleared.
Sweden made five changes at the break and while Ireland were busy getting to grips with the new additions, the visitors attacked. Martin Fribrock tested Colin Doyle but the substitute goalkeeper got down smartly to thwart the attack. Marcus Sahlman, himself just introduced, reacted well to keep out McShane's header.
Petersson had Doyle rooted to the spot when he hit the post after 61 minutes and not long after Bruce cleared off the line when Marcus Berg followed up on McShane's initial block amid a goalmouth scramble.
Ireland, though, made the breakthrough 13 minutes from time when Ward blasted past Sahlman from the edge of the box at the second time of asking after the goalkeeper spilled his initial shot.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Quigley; Foley, McShane, Bruce, Painter; Potter, Whelan, Timlin; Flood, Ward, Yeates. Subs: Doyle for Quigley (half-time), Dicker for Whelan (68 mins), Leech for Ward (78 mins), O'Donovan for Yeates (89 mins), Hand for Painter (90 mins).
SWEDEN: Hassasn; Lustig, Granqvist, Svensson, Wendt; Zengin, Holmen, Larsson, Petersson; Goitom, Farnerud. Subs: Sahlman for Hassan, Bjarsmyr for Svensson, Fribrock for Zengin, Dahlberg for Goitom, Berg for Farnerud (all half-time), Dahl and Harbuzi for Petersson, and Larsson (74 mins), Arvidsson for Lustig (83 mns).
Referee: Adrian McCourt (Northern Ireland).
