Shamrock Rovers’ Michael Noonan put Ireland 1-0 ahead against Canada
Rovers players assist Ireland to last 16 of U17 World Cup
The Irish U17s soccer team progressed to the last 16 of the World Cup with a victory against Canada on Friday afternoon.
Shamrock Rovers’ Michael Noonan would put Ireland 1-0 ahead after scoring in the second half before Canada would equalise with a late goal in the 85th minute.
This would see the game enter into extra time where viewers were exposed to one of the more memorable penalty shootouts in recent times, chiefly due to the verbal exploits of Canadian goalkeeper Jonathan Ransom.
From the beginning of the shootout the keeper traded insults with the Irish players with exchanges that could be verbally heard on the television broadcast.
Michael Noonan scored the first penalty with Rovers teammate Alex Noonan saving Canada’s first attempt.
Oisin McDonagh would later miss for Ireland and the teams would continue to score before Alex Noonan finally made another huge save to send Ireland into the next round.
Ireland are now set to take on Switzerland in the Round of 16 with the Swiss beating Egypt 3-1 in their own match earlier on today.
The two sides previously met last month in their final game before heading to Qatar.
That match would end 1-1 with former Shamrock Rovers player Ade Solanke scoring a late goal for Ireland after a Swiss penalty had put them 1-0 up earlier on.
The next game between the two will have much higher stakes and will be played this Tuesday.
