I played golf and checked the score when Italy drew with Sweden to keep Ireland’s auto-EM U21 nightmares alive
ANDY LYONS did not check results updates last Thursday to see if Ireland’s U-21 boys had secured a play-off in the Uefa final.
He checked them to see if Young Boys in Green still had a chance to qualify automatically.
Ireland was told that both of these situations arose on Thursday when Sweden drew with Italy.
This means that Jim Crawford’s men will meet the Azzurri tomorrow in Ascoli with a chance to win the group, but the safety net for a playoff spot is already secured.
No Irish U21 team has ever reached a Uefa final – no team has actually reached a play-off.
But Lyons, who followed the match between Sweden and Italy when he played golf on Thursday, insisted that automatic qualification remains the goal.
He told SunSport: “I was out playing golf and just had it on Livescore. It’s one of those things that you bite your nails on if you watch.
“You do not know what will happen.
“It’s a good result to our advantage, of course.
“The playoffs are there, but from our perspective we want to go and win the match.
“We will take three points and top the group.
“I do not think it would be right to look at it any other way. Obviously, people will say that the playoffs are there.
“But if you look at it from that point of view, you will go with a different mood, a different mentality.
“We go with a positive mentality, a winning mentality – that’s how we look at it.”
Under-21 has shown that mindset lately with a win of four games that has secured a playoff after a slow start by the group.
TIME TO SHIN
And Lyons also stressed that this squad has a lot of big game experience, with many on the panel who have played in UEFA’s Uefa U17 and U19 finals.
Lyons himself was part of the squad that reached the semifinals of the U19 finals in Armenia 2019, and there has been a lot of talk about it this week.
Shamrock Rover’s defender said: “There were some of us there, Brian Maher, Ois (Oisín McEntee), Mark McGuinness, Lee O’Connor… Even some of the younger ones like Joe Hodge.
“Even the last week we have remembered and looked back at pictures of the games and stuff.
“It’s brilliant, a once in a lifetime opportunity and doing it with the U-21 would be even bigger and better. It’s bigger than under 17 and under 19.
– This team had grown together. It has been quite decided in recent months when we came in and I think it has been shown with the results. That’s the big difference from the start of the campaign. When you first enter, it takes time to gel. There is a lot of belonging. ”
That cohesion in the squad has also meant that players like Lyons have had to wait.
He started the opening group match against Bosnia-Herzegovina in September last year, but his late comeo in Monday’s 3-1 victory over Montenegro was his first appearance since then.
But he insisted that it is part of being a squad player without an ego that is tolerated in the camp.
He added: “When you join the international team, it is very similar to the club game but it is also different with the short windows.
“I think the team’s cohesion is a huge thing.
“If you do not play, it is very easy to get the group down.
“In the league you have three matches a week, but in the international window it might just be one match or a couple of matches.
“You have to be good for the group, and I think that’s what we have, we have a good group.
“Of course everyone wants to play and they should want to play.
“But when you’re not playing, you have to be good around the group.
“I think it has been important for us because it is a group of really good guys.
“No egos are needed. Everyone has to be selfless. “