Jim Crawford’s men battled to an impressive 1-1 draw away to group winners Italy in Trieste, but it wasn’t enough as Norway’s victory over Turkey saw Ireland finish third in Group A as they missed out on a November play-off for Slovakia 2025.
Moran, on loan at Stoke City this season from Brighton, levelled in the second half to drag Ireland back into the contest, but a late winner never came as the team’s wait for a first ever U-21 European Championship appearance continues.
“I think you can see the quality that we’ve got, playing against a team like Italy, a few senior internationals. It’s frightening how good we were. It’s just gutting that we couldn’t get the win,” Moran told RTÉ after their campaign came to an end at the Stadio Nereo Rocco in north eastern Italy.
“It’s a tough one to take. We put it right up to them. We started the game unreal. They couldn’t get out. We had a few cleared off the line.
“We knew we were still in the game (at half-time). We got away with one with the penalty miss (Wilfried Gnonto on 36 minutes). They had a spell at the end of the first half and then second half, we came out firing.
“You can see how much it means to us. It’s just gutting right now, but I think over the next few days and weeks we’ll look back and be really proud of ourselves.
“To captain these boys is such a proud honour for me. The quality we’ve got in this group is just so good, so hopefully we can all bring that into our club games and into the senior team in the future.”
Defender James Abankwah echoed Moran’s thoughts after the full-time whistle.
“It shows the future of Ireland is bright,” said the 20-year-old, who plays his club football at nearby Udinese.
“No matter what, we just kept going. Even after going a goal down, to come back, we dug deep, we did well but just couldn’t cross the finishing line.
“Those two games [home draws against Latvia and Norway], we should have done a lot better and here it has cost us.”
“The boys were magnificent. To come to Italy, a top team, and put on a performance like that was magnificent,” added U-21 boss Jim Crawford.
“We knew coming to Italy was going to be a real challenge, but we said ‘you know what, we won’t be sitting off them, we’ll get after them’. I’m gutted for the players and the staff who have worked unbelievably hard since the start of the campaign. I love every single one of them.”
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Publish date : 2024-10-16 00:05:00
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