1992 UEFA European Under-16 Championships
Fifteen teams joined hosts Cyprus in making up this tournament, which ran from May 7-17 and saw 64 goals scored over 28 games. Germany would eventually come out on top to claim their second title at this level.
Ireland were pitched into Group B alongside Netherlands, Romania, and Spain. It was a tough task on paper with Spain considered to be amongst the favourites to lift the trophy as they had a young Barcelona star in Ivan de la Pena leading them.
An opening loss to Netherlands put Ireland on the backfoot as only the group winners would advance to the knock-out round, but they showed a lot more quality two days later in a credible draw with Romania.
By the time that Ireland faced Spain in their final game in Ayia Napa, it was clear that Spain were destined to progress further and that proved to be the case following a 1-1 draw.
Spain would go on to reach the final, where de la Pena opened the scoring, but they could not halt a comeback from Germany who won the game 2-1.
Republic of Ireland Squad
Brendan Murphy (Trim Celtic), Shay Given (Lifford Celtic), Garret Ryan (Ballynanty), Keith Finnegan (Home Farm), Eric Smith (Cherry Orchard), Keith O’Halloran (Cherry Orchard), John Murphy (St. Marys Cork), Cormac O’Driscoll (Rockmount), Willie Boland (Carew Park), Paul O’Donnell (Liverpool), John Ryan (Midleton), Gareth Farrelly (Home Farm), Barra Sheridan (Belvedere), Mark Kennedy (Belvedere), Stephen McNally (Cherry Orchard), Gavin O’Toole (Coventry City)
Results
Republic of Ireland 0-2 Netherlands
Republic of Ireland 0-0 Romania
Republic of Ireland 1-1 Spain