A strong crowd at Tallaght Stadium cheered on Dave Connell's side as they secured second place in Group 1 thanks to second-half goals from Hayley Nolan and Dearbhaile Beirne.
The margin for qualifying for this summer's finals in Slovakia was so tight that only the group winners and the best runners-up progressed. And for Ireland that proved to be just out of reach.
A narrow 1-0 loss to Germany ultimately spoiled their dream, but Connell could not find a single fault in the three performances against Germany, Azerbaijan and Poland.
"It is incredibly difficult to qualify for European finals, as we know from previous experiences, but this group of girls gave it everything and I'm extremely proud of them," said Connell.
"The girls performed brilliantly and deserved more, but we can look to the future with a lot of positivity because the girls who leave us are capable of going to a higher level and the next batch of girls coming through are very talented too.
"There was nothing in it in the end, even when you look at our bench we had players who could easily have stepped in to the team. This is a special group of players and they have been brilliant since the first day that they came in with us."
Connell didn't have to search hard for superlatives to describe the display against Poland because the crisp passing, tough tackling, and clever movement from his players said it all.
Ireland bossed possession, created the majority of goalscoring opportunities, and looked the more likely to claim the three points from early on. So it was hardly surprising when they took the lead through Nolan.
For the second successive game the Kildare native showed incredible composure to slot in a penalty kick after Rachel Kearns had been fouled inside the area on 49 minutes.
Beirne followed up that goal with a neat close-range finish on 87 minutes to cap off a laudable performance and a second Elite Phase win for Ireland.
Republic of Ireland: McQuillan; Nelson, Keenan, McCarthy, Prior; McCartan, H Nolan, McLaughlin (Finn 70); Kearns (Lynch 88), J Nolan, Beirne.
Poland: Szemik; Wycisk, Wierzbicka (Szafranska 65), Lefeld (Kowalska 70, Ostrowska 90), Ossowska, Mesjasz, Matla, Falborska, Jedrzejewicz, Ciesla, Michalska.
Referee: Eleni Antoninou (GRE).
UEFA Women's Under 19 Elite Phase Qualifiers
Group 1
Germany 1-0 Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland 3-0 Azerbaijan
Republic of Ireland 2-0 Poland