Irish girls guaranteed big welcome home today

Naoisha McAloon from Ratoath and her colleagues on the Republic of Ireland Women's u-17 soccer team are guaranteed a big welcome home from Turkey today at Dublin airport following their impressive displays in the qualifying group for the Elite Round of the UEFA European Championships.

The Republic topped their group with three straight wins as they finished off yesterday with a 3-0 win over Turkey.

McAloon, whose father owns a newsagents and convenience store in Navan, featured between the posts in two of the three games and produced excellent displays against Ukraine and Turkey.

The Irish girls went through unbeaten, Naoisha was on the bench for the 7-0 win over Andorra.

Dave Bell's team required a point from their final game, but took all three courtesy of goals from Leanne Kiernan, Alex Kavanagh and Lauren Kelly.

Ireland had previously beaten Ukraine and Andorra to move into pole position in a tricky group, but they showed their quality to overcome their hosts and take a step closer to next summer's finals in Belarus.

'The girls have really come on as a group and they worked so hard to top the group. I'm really proud of them and it's a great achievement,' said Bell.

'This is the first stepping stone towards the finals. The next thing is the draw for the Elite Round and once we know our opponents we can start preparing for those games.

The draw for the Elite Round will take place on Thursday 10th December.