Northern Ireland’s hopes for progressing through the UEFA U-19 Championship qualifiers were ended by a heavy defeat to Austria this afternoon, as they conceded seven second-half goals.
Following a narrow 2-1 opening game loss to Portugal, the Irish were sunk 9-0 as Austria’s Linda Mittermair hit a 23-minute hat-trick
Celina Degen had opened the scoring on 10 minutes, Aine Smyth went close from a Megan Bell free kick but Mittermair doubled the led before the break.
Jessica Frieser bagged a second-half brace, Mittermair also got a couple more, with Leah McEvoy passing up a chance to pull one back.
Jana Kofler converted a penalty, Maria Plattner was also on the score-sheet before Annabel Schasching came off the bench to complete the scoring.
Last up for the Irish is Georgia on Sunday, with third place in the group to play for.
Portugal today thrashed Georgia 11-0 with three goals from Telma Encarnação, which was matched by substitute Sónia Costa, who notched her treble in a mere 8 minutes.
