THE Republic of Ireland and Scotland will compete for top spot in their UEFA U17 Championships qualifying group in Longford’s City Calling Stadium tomorrow night (7.30pm).

Both sides have already sealed their place in the elite qualifying round after victories over Gibraltar and Faroe Islands but the group winners will be decided in this encounter.

The Scots have the advantage on goal difference so the hosts know they need the victory to clinch top spot. The tournament finals take place in Bulgaria next May with 16 sides qualifying.

Irish boss Tom Mohan will assess the fitness of a number of players before deciding upon his starting line-up for the clash and he admits that this is a game his side has been looking forward to.

“This game is like a derby – some of our guys know their players and are club-mates so there’s a little bit more to it. We’ve watched Scotland obviously and in the two games they’ve played we can see they’ve good players, strong in every department,” he said.

“It’ll be a different type of game for them against us than their previous two fixtures. Going by the results of both games it should be closer game for each side.

“Both countries will want to top the group and look for a kinder draw in the elite phase. The most important thing was to qualify for that elite phase. The players have recovered after Wednesday’s game and although there are some tired bodies we’re fresh.

“Scotland have good attacking players and have dominated possession in the middle of the park in their two games. We have to look to ourselves and see where we can improve. We’ll look to put a performance in.”

Ireland have scored nine goals in their two games so far and after entering the group with the weight of expectation upon them to qualify Mohan believes this game will be a different test for his squad.

“We’ve shown we have good attacking threat and can create chances. When you are favourites going into a game you are looking for better performances. We dominated against Gibraltar but the Faroes game was very stop-start and we never consistently put the passages of play together that we’re capable of,” he said.

“We know we’re capable of better and allowed the Faroes back into the game too easily. We gave them hope and no matter who you play it raises their spirit and they’ll sense an opportunity to get something out it. We should have killed them off. We missed several chances that would have sown the game up.

“Coming into the group everybody thought these two teams would have six points but there’s no easy games at this level and the smaller nations have improved, they are better organised and can make life difficult for you.

“Qualifying for the elite phase was the objective and we’ve achieved that. The players should be pleased that they’ve done that and it has come because of a lot of hard work put in my them and by the staff. We want to cap the week off with a good display.”

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND:

Caoimhin Kelleher (Ringmahon Rangers)

Ross Treacy (St Kevin’s Boys)

Corey O’Keefe (Birmingham City)

Shane Hanney (Shamrock Rovers)

Robbie McCourt (West Bromwich Albion)

JJ Lunney (Preston North End)

Conor Masterson (Liverpool)

Jake Doyle Hayes (Aston Villa)

Brandon Payne (Celtic)

Conor Levingston (Wolves)

Darragh Leahy (St Kevin’s Boys)

Joshua Barrett (Reading)

Steven Kinsella (Everton)

Zachary Elbouzedi (West Bromwich Albion)

Gerry McDonagh (Nottingham Forest)

Avis Ganiyu (Sunderland)

Trevor Clarke (Middlesbrough)

Conor Davis (Reading)

FIXTURES & RESULTS

Monday, September 22

UEFA U17 Championships Qualifying Round Group 1

Republic of Ireland 5-0 Gibraltar, Athlone Town Stadium;

Scotland 4-0 Faroe Islands, Eamonn Deacy Park, Galway.

Wednesday, September 24

UEFA U17 Championships Qualifying Round Group 1

Faroe Islands 2-4 Republic of Ireland, Eamonn Deacy Park, Galway;

Scotland 4-0 Gibraltar, City Calling Stadium, Longford

Saturday, September 27

UEFA U17 Championships Qualifying Round Group 1

Republic of Ireland v Scotland, City Calling Stadium, Longford (7.30pm);

Gibraltar v Faroe Islands, Athlone Town Stadium (7.30pm).