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Marko Marin was the German hero as they opened this UEFA Under-17 European Championships Elite phase in Boxmeer, Holland.

Germany took the lead when Manuel Fischer's wickedly deflected shot looped over Snow with 24 minutes gone.

Marin from Borussia Moenchengladbach pulled the strings and led Kenny Shiels young charges a bit of a dance, although the final scoreline did flatter the Germans somewhat.
Don Boscos Ruairi Harkin had a great chance to equalise when he lifted the ball over the advancing Manchester United's youth team keeper Ron-Robert Zieler only to see it drop the wrong side of the bar and on to the roof of the net.

1-0 down at half time, Northern Ireland were still in the hunt early in the second half and enjoyed a good spells of possession without creating any real clear cut chances.

Linfield's William Burns gave away a penalty on 55 minutes when he lunged at Toni Kroos close to the bye line. The German picked himself up before beating keeper Chris Snow to his left hand side.

Disappointed Shiels said: "We produced some decent football and I think the players have learned a lot from the experience which is the most important thing. Germany is a country of 80 million people, which really puts things into perspective."

Kenny continued "I don't think we deserved to lose by four goals although credit where it is due, they are a very good side."

As the Germans slipped into top gear, Ballinamallard United's Snow was called on to make vital blocks from both Kroos and Timo Gebhart.

Shortly before the end Man of the match Marin weaved his way past three Irish defenders before placing a sweet shot out of Snow's reach with 64 minutes gone.

Two minutes from the end Lars Bender finished the game as a contest, curling a 25 yard shot past Snow. 17s Coach Jim Grattan said " from our own point of view this makes Sundays encounter with Finland a huge game for us, today Craig Cathcart and the rest of the back four played really well, Ryan McGivern is a year young, the experience can only assist in his and their development."

In the other group game, The Dutch beat Finland 1-0 in their opening game and now Northern Ireland really need to need to beat the Finns on Sunday to have any hope of staying in touch in the group.

Northern Ireland - Christopher Snow (Ballinamallard Utd), Christopher Murdock (Birmingham City), Craig Cathcart (Man Utd), Ryan McGivern (Man City), William Burns (Linfield), Ruairi Harkin (Don Boscos), Fearghal Burke (Linfield), Geoff McGaw (Stoke City), Jamie McGovern (WBA); Adam McGurk (Aston Villa), David Cushley (Ballymena Utd). Subs. Garth McDonald (WBA) for McGurk (68), Andrew Little (Ballinamallard Utd) for Cushley (56), Chris McGarahan (L. Distillery) for McGaw (70).