Northern Ireland’s Under-17s narrowly lost by two goals to nil against Spain in a Euro qualifier staged in Coleraine.
Competition
U17 Euro 2026 Round Two Qualifiers
Scoreline
Spain U17s 2-0 Northern Ireland U17s
Scorers
Spain: Enzo Alves (19’), Christian Imga (83’ pen)
Venue
The Showgrounds, Coleraine
Date
15 March 2026
Team News
Northern Ireland’s Under-17s are currently taking part in UEFA U17 Euro 2026 qualifiers.
The U17s are facing Spain, Turkiye and Scotland in League A Group 6 in the second and final stage of qualifiers for the men’s tournament in Estonia this summer.
U17s boss Andy Waterworth has a 20-strong panel at his disposal for this week’s A6 mini tournament, which is being staged in Coleraine and Belfast. They faced the Spanish on matchday one.
How it happened
There was a couple of minutes of action before the teams had to leave the pitch due to a hailstorm.
When play resumed it was the Spanish who carved out the first chance when captain Enzo Alves forced a save out of Phoenix Blayney.
On 19 minutes Spain took the lead. Jorge Dominguez whipped a cross into the area to Alves and he found the bottom corner with a flicked header.
Three minutes later Spanish keeper Guille Ponce gathered a low snapshot from Northern Ireland striker Luke Hawe.
Blayney saved a soft Marc Martinez header before Hawe tested the Spanish keeper once again.
Ebrima Tunkara missed the target for Spain, while Blayney superbly pushed a Martinez drive over the bar.
Half-time: Spain U17s 1-0 Northern Ireland U17s
Northern Ireland continued to match their opponents after the interval.
Hawe steered an effort wide before Tunkara and Northern Ireland attacker Eamonn Tohill were also off target.
Blayney tipped away a long range Martinez strike, while Holmes Junior missed the target and Blayney saved a weak Dominguez header.
Northern Ireland were still very much in it at this stage and would have deserved an equaliser.
But on 82 minutes Shea McGarry was adjudged to have fouled Spain substitute Christian Imga inside the penalty area – and Imga stepped up to hammer the spot kick into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.
Imga had another effort for the Spanish in added time, however they had done enough to secure the win.
Matchday two (on Wednesday, 18 March) sees Spain come up against Scotland at noon and Northern Ireland face Turkiye at 6pm. Both of those free-entry games are at The Showgrounds in Coleraine. Scotland defeated the Turks 2-0 in their opening group game.
Full-time: Spain U17s 2-0 Northern Ireland U17s
Line-ups
Spain: Guille Ponce, Arnau Cases, Jordi Pesquer, Jorge Dominguez, Sergi Mayans, Holmes Junior, Ebrima Tunkara, Maura Valeiro, Enzo Alves (captain), Abdou Badji, Marc Martinez.
Substitutes: (used) Christian Imga, Ruben Gomez, Ian Mencia, Cherif Fofana, Roberto Tomas; (unused) Darlington Osuchukwu (GK), Raul Exposito, Mario Diaz, Mikel.
Northern Ireland: Phoenix Blayney, Alfie Wilson, Paul Stanfield, Daniel McCarron, Shea McGarry, Charlie McConnell, Sonny Trainor, Finlay Ross, Luke Hawe, Eamonn Tohill, Joel Kerr (captain).
Substitutes: (used) Jack May, Zak Magowan, Michael Mulholland, Liam Kelly; (unused) Kyle Chivers (GK), Calum Anderson, Adam Nelson, Alfie Anderson.
Main image: Charlie McConnell on the ball against the Spanish.
Action from Coleraine
