Ireland go to the well one last time

It has been a long and ultimately glorious campaign for Ireland's cerebral palsy seven-a-side football team but after two weeks of toil, tremendous results and a finishing position that will exceed all expectations, the Boys In Green must go to the well one last time.

There is an argument for saying that this youthful squad - most of the players are under 20 and two of them are just 16 - were punished for doing so much better than expected in the CPISRA Intercontinental Cup.

The semi-final was a chastening experience, as Ukraine put nine goals past their exhausted opponents. It is at this stage of the competition that you really see the difference between players that play in a professional league and those that train by themselves and come together once a week to train as a group.

It doesn't get any easier as World and Paralympic champions Russia - surprisingly beaten 2-0 by Brazil in the other semi-final - provide the opposition in tomorrow's third and fourth-place play-off.

Whatever happens though, it has been a heroic achievement to get out of a tough group that included Russia and England. That secured the ultimate goal of qualification to the World Championships.

The stunning 3-2 victory over Netherlands in the quarter-final will live long in the memory of those that witnessed and experienced it, with one of the 16-year-olds, Dillon Sheridan scoring the winner two minutes from time.

And so what happened against Ukraine cannot detract from an amazing tournament, a point emphasised by manager, Paul Cassin.

"It was a heavy defeat and it was the one thing I dreaded after having such a good competition but I stressed to them that we've achieved our objective and that's the important thing. "In some respects, having played Russia already should help. There is consolation in that two of their starting seven were sent off in the Brazil, which is essentially why they lost. So they'll miss the game."

Cassin admits that the players are running on empty, physically and emotionally. But knowing that it's almost over, and that they have done themselves and the country proud will charge them one last time.

"They're shattered. It's been a long competition. We were really afraid one result like that would have people at home thinking poorly of us. But it hasn't been like that. The texts I've been getting have been telling us we've outdone ourselves. We reached the semi-final of a world competition. "There's still a game to go, we're all tired and want to go home but we'll give this a real go."