Flashback: 2008 U-17 EUROs
2008 UEFA European Under-17 Championships
The road to Turkey actually started on home soil as Ireland hosted their Qualifying Round matches against Denmark, Slovenia and Ukraine.
Sean McCaffrey's squad won each of those games with Conor Hourihane, Karl Sheppard, Gavin Gunning, Aaron Doran, and Ryan Connolly all on target in their games in Galway, Athlone and Longford.
Having topped Group 5 in the first phase, it was on to the Elite Round and again the games were played in Ireland. In the opener, they went behind inside 10 minutes against Germany courtesy of a goal from future FIFA World Cup winner Toni Kroos. But Greg Cunningham hit back to earn a draw.
A narrow loss to Greece and a win over Portugal proved to be enough for Ireland to finish on top of Group 1 and seal a place at the finals tournament in Turkey.
McCaffrey knew that it was always going to be difficult to excel in the tournament, but being paired in a group with France, Spain and Switzerland made the task all the more challenging.
France recorded a 2-1 win in their first game, with future Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette netting the winner, while a Gavin Gunning own goal unfortunately helped Switzerland record a 1-0 victory in the next game.
Spain were not about to take pity on Ireland in their final group game as they ran out 3-1 winners, with Hourihane netting early on before they hit back.
It was a cruel blow for Ireland to exit at the group stages having done so well in qualifying, but the quality of their opponents was clear to see and two of their group-mates, France and Spain, contested the final, which Spain won.
Republic of Ireland Squad
Gerard Hanley (Galway United), Gavin Carlin (West Bromwich Albion), Padraic Ormsby (Crumlin United), Gavin Gunning (Blackburn Rovers), John Dunleavy (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Mark Connolly (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Gearoid Morrissey (Ringmahon Rangers), Aaron Doran (Blackburn Rovers), Conor Clifford (Chelsea), Greg Cunningham (Manchester City), Conor Hourihane (Sunderland), Paul Murphy (Ipswich Town), Robbie Brady (Manchester United), Darragh Satelle (Hull City), Daniel Joyce (Belvedere), John Sullivan (Crumlin United), Richie Towell (Celtic), Shaun Timmons (Birmingham City)
Results
Republic of Ireland 1-2 France
Republic of Ireland 0-1 Switzerland
Republic of Ireland 1-3 Spain