Republic of Ireland U19s to face Germany, the Netherlands and Spain at Euros

The Republic of Ireland will square up to Germany, the Netherlands and Spain in a daunting Group B at this summer's UEFA Women's Under-19 European Championships in Lithuania.

In what will be Ireland's second involvement in this tournament - and the first in 10 years - the Girls in Green were paired with three of Europe's big guns.

The top two teams in each group will advance to the semi-finals, which is where Ireland finished in the 2014 edition. Connell also managed that group, which inlcuded Katie MCabe, Megan Connolly and Chloe Mustaki. They lost to the Dutch - the eventual winners - in the last four after beating Spain, England and Sweden.

Dave Connell's squad qualified for the tournament after topping Group A2 in Round 2 of qualifying following victories over Iceland, Austria and Croatia.

The tournament will kick off on 14 July with games being played in three cities - Jonava, Kaunas and Marijampole. The final is on 27 July, and all of Ireland's matches will be live on RTÉ.

"It is good to know our opponents so we can continue our preparation for what will be a highly competitive tournament," said Connell

"We know how difficult it will be in this group having played Netherlands in Round 1 of qualifying, Spain are the reigning champions and Germany are four-time winners.

"They are three of the best teams in the world at this level. We are fully aware of the challenge in front of us but it's something that we will embrace and aim to do ourselves proud. You always have a chance in international football so it's up to us to be as prepared as we can be and then to compete in each game."

UEFA Women's Under-19 European Championships Group B

Monday 15 July: Spain v Republic of Ireland
Thursday 18 July: Republic of Ireland v Germany
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