Cork's McGrath congratulates son and colleagues as Ireland into U17s World Cup Final

EU commissioner Michael McGrath has congratulated Ireland’s U17s team on their qualification for the Fifa 2026 World Cup Final.

The event will take place this November in Qatar and will see the Irish team join nations including Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Romania, and Serbia.

In a post on social media, Mr McGrath said he is “super proud” of his son, Tom, who is the capatin of the U17s team.

“I am super proud of Tom for leading the U17s to secure qualification for the World Cup Finals as captain,” Mr McGrath said. 

“Winning five games out of six in the qualification campaign, the boys capped it off with a fantastic 7-0 victory over Slovakia in Bzreg, Poland.

“Well done to Tom’s Cork City FC team-mate Cillian Murphy on a stunning hat-trick.

“Congratulations to coach Mark Connors and his management team on a fantastic job, and to Paul Osam who led the team so well in the preliminary qualification round.