Finland beat Republic of Ireland in play-off first leg

The two teams will meet in the second leg in Cork on Tuesday [Getty Images] Republic of Ireland under-21s have it all to do in the second leg of their Euro 2027 play-off after they suffered a 1-0 first-leg defeat by Finland under-21s in wintery conditions in Tampere. Onni Helen headed home what proved to be the winner in the eighth minute of first-half additional time for the hosts. The two teams were hampered by the heavy snow which fell in the first half on the astroturf pitch at the Tammelan Stadion. Play was halted on 30 minutes for a five-minute spell and there was then a 50-minute delay to the start of the second half to allow ground staff to clear the snow. Jim Crawford's side, who are aiming to qualify for their first-ever under-21 Euros, will look to respond in Tuesday's second leg in Turner's Cross in Cork [17:45 GMT] as they aim to seal a place in next year's tournament in Albania and Serbia. Helen goal seals narrow Finland win Finland dominated the first half and threatened after three minutes as Liam Moller raced down the left and crossed for Jimi Tauriainen, but Alex Murphy made a vital intervention before midfielder could tap home the opener. They went close again on 43 minutes as a curling strike from captain Matias Siltanen landed the wrong side of the post. Owen Elding, who has already made his senior debut, then thought he had scored on his under-21 debut for the Irish, but his headed finish was ruled out after he strayed offside. They were then hit with a sucker punch as Finland made the breakthrough with the last attack of the half as substitute Helen powered home a header from Moller's inviting delivery. Finland made a bright start to the delayed second half with Noah Jauny called into action twice in the opening five minutes of the restart, first to turn away a low drive from goalscorer Helen and then to push away Siltanen's header. The dangerous Helen then rattled the post with another effort as Republic of Ireland struggled to stem the flow of Finnish attacks. Republic of Ireland were much improved after the introduction of Trent Kone-Doherty and his cross from the left on 66 minutes caused panic in the Finland defence. Jamie Mullins met the cross and had a header come back off the crossbar before Elding's effort on the rebound was scrambled off the line. Substitute Matteo Egan then spurned another good chance to level on his debut as, after being slipped in by Mullins, he blasted wide.