Good day for young internationals Howieson, Mitchell and Dummigan

Last updated : 27 March 2013 By Tony Scholes

We have to start with Cameron Howieson. He played in New Zealand's first two games in the  Oceania Football Confederation Under-20 tournament in Fiji against Papua New Guinea and Vanuata.

They won those games 5-0 and 1-0 but he didn't play in the third game when they came from behind to beat New Caledonia 3-2.

Today, in the early hours of the morning our time, they played their last game and a crunch game it was against hosts Fiji. A draw might have been good enough but a win ensured they won the tournament and a place in the FIFA Under-20 Finals in Turkey this summer.

They didn't just win it; they beat Fiji 4-0, and this after it was 0-0 at half time. They went in front from a penalty three minutes into the second half and Howieson scored the all important second midway through the half.

The draw was made for the finals earlier this week and New Zealand, having won their place, will play against Uzbekistan, Uruguay and Croatia with the games to be played in either Bursa or Antalya.

There won't be any finals for Conor Mitchell and Cameron Dummigan but they left Holland last night with some real credit after holding winners Italy to a 0-0 draw.

That would have been enough to keep them off the bottom, but hosts Holland scored a late goal to earn themselves a draw against Norway which means they, and Northern Ireland end the tournament with two points. Norway have taken second place with four points and Italy had seven having won their first two games.

Both goalkeeper Mitchell and right back Dummigan played the entire ninety minutes, as they had done in the three qualifying games earlier in the season and the previous two games in this elite round.

They've been part of a Northern Ireland team that, according to the IFA, capped a memorable week with their performances.