A dream shamrock-painted balloon floated into the sky over Madrid on Saturday night as Irish spirits were raised on the final day of the European under-21 Championship. Charlie Henderson - outstanding in the 3-3 draw with Holland last Monday - won the trophy for the best goalkeeper in the tournament and, in beating Italy 5-2, Ireland's seventh-placed finish probably will earn a berth, after all, in the Junior World Cup in Hobart (Tasmania) in October of next year.

Of the senior figures, Mark Black was the most positive outfield player in Madrid, while Stephen Butler captained the side resourcefully and finished up with a first-half hat-trick against the Italians.

It was a trifle lax by the defence to concede an early goal and also another just before the interval to lead only 3-2, but, in reality, Ireland were cruising. David Eakins set up Colm Brady to make it 4-2 early in the second half and Justin Sherriff despatched a powerful drag flick to the net to finish predictably as his side's leading striker. The tournament's most lethal attacker was Spain's Santiago Freixa, who hit five goals in a 6-4 defeat of Holland and then notched the equaliser against Germany as his team fought back to 4-4 in a spectacular final before winning the shoot-out 4-3 to take the title for the first time.

Ireland (v Italy) - M Ruddle; A Chambers, K Burns, P Smith; S Butler (capt); M Harte, M Black, C Brady; J Quigley, J Sherriff, D Hobbs. Subs: D Eakins, A Giles, A Kershaw, S Symmington.

European Under 21 Championship (A Division, Madrid) - 7th to 8th place playoff: Ireland 5 (S Butler 3, C Brady, J Sherriff) Italy 2; 5th-6th: Scotland 2 France 0; 3rd-4th: Holland 7 England 2; Final: Spain 4 Germany 4 (a.e.t - Spain won 4-3 on strokes).