Ireland recovered from a disappointing opening day to produce some solid golf to move smoothly into the quarter-finals of the 28th European Youth Team championship over the Royal Waterloo Course in Belgium yesterday.

They looked shaky overnight in joint seventh place and knew they could not afford any slip-ups in the second qualifying round. Indeed, they dug deep into their reserves and came up with the goods, rising three places and improving by five strokes on their first day total.

As it was, they ended the qualifying stage in fourth place with a 741 aggregate, and face Sweden today for a spot in the semi-finals. England, who led the qualifiers by eight strokes from Wales, come up against defending champions Scotland, while the Welsh meet Denmark.

Ricky Elliott and Michael Hoey were the men who gave Ireland something to cheer about as they returned scores of 70 and 72 respectively - a combined fourunder-par.

Elliott, who started both halves with birdies, had a moment to savour on the 13th when he knocked in a 40-foot putt for a birdie three. But, like most of the players yesterday, he found the greens generally difficult to read.

"I missed several putts I felt I should hole, but nevertheless I am pretty happy with my overall performance," said Elliott.

It was not until Hoey came in right at the end of the day, however, that Ireland knew they were still in the hunt. He was a model of consistency in returning a second successive 72.

John Brett, the Irish skipper, looked a relieved man at the end of the day. "It's been a nerve-racking afternoon. We were on knife edge for most of the day but all is well that ends well," he said.