Meléndez delighted by dominant Spain

Ginés Meléndez was full of pleasure and pride after his Spain side overwhelmed the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship semi-finals to set up a meeting with the Czech Republic. Mélendez, a winner of the competition on three previous occasions, hailed a dominant display while the beaten coach Paul Doolin could only express his admiration for the team that brought Ireland's remarkable run to an end.

Ginés Mélendez, Spain coach
We dominated from start to finish. Ireland did what they could, they’ve improved in every aspect. My players played an absolutely fantastic game. Ireland pushed and pushed and worked hard throughout the game.

I've seen great progress in the Ireland team; they're very well organised, work hard and eliminated Italy, which is a great success. Something very special happened after the match; Ireland's sporting director and coach came to our dressing room to congratulate each and every one of our players, the first time that's ever happened to me at a major tournament.

The Czechs are a difficult side, I've had many encounters against them in the past and they always present a tough challenge. They'll do so again but we're prepared and we'll be up for it – we know what's at stake.

Paul Doolin, Republic of Ireland coach
We knew Spain were a good team; they put four goals past Belgium and Serbia. At the time they scored the first goal we were doing OK, but it was a wonderful strike – the first two were good goals – and it changed the match.

When you see the difference in the teams, we've done exceptionally well; we were hoping to give Spain a better game, but they're a fantastic team, the strongest nation in the world at the moment. Physically and technically they're fabulous and we wish them well. There's no shame in it; they've beaten some strong football countries and we congratulate them on an outstanding performance. Spain were fantastic, we're disappointed but what can you do?

To get to the semi-final was fantastic for us. It's most of our group's first time to qualify, myself included, and we'll learn from this. This is the first time we've had a bad result in 13 internationals and that's not bad. It's been a great learning curve for us and hopefully some of the players will be back next year. If you'd told me when I took over in October we'd get to the semi-finals I'd have taken it, although if you’d told me we'd get beated 5-0 I'd probably have said no!