Northern Ireland's faint hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Under-21 Championships are over after they were beaten 3-0 by Germany in Wuppertal tonight.

Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos, 18, scored the first goal after 11 minutes with a superb 20-yard free-kick and Daniel Halfar made it 2-0 after Trevor Carson failed to hold a Kroos long-ranger (38).

Northern Ireland had to win to stand any chance of making the play-offs but their fate was sealed on the hour mark when Dennis Aogo added the third with another effort from distance.

Coach Steve Beaglehole said: "It was a tall order. Germany needed to win, they'd just had their ego bruised playing Moldova and they'd got a very strong side out.

"I thought we started well, we looked confident and if we could have gone another 10 minutes without them scoring things may have been a little bit different.

"I can't fault the effort of the players, they stuck at their task. I was very pleased with the performance of Cory Evans, who's only 18.

"At times we defended well because we were under the cosh. They had a lot of possession but we had chances as well."

Northern Ireland went into the match with 12 points after beating Moldova and Luxembourg home and away and Beaglehole felt there were plenty of positives to take from the campaign.

"They've done very well," he continued. "Right to the last game the Under-21s have been in with a chance of qualifying, which is great credit to them. Hopefully next time we can go one better and actually qualify.

"There's some good young players coming through but we need to take a good look at this group of players and make sure we've got a stronger squad for the friendly against Ukraine in March."

Germany lead Group Nine and will secure top spot if they avoid defeat against Israel on Tuesday.

"It wouldn't surprise me at all if they go on to win the Under-21 Championships, that's the quality of players that they've got," Beaglehole added.

Teams

Germany U21 Sippel, Beck, Schwaab, Hummels, Aogo, Mesut Ozil,Mesut Ozil, Kruska, Kroos, Khedira, Grote, Halsar.

Subs Not Used: Fahrmann, Sebastian Boenisch,

Sebastian Boenisch, Bungbert, Schindler, Steinhofer, Wagner.

Goals: Kroos 12, Halsar 38, Aogo 60.

N Ireland U21 Carson, Casement, Lafferty, Chapman, O'Flynn,Craig Cathcart, Craig Cathcart, Little, Evans, McAllister,Lowry, McLean.

Subs Not Used: McCluskey, McMenamin, Henderson, O'Kane, McKay,

Stewart, Henley.

Ref: Michail Koukoulakis (Irakleiou).