Kenny Shiels is the manager of the NI Under-17 team

The Dutch hosts dominated the first half of the qualifying game in Venray but were held scoreless by superb Northern Ireland goalkeeper Chris Snow.

However, three second half goals ensured victory for Holland despite Andy Little's late consolation strike.

NI lost their opener 4-0 against Germany before beating Finland 3-2.

It was very much the Snow show in the first half as he smothered a shot from Rence van de Wal early on and then denied Vincent van den Berg's close range shot with 20 minutes gone.

Just before the break, Little did have a half-chance for Northern Ireland after a Ruairi Harkin cross but keeper Erwin Molder spilled the ball before securing it at the second attempt.

The Dutch grabbed the opener with Nick Kuiper heading over the outstretched arms of Snow in the 47th minute.

William Burns then had a Northern Ireland effort cleared off the line but the Dutch struck again in the 55th minute with van den Berg angling his shot past Snow.

Van de Wal made it 3-0 from the penalty spot on the hour after he himself had been felled in the area - although the Northern Ireland players felt it was a harsh call.

Seven minutes from time Little pulled one back after he had raced on to Chris Murdock's pass.

Northern Ireland boss Shiels said his players had "worked very hard against a very good team".

"When you consider they are the reigning world champions and had one of the current Ajax first team in their line up it was always going to be a real challenge for us," said Shiels.

Germany, meanwhile, qualified for the finals courtesy of a 4-0 victory over Finland in the other game in Tegelen.

Northern Ireland: Christopher Snow (Ballinamallard Utd), Christopher Murdock (Birmingham City), Craig Cathcart (Man Utd), Ruairi Harkin (Don Boscos), Fearghal Burke (Linfield), Geoff McGaw (Stoke City), Jamie McGovern (WBA), Garth McDonald (WBA), Andrew Little (Ballinamallard Utd), William Burns (Linfield), Chris McGaharan (Lisburn Distillery). Sub. David Cushley (Ballymena Utd) for Harkin (58 mins).