Paul O’Neill earns Northern Ireland Under-21s victory

Paul O’Neill scored the only goal of the game as Northern Ireland Under-21s earned a first ever win over their Ukraine counterparts.
By Sports Desk
Published 13th Oct 2020, 20:19 BST
Updated 13th Oct 2020, 20:22 BST
Paul O’Neill celebrates his goalPaul O’Neill celebrates his goal
Paul O’Neill celebrates his goal

Euro 2021 qualification hopes were already over for the boys in green but they marked the final home game of their campaign with a win over a well-fancied Ukraine side as Glentoran forward O’Neill followed up his brace against Finland with another well-taken goal.

Ukraine were looking to build on their Under-20 World Cup win last year but cannot now qualify for next year’s tournament in Hungary and Slovenia.

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Northern Ireland started brightly, with Jake Dunwoody flashing an effort over the crossbar.

But they were unable to build on it as Ukraine grew into a goalless first half but could not beat Irish goalkeeper Conor Hazard.

The Celtic stopper kept out Artem Bondarenko’s fierce drive early in the second half while at the other end, Anatolii Trubin came off his line quickly to deny Dunwoody who then lashed wide from another half-chance.

Andy Crosby’s side took the lead on the hour when Danny Amos’ cross was hooked back across goal by Ciaran Brown for O’Neill to score with an instinctive overhead kick.

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The Northern Ireland youngsters put their bodies on the line to preserve the victory, with Dunwoody taking a fiercely struck free-kick in the face and substitute JJ McKiernan forced off by injury late on after a clash of heads – the Watford academy player declined the stretcher that was brought on but was helped off unsteadily by medical staff.

The win leaves Northern Ireland in contention for third place in Group 8 behind already-qualified Denmark and second-placed Romania.

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Related topics:UkraineGlentoranFinland