SHAUN OF THE DEAD
Donnellan’s goal at the death breathes life into qualification dream
SHAUN DONNELLAN kept Ireland’s Under-21s European Championship qualification hopes alive last night with a stoppagetime winner against Azerbaijan.
The basement side came to Tallaght Stadium intent on suffocating an Irish side chasing a first-ever qualification and almost took a late lead through Ilkin Muradov’s thunderbolt which smacked off the crossbar.
However, there would be a more dramatic twist when the West Brom defender scrambled in the scruffiest of goals in the final of five added minutes to keep Ireland in touch with table-toppers Germany.
He nodded in amid a goalmouth scramble when a header by substitute Ronan Hale was tipped onto the post.
Donnellan was on hand to head across the line before his central defensive partner Ryan Sweeney followed in to make sure.
It marked a thrilling end to a lacklustre display by the Irish despite the presence midfield.
With the Germans being held by Kosovo last night, this last-ditch Ireland victory closed the gap on the leaders to three points with a game in hand.
Two of the last four qualifiers for Noel King’s side are against reigning champions
Germany, giving them a chance to usurp the superpowers for an automatic of Declan Rice in route to Italy next year. There is also the possibility of reaching the tournament through a play-off.
Rice returned to the Ireland starting line-up following his senior debut against Turkey last Friday, slotting into midfield alongside his West Ham teammate Josh Cullen. Despite dominating possession, Ireland endured a couple of scares in the first-half. Goalkeeper Kieran O’hara had to be alert turning Gismat Aliyev’s deep free kick over the crossbar and Ramil Sheydaev spurned a golden chance to put Azer- baijan ahead. A heavy t o u c h eight yards out by the full international, on loan from Trabzonspor to Qarabag, cost him after Ireland’s defence were exposed.
At the other end, Noel King’s side struggled to pierce a resolute visiting defence.
Twice Ronan Curtis got into good positions to shoot only to curl his efforts off-target but Ryan Manning was the only Irish player to test Kamran Ibrahimov. The visiting goalkeeper did well to bat away Manning’s 25-yard shot and even better to smother the rebound from Reece Grego-cox.
King was left fuming by the failure of Slovakian referee Filip Glova to award a penalty after Elvin Sarkarov dragged Jake Mulraney down in the box 10 minutes into the second-half.
But he was relieved that Muradov’s effort didn’t go in and they were presented with the chance to maintain their qualification push.
Next up for Ireland is a
Kosovo on September 7. visit to
IRELAND:
AZERBAIJAN: