Ireland’s U21 wins an important victory in Sweden
Sweden 0-2 representative of Ireland
Goals from Ross Tierney and Tyreik Wright kept Ireland’s hopes of a first appearance in the U21 European Championship final alive with an important 2-0 victory in Sweden.
Motherwell midfielder Tierney’s blow in the 12th minute and a late second from substitute Wright secured a win over the Swedes, who were denied what looked like a certain late penalty after being annulled twice before the break by goalkeeper Brian Maher.
Italy’s 1-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina took Azzurri three points ahead of the top of Group F with Sweden – leader on goal difference before kick-off – fell to second, just one point ahead of Boys in Green, who like Italians, have played one game less .
With games in hand on the surroundings # IRLU21 will now feel more confident of getting a playoff spot @ UEFAUnder21 championships 2023 #rtesoccer #COYBIG | #We are one pic.twitter.com/eg13kEoQly
– RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) March 29, 2022
Maher was called into action with just 11 minutes left when striker Amin Sarr came in behind Oisin McEntee and forced him to a solid save with a left foot attack.
Ireland took the lead seconds later in the middle of falling snow at Boras Arena when Gavin Kilkenny’s post was cleared only as far as Tierney, who thumped the loose ball past Sweden’s goalkeeper Samuel Brolin.
A brilliant blow from Ross Tierney sets # IRLU21 1-0 up against Sweden after 12 minutes – watch live https://t.co/2W5kFtUgZE #rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/XbCeYsdAbX
– RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) March 29, 2022
The Swedes, who lost 1-0 at Tallaght Stadium in November, regrouped to get Ireland back when they were looking for a draw, and they might have got it without Maher, who ran from his line to block Armin Gigovic’s effort in it. 28 minutes into the game, Sarr had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide.
# IRLU21 goalkeeper Brian Maher stands tall to deny Sweden – 📺 watch live https://t.co/2W5kFtUgZE #rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/vcSBDyOUIs
– RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) March 29, 2022
Jim Crawford’s men went to the break with the lead intact, but the home team resumed in a determined way, which again got the green shirts to a coordinated defense.
They were close to putting the equalizer away after 11 minutes as the opposing defense lost control of the ball to Emil Holm in a scuffle towards the left of the goal, but in the end the ball was cleared over the dead ball line.
Persistence from Tyreik Wright and # IRLU21 go up 2-0 to seal the win against Sweden #rtesoccer #COYBIG #We are one pic.twitter.com/XMLrsFuC2g
– RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) March 29, 2022
Ireland became more and more broken when they got tired before an attack and were lucky not to concede a penalty in the 81st minute after full-back Joel Bagan looked to drop substitute Isak Jansson, even if it was not according to the Portuguese referee Vitor Ferreira .
But they put the game to bed two minutes from time when substitute Josh Kayode got Mahers approval and Wright ran through to beat Brolin the second time he asked.
We need your consent to upload this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage additional content that may set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their information and accept them to load the content.Manage settings