Northern Ireland stayed top of League B Group 2 in the UEFA Nations League with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Ukraine in Belfast tonight.
Terry Devlin’s wonder strike in the second half was enough to secure all three points for Michael O’Neill’s side in their penultimate B2 match.
The result means Northern Ireland remain a point ahead of Hungary in the table ahead of their meeting in Budapest on Tuesday. Hungary defeated Georgia 2-0 tonight.
After securing two away wins and two home draws in a quadruple header in September/October, Northern Ireland now have 11 points after a third win and a fifth clean sheet in B2.
One of those away wins was against Ukraine, who were a much tougher opponent this time around.
Michael O’Neill made just one change from the 11 that started the goalless draw with Georgia last month.
Terry Devlin came in at right back, with Trai Hume shifting into midfield. Paddy Kelly dropped to the bench for the game at the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park.
Ukraine pushed forward early on and the first chance of the game saw striker Roman Yaremchuk put a header wide of the post.
The visitors continued to have the bulk of possession and produced some neat inter-play without really threatening.
Pierce Charles launched a free-kick down the pitch, however it went straight into the arms of his opposite number, Anatoliy Trubin.
Ciaron Brown whipped a delicious cross towards the back post. Unfortunately it evaded Devlin.
On 23 minutes Northern Ireland had the ball in the net, but the ‘goal’ did not stand. Justin Devenny raced down the left flank and fed the ball inside to Isaac Price, who let fly from outside the area. His shot cannoned off Ethan Galbraith’s back and the ball fell to Jamie Donley who smashed it home from six yards. However, a VAR review showed Donley was in an offside position when the ball dropped to him.
Minutes later Galbraith played a lovely ball over the top to Devlin. He got to the bye-line and pulled the ball back to Donley. His close range shot was pushed out by Trubin. Shea Charles poked at the rebound, however the ball was somehow cleared away by the Ukrainian defence.
In the 28th minute, down the other end, Pierce Charles did well to keep out a shot from the advancing Olexiy Kashchuk with his feet. Minutes later Charles comfortably collected a low Yaremchuk cross into the area.
Brown put a header wide as Northern Ireland tried to get a foothold in the game.
Donley held the ball up superbly and slipped the ball to Devlin whose excellent cross into the area narrowly evaded Price.
A long throw into the penalty box from captain Trai Hume caused confusion. A couple of Northern Ireland players took a swipe at it before the ball was cleared. The resulting corner fell to Price but his low drive was blocked.
Brown got up well to divert a dangerous cross into the area away from goal.
In the 54th minute Shea Charles surged forward and slipped the ball to Galbraith. He in turn teed up Price, whose low shot was comfortably dealt with by Trubin.
Ruairi McConville produced a superb sliding tackle as Ukraine attacker Danylo Sikan raced towards goal.
Another tasty Devlin cross had the Ukraine defence scrambling, while Galbraith’s low cross was cleared after he showed a lovely bit of skill to get to the bye-line.
Brown put in another important block before Ukraine’s Oleh Ocheretko dragged a shot wide of the post.
A dangerous Devenny cross into the area clipped the top of McConville’s head as Northern Ireland continued to press. Then Galbraith fired a shot straight into Trubin’s midriff.
In the 67th minute a low shot from Hume was pushed around the post by the Ukrainian keeper.
A minute later man of the match Devlin scored a spectacular goal to put Northern Ireland ahead.
Following a short corner routine, the ball was eventually fed to him by Galbraith on the edge of the area and he smashed the ball into the net. It was a peach of a finish for his first senior international goal.
A lobbed cross from Shea Charles almost caught Trubin out. The keeper had to stretch to push the ball over the bar for a corner.
In the 84th minute Ukraine’s Eduard Sarapii fired in a long range shot which went wide of the upright.
In the closing stages Sikan put an effort wide before Pierce Charles pulled off a wonder save to keep a low drive from Sikan out and ensure maximum points were in the bag.
Northern Ireland: Pierce Charles, Terry Devlin, Tom Atcheson, Ruairi McConville, Ciaron Brown, Trai Hume, Justin Devenny, Shea Charles (captain), Jamie Donley, Isaac Price, Ethan Galbraith.
Substitutes: (used) Patrick Kelly, Brodie Spencer, Josh Magennis; (unused) Conor Hazard, Dermot Mee, Jordan Thompson, Callum Marshall, Kieran Morrison, Paul Smyth, Braiden Graham, Paddy McNair, Michael Forbes.
Ukraine: Anatoliy Trubin, Illia Zabarnyi, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Eduard Sarapii, Mykola Matviyenko (captain), Yehor Yarmoliuk, Olexiy Kashchuk, Oleh Ocheretko, Roman Yaremchuk, Danylo Sikan, Georgiy Sudakov.
Substitutes: (used) Hennadii Synchuk, Ihor Krasnopir, Yehor Nazaryna, Artem Dovbyk; (unused) Georgiy Yermakov (GK), Dmytro Riznyk (GK), Borys Krushynskyi, Taras Mykhavko, Illia Krupskyi, Oleksandr Andriyevskiy, Ivan Varfolomieiev, Vladyslav Vanat.
Action from the National Stadium
