Republic of Ireland 3 Montenegro 1
The Republic of Ireland under-21s remain on course to qualify for their first major tournament, the 2023 European Championships in Georgia and Romania, after an efficient victory over Montenegro despite keeping some of their best players on ice.
Ireland manager Jim Crawford deserves credit for leaning into his squad, making a risky five changes that included resting Mipo Odubeko, Gavin Kilkenny and former Bohs attacker Ross Tierney from last Friday’s 3-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, all with an eye on getting a result against Italy in Ascoli on June 14th.
Will Smallbone’s superb strike five minutes before the interval punished an increasing number of cynical Montenegro fouls as Ireland began to take control of the contest. The goal came from a pre-planned move, after Liam Kerrigan was tripped, as Smallbone’s short free to Tyreik Wright was sent high into the box by Kerrigan, where JJ Kayode chested it to the Southampton midfielder who also chested onto his left foot before rifling the ball past Nikola Ivezic.
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It was only the second shot on target, the first being from Kerrigan after the pacy UCD winger twisted Dorde Saletic inside out, as Ireland looked to avenge defeat to Montenegro in Podgorica City last October.
Conor Noss of Borussia Mönchengladbach impressed in the first-half but it was the presence of Smallbone and the unbreakable Conor Coventry that kept Ireland pushing forward.
When Montenegro looked to test the Irish full-backs on the outside both Lee O’Connor and the rapid Tayo Adaramola proved up to the challenge.
There were some very interested observers in the main stand. Senior manager Stephen Kenny and his coaching team of Keith Andrews, John Eustace and Dean Kiely arrived after training in Abbotstown, ahead of Wednesday’s match with Ukraine at the Aviva stadium.
The FAI’s chief executive Jonathan Hill was also sitting nearby but Kenny spent plenty of time chatting to Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins, a former member of the Irish backroom, as the Yerevan nightmare was presumably poured over.
The atmosphere on this sunny evening in Tallaght was dampened by a poor 3,126 attendance despite the FAI predicting “big numbers” as momentum builds around Crawford’s side. Plenty of fans vented their anger on social media about trying yet failing to purchase tickets online.
Derry goalkeeper Brian Maher was called into action, making an excellent low parry from Nikola Krstovic’s effort, before the tie was settled by Kerrigan nabbing Ireland’s second in the 56th minute.
Again, it was free kick straight off the training ground - except this time it worked - as Smallbone’s ball to the far post was headed back across goal by Eiran Cashin for Kerrigan to control and finish.
Evan Ferguson is still only 17 but the Brighton striker arrived off the bench to combine with O’Connor before rolling an assist for Wright to snatch the third. Ferguson really should have claimed a fourth goal but his late header missed the target.
Dukanovic scored a consolation for Montenegro as Crawford’s men switch focus to getting at least a point in Italy to reach the play-offs.
Ireland: Maher; O’Connor, Cashin, McGuinness, Adaramola (Lyons, 84); Smallbone, Coventry, Wright; Kerrigan, Noss (Kilkenny, 64); Kayode (Ferguson, 64).
Montenegro: Ivezíc; Pesukic, Obradovic, Babic, Saletic; Brnovic (Krstovic, 59), Janjic; Vukcevic (Mijovic, 59), Divanovic, Dukanovic (Strikovic, 86); Krstovic.
Referee: Jan Petrik (Czech Republic).
