The Republic of Ireland maintained UEFA their Nations League - League B status after coming from behind to defeat Bulgaria 2-1 at the Aviva Stadium.
The away side took the lead with a goal against the run of play from Valentin Antov but second-half strikes from Evan Ferguson and Adam Idah sealed the victory with a 4-2 aggregate win for Ireland.
Heimir Hallgrímsson made two changes from the side that won in Plovdiv on Thursday with Jake O’Brien starting his first competitive match for Ireland, replacing Dara O’Shea, and Evan Ferguson also came into the starting line-up for Ryan Manning. Matt Doherty's inclusion in the starting line-up meant the Swords native made his 50th cap for his country. In the second half, 27-year old Jimmy Dunne came on to replace Evan Ferguson to make his senior international debut.
In the first few minutes of the contest, Ireland saw their first sight of goal as Finn Azaz played a pass into Troy Parrott's path following a clever attacking phase in the Bulgarian area, that took a deflection for a corner. Evan Ferguson rose highest from the Robbie Brady set-piece to force Iliev to push the effort away with a goal-line stop.
Ireland was to strike the woodwork in the 23rd minute when Azaz sent the ball wide on the left to Brady whose low cross to the near-post saw Parrott strike a first-time shot that hit the butt of the post but he was deemed to have been in an offside position.
Bulgaria took the lead on the half-hour as a corner from Despodov was delivered to the edge of the area where a first-time shot from Milanov was blocked by Collins, only for the ball to be intercepted by Antov and he fired home.
Ireland almost equalised immediately after the concession when Parrott, unmarked in the Bulgarian area, met a pinpoint cross from Brady with a looping header that just went over the crossbar. Just before halftime, Petrov cleared the ball off the line to deny Jake O'Brien, whose header from a Brady corner appeared to be goal-bound until the Bulgarian defender's last-ditch clearance.
Ireland had the first chance of the second half with Mikey Johnston’s shot in the 48th minute hit the side netting. This was followed by continued attacking phases for Ireland with the Bulgarian defence holding firm to keep the home side at bay. Azaz had an attempt on the half volley from a Collins knockdown that went wide. Iliev was then to make a great stop from an Evan Ferguson shot in the 55th minute, the Bulgarian goalkeeper was forced to tip the Irish striker's effort past the post for a corner.
Ireland levelled the contest and put themselves back ahead in the tie in the 63rd minute as Azaz, with some excellent control on the edge of the area, set the ball through to Ferguson on the Bulgarian goal and he fired the ball into the roof to the net.
Ireland took the lead in the 85th minute to seal the tie with a brilliant counter-attack that started from a quick pass from Azaz to set up the attack down the right with Sykes who opted to turn and spotted the run of Adam Idah at the back post who latched onto his cross with a low volley that beat the outstretched Iliev, a strike which sealed back-to-back competitive wins for Ireland for the first time since 2019 in front of 40,000+ who headed home happy.
Ireland will be back in action in June with a series of friendlies against Senegal and Luxembourg.
Republic of Ireland: Kelleher (GK), Doherty, O'Brien, Cullen, Azaz, Knight (Taylor 81), Ferguson (Dunne 73), Brady (Manning 65), Parrott (Sykes 65), Johnston (Idah 65), Collins (C)
Subs not used: Bazunu (GK), Travers (GK), O'Shea, Dunne, Vata, Moran, Armstrong, Abankwah
Bulgaria: P. Iliev, N. Minkov, Gruev (Shopov 90), Nuernberger (Iliev 90), Antov B. Kraev (Vl. Nikolov 59), Despodov, Nedyalkov, S. Petrov, M. Petkov (F. Krastev 75), Milanov (Kirilov 75)
Subs not used: Dyulgerov (GK), Sheytanov (GK), H. Petrov, A. Kraev, Panayotov, S. Ivanov, Stoyanov, Il. Iliev
Booked: S. Petrov (Bulgaria), Knight (Republic of Ireland), Johnston (Republic of Ireland), Collins (Republic of Ireland), P. Iliev (Bulgaria)
Sent off: None
Sky Player of the Match: Troy Parrott
Referee: Umut Meler (TUR)
Attendance: 40,156 |
