Early strikes from Paddy McNair and Daniel Ballard earned Northern Ireland a 2-0 victory over Luxembourg as they got their latest Nations League campaign off to a winning start.
With both goals coming in the opening 17 minutes, the only disappointment was that Michael O’Neill’s side did not add to their tally as they dominated their first match at Windsor Park in 10 months.
It was only a second win in 17 tries for Northern Ireland in the short history of this competition, but builds on the momentum of recent improved performances as they look to get themselves out of League C.
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Northern Ireland wasted no time in asserting themselves, with Shea Charles threatening just 70 seconds in from a corner.
Dion Charles then hit a bouncing shot over the bar after Luxembourg failed to clear a free-kick, and Northern Ireland’s early pressure paid off when they took the lead with 11 minutes gone
Ciaron Brown sent in a long throw from the right, Ballard fought for a flick-on at the near post and the ball came to McNair near the penalty spot to power a shot into the left-hand corner of the net, scoring his seventh Northern Ireland goal on the night of his 70th cap.
Having taken the early lead, O’Neill’s men did not sit back. Bradley won a scrap with Dirk Carlson for the ball down the right and was brought down right on the edge of the box.
George Saville hit the free-kick low towards the near post, with Ballard arriving on cue to turn the ball in and score his first Windsor Park goal.
It was not until moments before the break that Northern Ireland seriously threatened again but there was no surprise that it was the excellent Bradley who jinked his way into the box before Christopher Martins scrambled the ball away for a corner as the Liverpool man prepared to shoot.
From the resulting corner the ball came out to the night’s captain, Trai Hume, on the edge of the box, but his shot from distance sailed narrowly wide. Either way, the the whistle had already blown for a foul in the build-up by Ballard, who went into the book.
O’Neill freshened up the front line at the break with Josh Magennis earning his 80th cap, replacing Dion Charles, and seconds after the restart they were on the attack again with Isaac Price’s volley narrowly wide from Hume’s cross.
After Luxembourg clumsily conceded possession, Price’s low cross was just in front of Magennis, who might have been expected to slide in at the far post. Moments later, Hume hooked a shot wide from the edge of the box.
O’Neill then turned to Jamal Lewis, who only flew into Belfast on Wednesday after travelling to Brazil to seal his loan move from Newcastle to Sao Paulo, with the 26-year-old replacing Callum Marshall.
Bradley had a superb chance to add a third in the 66th minute after breaking the offside trap to latch on to Hume’s pass forward, but when clean through on goal he dragged his shot wide of the target.
At the other end, Bailey Peacock-Farrell kept out Gerson Rodrigues’ near-post header from Mathias Olesen’s corner.
That was a rare moment of concern at the back but there was another self-inflicted one in the 77th minute when Peacock-Farrell and McNair collided going for the same ball on the edge of the box, grateful to see Olesen shoot wide of the open goal.
But the night ended with Northern Ireland on top, and substitute Ross McCausland was denied a first international goal in stoppage time as Luxembourg goalkeeper Anthony Moris pushed his shot wide.
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