Maloney shines for Scottish U-21s

Shaun Maloney gave Martin O'Neill more evidence he could fill Henrik Larsson's sizeable boots at Celtic with a stunning strike in the Scotland Under-21s’ win over Ireland tonight.

The youngster's lethal dead-ball kicks inspired the champions' 2-1 fightback over Livingston on Sunday after Swedish striker Larsson had suffered a double fracture of the jaw.

And with Larsson now ruled out for at least six weeks, the speedy frontman stole the show again at Rugby Park with a sublime first-half effort in front of Celtic assistant John Robertson.

Former Scotland international Robertson will no doubt give a glowing report to O’Neill as Maloney capped a miserable couple of hours for the Ireland following news of Roy Keane'ss retirement from international football.

But Ireland had the Scots on the rack in the seventh minute when Wes Hoolahan's corner broke to John Thompson, but his low shot was saved by Derek Soutar from eight yards.

Sunderland striker Kevin Kyle, however, almost opened the scoring for the home side with a glorious long-range effort in the 15th minute.

He controlled a pass from Kilmarnock favourite Peter Canero brilliantly on his chest before hitting a right-foot screamer which beat Graham Stack from almost 40 yards but also flew just over the crossbar.

Scotland sliced the Irish defence apart a minute later with Gareth Williams threading the ball through, but Maloney and Canero both collided and Stack gladly gathered the ball.

The home side were let off the hook, however, in the 29th minute when a mistake by Brian Kerr was jumped upon by Andy Reid, but with two men with him he screwed his effort wide.

The young Scots were again fortunate two minutes later not to concede a penalty when Stephen Hammell clearly brought down Thomas Butler in the area.

Bonhof’s side responded by going close themselves moments later when Kyle rose to head Williams’ corner on target, but Reid made a vital block inside his six-yard box.

Clifford Byrne was the first to be shown a yellow card in the 40th minute for a reckless tackle on Canero 25 yards out, but it was well within Maloney’s range.

The youngster had done very little in the first-half, but he stepped up to curl a David Beckham-like right-foot shot over a rooted Stack and into the top left corner of the net.

Boss Rainer Bonhof must have been under instructions to go easy on Maloney - with John Hartson suspended for the Stuttgart game – and he was one of five changes at the break.

But Scotland continued to look strong and they should have doubled their lead in the 55th minute when Caldwell headed a corner straight at Stark from eight yards.

Don Givens introduced Dunfermline’s recent signing Noel Hunt moments later for Thompson and he was looking to make an impact in front of Jimmy Calderwood and Jimmy Nicholl.

But the Scots were handed a glorious chance to increase their margin on the hour when James McFadden was fouled in the box by substitute Sean Thornton, but the Preston target stepped up himself to blast his left-foot shot just past the upright.

Former Celtic youngster Simon Lynch, however, did find the net at the second attempt a minute after coming on for Kyle following good work from Canero to secure the victory.

But by that time Maloney had already overshadowed his team-mates and will now be looking to step in from Larsson’s shadows during the coming weeks.