Ireland's U21s on verge of play-off spot after victory over Montenegro

6 June 2022; Will Smallbone of Republic of Ireland celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's first goal during the UEFA European U21 Championship qualifying group F match between Republic of Ireland and Montenegro at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

U21 Euro 2023 qualifier 

IRELAND 3 (Will Smallbone 41, Liam Kerrigan 56, Tyreik Wright 67) MONTENEGRO 1 (Viktor Đukanović 77)

Ireland are on the brink of clinching their first-ever U21 Euro play-off after a second swashbuckling win in the space of four days.

Jim Crawford’s side did to Montenegro at Tallaght what they also achieved against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday by scoring three times.

Once again, Will Smallbone was the architect in chief of the triumph – thumping in the opener four minutes before the break and setting up a second for Liam Kerrigan on 56 minutes.

The watching Stephen Kenny could do worse than promoting the Southampton midfielder for Wednesday’s Nations League game against Ukraine, given the lack of midfield spark on Saturday in Saturday’s defeat to Armenia.

Tyreik Wright slotted home the third following a cross by substitute Evan Ferguson and Viktor Đukanović’s reply 10 minutes was always going to be a consolation.

This victory – coupled with Italy’s 3-0 win in Luxembourg – makes the permutations in the final week of the regulation qualifiers straightforward.

The table sees Italy ahead on 20 points, Ireland on 19, with Sweden two points further adrift.

Unless second seeds Sweden beat the Italians on Thursday, then the runner-up berth and play-off place is Irelands.

A draw in that fixture in Ascoli would also afford Ireland the dizzying opportunity of travelling to Ascoli for the final match on Tuesday week with group victory to play for.

The only shame about this vital victory was the paltry attendance of 3126, less than half of the Tallaght capacity.

Whatever about the closure of the M50 on Friday due to an accident affecting the first attendance, there was no excuse for such a disappointing turnout.

However, a recurrent theme on social media developed about fans experiencing difficulty purchasing tickets online.

IRELAND: B Maher; L O'Connor, E Cashin, M McGuinness, T Adaramola (A Lyons 83); W Smallbone, C Coventry; L Kerrigan, C Noss (G Kilkenny 63), T Wright; JJ Kayode (E Ferguson 63).

MONTENEGRO: N Izevic; D Saletic, A Babic, O Obradovic, D Pesukic; N Janjic (P Vukcevic 69), M Brnovic (S Krstovic 60); V Dukanovic, Z Divanovic (V Strikovic 86), I Vukcevic (L Mijovic 59); N Krstovic.

REFEREE: J Petrik (Czech Rep).