Northern Ireland Stun Ukraine 3-0 to Top Nations League Group B2
Ciaron Brown brace and Isaac Price header lift young side clear in Trnava
2 min read
File photo: Northern Ireland national football team before a 2021 match in Sofia. Photo: Biser Todorov, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Young side go clear at the top
Northern Ireland produced one of their finest recent away displays to beat Ukraine 3-0 in the UEFA Nations League on Friday night in Trnava, Slovakia, moving clear at the top of League B Group B2 with seven points from three matches.
Oxford United defender Ciaron Brown scored his first two international goals, in the ninth and 61st minutes, either side of an Isaac Price header in the 22nd minute. Michael O’Neill’s starting XI had an average age of 22 — Northern Ireland’s youngest post-war lineup — with Brown, 28, the only starter over 24.
How the goals came
Brown opened the scoring when Ruairi McConville headed a corner back across goal and the centre-back prodded home despite Illia Zabarnyi’s efforts on the line. Price doubled the lead from Kieran Morrison’s cross on a counter-attack, giving the 19-year-old Liverpool loanee an assist on his first competitive start.
Brown’s second arrived in unusual fashion: he flicked on Pierce Charles’s free-kick from inside the Northern Ireland half, and Ukraine goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk let the bouncing ball through his legs. It was Northern Ireland’s third clean sheet of the group stage.
Context and reaction
Ukraine, ranked 37 places higher, hosted the tie in Slovakia because of the war with Russia and made 10 changes for a second straight match. BBC Sport noted that only Sweden and France had beaten Ukraine in the previous 12 months before Northern Ireland joined that list.
O’Neill praised McConville and Tom Atcheson, saying both “have no ceiling.” Price told BBC Sport: “There’s a big togetherness in a young group. We’re loving it and we love coming away.”
Hungary’s 1-0 win over Georgia left Hungary and Ukraine on four points; Georgia have one. Northern Ireland host Georgia at Windsor Park on Monday before November’s remaining fixtures. Topping the group would mean promotion to League A and a five-team Euro 2028 qualifying group.
