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Northern Ireland concluded their World Cup qualifying Group A campaign with a lacklustre 1-0 victory over Luxembourg at a subdued Windsor Park, courtesy of Jamie Donley’s first international goal.
Donley, making his first competitive start for Northern Ireland, dispatched a 44th-minute penalty, sending Anthony Moris the wrong way after Christopher Martins fouled Ciaron Brown in the box.
This solitary strike proved sufficient to settle a largely uninspiring encounter.
The home side had initially harboured hopes of securing second place in the group, but Friday’s 1-0 defeat to Slovakia rendered this fixture a dead-rubber.
Despite the anticlimactic end to the qualifiers, Northern Ireland can still look forward to a play-off spot in March, a reward for their Nations League group triumph last year.
Michael O’Neill made six changes, handing Jamie McDonnell his first start, replacing the injured Bailey Peacock-Farrell with Conor Hazard and also bringing in Donley, Brown, Jamal Lewis and Ethan Galbraith, back from suspension.
The manager left out Trai Hume completely and kept Justin Devenny and Josh Magennis on the bench, citing the risk of suspension for the play-off semi-final amid uncertainty over the regulations for those already on a yellow card.
On Sunday the Northern Ireland manager said his request for clarification on the rules had gone unanswered, but the official team-sheet showed there were no players, including those on a yellow, at risk of a ban.
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Despite the anticlimactic end to the qualifiers, Northern Ireland can still look forward to a play-off spot in March, a reward for their Nations League group triumph last year (Liam McBurney/PA Wire)
After a minute’s applause in memory of George Best, who died 20 years ago this month, the match kicked off in an atmosphere becoming of a game with nothing riding on it.
Isaac Price hit a volley straight at Moris in the ninth minute before a neat move started by Donley and involving Galbraith and Price ended with Lewis, making his first international appearance in 13 months, blazing over.
Fans were off their seats in the 17th minute when Donley turned in from Galbraith’s cross, but it was ruled out with latter being in an offside position in the build-up.
Luxembourg, whose only goal of a miserable campaign came in September’s 3-1 loss to Northern Ireland, threatened as Christopher Martins was denied by a good save from Hazard, making his first competitive start in more than two years. Moments later, Dirk Carlson swept wide.
But it was pretty tepid stuff until five minutes before half-time when referee Kristo Tohver was sent to the screen by VAR Bram Van Driessche, who had spotted Martins catching Brown with his boot.
There had been half-hearted appeals from Northern Ireland players, who were busy watching Price fire wide from the edge of the box, but the penalty was given to the fury of Luxembourg.
Both Moris and coach Dan Huet – who stepped in for the suspended Jeff Strasser on the touchline – were booked for their protests before Donley stepped up to score Northern Ireland’s 100th World Cup qualifying goal at Windsor Park.
Amid a number of second-half changes there was an 86th cap for Magennis that moves him level with Keith Gillespie as Northern Ireland’s 10th most-capped players and a debut for Barnsley’s Patrick Kelly, but a poor contest was petering out.
It ended with Luxembourg appealing for a penalty as Benfica’s Leandro Barreiro tumbled under a challenge from Kelly, but Tohver waved away their protests as the final whistle blew.
