![\"Jamie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/TJ73457LCRC75DS2XRWLCZJ5MY.jpg\")
Jamie Mullins in action for Ireland. Photograph: James Lawlor\/Inpho <\/p>\nEuro under-21 qualifier: Rep of Ireland 1 (Noonan 65) Andorra 0<\/p>\n
Substitute Michael Noonan struck a crucial 66th-minute goal at Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday night as the Republic of Ireland under-21s held off a stubborn challenge from Andorra to make it two wins from two in Group D of the Uefa European Under-21 Championship qualifiers.<\/p>\n
While the nation might have been in need of a boost following the crushing disappointment of the senior side\u2019s loss to Armenia in Yerevan, the main focus for Jim Crawford\u2019s underage outfit was building on a 2-1 away victory over Moldova in Nisporeni last Thursday.<\/p>\n
Jad Hakiki provided the assist for the first of Mason Melia\u2019s two goals against the Moldovans and the Sligo Rovers man released Rocco Vata in the penalty area at a right-hand angle with just three minutes on the clock. Although the Watford star was able to get a shot away, Andorra netminder Marc De Castro turned his effort behind for a corner.<\/p>\n
Despite Ireland largely being on top of possession for the remainder of the opening quarter, they were struggling to create clear-cut opportunities. The visitors also looked quite comfortable when they found themselves inside the Irish half and Jan Guma forced a fine save from opposition custodian Noah Jauny as the action progressed.<\/p>\n
Jamie Mullins in action for Ireland. Photograph: James Lawlor\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Scoring chances were few and far between throughout the first half, however, and it came as little surprise that the deadlock remained unbroken heading into the dressingrooms at the break.<\/p>\n
In an attempt to inject some life into his side\u2019s play, Irish boss Crawford introduced highly rated Liverpool youngster Trent Kon\u00e9-Doherty upon the resumption. Even though Vata and Jamie Mullins both tested the resolve of De Castro from distance, Kon\u00e9-Doherty ultimately combined with another substitute to help Ireland to finally open the scoring in Tallaght.<\/p>\n
Playing on his home pitch, 17-year-old Shamrock Rovers prospect Noonan was added to the home team\u2019s attack on 65 minutes. His impact on the play was immediate as he was picked out in space by Kon\u00e9-Doherty \u2013 following a memorable run up the left-wing by the Derry native \u2013 and he proceeded to unleash a superb left-footed drive into the Andorran net from outside the box.<\/p>\n
This put the hosts on course for maximum points in their opening two games of this qualification campaign and while they breathed a sigh of relief when Andorra captain Gerard Sola fired over from close-range at the end of normal time, Noonan\u2019s second-half finish was enough for them to claim the spoils.<\/p>\n
REP OF IRELAND: Jauny; Devaney, Abankwah, Grehan, Alex Murphy; Hakiki (Lipsiuc, 79 mins), Mullins, McCarthy (Noonan, 65), Vata; Vaughan (Kon\u00e9-Doherty, 46), Melia (Adam Murphy, 79).<\/p>\n
ANDORRA: De Castro; Rodriguez (Acosta, 82 mins), Borra, Olivera, Cornella (De Sa, 82), Rodrigo; Boutarfas (Santaella, 77), Remolins, Ferreira (Torne, 90), Guma; Sola.<\/p>\n
Referee: H Ziskason Vidoy (Faroe Islands).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Euro under-21 qualifier: Rep of Ireland 1 (Noonan 65) Andorra 0 Substitute Michael Noonan struck a crucial 66th-minute…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11182,61,60,43,3405],"class_list":["post-11084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-action","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}