Ireland<\/a> player to score a hat-trick on his debut since David Kelly against Israel 39 years ago.<\/p>\nAnd Tom Cannon got the ball rolling with two quick-fire goals shortly after his half-time arrival.<\/p>\n
Overall, there were seven debuts and plenty of promise ahead of two more friendlies – against Qatar and Canada – and the Nations League campaign after the summer break.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how we rated Ireland\u2019s players\u2026<\/p>\n
Max O\u2019Leary – 6<\/p>\n
Had very little to do during his time on the pitch, but he dealt with anything he needed to, including collecting a first-half cross and clearing his lines.<\/p>\n
James Abankwah – 6<\/p>\n
Solid on the ball and looked to join in attacks as there was very little happening in the Irish final third. Tested the goalkeeper with a shot.<\/p>\n
Mark McGuinness – 6<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll be kicking himself that he didn\u2019t score his first Ireland goal with a first-half header.<\/p>\n
Dara O\u2019Shea – 7<\/p>\n
Committed to attack as much as possible and good on the ball.<\/p>\n
Jason Knight – 7<\/p>\n
He was asked to play two different roles tonight – right-wing-back and in the three-man defence – and he acquitted himself well in both.<\/p>\n
Jayson Molumby – 6<\/p>\n
Saw plenty of the ball in midfield but, particularly in the first-half, was sometimes slow to get it forward.<\/p>\n
Conor Coventry – 7<\/p>\n
Showed an eagerness to get on the ball and get attacks going. Denied a goal by a fine save.<\/p>\n
Tayo Adaramola – 6<\/p>\n
Linked up well on occasion with Jack Moylan down the left and his pace caused plenty of issues for the Grenada defenders.<\/p>\n
Chiedozie Ogbene – 7<\/p>\n
Hit the post with one effort, moments after he teed up Adam Idah for a glorious chance. He got some rough treatment from opposition defenders at times.<\/p>\n
Jack Moylan – 9<\/p>\n
After seeing a couple of first-half chances saved, his head could have dropped. But he kept going and was rewarded with a sensational second-half hat-trick.<\/p>\n
Adam Idah – 6<\/p>\n
He should have scored in the first-half, but missed an open goal from eight yards.<\/p>\n
SUBS<\/p>\n
Will Ferry: His half-time introduction transformed Ireland\u2019s performance. A great debut and an assist for Tom Cannon\u2019s opener. 8<\/p>\n
Andrew Moran: On for Conor Coventry at half-time and his range of passing was a joy to watch. 8<\/p>\n
Tom Cannon: A first goal just a minute after he came on at half-time, a second 10 minutes later and an injury-time hat-trick chance saved. 8<\/p>\n
Aidomo Emakhu: Introduced in the 63rd minute and the former Shamrock Rovers attacker was lively on the right. 6<\/p>\n
Millenic Alli: Another 63rd minute introduction, he claimed an assist with the cross for Moylan\u2019s hat-trick. 7<\/p>\n
Josh Keeley: Introduced for his first senior Ireland appearance with 16 minutes to go. (not on long enough to rate)<\/p>\n
Rory Finneran: In his 16 minutes on the pitch the 18-year-old showed plenty of potential, including one run that led to a free-kick that Tom Cannon smashed against the bar. (not on long enough to rate)<\/p>\n
Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a new-look Ireland side but there were plenty of impressive performances. 20:41, 16 May 2026Updated 20:41,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4700,61,60,43,57217,144894],"class_list":["post-452487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-national-football-team","tag-uefa-nations-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452487","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=452487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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