Jamie Donley scored his first senior international goal on Monday evening to give Northern Ireland a narrow 1-0 win over Luxembourg in their final World Cup 2026 qualifier.
Making just his second start for his country on what was his sixth cap, Donley – currently on loan at Stoke City – confidently slotted home a 44th-minute penalty after Luxembourg’s Christopher Martins caught Ciaron Brown in the box. In what was a hard-fought game at Windsor Park, Donley’s spot-kick proved to be the only goal of the game as Northern Ireland held out despite some late pressure from the visitors.
The forward was replaced in the 67th minute by Callum Marshall but his lively performance will have impressed manager Michael O’Neill. Northern Ireland couldn’t qualify from their group following defeat to Slovakia on Friday but have secured a World Cup play-off place by virtue of their Nations League performance.
Elsewhere, Luka Vuskovic was left out of Croatia’s squad for their 3-2 World Cup qualifying win away to Montenegro on Monday, as he returned to the Under-21s set-up for their Euro Under-21 Championship qualifier in Hungary on Tuesday evening.