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northern ireland The World Cup qualifying Group A campaign concluded with a disappointing 1-0 win over Luxembourg at Windsor Park thanks to Jamie Donnelly’s first international goal.
Making his first competitive start for Northern Ireland, Donnelly dispatched a penalty in the 44th minute, sending Anthony Morris the wrong way after Christopher Martins fouled Ciaron Brown in the box.
This solitary attack proved sufficient to settle a largely uninspiring encounter.
The home team had initially raised hopes of finishing second in the group, but a 1-0 defeat to Slovakia on Friday dashed that hope.
Despite an unfavorable end to the qualifiers, Northern Ireland can still hope to make the play-offs in March, a reward for winning last year’s Nations League group.
Michael O’Neill made six changes, handing Jamie McDonnell his first start, replacing the injured Bailey Peacock-Farrell with Conor Hazard and also bringing Donnelly, Brown, Jamal Lewis and Ethan Galbraith back from suspension.
The manager left out Troy Hume altogether and kept Justin Devaney and Josh Magennis on the bench for the play-off semi-final amid uncertainty over the rules for those already on yellow cards.
On Sunday the Northern Ireland manager said that his request for clarification on the rules had gone unanswered, but the official team-sheet showed that no players, including those in yellow, were at risk of a ban.
After a minute’s applause in memory of George Best, who died 20 years ago this month, the match began in an atmosphere of no play.
Isaac Price hit a volley straight at Morris in the ninth minute, before a neat move started by Donnelly and involving Galbraith and Price ended with Lewis, making his first international appearance in 13 months, producing a blistering performance.
Fans were on the edge of their seats when Donley headed in Galbraith’s cross in the 17th minute, but it was later ruled out for offside in the build-up.
Luxembourg, whose only goal of a disappointing campaign was a 3-1 defeat to Northern Ireland in September, was in danger as Christopher Martins was denied by a good save from Hazard, making his first competitive start in more than two years. Moments later, Dirk Karlsson went wide.
But it was pretty light until five minutes before half-time when referee Christo Tohvar was sent to the screen by VAR Bram van Driessche, who saw Martins catch Brown with his boot.
There were half-hearted appeals from the Northern Ireland players, who were busy watching Price fire from the edge of the box, but to Luxembourg’s anger the penalty was awarded.
Morris and coach Dan Huet – who stepped in for the suspended Jeff Strasser on the touchline – were both booked for their protests before Donnelly went on to score Northern Ireland’s 100th World Cup qualifying goal at Windsor Park.
Among the many changes in the second half was an 86th cap for Magennis, taking 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 subdued.
It ended with Luxembourg appealing for a penalty as Benfica’s Leandro Barreiro tripped under Kelly’s challenge, but Tohvar cleared his protest at the final whistle.