Republic of Ireland 3 Bosnia & Herzegovina 0
Will Smallbone found the net in each half at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night as the Republic of Ireland Under-21s kept their European Championship qualification hopes alive with a commanding triumph over Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Ademipo Odubeko also grabbed a goal in front of a crowd of 3,057 to edge Jim Crawford’s charges within a point of both Sweden and Italy at the summit of the Group F table. Should they achieve a similar result against Montenegro in the same venue on Monday, it would move them into a play-off spot — at the very least — with a final encounter with Italy still to come.
Currently plying his trade at Premier League outfit Southampton, Smallbone was quick to leave his imprint on this contest. After Amar Memić, Jasmin Osmić and Ivan Bašić had fired off-target for Bosnia during the early exchanges, the Basingstoke native delivered a telling right-wing cross towards Odubeko.
The West Ham United teenager (playing in his home village of Tallaght) couldn’t direct his header on target, but was instrumental in the breakthrough goal on 16 minutes. His deft touch from a Gavin Kilkenny pass found its way into Smallbone’s path and he proceeded to race beyond Nenad Nikić before firing underneath the body of opposition netminder Luka Damijanović.
This presented the hosts with an ideal platform in their penultimate home game of the campaign and given their opponents essentially had just pride to play for, they were expected to push on from this point.
Nevertheless, Bosnia did pose an occasional attacking threat and Derry City custodian Brian Maher was forced to turn away an Aleksandar Kahvić effort in the 44th-minute.
Ireland remained in the ascendancy at the interval, but were issued a stark reminder of how precarious their lead was when Bašić drilled agonisingly over the crossbar eight minutes after the resumption.
Bosnia persisted with their challenge and right-back Lee O’Connor cleared a Tarik Muharemovic header from a Bašić corner off the line on the hour mark. This was swiftly followed by Maher’s excellent stop off a Jasmin Osmić strike as the pressure on Ireland continued to be ramped up.
They weathered this storm effectively, however, and subsequently doubled their advantage on 63 minutes. Latching on to a Ross Tierney pass, Odubeko displayed great composure to rifle a low shot beyond the reach of Damijanović.
If this finish put Ireland within sight of a win, then Smallbone’s second with nine minutes remaining well and truly placed the outcome beyond doubt. Although substitute Evan Ferguson was the intended target from Tyreik Wright’s cross on the right-hand side, Smallbone was perfectly positioned to slot home at the far post and wrap up a fine evening’s work for the Republic.
Republic of Ireland: Maher; O’Connor, McEntee (O’Brien, 53 mins), McGuinness, Bagan; Kilkenny (Devoy, 78 mins), Coventry; Smallbone, Tierney (O’Neill, 64 mins), Wright; Odubeko (Ferguson, 64 mins).
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Damijanović; Dejanović (Mešinović, 72 mins), Muharemovic, Marjanović, Nikić; Savić, Bašić, Sučić (Popara, 72 mins); Memić, Kahvić (Lukić 46 mins), Osmić.
Referee: L Cibelli (Switzerland).
