{"id":294023,"date":"2023-10-12T17:24:50","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T17:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/?p=294023"},"modified":"2023-10-12T17:24:50","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T17:24:50","slug":"ciaran-mcguckin-header-hands-10-man-northern-ireland-under-21s-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/soccer\/ciaran-mcguckin-header-hands-10-man-northern-ireland-under-21s-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Ciaran McGuckin header hands 10-man Northern Ireland under-21s victory"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Northern Ireland under-21s secured their first win under manager Tommy Wright the hard way as they played more than half of Thursday\u2019s 1-0 victory over Azerbaijan with 10 men in Baku.<\/p>\n
Ciaran McGuckin headed Northern Ireland in front with 19 minutes gone from Sean Stewart\u2019s corner but the Euro 2025 qualifier changed eight minutes before the break.<\/p>\n
Aaron Donnelly, part of Northern Ireland\u2019s senior squad back in June, brought down Murad Velijev inside the penalty area to be shown a straight red card, but Northern Ireland were spared further punishment when Dzhamal Dzhafarov sent the resulting penalty wide of the target.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly Azerbaijan kept Northern Ireland pegged back for long spells after the break but could not find a way past goalkeeper Stephen McMullan.<\/p>\n
The Fleetwood stopper did well to keep out a long-range strike from Samir Maharramli with 19 minutes left before Velijev headed over from a corner.<\/p>\n
But there was no way through as former St Johnstone boss Wright, appointed in August, could celebrate a first win after his opening two qualifiers in charge ended in 1-0 defeats to Luxembourg and Ukraine last month.<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland will continue their qualifying campaign with a home match against Serbia at Mourneview Park on Monday evening.<\/p>\n