Evan Ferguson-Sammie Szmodics chemistry on night Ireland got the luck

Luck, as it sometimes does, played its part in Ireland's 1-0 victory over Finland last night.

Reminiscent of the previous away fixture, where Ireland nearly conceded with a late Finnish header which narrowly missed the bottom corner, only for Robbie Brady to find the winner shortly after, last night's match echoed that uncanny twist of fate.

In a very open game where the balance of play swung often, Ireland had an element of luck on their side once again. Despite this often open performance, where Kelleher’s heroics, along with Finland hitting the post twice, I still found myself feeling we were deserving of the win.

That may seem odd, considering the visible gaps between our defence and midfield at times along with the heavy reliance on Kelleher’s double penalty save.

But there’s merit in the aggression that Heimer Halgrímsson’s team selection infused into the team. His choices for the evening, including a brave 4-4-2, demonstrated a front-foot mentality against a struggling Finnish side.

The most notable of his team selection was the pairing of Evan Ferguson and Sammie Szmodics in a traditional two-up-top.

When Szmodics was listed as a striker, I anticipated a hybrid role, one where he’d drop deeper to help our midfield two while linking with Ferguson in attack when the opportunities presented themselves.

But in reality, Szmodics operated as the higher forward, regularly stretching the Finland defence while Ferguson dropped into those deeper spaces to link the play.

This approach aimed to stretch the Finland defence but naturally left Ireland vulnerable in midfield – a risk that didn’t go unnoticed as the game unfolded. Szmodics was lively, his disallowed goal a fine example of the chemistry between the pair.

Ferguson’s