Justin Devenny and Shea Charles find net as Northern Ireland win in Luxembourg

Justin Devenny and Shea Charles scored their first international goals as Northern Ireland opened their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 3-1 win in Luxembourg.

An early Jamie Reid strike was cancelled out by Aiman Dardari but Charles struck less than 30 seconds into the second half, and after Luxembourg defender Seid Korac was shown a second yellow card, Devenny’s 69th-minute strike secured Northern Ireland’s first competitive away win since March 2023.

It earned three points an injury-hit Northern Ireland team knew they needed to secure ahead of Sunday’s trip to Cologne to face Germany – beaten 2-0 by Slovakia in the other Group A fixture – and one that came only 10 months after they blew a 2-0 lead in this stadium to draw 2-2 in the Nations League.

Michael O’Neill’s side came bursting out of the traps. Two minutes in, Conor Bradley won the ball and darted towards goal. Though he ran into traffic the ball sat up for Ali McCann to strike at Anthony Moris.

Three minutes later, Korac slipped in the box and the ball fell for Reid, denied by a good save from Moris. Play continued, but referee Andris Treimanis was told to check the screen by VAR Kristas Ratnieks as Korac handled after slipping.

Moris made his third save of the game to keep out Isaac Price’s penalty but Reid pounced on the rebound for his first competitive international goal.

That early promise rapidly disappeared and the frustration of O’Neill, soaked through by incessant rain, was obvious as his side kept conceding possession, though the hosts – under new management with Jeff Strasser 17 days into the job – did not threaten until the 27th minute.

Bailey Peacock-Farrell, making his first Northern Ireland appearance in a year in the absence of Pierce