Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill praises the ‘real quality’ of Jamie Donley

Michael O’Neill hailed Jamie Donley’s “real quality” after the 20-year-old’s first international goal gave Northern Ireland a 1-0 win over Luxembourg in their final World Cup Group A qualifier.

Donley scored from the penalty spot in the 44th minute after Christopher Martins was punished for catching Ciaron Brown, and the on-loan Stoke forward had already seen one strike ruled out before then with Ethan Galbraith offside in the build-up.

In a much-changed Northern Ireland line-up, Donley’s performance was a bright spot on a drab night at Windsor Park, where it was obvious little was riding on the game – the prospect of a top-two finish gone but a play-off place secured all the same.

“Jamie’s a real player, real quality,” O’Neill said. “I wanted to see him as a nine. There’s no secret the nine is a problem position for us and I think Jamie has different attributes from some of the other strikers.

“I thought he did really well in the game. He’s clever, his link-up play is good. He took the penalty well and you saw the finish for the goal that was disallowed. Ethan was offside, but you saw the quality that Jamie displayed in that moment.”

Donley caught the eye while at Leyton Orient last season, but this campaign has been more difficult with limited game time at Stoke, where he has made only six appearances so far.

“He’s unfortunate that the loan he’s on at the minute from Spurs to Stoke is not going as he would have planned and he’s not been given many opportunities, but hopefully that situation resolves itself in January,” O’Neill added.

“He’s a really high technical level of player, a great left foot, real awareness and great vision, just a really good footballer – simple as that. I watched him at Orient last year in many