Slovakia take all three points against Northern Ireland in U21 Euro qualifier

Slovakia U21 2-1 Northern Ireland U21

A late penalty condemned Northern Ireland Under-21s to a 2-1 defeat in their Euro 2023 qualifier away to Slovakia on Friday.

Jakub Kadak scored from the spot in the 86th minute after Ethan Galbraith committed a foul in the penalty area.

Slovakia had led through Matej Trusa's first-half strike before Carl Johnston levelled for the visitors just after the hour.

Northern Ireland had been hoping to do the double over Slovakia after last September’s 1-0 win in Mourneview Park – a win would have moved them level on points with their hosts in Group C – but they were outplayed in Zilina.

Slovakia had 17 efforts on goal compared to only six for Northern Ireland, and immediately had John Schofield’s side under pressure with Roland Galcik and Adrian Kapralik going close early on.

Jan Barnet then hit a post and the pressure told in the 37th minute when Trusa beat Ollie Webber with a neat finish.

Shea Charles went close for Northern Ireland early in the second half and they levelled when Johnston was on hand to turn in Chris McKee’s cut-back from close range.

Northern Ireland went close to taking the lead late on when Aaron Donnelly met Galbraith’s free-kick, denied by Lubomir Belko, and Slovakia punished them moments later.

Northern Ireland could not mount a response in the time that remained, with Webber needing to prevent Tomas Bobcek from adding to the score.

Schofield’s side now head to Calais for Monday’s friendly against France – a fixture that replaced the cancelled qualifier against Russia.