Armstrong Oko-Flex scored a brace as the Ireland U21 side made it three wins from three in their European Championship qualifying campaign.
Jim Crawford's side were ahead after 15 minutes, when Bosun Lawal headed a set piece on to the crossbar, before Oko-Flex guided the ball home with a right footed half-volley.
The FC Zurich youngster added another just before the hour mark, when he was picked out by Tony Springett after some brilliant work down the right flank from the Norwich City man.
It wasn't the smoothest connection for Oko-Flex, who dug the ball into the ground before it bounced up and made its way into the Latvian net via a deflection off a defender.
The goal that has Ireland Under-21s ahead! 🇮🇪
Armstrong Oko-Flex netting his first U21s goal 👏#IRLU21 | #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/rdpFaZCAz6— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) October 13, 2023
Andrew Moran scare for Ireland U21s
That was the hard work done for Ireland, with the score remaining at 2-0 to the visitors until injury time, when Lukkas Vapne pulled one back for Latvia.
While Ireland got the three points they came for, it wasn't all good news, as talisman Andrew Moran went off after picking up a knock midway through the second half.
The extent of the damage is still unknown at the time of writing, but the injury is sure to cool talk of Moran being drafted into Stephen Kenny's senior squad for the trip to Gibraltar on Monday.
Armstrong Oko-Flex x2 ⚽️⚽️
A great day for Armstrong in Latvia as he nets his second goal 🇮🇪 (0-2)#IRLU21 | #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/v1tTgsftVe— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) October 13, 2023
Ireland U21s beat Latvia to maintain 100% qualifying record
In terms of the group, Ireland's U21s couldn't have asked for a much better start, after a dramatic late win over Turkey was followed up by fairly straightforward victories against San Marino and now Latvia.
There are still stern tests to come, most notably double-headers against both Italy and Turkey, but having come so close last time out, it seems that Crawford can dream once again about taking Ireland to their first-ever European Under-21 Championships.
