Ireland have come back from a 1-0 deficit to record their first win of the Hallgímsson beating Finland in Helsinki. Second-half goals from Liam Scales and Robbie Brady proved the difference in The Boys in Green's 2-1 win over the hosts.
It was Finland who struck first, with a sloppy Nathan Collins mistake gifting the Fins an early 1-0 lead against the run of the play. However, it wasn't long before Ireland and Robbie Brady were back on top of the hosts with goals looking inevitable.
From the moment he re-emerged from the tunnel, Robbie Brady was a man with a mission. As well as driving Ireland's attack throughout the half, Brady delivered a sensational freekick to set Liam Scales up for his first international goal and draw the score level.
With the game in deadlock, Fest Ebosele's introduction made all the difference, with the substitute delivering a fantastic cross to set Brady up for an 87th-minute winner and leave Irish fans reminiscing about Lille.
🇫🇮 1-2 🇮🇪
Ireland lead! Festy Ebosele does so well to fashion the chance and it's lashed home magnificently by Robbie Brady. ☘️☘️
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https://t.co/XnOP6grnB7
🖥️ https://t.co/uiLtcfKbBP pic.twitter.com/WttqwQR4Mn
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) October 10, 2024
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Robbie Brady triumphant after heroic performance
Speaking after his man-of-the-match performance in Helsinki, a proud Robbie Brady struggled to contain his praise for his teammates telling Tony O'Donoghue of RTÉ that he could sense the result coming.
It was up there (with that goal in Lille). You see the hard work the lads are putting in every camp and the results are not going our way.
You could sense something was coming, there's millions of pounds worth of young talent in that dressing room and just delighted to get the win tonight.
Modest as ever, Brady waved compliments away from his own incredible free kick to the goal scorer Scales, hailing his ability to get a goal out of it.
Scalesy done unbelievable to get himself a goal there and Festy with a bit of magic when he came on, I thought he was excellent.
Pace and power and a great delivery for the second. I think I heard some of them 'try a cross' but as soon as it sat up I thought I'd hit it, lucky enough it went in.
Heimir Hallgrimsson and player of the match Robbie Brady reflect on a sweet win for the Republic of Ireland in Helsinki with @Corktod #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/yXle7zFKn3
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) October 10, 2024
The sensational effort from Brady spanned much of the ninety minutes, with the Irish veteran leading the country's attack for much of the second half and doing more than his fair share of work to earn the man of the match award.
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