WALES BOSS Ryan Giggs lauded Harry Wilson for his exceptional free-kick against Ireland, joking that he fined the youngster for scoring a similar goal against Manchester United earlier in the season.

Wilson’s sensational set-piece strike proved the difference in Dublin on Tuesday, as Wales moved top of their Nations League group with a 1-0 victory.

The Liverpool winger - on loan at Derby County in the Championship - scored an equally as impressive free-kick against Giggs’ former club United in the EFL Cup in September, and the Wales manager was delighted to see Wilson continue his form on the international stage.

“Harry Wilson, I fined him for the goal at Old Trafford a few weeks ago, I won’t be tonight!” Giggs joked to Sky Sports.

“He does it all the time in training; it’s practice, practice, practice.

“I’m so proud – they dug in right to the end. It was a brilliant second-half performance.

“The determination pleased me, to not give a goal away. We set out to win the group. It’s a tough group and now it is in our hands.”

Wales are already guaranteed a place in pot two of the draw for Euro 2020 qualifying, and a win against Denmark in their next outing will secure promotion to the top tier of the Nations League.

Ireland, meanwhile, will be relegated to League C should Giggs’ side fail to beat the Danes, and Martin O’Neill lamented a lack of creativity in his squad after the home defeat.

“I felt we should have scored early on, and we are not renowned for scoring a lot of goals so we need to take our chances,” O’Neill told Sky Sports.

“It was a grandstand finish and I thought we could have got something, but I thought there were a lot of positives despite the result.

“They have a great spirit, we lack a little bit of technical ability. We have spirit in abundance but that won’t take you everywhere. We need to be more creative if we can.”

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