Ireland 1
Armenia 0
TROY PARROTT GOT the only goal, as Ireland deservedly beat Armenia 1-0 in front of 3,658 spectators at Tallaght Stadium tonight.
The Dublin-born striker produced a clinical first-half finish after being set up by the influential Aaron Connolly, with Ireland making it two wins out of two in their Euros qualifying campaign.
There has been no shortage of hype surrounding the Tottenham youngster in recent months, and he opened the scoring tonight to back up the relentless talk of late.
Ahead of the game, Stephen Kenny handed U21 debuts to Parrott and Bournemouth’s Gavin Kilkenny.
Parrott was part of an attack-minded line-up, with Adam Idah up top and Kilkenny and Aaron Connolly either side of the Spurs youngster just behind the frontman.
Elsewhere, Ireland were unchanged from their 3-0 opening qualification win over Luxembourg in March, with the back four and sitting midfielders retained.
The Boys in Green started well and went close inside five minutes. Jayson Molumby’s quick free caught Armenia off guard, but Conor Masterson was unable to steer Gavin Kilkenny’s cross on target.
Ireland continued to probe and went close again in the 16th minute. Connolly showed his pace with a bursting run down the left. The Brighton starlet’s cross was deflected into the path of Idah, but the striker could not get a proper contact on it as he stretched for the ball.
Moments later, Vahan Bichakhchyan tested Caoimhin Kelleher with a shot from distance, while down the other end, Jayson Molumby’s driven effort was saved by Sevak Aslanyan.
Connolly continued to prove a thorn in the visitors’ side and another pacy run saw him set up Parrott, whose shot from the edge of the area was deflected narrowly wide.
And it was the Brighton man again who was integral as Ireland opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark. He showed the opposition full-back Erjanik Ghubasaryan a clean pair of heels before his cross left the unmarked Parrott with a simple finish.
Moments later, Ireland could have doubled their advantage. Parrott nodded on for Idah to run through on goal, but the forward sliced his finish from a difficult angle.
Connolly looked dangerous every time he got the ball and in the 38th minute, he cut inside Ghubasaryan, before his low shot was parried away for a corner by Aslanyan.
31: GOAL!
— eir Sport (@eirSport) September 6, 2019
IRELAND U21s 1-0 Armenia U21s
Troy Parrott nets on his debut from close range, following Aaron Connolly's brilliant run and cross down the left flank.
LIVE now on eir sport 1! #IRLU21 #U21EURO pic.twitter.com/AdtGTSso0g
The second half began in a similar manner to the first, with Ireland controlling the game.
Armenia did provide a reminder of their threat in the 53rd minute though, as Rudik Mkrtchyan drove forward on the counter before shooting narrowly wide from the edge of the area.
Ireland were almost gifted a second goal five minutes later. Hovhannes Nazaryan’s unwittingly passed straight to Idah, who played through Parrott. The Spurs starlet’s finish, however, came back off the post, with Idah firing over the rebound.
Just after the hour mark, Connolly caused more problems down the left. He evaded the challenge of a number of defenders, but then shot wildly off target.
With the attack needing freshening up, Kenny introduced League of Ireland pair Danny Mandroiu and Zachary Elbouzedi, as Kilkenny and Idah made way.
The changes allowed Parrott to become the most advanced frontman, and the 17-year-old almost scored his second shortly thereafter. He was on the end of a flowing Irish counter-attack, though Aslanyan got down well to smother his shot from a tight angle.
With the score at 1-0, there was always a chance of Armenia scoring, though that outcome rarely looked likely, with Masterson and Dara O’Shea marshalling the backline well and the visitors’ threat sporadic at best.
Ireland saw out the game comfortably and will go into next week’s clash away Sweden feeling confident from their encouraging start to the campaign.
Ireland: 1. Caoimhin Kelleher 2. Lee O’Connor 3. Darragh Leahy 5. Dara O’Shea 4. Conor Masterson 6. Conor Coventry 8. Jayson Molumby 17. Gavin Kilkenny (Elbouzedi 66) 10. Troy Parrott (Afolabi 82) 11 Aaron Connolly (Knight 88) 9. Adam Idah (Mandroiu 66)
Subs: 23. Gavin Bazunu 7. Zachary Elbouzedi 12. Jason Knight 14. Daniel Mandroiu 16. Jake Doyle-Hayes 19. Jonathan Afolabi 20. Jack Taylor 21. Liam Scales 22. Danny McNamara.
Armenia: 1. Sevak Aslanyan 3. Hovhannes Nazaryan 4. Albert Khachumyan 5. Edgar Grigoryan 7. Karen Melkonyan 10. Armen Nahapetyan (Tsaturyan 82) 11. Vahan Bichakhchyan (Khamoyan 76) 14. Artur Nadiryan (Vardanyan 82) 18. German Kurbashyan (Movesesyan 69) 20. Rudik Mkrtchyan 22. Erjanik Ghubasaryan
Subs: 12. Mark Grigoryan 16. Grigorii Matevosian 6. Erik Vardanyan 9. Arien Tsaturyan 13. Arman Mkrtchyan 15. Artur Khachatryan 17. Armen Asilyan 21. Edgar Movesesyan 23. Aram Khamoyan
Referee: Fyodor Zammit (MLT)
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