England rout 10-man Eire 5-0 and are promoted back to Group A of the Nations League
By Paul Lagan at Wembley Stadium
England 5 v Eire 0
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England's main man Harry Kane got the opening goal, that caused a flood as Eire were eventually dispatched 5-0 at Wembley this evening.
But the Irish can count themselves a tad unlucky. They created a game plan where the Three Lions were paralysed in the opening 45 minutes.
England had the ball but had little opportunity to do anything constructive with it.
It looked as if something had to happen to break the deadlock.
Within minutes of the restart for the second half, Eire's game plan started to collapse like a deck of cards.
Liam Scales had already got a yellow card in the first half, and when he upended Noni in the penalty area, in the second, referee Erik Lambrechts had no option but to award a penalty and a second yellow card – quickly followed by a red.
Harry Kane, made no errors from the spot.
This gave England the confidence to plug away and they overpowered their opposition, whose game plan was to stifle, They had no plan B and England took full advantage.
The win means England are promoted to Group A of the Nations League and interim manager Lee Carsley can return to his U-21 side with a pocketful of experiences under his belt
A Noni-inspired run and cutback set up England's first effort, which saw Curtis Jones try his luck from the edge of the area. The b all was deflected away by Josh Cullen for a corner, from which Kyle Walker headed over the crossbar.
While England totally dominated possession, the occasional flurries by Eire seemed to needlessly put the Three Lions under pressure.
Evan Ferguson was a tad unlucky not to get a VAR nod after centre-back Marc Guehi, tugged at his shirt as both players clashed in the England penalty area on 22 minutes.
Neither side made a change at half-time.
The second half started as the first with the home side camped in the opposition half.
The insipid game stung to life on 52 minutes when a defence-splitter from Harry Kane of the left found Noni. The Chelsea winger cut inside but was upended by Liam Scales, who gave away a penalty, and, as he had already been yellow-carded, received another followed by a red.
Up stepped Kane who coolly slotted home past Caoimhin Kelleher.
With a man's advantage to add a misplaced knock on and England scored again.
Newcastle's Anthony Gordon's perfect right-footed side volley was too much for Kelleher.
Number three was not far behind and from a corner, ex-Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher was on hand to tuck in from close range after a proper knock-on, this time by Guehi, on 58 minutes.
Kyle Walker was then replaced, for his debut by Taylor Harwood-Bellis on 62 minutes.
He was soon followed by Dominic Solanke, Morgan Rogers and Jarrod Bowen. Off went, Gordon, Gallagher, and Noni.
Bowen was on the field about 25 seconds before he drove home a left-footer from the edge of the Eire penalty area to make it 4-0.
Curtis Jones then left to be replaced by Angel Gomes.
Harwood-Bellis got in on the goal-scoring act on 80 minutes, latching o to a great right byline cross to powerfully head home from six yards out to take the score to 5-0.
Teams: England, Pickford, Walker Gallagher, Guehi, Kane, Bellingham, Gordon, Hall, Livramento, Jones, Noni
Subs: Lewis, Gibbs-White, Angel, Henderson, Quansah, Harwood-Bellis, Watkins, Rogers, Bowen, Solanke, Trafford
Eire: Kelleher, O'Dowda, O'Shea, Scales, Cullen, Szmodics, Molumby, Ferguson, McGuinness, Ebosele, Collins
Subs: O'Leary, Travers, Doherty, Parrett, Johnson, O'Brien, Moran, Aziz, Manning, Coventry, McAteer, Cannon
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