The Arsenal teenager came off the bench late on and still found time to threaten as Northern Ireland moved clear at the top of their group.
Ceadach O’Neill won his fourth senior cap for Northern Ireland as they produced a superb 3-0 Nations League victory over Ukraine in Trnava on Friday night.
The 18-year-old Arsenal forward was introduced with six minutes remaining, replacing Terry Devlin, and had the chance to add a fourth goal shortly afterwards.
Northern Ireland had already taken control of the game by then and it was over as a contest. Ciaron Brown scored his first two international goals, opening the scoring after nine minutes from a corner before adding another shortly after the hour.
His second came when a headed flick from Pierce Charles’s free-kick deceived Ukraine goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk and the ball bounced through his legs in the most hilarious of fashions, giving the Northern Ireland keeper an assist.
Isaac Price had doubled Northern Ireland’s lead in the 22nd minute, heading home after a counter-attack involving Shea Charles, Brodie Spencer and Kieran Morrison.
O’Neill, who had already settled his international future earlier in this break, made another lively impression from the bench.
Within minutes of coming on, he reacted quickest in midfield and showed a sharp burst of pace to get away from the Ukraine defence. A recovering defender then gave him a subtle shove in the back inside the area, knocking him off balance and denying him the chance to make it 4-0. The nudge was enough to ensure the opportunity was lost but sadly not enough to warrant a penalty.
By that point, however, Northern Ireland’s youngest post-war starting line-up had already done the damage.
The victory moved them three points clear at the top of League B Group 2 with seven points from two wins and a draw.
It also lifted Northern Ireland from 70th to 64th in the FIFA rankings, while Ukraine dropped from 33rd to 34th.
Northern Ireland have yet to concede during this international break.
They finish the window against Georgia in Belfast on Monday night.
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