Albania pulled off a major shock by downing Portugal as world champions Germany denied battling Scotland and minnows Gibraltar were demolished by Poland in the opening salvoes of Euro 2016 qualifying on Sunday (Sep 7).
Scotland's goalkeeper David Marshall (C) fails to save a ball scored by - AFP/de
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Mueller's winner denied Gordon Strachan's side what would have been a precious point in a group that also includes the
Everton winger Aiden McGeady got the
Manager Martin O'Neill and his assistant Roy Keane's first competitive game in charge appeared to be heading for a draw, after Tornike Okriashvili cancelled out McGeady's 24th minute opener.
But McGeady bagged a crucial three points away from home with a magical 90th minute winner, curling home a precious winner.
Captain Robbie Keane lauded McGeady's skill. "If you score a goal like that, you deserve to win the game. If anyone else did that, the top players in the world, you would be talking about it for a long time. "The turn, the touch, the finish - only he could do that. No one else on that field would have been able to do that."
O'Neill suggested there was better to come from his men. "I think there's improvement in the team - we've won away from home, which is terrific - but there's definitely improvement in the team." Next month O'Neill's men face Gibraltar and
Michael O'Neill's side's hopes of registering a first away success in four years looked unlikely when former Watford striker Tamas Priskin headed home a 74th-minute corner.
But with 10 minutes remaining, McGinn's tap-in after a great run from Lafferty put the visitors back in the game. Then on 87 minutes McGinn turned provider who managed to scramble the ball over the line.
Euro 2016 qualifying results:
At Tbilisi
Georgia 1 Republic of Ireland 2
At Dortmund, Germany
At
Gibraltar 0 Poland 7
At Budapest
Hungary 1 Northern Ireland 2
At Torshavn
Faroe Islands 1 Finland 3
At Piraeus
At Copenhagen
Denmark 2 Armenia 1
At Aveiro, Portugal
Portugal 0