Republic of Ireland: Ferguson bags first senior goal in 3-2 friendly win over Latvia
The 18-year-old striker stars for Stephen Kenny's side in Dublin
Last updated 23rd Mar 2023
Brighton's teenager striker Evan Ferguson scored his first international goal as the Republic of Ireland beat Latvia 3-2 in Dublin in a friendly.
Callum O'Dowda and a winner from Chiedoze Ogbene completed the scoring for Stephen Kenny's side.
Ferguson (18), who has scored six goals in his last 13 games for Brighton, needed just 17 minutes to open his account on an incident-packed night at the Aviva Stadium.
After the game Kenny was full of praise for his players.
"What we have now is a high number of players who have come through, unprecedented in our history the number in a short proximity," he said.
"That has given us depth in our squad.
"Evan, it's his first start and he got a goal. You can't predict things in the future. He is still learning the game and he took everything in his stride.
"Will (Smallbone), having watched a lot of Stoke recently, I'm just so impressed with how he has kicked on. He has added other aspects to his game so he has given us something to think about.
"Mikey (Johnston), that was a snapshot of what Mikey can be."
Next up for the Republic - France in a Euro 2024 qualifier on Monday in Dublin