Caoimhín Kelleher the hero with penalty save as Evan Ferguson heads Ireland to second Nations League win

In the medium term, there is no escape from tests of endurance as Ireland now enter a play-off over two legs next March to try and keep alive their status as a League B team.

But in the longer term, the size of the challenge in making Ireland a force again, and a side that could even make a stab at qualification for the 2026 World Cup, is writ large as ever.

While the victory, thanks to Evan Ferguson’s first-half header, will be welcomed by Heimir Hallgrimsson, ahead of what’s bound to be a very stern test away to England on Sunday, this win threw up as many questions as answers.

Ireland v Finland video review: Heimir cut to the chase and said Ireland were lucky, which they were

The goal from Ferguson, the saves from Caoimhín Kelleher and some incisive attacking play from Mikey Johnston were the tastiest takeaways for the Ireland boss, but he cannot ignore the fact that a side with a stronger squad and more precision than an average Finland team would have put Ireland away.

Across the week, the message from the Ireland camp was that a change of attitude was needed, that for things to improve Ireland needed to play on the front foot, be more aggressive from the start of a game and not only show initiative when they were a goal behind, as had happened in the previous two games.

That didn’t come to pass as Ireland were, again, slow starters. Off the pace for long spells of the first half, they could have been 2-0 down as the Finns had enjoyed more possession and chances before Ferguson popped up to score right before half-time, the fourth of his international career.

From early on, Finland began to assert control, some good build-up play creating the first chance of the game on 17 minutes when Nikolai Alho and Robin Lod combined to set up Kaan Kairenen, whose shot was deflected.

The visitors had a compelling spell around the half-hour mark, Johnston gifting possession to Alho, who set up Lod, but the Minnesota player saw his shot come off the post, to the relief of Kelleher in the Ireland goal. Then just after that, Benjamin Kallman, who was guilty of a horrendous miss in the game at home to Ireland, got his head to a cross from Oliver Antman, but the effort lacked precision.

They came very close to scoring three minutes before the break, with Ireland again exposed as Antman had too much freedom to finish off a strong run with a shot, deflected by Nathan Collins onto the post. Collins was alert to head clear the rebound.

Happy

The Finns would have been relatively happy with their display by this stage and the plan would have been to get to half-time still on level terms.

But Ireland woke from their slumber and took the lead right before the interval. Callum O’Dowda played in Johnston, who won his duel with his marker and crossed into the box, with Ferguson timing his run perfectly to get in between Matti Peltola and Robert Ivanov to head home.

Puzzled and perturbed to be 1-0 down having dominated so much in terms of possession and chances, the Finnish approach after the break seemed to be more of the same, hoping that something would fall their way and that they could break that Irish resistance.

They looked more likely to score and sub Joel Pohjanpalo served notice of his ability with a snap shot on 67 minutes. They had a real chance to draw level six minutes later when, after a check with VAR, referee Harm Osmers decided that the ball had struck the hand of Ferguson after Glen Kamara had dinked a cross into the box.

But the spot-kick from Pohjanpalo was saved by Kelleher, who stopped the initial shot and then bravely saved from the rebound.

That proved the key moment of the night as two average sides played out the closing stages with little quality.

IRELAND: Kelleher; Doherty (O’Shea 76), Collins, Scales, O’Dowda; Ebosele (Molumby 76), Cullen, Knight, Johnston (Manning 84), Szmodics (Cannon 84), Ferguson (Azaz 76).

FINLAND: Hradecky; Uronen (Hakans 63), Ivanov, Hoskonen, Alho (Niskanen 84); Peltola (O’Shaughnessy 58), Lod, Kamara, Antman (Pohjanpalo 63); Kallman (Pukki 84), Kairenen.

REF: H Osmers (Germany).