Aston Villa midfielder Conor Hourihane scored his first senior international goal as Republic of Ireland earned a deserved Euro 2020 qualifier victory against Georgia on Tuesday.
Ireland, who won 1-0 against Group D minnows Gibraltar on Saturday, won by the same scoreline at the Aviva Stadium.
The Irish fans threw tennis balls onto the pitch in protest at John Delaney remaining in the FAI hierarchy. However, shortly after the delay, Hourihane scored a magnificent free-kick to give his side the lead.
Football fans all over the world were quick to praise the Aston Villa midfielder on social networking site Twitter. Here are some of the selected tweets:
Great free kick by hourihane – sadly overshadowed by the tennis balls incident
— Conor Gilmer (@conorgilmer) March 27, 2019
Man like hourihane ??
— Josh Bradbury (@joshbrads89) March 27, 2019
Is there an argument to be made that in a footballing sense the protest gave the Irish team time to organise the free kick in terms of Duffy and Hourihane being in sync/Duffy blocking out the far end of the wall and Hourihane aiming for that bit of the wall ? #12thManProtest
— Justin (@SwedishRedDevil) March 27, 2019
Death, taxes and Conor Hourihane curling them in. For me the best ever ???? pic.twitter.com/414S3vAq8s
— Ryan¹⁰ ? (@Ryxn_AVFC) March 26, 2019
Hourihane scored that exact free kick against Blackburn and Derby. He’s playing so well at the minute. Grown into the jersey.
— Cian Carroll (@CianByNature) March 26, 2019
Tennis balls, Hourihane – what a racket. #IREGEO
— Jim Beglin (@jimbeglin) March 26, 2019
Keeper Darren Randolph denied Valeriane Gvilia before half-time while Jaba Kankava hit the woodwork, but Mick McCarthy’s men stayed resolute to move to the top of Group D.
Hourihane, who won only his eighth cap for his country, curled in a superb free-kick with his left-foot, although question marks remain on the positioning of the goalkeeper.
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