Philip Mulryne was the hero for Northern Ireland tonight after his strike secured a 1-1 draw away to Denmark and ended their six-match losing run. Although Sammy McIlroy's team have no chance of making it to the World Cup finals in Japan and Korea next summer, they have been eager to put their recent horrific run behind them and finally did so tonight against the Group Three leaders who went into this game unbeaten in 11 matches.
The injury-ravaged Irish spent most of match in their own half, and looked set for another defeat when they conceded a soft goal after just three minutes. A throw-in from Stig Tofting was carelessly headed across his own area by Colin Murdock and Dennis Rommedahl capitalised to nod home into an empty net.
Denmark continued to pile on the pressure but as the game wore on, Northern Ireland settled somewhat and began to enjoy greater possession. However, they failed to create any real scoring opportunities during the first-half and Denmark thoroughly deserved their lead at the interval.
After the break, Sammy McIlroy's men did carve out some chances of note as they produced a much better performance than they did in the opening 45 minutes. However, despite their improvement, it was still a shock to the home side and their fans when Mulryne headed home Keith Gillespie's pin-point cross from the right in the 73rd minute to notch up his third international goal.
The Irish survived a few more nervy moments over the final quarter-hour and on the final whistle, McIlroy punched the air in delight as he celebrated the best result yet under his management.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
