Eighteen year old Newcastle United star in the making Rory Finneran made his full senior international debut on Saturday.
The exciting Newcastle United teenager getting his first ever senior international call up by Heimir Hallgrimsson (pictured above) for his Republic of Ireland senior squad.
The 18-year-old and his international teammates playing a friendly in Murcia against Grenada at 5pm on Saturday afternoon.
Rory Finneran only turned 18 in February and has been a key player for the Newcastle United Under 21s this season who finished third in the league, only Man City and Man U above them. Against serious competition from countless clubs he signed for Newcastle United from Blackburn Rovers in 2024.
Rory Finneran captained the Republic Of Ireland Under-17s that made it through to the last 16 of the Under 17 World Cup in Qatar last year.
Ahead of yesterday’s friendly, Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson had picked out Rory Finneran for special praise after watching the young United midfielder train this week: “We will see if Rory Finneran is ready or not but… based on training, he is a really impressive young player. The future is his now, so he needs to nurture his young talent.”
The 18-year-old saw his moment arrive after 73 minutes, Rory Finneran arriving off the bench wit the Republic of Ireland 3-0 up.
The Newcastle United teenager made an immediate impact, winning a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. Having already scored twice, Tom Cannon denied a hat-trick when taking the free-kick and seeing it hit the crossbar rather than the back of the net.
Cannon missing out on a hat-trick but Jack Moylan got two late goals to get his, which won him the man of the match award as well as the match ball.
Congratulations to Rory Finneran, safe to say this will be the first of many matches he will play for the Republic of Ireland.
Final Score: Republic of Ireland 5 Grenada 0
Republic of Ireland: O’Leary (Keeley 73); Knight, Abankwah, McGuinness (Cannon 46), O’Shea, Adaramola (Ferry 46); Molumby (Finneran 73), Coventry (Moran 46); Ogbene (Alli 63), Idah (Emakhu 63), Moylan