Evan Ferguson says he is hungry for more goals now that he is off the mark for the Under-21s.
The Brighton and Ireland striker scored the equaliser in Friday’s European Championships play-off first-leg against Israel.
His header leaves the tie poised at 1-1 ahead of the return in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
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And the 17-year-old sensation is confident that he can deliver again in Ireland’s bid to reach a first finals at this level.
“I just try my best every game and get as many goals as I can. This is the first goal and hopefully there will be more to come,” he said.
Ferguson settled into Friday’s game after a bruising start. Aware of his talent, the Israeli defenders gave him little room for manoeuvre in the early stages.
However, the powerful frontman wasn’t long in getting to grips with the close attention.
“It’s international football. They like to get physical and into you and see what you’re like in the first 15 or 20 minutes,” he said.
“As the game went on I felt like we had more joy compared to them so it was good.
“We just kept going and we got the goal.”
Reflecting on Friday’s performance, he said: “I feel like it was a good game. I feel like we were the better team at times.
“Coming in at half-time it is obviously not good conceding, but we took positives from it. We knew that if we kept going we could push on.”
Looking ahead to Tuesday’s game, he reckons set-pieces could be key once again.
While disappointed to concede at a corner, Ferguson was happy with the quality of dead ball deliveries at the other end, particularly in the second-half.
Prior to his equaliser, from a Tyreik Wright corner, defender Eiran Cashin twice went close from dead-ball routines.
“We had a few corners, so I just said I would try my best to get my head on this one,” said Ferguson of his goal.
“They were coming and coming, and I just wanted to get my head on one.
“We practice a lot on our set-pieces. It's obviously disappointing to concede from one, but it's a positive that we scored from one.”
According to Ferguson, Jim Crawford’s men have nothing to fear ahead of Tuesday’s second-leg.
“I feel we have got a lot of positives from that game and we obviously know what they are like now, so I don't think we have anything to fear.
“I feel like we know what we are going into. It is going to be difficult because it is the away leg, but we’ll take positives from the game.
“They are obviously a good team if they have got this far. But we knew what they were like, and we’ll see what happens in the next game.
“But definitely I am looking forward to it.
“It would mean a lot for all of us to qualify. I think everyone is here for the same reason, to get into those finals. It would be an unbelievable achievement if we did.”
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