Kosovo have been pushing at this door for a while. On Thursday night in Pristina they finally shoved it open against the Republic of Ireland, winning their Nations League Group B3 opener 1-0 through a Vedat Muriqi header seven minutes from time. Nobody who watched the whole match could argue with the result.
Muriqi was a problem all night
The Fenerbahce striker, who scored four times in his most recent club game, spent ninety minutes making the Irish back line look uncertain. Jayson Molumby cleared one effort off the line in the first half. Caoimhin Kelleher flew across his goal to keep out another. The third time Muriqi got a sight of it, in the closing stages, there was nothing anyone could do: Ermal Krasniqi's shot came back off the crossbar and Muriqi was there to head in the rebound.
Ireland felt Dara O'Shea had been shoved in the build-up and said so, loudly. The video assistant referee looked at it and let the goal stand. Fadil Vokrri Stadium went up.
One shot on target
This was the Republic's first competitive fixture since losing March's World Cup play-off semi-final to the Czech Republic, and it was a thin performance. One shot on target across the whole game tells most of the story. Chiedozie Ogbene had their best opening in the 22nd minute after James Abankwah teed him up, and put it over the bar. Troy Parrott, whose goals carried Ireland to those play-offs in the first place, managed a back-post header early in the second half that the goalkeeper gathered comfortably, and did very little else.
Heimir Hallgrimsson had gone with a back five, which he described beforehand as a mark of respect to the hosts, and which included a first competitive start for Abankwah of Udinese. It did not slow Kosovo down much. Baton Zabergja kept finding space down the left, and the visitors spent long stretches chasing the ball rather than touching it.
"An off day for a lot of our players"
The Ireland manager was blunt afterwards. "They deserved the win if I'm absolutely honest," Hallgrimsson said. "There was nothing we didn't know about how they'd play but it was an off day for a lot of our players." Asked whether the attention surrounding Sunday's fixture against Israel had affected his squad, he said he could not measure it. Kosovo, for their part, had their own disruption going in: captain Amir Rrahmani retired abruptly after falling out with the country's football federation, and they won anyway.
Match facts: Kosovo 1-0 Republic of Ireland, Uefa Nations League Group B3, Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina, Thursday 24 September 2026. Scorer: Vedat Muriqi, seven minutes from time. Ireland have now won four of their 23 Nations League matches. They face Israel in Debrecen, Hungary, on Sunday at 19:45 BST.
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