Former Linfield youngster Matthew Orr rounds off ‘amazing couple of weeks’ with international goal

After sealing a move to Nottingham Forest Matthew Orr netted for Northern Ireland U21s in their draw away in Georgia

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for former Linfield youngster Matthew Orr. The highly-rated teenager completed his switch to Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest before the August deadline after a breakthrough season with the Blues.

And to put the cherry on top of the cake Orr netted a crucial equaliser for Northern Ireland Under-21s in their tricky away clash with Georgia to kick-off their qualification campaign for U21 Euro 2027.

It was another former Blues star, Liam McStravick, who delivered the set-piece for Orr, who fired in from close range with 65 minutes on the clock cancelling out Luka Latsabidze’s first half opener for the hosts.

Orr couldn’t hide his delight afterwards when he was asked about the last couple of weeks.

“I can’t really describe how it’s been. It’s been an amazing couple of weeks,” said the 18-year-old.

“I just have to keep my head down and keep working because we have another camp next month and we have to try and get whatever results we can out of that.

“We’re delighted as it’s a tough place to come. We knew we were going to have to work hard and grind to get a good result out here. Thankfully I was able to play my part and help the team.”

Under-21 boss Tommy Wright was full of praise for Orr and the other young players he has drafted into the squad as he handed debuts to Leicester City midfielder Ryan Donnelly, Dundalk striker Eoin Kenny and Arsenal forward Ceadach O’Neill.

“It was a good ball into the box, Matty get’s good first contact and it just drops for him and he puts it in, so really pleased with that,” said Wright.

“I was pleased with the whole squad, especially pleased with the young ones how they’ve come in and integrated with the squad and how they’ve applied themselves in training.

“I said to them before the game how difficult it is to come away from home in international football and get a result.

“I thought we stayed in the game and in the second half we were really good.

“We pressed them a little higher, we think we had a good goal disallowed and Ceadach has a great chance just cleared off the line in the last couple of minutes.

“They threw everything as us in the last couple of minutes but we defended really well.”