It seems even when sibling rivalry reaches the level of international football, older brothers still make a habit of stealing the show. As the clock ticked beyond 97 minutes in Northern Ireland's Nations League B Group 2 opener against Georgia in Tbilisi on Friday, goalkeeper Pierce Charles seemed sure to be the man making the headlines. Quite apart from saving a penalty from Ballon d'Or nominee Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the second half, the Queens Park Rangers loanee had made a handful of other smart stops to preserve what was set to be Northern Ireland's first competitive clean sheet away from home since Charles' 2024 international debut against Belarus.
A credible point on the road would have represented a solid start to the campaign for Michael O'Neill's side on their return to the second tier of the competition after six years away, especially after Georgia had significantly upped the tempo after the break. But then, in the 99th minute, up popped the more senior Charles sibling, Shea, with Northern Ireland's latest ever goal, to give the 60 or so visiting fans the most memorable of away days. "Classic Shea," laughed Pierce when asked whether his brother had stolen his thunder.
In truth, this was a night in Tbilisi when both brothers deserved a sizeable share of the credit for leading the side to a first ever away win in the Nations League. Northern Ireland manager O'Neill said: "The two boys were brilliant. I thought Pierce played extremely well, not just his distribution but he makes a big save in the second half as well.
"He gives you a great range of control because of his passing and everything around that. He gives the back three a lot of security because they know they can go back there. "Shea was colossal, not just on the ball but I felt physically, his ability to step past people, the amount of time he was fouled and the referee for some reason didn't want to produce a card despite the number of fouls on him.
I thought he was fabulous." On what Pierce, 21, felt was his best performance in a Northern Ireland shirt, it was the goalkeeper rather than the match-winner who picked up player-of-the-match honours. While he credited pre-match research for his denial of Paris St-Germain star Kvaratskhelia from 12 yards, his older brother always believed he had the big moment in him. He's done really well to save it and make a few other a really good saves.
It's credit to him for the win," Shea said. "I thought after the penalty save we really stuck together and got a bit of control of the game. I think that's why we've come away with the win." NI win in Georgia after Kvaratskhelia penalty miss O'Neill left 'baffled' by refereeing in late win The Fulham midfielder felt he should have scored "a couple more" before his late strike, but this was another commanding performance in the middle of the park from the 22-year-old.
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