England secured promotion back to the top tier of the Nations League with a 5-0 romp over 10-man Ireland in interim manager Lee Carsley’s last game in charge at Wembley on Sunday.
After a turgid first half, Harry Kane’s penalty, Anthony Gordon’s volley and a tap-in by Conor Gallagher in the space of five minutes at the start of the second broke Ireland’s resolve.
Jarrod Bowen made it 4-0 with a crisp shot from the edge of the area, his first touch after coming off the bench, before debutant Taylor Harwood-Bellis headed England’s fifth.
Ireland played virtually the whole of the second half with 10 men after Liam Scales was sent off for a foul on Jude Bellingham that resulted in England’s penalty.
England finished top of Group B2 with 15 points from six games, the same as Greece but with a superior goal difference in the two games between the two nations.
Carsley will now hand over the reins to Thomas Tuchel having won five of his six games in charge and with some useful pointers for the German who takes charge in January.
While it was no surprise to see captain Kane on the scoresheet for his 69th England goal, the four other scorers all notched their first senior international goals — the first time that had happened for England since 1930.
With a long list of regular starters unavailable, Carsley also gave a first cap to Newcastle United fullback Tino Livramento and a first start to his club team mate Lewis Hall while Southampton’s Harwood-Bellis celebrated his first senior cap with a goal.
“A really important win for us. It has been a really good camp and two tough games,” Kane said. “We got the job done in Greece and again here. It was a tough first half but we came out with more energy and we finished it off.
“Thomas (Tuchel) has a lot of players to choose from. A lot of young players that have come in and done well and some more experienced players that are injured and will be looking to come back so there’s a good balance.”
England gave a large early Sunday evening crowd nothing to get excited about in a tedious first half in which Ireland were well-organised and neither side managed an effort on target.
But the floodgates opened when Kane’s superb pass found Bellingham in the area and as he tried to cut inside Scales, the Celtic defender hacked him down to concede a penalty and earn himself a second yellow card and Kane tucked away the spot kick.
Ireland then collapsed. Gordon steered in a volley to double the home side’s advantage and Gallagher prodded in after a corner was flicked on.
Bowen’s clinical first-time finish and Harwood-Bellis’s header made sure Carsley’s brief era ended on a real high.
Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson said his side had ‘lost their heads’ in the second half.
“We kind of just gave up. Easy to stand outside and criticise the players but it was a crazy moment that killed everything,” he said. “All of a sudden it’s 3-0 against a good team and there’s no way out.”
