Sheffield Wednesday striker features for Northern Ireland youths against Portugal stars from Porto and Benfica
Devlan Moses was involved in Sheffield Wednesday’s first-team last season
Young Sheffield Wednesday striker Devlan Moses featured for Northern Ireland under-21s against Portugal.
The 20-year-old is yet to make his first senior start for The Owls but made nine appearances off the bench last season, eight in the Championship and one in the FA Cup.
The forward has scored regularly in the academy and was rewarded for his efforts by manager Henrik Pedersen, who gave him minutes against the likes of Brentford and Ipswich Town.
Owls fans wanted to see more of Moses towards the end of the campaign although others understood the cautious approach to blooding youngsters after several suffered injuries earlier in the season.
Wednesday night’s match was played at Estádio António Coimbra da Mota, home of G.D. Estoril Praia. The fixture pitted Northern Ireland’s youths against talent from some top clubs including Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. Highly-rated West Ham midfielder, Mateus Fernandes, was captain.
Portugal led 2-0 at half-time after a penalty on 14 minutes from Gustavo Sa before Geovany Quenda doubled the advantage 10 minutes before the break. Moses, who has been capped at under-19 and under-21 level and scored for both age groups, came on at half-time as manager Tommy Wright made a quadruple change.
Portugal dominated the game with possession stats, shots, shots on target and corners all hugely in their favour and they eased to a comfortable victory as Quenda grabbed his second and a third of the night for the hosts on 72 minutes. An own goal from Harry Lynch made it 4-0 on 90 minutes.
Elsewhere, fellow Owls youngsters Logan Stretch and Will Grainger have received call-ups from Wales under-19s for two friendly games against Qatar and Sweden.