Carling Nations Cup: Wales 2 Northern Ireland 0

Goals from Aaron Ramsey and Robert Earnshaw helped Wales to a 2-0 friendly win over Northern Ireland on Friday.

The match was part of the inaugural Carling Nations Cup in Dublin and the result saw Northern Ireland finish bottom of the tournament without a point or a goal and having conceded 10 in three matches.

They were slightly better defensively in front of a poor crowd at the Aviva Stadium on Friday, but their resistance was broken after 36 minutes when Arsenal’s Ramsey netted the opener.

Ramsey was the beneficiary of a rebound from Jonny Tuffey’s save, after he pushed Craig Bellamy’s cross away from goal, and from 15 yards out the midfielder buried a well-struck shot high into the net.

Earnshaw capped the victory with his second goal in as many matches for his country with 21 minutes remaining and it was a goal to remember.

After receiving a pass from David Cotterill, Earnshaw took a touch and turned before rifling a swerving shot into the back of the net from outside the area.

The win saw Wales avoid a seventh successive defeat, something they had never done in 107 years of football, and gave Gary Speed his first victory as national team boss.

The Carling Nations Cup comes to a close on Sunday when the Republic of Ireland battle Scotland in the final of the four-team tournament.