Pierce and Shea Charles celebrate starring roles in Northern Ireland win
Goalkeeper Pierce Charles saved a penalty before his brother scored a late winner against Georgia.
Pierce and Shea Charles enjoyed a special post-match celebration together after their starring role in Northern Ireland’s first ever Nations League away win.
After Pierce saved Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s 65th-minute penalty, his brother Shea scored the winner in a 1-0 victory over Georgia with almost the last kick of the game, nine minutes into time added on in Tbilisi.
Pierce Charles made other key saves, showing superb reflexes to stop Georges Mikautadze’s close-range effort early in the second half, while Shea dominated in midfield and, as he admitted himself, should have put Northern Ireland in front earlier than he did in the Group B2 clash.
The brothers have already enjoyed some memorable moments together in international football but this was on another level.
“We’re just proud to make the family back home so happy,” Pierce said. “I’m happy for Shea as well but it was never in doubt, he performs like that in every game.”
Shea had a similar response. Asked how it felt to see his brother facing down Paris St Germain’s Ballon d’Or contender Kvaratskhelia, he said: “I always back Pierce.
“Patrick Kelly came up and said to me, ‘He’s going to save this’. Yeah, he’s done really well to save it and made a few other really good saves. It’s a credit to him for the win.”
For his own part Pierce played down the pressure of facing a player of Kvaratskhelia’s calibre.
“There’s no pressure on me, so I back myself all day to save it,” said the 21-year-old, now on loan at QPR after rejoining Manchester City. “You do your research before the game and it has paid off.
“At the end of the day, it’s a penalty, all of them are from 12 yards. He’s a great player. I just focus on myself and I saved it.”
Pierce, still only 21, has made the number one shirt his own but this was his best night yet in international football as he kept Northern Ireland’s first competitive clean sheet away from home since October 2024 – which just happened to be his debut against Belarus.
“It just shows far the team has come,” he added. “It’s a team achievement keeping a clean sheet, like scoring a goal. The team can be so happy.”
Pierce was named player of the match but the honour could easily have gone to Shea who ran the show in midfield, the confidence from his summer move to Fulham easy to see.
“The two boys were brilliant,” Michael O’Neill said. “I thought Pierce played extremely well, not just his distribution but he makes a big save in the second half as well.
“But 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.
“And I thought Shea and Ethan (Galbraith) were both brilliant in midfield. Shea was colossal. Not just on the ball, but I felt physically, his ability to step past people, the amount of times he was fouled and the referee for some reason didn’t want to produce a card despite the number of fouls on him.
“But I thought he was fabulous.”