Ireland's Conor Hourihane scored an excellent opener for Aston Villa as they beat Newcastle United 2-0 in Monday night's Premier League encounter.
On a good night for the 28-year-old, he also set up the second goal of the night.
The Birmingham club took the lead on 32 minutes through the Cork-born midfielder.
Harbinger of Joy?
Villa captained Jack Grealish teed him up at the edge of the Newcastle box and Hourihane curled an excellent free-kick into the back of the net inside Martin Dubravka's near post.
😉 In what will hopefully be a harbinger of joy in March, 🇮🇪Ireland's Conor Hourihane scored a brilliant goal past 🇸🇰 Slovakia's Martin Dubravka tonight @paddypower #AVFC #AVNEW
The Football Show is LIVE here: https://t.co/hu1l5AcNUt pic.twitter.com/owlldv43iy
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) November 25, 2019
Ireland fans will hope it's a harbinger of joy for March's Euro 2020 playoff against Slovakia. That's given the fact that Dubravka is also the central European nation's nominal starting goalkeeper.
Villa didn't have long to wait for their second. Four minutes after Hourihane's opener, Anwar El Ghazi turned in an excellent free-in from the Ireland midfielder.
They held on to that 2-0 advantage and the win lifts Villa up to 15th in the table, four points above 18th place Norwich. They also climb above out-of-form Everton and West Ham. However, Newcastle remain one point and also one place above Villa in the Premier League table.
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