Conor Bradley a 'really special' talent - O'Neill

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill praised Conor Bradley's attitude after the 20-year-old scored both goals in his side's 2-0 win over Andorra in Murcia on Tuesday night.

The Liverpool player found the net twice in the space of six first-half minutes, on both occasions coming off the right wing to finish from inside the six-yard box.

After also providing the winner against Scotland in March, the County Tyrone man has now scored all three of Northern Ireland's goals in their two most recent victories.

"We've got a really special young player who can only continue that way," said O'Neill, whose side returned to winning ways after a 5-1 defeat by Spain on Saturday.

"His attitude to the game is maybe his biggest attribute, he just loves to play.

"He trains that like that, he always trains at his maximum and I think at times the other younger players feed off that."

While predominantly a right-back for his club in the Premier League, O'Neill has used Bradley further forward in recent games and said he has even considered deploying him as a central midfielder.

"Conor has demonstrated the ability and the versatility to play pretty much anywhere down the right side but the damage he did [against Andorra] is when he arrived in central areas.

"As you can see, when he gets in the box the timing of his runs and his finishing is great. I think he could probably play as an eight. We had discussed that.

"I think there's certain games where, if we played with a midfield three, he'd be suited to play as a right eight."

In a game played in front of just 400 supporters in the Estadio Nueva Condomina, Northern Ireland fans urged Bradley to shoot whenever and wherever he picked up the ball in the second half, hoping to see Northern Ireland's first hat-trick since David Healy against Liechtenstein in March 2007.

He did come close, hitting one effort against the goalkeeper from close range, but O'Neill would take him off after 75 minutes.

"He was disappointed I took him off but I'm protecting him in that side of things," added the manger.

"There's something about getting in those positions and taking chances. We had other chances in the game that we should have done better from. 

"We had good opportunities and it's not easy against a team that just foul you, so many fouls that were not punished appropriately. 

"The game got stop-start then, but we didn’t get frustrated.”

Nottingham Forest defender Aaron Donnelly made his international debut as a second-half replacement, following on from St Mirren midfielder Caolan Boyd-Munce who won his first cap against Spain last week.

West Ham forward Callum Marshall, who created Bradley's opening goal and had a good opportunity at the end of the first half, was making his first start for Northern Ireland.

“Overall, I think it was a good exercise for us," said O'Neill.

"At 2-0 we were comfortable in the game. We scored two good goals and we probably should have scored more, if we're honest. We were a bit disappointed we didn't get a goal in the second half.

“These lads are at the start of their careers and we are trying to help them and show they can play international football.

“It can be difficult to break through at top clubs and some players are on loans. We can assist them so they can play as high a level as possible, but the key for us was to give players opportunities and they have got caps."