Italy 2 Northern Ireland 0: Northern Ireland's scoring drought hit 882 minutes as they fell to Italy who scored through Bernardo Corradi and Marco Delvecchio in Campobasso last night.
Northern Ireland manager Sammy McIlroy gave six players their first international cap but his side's run without a win went to 10 games.
Italy warmed up nicely for next week's crunch Euro qualifier away to Finland and an experimental Italian team still proved too strong for the visitors who have failed to score for almost 18 months and rarely looked like ending their dismal goal drought in balmy southern Italy.
A goal in each half by Lazio striker Corradi and substitute Delvecchio wrapped up a comfortable victory for Giovanni Trapattoni's men, eager to make up for their ignominious early exit from last summer's World Cup.
Proceeds from the 22,500 sell-out match were donated to the remote city near Puglia which was struck by a devastating earthquake last year. Trapattoni was happy to see many of his second string players impress to give him several selection headaches.
ITALY: Toldo, Cannavaro, Grosso, Legrottaglie, Oddo, Ambrosini, Fiore, Perrotta, Miccoli, Corradi, Di Vaio. Subs Not Used: Abbiati, Bonera, Ferrari, Birindelli, Nervo, Tommasi, Di Natale, Delvecchio. Goals: Corradi 31, Delvecchio 67.
NORTHERN IRELAND: Taylor, Griffin, McCartney, Aaron Hughes, Kennedy, Baird, Johnson, Doherty, Healy, McVeigh, Gary Smith. Subs Not Used: Carroll, Williams, Craigan, McCann, Elliott, Toner, Jones, Hamilton.
Referee: Lucillo Baptista (Portugal).
