He may be worthy only of the number 35 jersey in the eyes of Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, but the young man from Killyleagh called David Healy is rapidly establishing himself as the undisputed number one in the short queue to be regarded as Sammy McIlroy's first choice centre-forward for Northern Ireland's World Cup qualifiers.

They begin here in just over a fortnight against Malta, and last night, in registering his fourth goal in his fourth international, Healy (21), gave a hitherto subdued Belfast public some cause for optimism.

This was all the more welcome for McIlroy after the build-up to the game was marred by the mercenary withdrawal of three Premiership regulars, Steve Lomas, Neil Lennon and Gerry Taggart.

But the trio will return in September and will add experience to an Irish side which began with five players aged 22 or under. Ultimately Northern Ireland were beaten fairly comfortably, despite Healy's 45th-minute opener, but it was by a Yugoslavia team featuring six of the players who were knocked out of Euro 2000 only at the quarter-final stage by Holland.

Pedrag Mijatovic, who once scored the winner in a European Cup final, produced a rather less glamorous decider here with 12 minutes to go. It came after Mateja Kezman, a 57th-minute substitute for Savo Milosevic, had equalised Healy's sharp goal with a soft header following a mistake by goalkeeper Maik Taylor.

It would be churlish to dwell on defeat, however, for in the performances of Healy and the tenacious Jeff Whitley, McIlroy had reasons to be cheerful. The defection of Messrs Lomas, Lennon and Taggart must have been made all the more disheartening for him when the Yugoslavia teamsheet arrived showing a forward line featuring players from Fiorentina, Parma, Lazio and Sampdoria.

Lending immediate emphasis to the Yugoslavs' assumed superiority was the sight of Mijatovic sending an audacious, 40-yard volley three feet wide of Taylor's left-hand post.

That was the high point of the visitors' early invention, though there was much else to admire in the rather more predictable, yet slick, attacking build-up through the midfield. The wing-backs, Ivan Dudic and Pedrag Djordevic, were particularly influential, and Milosevic should have buried a free header from the latter's in-swinging cross in the 20th minute. Two minutes later Milosevic fluffed a volley when unmarked.

Milosevic had a swift hat-trick of chances, in fact, the third being snuffed out by Colin Murdock. On this occasion the ball ran to Nikola Lazetic and Taylor did well to parry Lazetic's shot.

Prior to that, an indication of Yugoslavia's pressure, Taylor had been beaten by a Spira Grujic header. Luckily for Taylor, Whitley was on the line to make his first significant contribution of the evening.

The next was over half an hour away. Fighting a lone battle up front with a five-man midfield behind him, Healy had managed to convey the impression that he would relish given anything approaching an opportunity, and he contrived a 38th-minute snapshot following a determined run from Damien Johnson. Finally, when released cleverly by Whitley as half-time beckoned, everything about Healy's demeanour as he surged away from the Yugoslav defence suggested he would score. Healy did so, from 20 yards, beating Zelko Cicovic with a firsttime angled side-foot shot through the goalkeeper's legs.

The lead was to last 20 minutes during which Yugoslavia slammed the Irish woodwork, first via an acute effort from Milosevic on the run and then fiercely from Mijatovic as he spanked the rebound.