It will be the first time Northern Ireland have ever appeared at a European Championship, but O’Neill says they will not travel to France to make up the numbers.
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“We were clearly not in a good mood”.
Poland are in a tough position on Sunday as well, they are at home and will want to go out and win but they know a loss will put them in the playoff rather than straight through to the Euro’s.
“It was a magnificent night and we couldn’t have asked for it to go any better”. And there was no better place to do it than in front of our fans, who have pushed us all along this campaign.
Poland and the Republic of Ireland meet on Sunday evening in Warsaw for the final group match of the European qualifiers to decide on the final standings in group D.
There is an extra automatic qualifying spot for the country which finishes third and has the best record between all of the groups.
“That means we’re going to need something in Helsinki now to win the group”.
The captain (Steven Davis) has pulled us through, getting his two goals and being brilliant all tournament. But I don’t think they are short of too of many ready-made replacements.
Keane, a veteran of the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2012 finals, accepts that the days when his was the first name on the teamsheet are drawing to a close with 142 senior global appearances and 67 goals behind him, but is ready to play whatever part is required of him. Maybe if we win against Ireland then it will all be okay.
“We have created history by making it to France and it is a huge achievement for a country of our size, and to be honest I think it’s going to take a little bit of time for it to sink in”.
But the 29-year-old played his first 90-minute game since last December when he turned out for the club’s Under-21s earlier this month.
“As I said before it would make the goal on Thursday more meaningful, to help us get to the Euros”.
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The midfielder was just a year old when Billy Bingham’s boys went to Mexico and, having described this match as the biggest of his career at his pre-game press conference, he was a fitting figurehead.
