Northern Ireland’s historic qualification was built around the seven goals of Kyle Lafferty, who overcame a groin injury sustained in training this week.
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One was attacking midfielder Arkadiusz Milik, who scored the decisive goal with a low shot in the 51st minute.
O’Neill said the Irish were “overpowered” and did not contradict a question about “stagefright”, Kyle Lafferty offered the brutal assessment: “We didn’t turn up today”.
Poland, which had failed to win any of its six previous games in European Championship history, began to grow frustrated with its inability to convert possession into chances. Grzegorz Krychowiak is a top, top player and I thought they got on top of us when we tried to possess the ball.
Jonny Evans, Gareth McAuley and Craig Cathcart all come into the tournament off the back of Premier League campaigns while veteran Aaron Hughes brings valuable experience despite having swapped English football for the A-League in Australia.
O’Neill felt that his side done well to stay in the game until the end but acknowledged that his team did not deserve anything from the game.
In a group filled with Poland, Ukraine and World Cup winners Germany, the level of expectation heaped on Michael O’Neill’s team was perhaps tempered against reality and sheer joy of just being at the party for a change.
“We found it hard to get a foothold and I think that was partly down to their physicality”. In the early part of the game we were overpowered by a physically strong Poland, but once we got a foothold in the game we didn’t manage to create anything of significance.
The first home nation to be in action is Wales in their first major tournament since 1958 when they take on Slovakia on Saturday, June 11, in the group B game which starts at 5pm. Jakub Blaszczykowski’s wonderful run up the right ended as he cut the ball back perfectly, with Milik taking one touch before rolling it into the bottom right corner.
Conor Washington, a second-half substitute, was denied by Wojciech Szczesny in the Polish goal, while Steven Davis was inches away from connecting with a pass at the far post.
The tournament was boosted to 24 teams from 16 four years ago, but as a group victor, Northern Ireland would have qualified even for the smaller event.
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They entered the game unbeaten in a record 12 matches, but although they held their more vaunted opponents scoreless until half-time, they ultimately paid for an over-defensive approach in the impressive Stadium Nice. The manager says that the positives the team can take from the Poland game are that “we had the chance of getting a result right until the final whistle”.
