Des and Pat O’Neill, from Ballymena, have witnessed the highs and lows of Michael’s career, both as a player and manager, and they are in no doubt that leading Northern Ireland to next summer’s European Championship finals tops the lot.
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Northern Ireland coach Michael O’Neill admits he is unsure whether he will continue as national manager after Euro 2016. “We want to go out and put on another good performance”, said skipper Steven Davis. And there was no better place to do it than in front of our fans, who have pushed us all along this campaign.
“But qualifying for a major tournament eclipses all those results, as the team has had to be consistent throughout a whole campaign”.
With one match to play Northern Ireland has 20 points, Romania 17 and Hungary 16.
Long however, insists a win is all Martin O’Neill’s men are looking for.
The world champions were the overwhelming favourites but despite several good early chances they failed to ensure a top two finish and automatic qualification for next year’s tournament in France with a game to spare.
“I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved tonight”.
“We watched the game at home – I think it would have been too much for us at Windsor Park”, laughed Pat.
“Now we’ve guaranteed the play-off no matter what, we look forward to Sunday’s game”.
“It was to be expected that we would face nine or ten players behind the ball and Ireland hitting long, hopeful balls”.
“It’s odd, I just lost myself in the moment and she came into my head at the important time”.
He continued: “We’ve the best defensive record in the group and it’s not just come from defenders – it’s goalkeepers, the midfield unit”.
“That means we’re going to need something in Helsinki now to win the group. We’re all annoyed at the defeat, and that fact that we’ve not managed a flawless qualifying”, he told the DFB’s official website.
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With 14 goals in his last five matches, Poland’s Robert Lewandowski is the world’s deadliest striker right now, but on Sunday night here in Warsaw he must find a way past one of Europe’s stingiest backlines.
