Northern Ireland will face Poland later today in what will be their first match at a major international tournament in 30 years and their first match in the European Championship. Though they will not be expected to achieve much at Euro 2016 itself, the Green and White Army’s qualifying campaign created plenty of memories for players and fans alike.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Michael McGovern, 31 (Hamilton Academical); Roy Carroll, 38 (Notts County); Alan Mannus, 34 (St Johnstone).
Defenders: Conor McLaughlin, 24 (Fleetwood Town); Gareth McAuley, 36 (West Brom); Jonny Evans, 28 (West Brom); Chris Baird, 34 (Fulham); Luke McCullough, 22 (Doncaster Rovers); Paddy McNair, 21 (Manchester United); Aaron Hughes, 36 (Melbourne City); Craig Cathcart, 27 (Watford); Lee Hodson, 24 (MK Dons).
Midfielders: Shane Ferguson, 24 (Millwall); Niall McGinn, 28 (Aberdeen); Steven Davis (captain), 31 (Southampton); Corry Evans, 25 (Blackburn Rovers); Stuart Dallas, 25 (Leeds United); Oliver Norwood, 25 (Reading); Jamie Ward, 30 (Nottingham Forest).
Forwards: Will Grigg, 24 (Wigan Athletic); Kyle Lafferty, 28 (Birmingham City); Conor Washington, 24 (Queens Park Rangers); Josh Magennis, 26 (Kilmarnock).
Qualifying
Though their group of Romania, Hungary, Faroe Islands, Finland and Greece was not a difficult one, Northern Ireland were not favourites to qualify, let alone top their group. Striker Kyle Lafferty was the star of the show, scoring seven goals in ten games—only five players in the entirety of qualifying out-scored him, including Robert Lewandowski, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Thomas Müller—as he led his side to six victories and 21 points in total.
The most impressive wins came against Greece (twice) and Hungary, the latter of which featured two goals in the last ten minutes from Gareth McAuley and Lafferty to turn the game around and secure a 2-1 win. Two comfortable wins over the Faroe Islands and draws against Hungary and Romania were enough to mean that their 1-1 draw in Finland secured their place in France.
Key Players
At the back, Northern Ireland have a number of solid choices from which to choose. Jonny Evans, formerly of Manchester United, and Paddy McNair, who is starting to break into the first-team at Old Trafford, are both capable of keeping things tidy in defence, whilst 36-year-old Gareth McAuley, Evans’ team-mate at West Brom, will bring years of experience to the back line. In the centre of defence at least, manager Michael O’Neill has something of a selection headache.
In midfield, the stand-out name is captain Steven Davis, who has been one of Southampton’s most consistent performers in their last four years in the Premier League, and he has played no fewer than 248 games in England’s top flight. The lesser-known but excellent Stuart Dallas, who goes into the tournament off the back of two excellent seasons for Brentford and Leeds United in the Championship, will give the side much more creativity either on the wing or just behind the strikers.
The attacking duo of Will Grigg and Kyle Lafferty is possibly this team’s most exciting prospect. The two are both in great form for club and country respectively, with Grigg scoring 28 goals in League One for Wigan this season, prompting the “Will Grigg’s on fire” chant which stormed the internet and inspired an iTunes hit, and Lafferty storming qualifying for his country. Should these two hit form in the tournament itself, it will give Northern Ireland an outside chance of causing some shocks.
The Group
The draw was not kind to Michael O’Neill’s men. They will face Poland, Ukraine and world champions Germany in the group stage. These three will all be big favourites to beat Northern Ireland and so the first aim will be to avoid becoming the “whipping boys” of this group.
However, all is not quite lost. They will have to be at the very top of their game, but the likes of Davis, Dallas, Grigg and Lafferty are capable of giving Poland and Ukraine a run for their money. Norn Iron, as they are affectionately known, play Germany in their final game of the group, and should the world champions have already qualified for the Last 16, they may take their foot off the gas and allow their opponents to repeat the achievements of the Republic of Ireland eight months ago.
Northern Ireland will struggle to get through to the Last 16, but qualifying for Euro 2016 was in itself a great achievement and thus anything they do in the tournament proper will be a bonus.
