Captain calls for continuation of Northern Fairy Tale

From Macdara Ferris in the Parc des Princes

The Northern Ireland captain Stephen Davis hailed his team’s supporters who helped spur on Michael O’Neill’s men to reach the last 16 of Euro 2016, and he doesn’t want their visit to France to end anytime soon.

“We don’t want the fairytale to end,” said Davis, speaking to extratime.ie in the Parc des Princes after the 1-0 defeat to Germany. That loss by one goal turned out to be enough for Davis’ team to progress to the knock out phase.

Confirmation of their qualification for the last 16 came after Turkey’s 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic which means mostly likely the North will take on Wales next Saturday back in the Parisian venue.

“We’ve thoroughly enjoyed this experience and it has been incredible,” said the Southampton player.  “Hopefully long may it continue for ourselves and the fans. They’ve been unbelievable, one of the biggest plus points for the whole of the tournament.

“They are enjoying it as much as us. They’ve been excellent. There is not enough words to describe them. They are a credit to our country.”

Those comments were echoed by goalkeeper Michael McGovern, who was the hero for ‘Norn Iron’ on the night as he kept the Germany attack at bay for almost the entire match.

“Every single game they have been right behind us, even the first game when we didn’t perform well,” said the Hamilton Academical ‘keeper to extratime.ie, speaking about the Green and White Army in the Parc des Princes stands who sung from before the first whistle to well after the game concluded.

“They stood right behind us. I definitely think they’re the best at the tournament. It’s good that you see how well behaved they are as well. Typical Irish. They get on with everybody and we’re proud of them. We hope they’re here for a bit longer.”

It was McGovern that realistically kept the score down in a game that Germany dominated. The World Champions had 71% of the possession but could  breach the Northern Ireland defence on just one occasion from their 26 attempts on goal.

“Luckily when Germany did get through us on most occasions today, Michael [McGovern] was there to stop them,” said his captain about his 'keeper. “He tested himself today and I think Manuel Neuer would be proud of that performance.

“He has been excellent in the first two games as well but he took it to another level today. You know your goalkeeper needs to play well when you are up against these sides. He certainly did that.

“Everybody is flat out on their feet to be honest,” said Davis. “We put everything into the game. We weren’t able to get a result today but we knew that goal difference could potentially play an important role.

“It was very difficult to defend against,” said the 31-year-old captain. “The rotation they have. It was very difficult to stop them with the movement they had. When one person vacates the space, another one comes into it. Sometimes you feel they’ve got an extra man on the pitch. They are a team that I’m sure will go very far in the tournament.”

Corey Evans said that it was up there with one of the toughest games he had played. “They are such a good team,” said Evans the Blackburn Rovers player. “That is why they are world champions. The way they pass and move the ball, the rotation of the front four, it is so hard to play against.”

You can read more from Michael McGovern speaking to extratime.ie here.