O'Neill focussed on finishing Nations League with a win

Macdara Ferris reports from Belfast

Northern Ireland come into Sunday’s dead rubber UEFA Nations League game against Austria in Belfast bottom of the group and without a competitive win in their last seven matches.

However manager Michael O’Neill wasn’t overly concerned about the run as he was keen to stress the high level of performance of his team in the recent games. When his team visited Dublin during the week, they took away a draw when a win would certainly have been deserved.

“Sometimes you have these runs in international football,” said O’Neill when speaking with the media in Belfast on the eve of the game. “People will point out that we haven’t won or scored in so many games but you could take that back further. 

“We won five games in a row before that. People carve the stats up to support their point. For us it is about the level of performance. We want to win the game. 

“It is very important to win especially at home. Qualification for us has been built around really good home form and picking up points on the road.”

Having been defeated home and away by Bosnia & Herzegovina and losing 1-0 last month in Vienna, O’Neill isn’t too downcast, particularly as he feels the losses came at the hands of star players.

"So despite the fact the three games have gone against us, I’m disappointed to lose the games but I'm not devastated or despondent.

“If you don’t take your chances, you can be punished, particularly against opposition who have maybe a special player. The difference in these Nations League games has been players like (Edin) Dzeko and (Marko) Arnautovic. 

“To be honest we’ve been more than a match for the two teams we’ve played and we haven’t taken our chances in games when they have come.” 



Northern Ireland’s relegation to League C will likely mean they will be placed in a group of four teams next time around which will not allow a luxury of some friendly games to slot in around the UEFA Nations League matches.

In September they earned a confidence boosting 3-0 friendly win over Israel and should have claimed a win in the Aviva on Thursday being frustrated with a scoreless draw against the Republic of Ireland.

“When the Nations League comes around in two years time we will be playing in the third league,” said O’Neill in response to an extratime.iequestion on his team’s relegation.

“We will still be playing against very good teams at that level. Serbia, Norway and Ireland will be at that level. We will still get competitive games in the Nations League at that point in time.

“I’ve enjoyed the Nations League. It will equip the team well. The Nations League won’t have a bearing for the World Cup qualification, as there won’t be a play-off situation I would imagine.

“You’ll be playing it as an individual tournament whereas this time there was more of an edge with the playoff.”



In Thursday’s draw in Dublin, Northern Ireland certainly played the better football – a style that has developed during the O’Neill tenure.

“A lot has been made of our style. We weren’t playing caveman football before either. We went through the last campaign winning six games and drawing three and were only beaten in Romania away and Germany home and away. There has been a lot of good football played by this team over the past four years.”

O’Neill wasn’t being drawn on a discussion about eligibility of players born in the North choosing to play for the Republic. 

“I’ve made my thoughts clear on that. Ireland have there own problems with players making eligibility decisions elsewhere. We are concentrating on developing our own players. We can’t stop players making that decision.” 

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile