Play-off pain so hard to take, but O’Neill’s men did us proud

So near and yet so far! The Northern Ireland football squad and its thousands of much-travelled and faithful supporters are no doubt heartbroken by the failure to reach the finals of the World Cup in Russia.

After being subject to a clearly wrong decision in Belfast by the referee, who gave Switzerland an undeserved penalty at Windsor Park last week, our boys faced a huge task in Basel last night.

Michael O’Neill’s team did their best, but failed narrowly to reach the promised land.

However, in last year’s Euros and in the qualifying stages of the World Cup, they have done themselves proud. We salute them all.