O’Neill: This is just as big as winning the European Cup
EUROPEAN CUP winner Martin O’Neill insists the win-at-all-costs Celtic derby means as much to him as Nottingham Forest’s legendary
1979 and 1980 continental deciders.
He was dropped by Brian Clough for the first of Forest’s two European final wins even though he played a starring role in their semi-final victory over Cologne.
But O’Neill, 65, did feature against Hamburg a year later. He also captained Northern Ireland to a superb win over Spain at the 1982 World Cup.
And his managerial career highlights include four League Cup finals with Leicester and Aston Villa, a UEFA Cup final with Celtic plus last year’s Euros with Ireland.
But tomorrow’s game, he says, is as big as anything he has ever been involved in.
O’Neill said: “This is a really great game. I have been involved in a few, a couple of European Cup wins as well.
“I keep telling the players, ‘Playing in a World Cup is just an absolutely fantastic experience’.
“When you are dealing with other nations having the very, very best players on the planet, you could – with a little bit of luck – be in the same group against somebody like Lionel Messi.
“We had a great time in
1982 and I have told the players,
‘Don’t die wondering, go for it’. And we will.”
Their cause is helped by the absence of Gareth Bale, the Welsh wizard who scored seven and set up two of Wales’ 11 goals in their last qualifying campaign.
And O’Neill (pictured below facing Kevin Keegan in the 1980 European Cup Final) knows Ireland’s chances have been enhanced by his withdrawal with a calf injury.
He said: “Gareth Bale is top quality and outside of Messi and Ronaldo there is a group of about seven or eight players in the next bracket. He is definitely one of them, no question about that.
“And I am sure that Wales would feel as if they had a better chance of winning it if he was playing. That is the nature of the game.”
So is making hard decisions and having stuck by Shane Long for nearly two years, O’Neill is considering dropping the misfiring striker.
Long has not scored for Ireland in 12 months or for anyone since February – missing three sitters on Friday against Moldova.
In contrast, Daryl Murphy bagged a brace.
And O’Neill said:
“We need to take a high percentage of our chances on Monday.
“I will really have to think about making a change to the team. “Centre-forwards get great confidence from scoring goals. I will have a look at it and see how he is. It would have been nice if one of those chances had gone in.”