O’Neill pays tribute to his Northern Ireland ‘greats’

CERTAIN players i n Northern Ireland’s squad should be recognised as some of the best the country has ever produced, boss Michael O’Neill has said.

A point against Czech Republic in Belfast tonight will guarantee second place for the Northern Irish in their World Cup qualifying group, which will probably be enough to ensure they have a play-off to reach the World Cup in Russia next summer.

Having made the knock-out phase at Euro 2016, O’Neill’s team could become the first in the nation’s history to make successive major tournaments, a huge achievement for a country whose only previous participation at such events came at the 1958, 1982 and 1986 World Cups.

It is for such a reason that O’Neill thinks his leading players like Steven Davis and Jonny Evans must be considered alongside the likes of George Best, Pat Jennings and Danny Blanchflower.

“My real satisfaction in all of this is for our players, particularly those close to 100 caps, to get t he opportunity to go to a World Cup. It’s phenomenal, particularly off the back of the Euros,” O’Neill said.

“We’ll talk about the great players and who’s Northern Ireland’s greatest player but when you view players based on their international careers, you’ll find some players in our squad will have international careers that will rank up with the best ever players that have played for Northern Ireland.”

A sell-out crowd will arrive at Windsor Park this evening hoping to witness their side take a significant stride on the road to Russia.

But O’Neill stressed: “We have to be realistic, we’ve nothing to celebrate just yet,”

Scott Fraser