“NONE OF US THOUGHT WE’D QUALIFY”
Your debut was in a win over Spain – will Euro 2016 be even more special than that? Without a doubt. The Spain game was a bonus – they were on a run and would win the World Cup and European Championship. I was on loan at Royal Antwerp and still to make my Manchester United debut, so it was a big moment, but this feels bigger. Excitement is building among players and fans. We’ll go not just to be part of it, but to properly compete.
What will it mean to you to represent Northern Ireland at a major tournament? I didn’t think it would be possible – none of us did – to be in a major tournament, until a third of the way through the campaign. We’d won in Greece and Hungary, and the lads started saying we could qualify. The winning start helped, because past campaigns had been killed by poor starts. It means so much.
How will Euro 2016 matches compare to Champions League nights with Manchester United? Just as big? Or even bigger, perhaps? The expectation will be different. Northern Ireland will be underdogs in all the games. You very rarely got that with United, who were usually favourites. Being underdogs presents a different challenge. But we are used to it, we relish it and
we’re not bad at it. What were the best moments in qualifying? The Greece game, when we qualified. I got a little tear in my hamstring six days before, which was devastating personally, but the lads showed incredible composure to win. They were so relaxed, and that comes from the manager. The Hungary game at home was a big result; winning in the Faroes, too. The expectation was on us to achieve, which put us in a different position mentally.
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You’ve been involved with the Northern Ireland team for a long time. How does this period compare to previous years? When I first joined, we were getting some good away results at big teams, but then results started to dip. Even in Michael O’neill’s first year the results weren’t good, but he still encouraged us to do the right things. He gave us professionalism and belief, and we could see that things were going in the right direction. He examined our disciplinary record, for example. We were giving away fewer fouls yet picking up more bookings. He uses stats to work on how we can improve and be more consistent.
What is Michael O’neill like as a manager? How has he achieved such success, and how pleased were you when he recently agreed a new long-term contact to stay on as boss? He gives the players a lift. We know we’re fortunate to have him and we know clubs are looking at him. He keeps game plans simple but effective. He’s a relaxed person and doesn’t get carried away emotionally during matches.
What do you think of the group you’re in? How tough will it be to progress? Germany and Poland were both in the Republic of Ireland’s group in qualifying, and we know a lot of their players and have spoken to them. They will be tough games against physically strong, organised and technically excellent teams. The challenge will be to impose ourselves against those opponents.
Do you almost hope that at the tournament itself, people write you off again, so that you can carry on proving them wrong? I honestly believe we’ll achieve something; that we can cause an upset. We want people talking about us – talking about how good Northern Ireland are. We won our group so we have the belief. We can get through to the next stage of the tournament.