Northern Ireland ends long drought
LYON, FRANCE— Northern Ireland secured its first victory in a major competition in 34 years on Thursday, beating Ukraine 2-0 at the European Championship.
Building on a strong finish to the first half, centre back Gareth McAuley headed in a free kick from Oliver Norwood in the 49th minute. Substitute Niall McGinn added a second deep in stoppage time when Ukraine was chasing an equalizer. England comes back to beat Wales The victory, Northern Ireland’s first since beating host Spain in the 1982 World Cup, means the team has a good chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of Euro 2016.
“It has been a long time,” McAuley said. “We talked about leaving a legacy from this tournament.”
Following its opening 1-0 loss to Poland, the team now has three points. Northern Ireland’s next Group C game is against world champion Germany on Tuesday at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
The long-awaited victory was dampened by the death of a second Northern Ireland fan at the tournament. Northern Ireland spokesman Neil Brittain said that a team supporter died in the stadium, without giving more details.
During the match, Northern Ireland’s players wore black armbands and its fans dedicated a round of applause to pay their respects to another supporter who died following the loss to Poland on Sunday. Darren Rodgers, who was 24, died after a fall unrelated to the hooligan violence that has marred the competition at times.
Northern Ireland was a far different team against Ukraine than the one that failed to even register a shot on goal against Poland. Coach Michael O’Neill made five changes to his team in response to that lacklustre start to the tournament.
His team’s first shot between the posts came only four minutes into the match, when new addition Stuart Dallas fired into the arms of goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov.
Northern Ireland grew in confidence through the first half and was rewarded with its first goal in an international competition since the 1986 World Cup when McAuley headed in.
With rain pouring down, O’Neill’s team showed the extra aggressiveness he had requested for the match at the Stade de Lyon. A short suspension in play in the 58th minute because of hail did not alter the team’s intent.