It’s my proudest moment in football, says delighted manager

A JUBILANT Michael O’Neill hailed Northern Ireland’s win over Ukraine as the proudest moment of his career as his side took a big step towards reaching the last 16. O’Neill gambled by dropping five players after the first-match defeat by Poland — including talisman forward Kyle Lafferty — and it paid off. Northern Ireland now go into Tuesday’s game against Germany with real hope of qualifying. ‘It’s probably the proudest I’ve felt throughout my football career,’ said the manager. ‘We wanted to make sure we went into the last game with something to play for. Now we have a realistic prize at the end of the game against Germany and it’s immensely pleasing. ‘The players were down after the Poland game, yet the reaction today was fantastic. It showed me how much they were hurting. ‘When you get a performance like that — pure commitment and pure heart — there’s nothing more you can ask for. ‘Gareth McAuley’s goal was a phenomenal header. People say Northern Ireland are a big threat at set-pieces but I see Germany, Italy and Spain all scoring from set-pieces. There’s no way

we’re going to apologise for that.’ On the decision to leave out Lafferty, who scored seven goals in qualifying, O’Neill said: ‘He was disappointed but dropped is the wrong word. ‘Kyle has started four games for his club (Norwich) this season and it would have been foolhardy of me to expect three games of 90 minutes out of him. ‘Kyle will have a massive part to play in the tournament.’ McAuley said that scoring his team’s first goal had not yet sunk in: ‘It will be a few years, when I’m finished up and looking back on it, that it’ll feel extra special.’ Niall McGinn, the other scorer, added: ‘I think that’s going to be the best moment of my life.’ The occasion was marred by the death of a 64-year-old fan who collapsed during the game. He is the second Northern Ireland supporter to die at Euro 2016. A 24-year-old man died after a fall in Nice on Monday.