NORWOOD’S EXCITED BY CHALLENGE

OLIVER NORWOOD insists Michael O’neill won’t let Northern Ireland go through the motions after the highs of recent years.

The country reached the knockout stages of Euro 2016 and narrowly missed out on the summer’s World Cup in Russia after losing to Switzerland in November’s play-off.

While several senior players are approaching the end of their international careers, the likes of Steven Davis (33), Gareth Mcauley (38) and Aaron Hughes (38) are all still on board.

And with Millwall midfielder George Saville and Kilmarnock’s Jordan Jones (inset) impressing at the end of the last campaign, Norwood is confident the team can “kick on”.

The Fulham midfielder (above) said: “We’ve had success but we’re not happy with what we’ve achieved. We’re not settling on that.

“We want to build on it and kick on. We’ve had time away from the disappointment of Switzerland, everybody’s come back looking fresh and we’re looking to build on what we’ve achieved over the last four or five years.

“We believe we can come again as a squad. That’s why players have decided to carry on. We’ve had quite of success and we believe we can have more.”

Next on Norwood’s to-do list? Attempting to reach the Euro 2020 finals.

The group draw is made in December – after the new Nations League – with the qualifiers kicking off in March 2019.

“We wouldn’t be sat here if we didn’t believe we could do that,” he said. “As a squad we’ve achieved it before when everybody wrote us off.

“Everyone wrote us off at the start of the World Cup campaign – and obviously there were things that went on in the play-off – but we were unfortunate not to make it to a World Cup.”

Has the frustration of losing 1-0 to the Swiss, thanks to a horrific penalty call, eased over the past four months?

“It was disappointing for a few weeks,” he said. “It’ll probably hit home when you watch the World Cup on TV in the summer.

“It’s every young boy’s dream to play in World Cup but hopefully we can go again and get there next time around.”