Northern Ireland’s Michael O’Neill is international football’s overachiever

The transformation of the Northern Ireland international side has been nothing short of extraordinary since Michael O’Neill succeeded Nigel Worthington as manager in 2011.

Reaching an all-time high of 22nd in the FIFA World Rankings in June 2017, the side have come a long way since being ranked 129th in 2012.

O’Neill took over a side lacking confidence having been seemingly sent out with the intention of ‘only losing 1-0’ at times under Worthington.
The fact that Aaron Hughes retired from international duty only to immediately reverse his decision once the manager was changed speaks volumes.

Things didn’t start well under O’Neill with a 3-0 defeat by Norway in his opening match followed by a 6-0 thumping by the Netherlands against an inexperienced Northern Ireland side in Amsterdam.

O’Neill’s side would draw five of their next seven games, including a 1-1 draw away to Portugal, but that first win remained elusive. One thing was certain though, the football was more positive.
Finally, in O’Neill’s 10th game in charge Northern Ireland emerged victorious with a 1-0 win over Fabio Capello’s Russia in August 2013, but it was followed by a run of defeats, including a humiliating 3-2 loss against Luxembourg.

It said a lot about where Northern Ireland were, but there was still a feeling the team were playing better under O’Neill and he secured a new two year contract with the IFA.

As attention turned to the Euro 2016 qualifiers, suddenly things clicked. A starting 11 with just four Premier League players beat Hungary away from home, sparking a run of nine points from the opening three games. Northern Ireland only lost one of their six competitive games that season.

More wins followed and Northern Ireland duly topped Group F to qualify for their first tournament in 30 years, having gone into the qualifiers as a Pot 5 team when the draw was made.
An expanded Euro 2016 tournament perhaps saw O’Neill’s achievements go under the radar, particularly after Wales and the Republic of Ireland also booked their places in France.

But Wales had a talisman in Gareth Bale, then the world’s most expensive player, to lead the team and strike fear into the opposition – and they finished second in their group, while the Republic came through the play-offs.

O’Neill had achieved this with a squad largely made up of Championship and League One players, with just a handful of Premier League players.

O’Neill had also managed to transformed Kyle Lafferty into a striker on fire. He finished qualifying with seven goals, the same number as Wayne Rooney and Bale, yet Lafferty was still struggling to get a game at club level. Even after dropping into the Championship with Birmingham on loan from Norwich, Lafferty played more times for Northern Ireland in the 2015/16 season than he did for his clubs.
Despite topping their group, Northern Ireland went into the Euros ranked the lowest of any team in the tournament and seeded last.

Yet O’Neill found a way for his team to emerge from a group containing world champions Germany, Ukraine and Poland to reach the last 16.

Jonny Evans marked Robert Lewandowski out of the game with Poland. Oli Norwood, a player Brighton loaned to Fulham after the Seagulls reached the Premier League, was imperious with his set-piece delivery.

And it should be pointed out that the team was missing one of its best players in the injured Chris Brunt.

Drawn in a tough World Cup qualifying group containing Germany, the Czech Republic and Norway amongst others, O’Neill has continued to produce results against the odds.
Only Germany have beaten Northern Ireland in the group and they currently occupy the play-off spot in the group after seven qualifiers, seven points clear of the Czech Republic in third. A draw against the Czech’s on Monday evening will be enough to secure second spot.

Despite the team not containing household names around the world, or having the resources of other nations, what O’Neill has achieved continues to be remarkable, particularly given where the team were when he took over.

Perhaps it is no surprise given he guided Shamrock Rovers to the group stages of the Europa League, but few managers can claim to have achieved so much with so little on the international stage.
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