http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/12/northern-ireland-win-euro-2016-group-joy?CMP=fb_a-football_b-gdnfootballGreat piece.
'Therein lies the joy of their achievement. No one really dared to dream that they would do it, not even the manager. When the draw was made, O’Neill said he was aiming for a place in the play-offs: “You could possibly get third place with 14 points, which I think is achievable.” That target was reached a while ago and it has been obliterated since. No one even considered winning the group.
The squad is not full of household names, à la England, or composed from a golden generation, like Wales. These guys seem to have more in common with their fans than other teams at this level. Josh Magennis, who scored his first international goal on Thursday, does not turn out for one of Europe’s premier clubs. He plays for Kilmarnock and began his international career as a goalkeeper. Lafferty, the man he replaced in the team, has only played 13 minutes of club football this season. Craig Cathcart, Oliver Norwood, Niall McGinn and Stuart Dallas could walk into bars across the country without being recognised. And even football journalists have struggled to work out that Michael O’Neill is not the same person as Martin O’Neill.
There is something wonderfully old-school about this Northern Ireland team. The country has produced maverick sporting geniuses before, but there are no stars in this squad. They are largely ignored by the media and, because the fans expect so little, any success is a bonus. Supporters do not groan about misplaced passes or boo their own players. It was somehow appropriate that their qualification on Thursday was overshadowed by the Republic of Ireland beating Germany and that they won the group on Sunday while most of the country was watching the Irish rugby team play France at the World Cup.
But anyone who did watch those matches spent their time well. In an era when every football story seems connected to money – whether it be transfer funds, extortionate wages, leveraged takeovers, million-pound payoffs or parachute payments – it is refreshing to watch a team play with no mention of earnings, contracts, resale value or image rights. Every decision in club football seems to be led by financial concerns these days – the bigger clubs work out whether to prioritise playing in Europe or qualifying for Europe and the smaller sides have to weigh up costs of committing to a cup run – but Northern Ireland, Wales, Albania and Iceland have served up some Roy of the Rovers stuff over the last few days. It doesn’t say much for the state of club football when countries with tiny populations are more likely to cause upsets than clubs with vast wealth, but that’s a story for another day.
It was fitting that Northern Ireland secured their place at the Euros on Thursday evening a few hours after news broke about Sepp Blatter’s ban for his “disloyal payment” to Michel Platini – another tarnished figure, who was the top scorer at Euro 1984 in a previous lifetime. All the stories about Fifa, corruption, net spend, the sack race, managerial mind games and all those things that seem so important but largely serve to alienate you from the sport you fell in love with as a kid melted away over the weekend as a group of guys went out and achieved something extraordinary. There is still some glory in the game after all.'
