Michael O’Neill is excited about what is still to come from his young Northern Ireland side after watching them make a winning start to their Nations League campaign with a 2-0 home victory over Luxembourg.
Early goals from Paddy McNair and Daniel Ballard put Northern Ireland in control of a match they dominated and there were a number of chances to add to their lead that they were unable to take.
With Jonny Evans having retired from international football following the losses of Steven Davis and Stuart Dallas in the last year, O’Neill picked a side with an average age of 24 years and three months, with the 22-year-old Trai Hume captain on the night of his 14th cap.
“There is a lot of growth to come, no doubt about that,” O’Neill said. “The players just have to maintain their levels for their clubs and when they come here. They are at that stage where they’re trying to establish their club careers.
“Some are out on loan, some trying to make the breakthrough at big clubs like Conor (Bradley), which is never easy.
“But they’re still able to come here and play and put in a good performance…It shows you we have had to blood them early and they have dealt with that very well.”
Despite the huge changes that have taken place recently, the win over Luxembourg continues a positive trend that began with last November’s Euro 2024 qualifying win over Denmark and has continued with friendly wins over Scotland and Andorra and a draw away to Romania, as well as defeat to Spain.
O’Neill now hopes to have a more settled group going forward that can develop together.
“I think if you look at the group we had previously, we were constantly having to chop and change players,” he said.
“We were caught between trying to get the most out of an ageing squad which had the potential to do something, but a lot of international careers ended in the space of 12 months.
“You will never have a ready-made team to put in place. It has to go through some pain.
“We have a group of players who enjoy being together which is an important thing as well and we have to continue allowing them to develop naturally themselves and not put too much pressure on them.”
This is Northern Ireland’s fourth Nations League campaign and second under O’Neill, who was in charge for the first back in 2018 before leaving for Stoke, returning in late 2022.
For the first time, they are off to a positive start, with this only their second win in 17 Nations League matches. O’Neill’s men top the group after one game, with Belarus and Bulgaria sharing the points from a goalless draw.
“There is a lot to play for,” O’Neill added. “We have just had difficult results in the Nations League. I have only had one Nations League campaign before.
“The previous one, they had to play four games in a 10-12 day period in June when the squad wasn’t that strong. So that was difficult for Ian Baraclough. It was very difficult.
“It is not the competition, it is maybe the timing of it (that) has been the hardest part for us. It has come at transitional times for Northern Ireland. We fully embrace it and we know doing well has particular advantages down the line.
“It is important to get a win in the opening game. The other game was a draw so it gives us something. If we get a result in Bulgaria then it will put us in a decent position.”
