Michael O’Neill praises Northern Ireland ‘bravery’ in battling defeat to France
By Ian Parker, Press Association, Lille
Michael O’Neill said a brave performance from his Northern Ireland players in Monday’s 3-1 loss to World Cup-bound France showed they are no longer scared of anybody in world football.
Michael Olise scored a superb hat-trick to give France the win in Didier Deschamps’ final game in charge on French soil, but Northern Ireland acquitted themselves well and got their rewards as Patrick Kelly’s first international goal made it 2-1 midway through the second half.
Even after Olise had settled it with the pick of his goals, a curling strike from outside the area, Northern Ireland never let their heads drop as they battled to the final whistle.
“I think as a Northern Ireland player you have to be brave and part of that bravery is not being intimidated by the reputation of the players that you’re playing against,” O’Neill said.
“I think we showed that tonight. We have players in our team who play their club football at League One level, we have players who are not regular starters for their clubs, but I don’t think you’d have seen that from the level of performance.”
Olise scored his first two goals either side of half-time, both strikes coming on the rebound from blocked shots.
O’Neill was unhappy the first one stood as he felt an offside Kylian Mbappe had blocked Pierce Charles’ view of Olise’s shot, but even as some things went against his side they kept fighting, defending superbly in the last 10 minutes to prevent a heavy loss.
“It’s very easy in a game that sometimes it can run away from you and become 4-1, 5-1 and then from the outside people say it was a bad defeat, and it wouldn’t have been,” he said.
“The reality is we don’t have the depth in the squad to make the sort of substitutions France can when they bring on the likes of (Rayan) Cherki, which is a different problem for us.
“The level of player they’re able to bring into the game without disrupting the team or their rhythm is incredible, so we had to ask a lot of the players to go the 90 minutes and their desire to defend their goal was brilliant.”
Kelly’s goal came on only his second start for Northern Ireland, but the 21-year-old was a busy presence and also had their best chance in the first half, shooting narrowly wide.
“He’s had a brilliant year,” O’Neill said of a player who has developed quickly since leaving West Ham for Barnsley.
“He was always a good footballer. We were aware of his ability. Now he’s developed physically to deal with the game. We’re delighted with the progress he’s made.”
O’Neill had been trying to give Everton’s Braiden Graham an international debut at the end of the match, but with the 18-year-old stripped and ready the ball would not go out of play in stoppage time.
“It would have been nice to get him on, but I think Rayan Cherki had the ball for about two minutes at that point and we just couldn’t get him on,” O’Neill said.
