Disappointing result but fans amazing '“ Hoey

Speaking from France last night, the Northern Ireland-born politician said she was disappointed at Poland’s win over her home country.

“I am here in France a the moment,” she said. “The atmosphere was fantastic, the fans were just amazing and the noise was brilliant.

“The result was disappointing but after Poland scored we just didn’t manage to come back.

“We defended very well but once they got the goal it didn’t look like we were going to score because we had a very defensive team.

“But we still have another two games to go.”

Gary McAllister of The Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters Clubs, which represents almost sixty supporters groups, had a similar take.

“We’re disappointed to lose the game, but Northern Ireland fans have had a good time in Nice,” he said.

“We look forward to Thursday and Ukraine in Lyon where we hope that the team will bounce back.”

Northern Ireland’s first match at a European Championship finals ended in defeat yesterday evening as Arkadiusz Milik gave Poland their 1-0 victory over the Province in France.

Ajax star player Milik slotted his goal in after being picked out by Jakub Blaszczykowski early in the second half.

Poland had dominated the first half of the game but were thwarted by some superb defending by the Northern Ireland team. They were ably supported by tens of thousands of the highly vocal Green and White Army of Northern Ireland supporters, singing trademark songs such as “everywhere we go”.