'I don’t think that’s a good comparison': Michael O'Neill pinpoints difference between Euro 2016 squad and current Northern Ireland crop
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill doesn’t feel comparing his current squad with the one that sealed Euro 2016 qualification almost a decade ago to the day is correct – saying its at a very different stage as they look to create their own piece of history.
On October 8, 2015, Northern Ireland ended a 30-year wait to play in another major tournament by beating Greece 3-1 at Windsor Park, going on to top Group F and book their spot at the showpiece in France.
O’Neill’s men sealed Northern Ireland’s first-ever European Championship victory with a 2-0 triumph over Ukraine – that result earned his squad the ‘Kings of Lyon’ nickname – as they progressed to the last-16.
Ten years later, O’Neill will be hoping to lead his country into a major tournament once again with the World Cup staged in America, Canada and Mexico next summer.
Northern Ireland will continue their qualification campaign on Friday evening when they host Slovakia before welcoming European powerhouses Germany to Windsor Park.
O’Neill’s ‘Class of 2016’ included an array of players plying their trade in the Premier League, including Jonny Evans and Gareth McAuley (West Brom), Steven Davis (Southampton), Craig Cathcart (Watford) and Paddy McNair (Manchester United).
His current crop has an emerging group of youngsters fresh to England’s top-flight with Conor Bradley looking to cement a spot at champions Liverpool while Trai Hume and Daniel Ballard joined the league with Sunderland ahead of this season.
"Daniel, Trai, Conor and Justin (Devenny) are all making inroads into the Premier League,” said O’Neill. “People make comparisons with the team that qualified for the Euros, but I don’t think that’s a good comparison because we had seven or eight players playing in the Premier League and had played most of their career, if not all of their career, in the Premier League.
"There’s playing in the Premier League and there’s staying in the Premier League. This team is at a different stage of their careers to what a lot of those players were.
"Hopefully they will go on to have careers like Jonny Evans, Steven Davis, Craig Cathcart and people like that, but they’re still at the start of that process.”
Callum Marshall made his Premier League debut for West Ham United last weekend, coming off the bench during their defeat to Arsenal.
O’Neill was delighted to see the 20-year-old handed his opportunity by new Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo and admits he’s always been impressed by Marshall’s application in training camps.
"Callum is a very young striker, he’s only 20,” he added. “We had him in the squad from he was 18 and he has seen both sides of football.
"He had a challenging loan at West Brom which probably wasn’t the right option for him with the benefit of hindsight, and he had a great year last year at Huddersfield where he played well and scored 12 goals.
"He could have had a loan option prior to the window, but West Ham were very keen for him to stay in.
"There has been a change of manager, a lot going on there for a young player to deal with, but Callum is very focused, very driven, trains extremely hard, wants to do well, is impatient, which you expect from young players, and I’m delighted.
“Callum always shows up well in every camp. If you look around the Premier League, there’s not many 20-year-old number nines getting loads of minutes, so it’s a big challenge for him to get that.
"It was very positive to see Nuno giving him those minutes so early in his tenure at the club.”