Northern Ireland’s Euro 2022 dream is alive and kicking

Northern Ireland players celebrate. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

Shiels side recovered from an early set back as they went a goal down at Seaview to run out 5-1 winners in the end.

Speaking after the game Shiels said the scenes of celebration from the players at the end gave him a lot of satisfaction after a tough year.

“It’s a fantastic achievement,” he told the Irish FA website.

“When you see that happiness during this period with the pandemic that gives me a lot of satisfaction because it has been a tough year for all of us.

“We’ll start this week and get them in again and work, and work and work so that we have a chance.”

Rachel Furness scored twice with Chloe McCarron and the McGuinness sisters - Kirsty and Caitlin - also on target in the victory.

Shiels revealed they had to tweak things at half time as they produced a more dominant performance after the break.

“We had to dig it out after going 1-0 down,” he said.

“We had to make sure we stayed calm as we were a bit hasty in our play.

“We got it done and it was much better in the second half.

“They were slowing it down at every opportunity and that took the intensity out of our play.

“We worked on getting them up in the second half and shutting down space quicker and playing quicker.

“Those two things go hand in hand, and that’s exactly what happened,” added Shiels.

Boss Kenny Shiels praised his players after Northern Ireland secured a play-off spot for the Women’s Euro 2022 following a five-star performance over the Faroe Islands.