Northern Ireland 1-0 Guinea: NI ‘showed great character’ in Guinea win – Michael O’Neill


O’Neill used the friendly against the 80th-ranked team in the world as an opportunity to give young players a chance in the green and white shirt.

Liverpool’s Kieran Morrison and Arsenal’s Sidach O’Neill both made their senior debuts during poor matches.

Stopper Luke Southwood also made his second appearance, coming off the bench at half-time, in what was the first meeting between the nations.

“It was Tom (Acheson’s) first start and I thought he played brilliantly, Ciaran Brown in the back three and Ruairi McConville was brilliant,” added Northern Ireland boss O’Neill.

“I thought young Sidach O’Neill did really well when he came on and showed great strength to stay on the ball, but it was really good to see the unity of the group.

“Ethan Galbraith hasn’t played since March and Ali McCann hasn’t played since March and gave us a great change as well. Through the squad, they worked really hard to keep a clean sheet and win the game.”

Northern Ireland will now travel to Lille to face France in their final warm-up match before the World Cup.

O’Neill added that there would be “no expectations” for his side against the second-placed nation in the FIFA rankings on Monday (20:10 BST).

“They are definitely one of the main favorites for the World Cup,” he added.

“It will be a tough challenge and a different approach from our side, as strong as we can be from the start.

“It’s a great game, we have no expectations, but we also have to give a good account of ourselves.”



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