Dons star, Niall McGinn joined his Northern Ireland teammates this morning as they departed for a training camp in Austria ahead of the European Championships. Niall spoke to RedMatchday just before the end of last season about the upcoming tournament in France.

There hardly seems to be any gap between the seasons these days – and plenty of us, players in particular, will be found hanging around airports, desperate to cram in a quick holiday before it all up starts up again.

Not all of them will be getting that break though because a lucky few, including Niall McGinn, have even more football ahead of them, at this year’s European Championships.

For Northern Ireland, it’s a first major championships since the back to back World Cups in the 1980s and a first ever Euros. How is the country preparing for it?

“There is massive excitement back home amongst everyone. Everyone is talking about it. It has been the main topic of conversation for almost everyone. It is just great to be part of a team going to a major championships for the first time in 30 years. Before my time!

“Actually, it’s hard for me to remember the first major football championships I watched on TV. Probably it’s 1994, the World Cup in America when I was seven or eight years of age. The competition for me that stands out was when Greece won the Euros in 2004. For the likes of Greece to win that, it shows you that anything is possible. We also have to be realistic as well. We have not qualified for a tournament in 30 years, so we have to make the most of it and give it our all.

“The fans of Northern Ireland have had a lot of lows in recent years so it’s great they have a massive high to look forward to. Our supporters have been absolutely brilliant. Even when I first came into the squad and things weren’t always going well, the fans were always there in big numbers. Home and away games, the atmosphere is always brilliant, but that last campaign was extra special.

“They always showed their support and got behind the team. It is nice to repay the support they have shown the players over the years.

“There is real excitement right around Northern Ireland. It is a great boost for the game. It will give young kids the desire to go and get involved in the game. For them to see their country doing well and playing at a major championships will help push them into the sport and that can only be a good thing. It will also lead to more families getting involved and whether the kids just play the game for fun or are successful in the sport, it will be great for the country”.

Big games mean big ticket demands – presumably Niall’s phone has barely stopped ringing?

“I have had a few requests, yes! We normally get allocated three or four for international games but I think UEFA are being quite smart, for the Euros they are looking to get the money back off you, so they are charging for the tickets. So no free tickets!”

Northern Ireland became the first team from Pot 5 to ever win a qualification group, but when did they feel they might make it through to France this summer?

“When we got that first win in Hungary, it gave us belief that we could come from behind and win a game. That was maybe something we had not done very often in the past.

“We then went on and won the first three matches and there was then a belief that we could go and do something special and create history. We felt we could at least get into a play-off spot but I don’t think at that stage we believed we could go on and win the group.

“Even the last campaign, the World Cup qualifiers, we put in some good performances and picked up some good results. We beat Russia, we got a point away to Portugal. Those were massive nights and that gave us confidence. We always felt we could put in good performances and do well against the bigger nations. We just needed to be more consistent and do better against the so called ‘smaller nations’.

“We managed to maintain the spirit within the squad throughout the World Cup qualifying campaign and we knew getting off to a good start to the Euro qualifiers was key. Going away from home in your first match and getting even a point gets you up and running. To get three points against Hungry was great.

“We then won three out of our next four games. Crucially we played three of the four games away from home and although we lost to Romania, we knew we were in good shape because of our home record.

“We feel we can beat anyone in Belfast. Windsor Park is such a special place with an incredible atmosphere. That gave us huge confidence going into the next round of games. And so it proved as we were unbeaten at home throughout qualifying.

“For us to qualify was unbelievable but for us to win the group was astonishing!” The draw is a tough one, pitting them against Germany and Poland who took the top two slots in Scotland’s group and the Ukraine. They face the Poles at the Stade de Nice on June 12th. Four days later they play the Ukraine in Lyon and then on the 21st, they play Germany in the Parc des Princes in Paris. Niall remains positive going into that group.

“The group gives us a realistic chance of doing well and we could not ask for any more than that. Whoever you were going to get, it was going to be tough. Germany are obviously going to be very difficult to beat but Poland and the Ukraine are also top footballing nations and those two games will also be very tough.

“We play Poland first and then the Ukraine so we will be trying to get as many points as possible in those first two games. We then play Germany in Paris in the last game, which could be some occasion. It is has the makings of an interesting group.

“The main thing is that we go there and give a good account of ourselves. There is confidence in the squad and we are winning games, so who knows?

“We will be well prepared. The team hotel is booked. It will just be the team who are there. The training ground and the facilities all look very good. We meet up on May 22nd so the manager will make sure we prepare right. That is what the manager has keyed into us. We might not be the best team there, but we have a chance of being the most prepared”.

EURO facts – Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland are featuring at their first ever European Championships. They have not played at a major final tournament since bowing out of the 1986 World Cup at the group stage.
Northern Ireland’s greatest achievement to date is reaching the last eight of the 1958 World Cup finals, losing 4-0 to France in Norrkoping, Sweden.
Michael O’Neill’s team’s record in qualifying was W6 D3 L1 – they come to the finals unbeaten in six competitive fixtures (W3 D3) and ten games in all.

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