31 / 72
axis of Steven Davis and Ollie Norwood
keeping Aaron Ramsey extremely quiet.
Stuart Dallas, Jamie Ward and Ollie
Norwood all produced decent shots on goal,
while Kyle Lafferty headed over when well
placed.
Apart from a trademark dipping free-kick
from Bale, which Michael McGovern dealt
with comfortably, Wales never really looked
like scoring until Bale broke away down
the left and executed a delicious cross
which Big G unfortunately turned
into his own net as Robson-Kanu
was about to pounce. It was
unavoidable, but what a gut-
wrenching way to fall behind
– and eventually to lose the
game.
Northern Ireland tried to rally
after that but to no avail and
XLIVI [EW HIƤRMXIP] E JIIPMRK
that the game was there for
the taking when the players
VIƥIGXIH SR XLI ;EPIW IRGSYRXIV
in the days following their Euro 2016 exit.
8LI EHMIY [SYPH HIƤRMXIP] LEZI FIIR IEWMIV
to take if we had been on the receiving
end of a sparkling performance from the
STTSWMXMSR FYX XLEX [EW HIƤRMXIP] RSX XLI
case here.
Still, despite our stay in France being cruelly
cut short, we were nevertheless left with
many wonderful memories from Euro 2016.
And the homecoming event at Titanic
Belfast just a couple of days later, where the
players got a taste of the fanatical support
which their efforts sparked back home
and 10,000 supporters got to thank their
heroes, helped to ease the pain as it was
another great occasion linked to the Euros
EHZIRXYVI ERH MX [EW E ƤXXMRK ƤREPI
www.irishfa.com29