Northern Ireland v Germany, Thurs 5th October

DID YOU KNOW?

Words Marshall Gillespie

Tonight’s clash with Germany marks Michael O’Neill’s 50th game in charge of Northern Ireland. Here Marshall Gillespie unearths some interesting facts and figures about his half century of fixtures at the helm…

The 54 goals Northern Ireland have scored during Michael O’Neill’s reign as manager have been spread among no fewer than 18 players. Top of the pile is, of course, Kyle Lafferty with an impressive 12 goals. The full list is: Kyle Lafferty 12 in 34 games Gareth McAuley 7 in 37 Steven Davis 6 in 46 Jamie Ward 4 in 29 Josh Magennis 3 in 28 Niall McGinn 3 in 35 Martin Paterson 3 in 10 Conor Washington 3 in 12 Chris Brunt 2 in 25 Craig Cathcart 2 in 24 Stuart Dallas 2 in 23 Liam Boyce 1 in 6 Jonny Evans 1 in 35 Shane Ferguson 1 in 32 Will Grigg 1 in 10 David Healy 1 in 4 Conor McLaughlin 1 in 27 Dean Shiels 1 in 5

Northern Ireland will be seeking to preserve an unbeaten competitive record at home which now stretches back a very impressive four years. Portugal were the last country to visit Belfast and take maximum points when they won a World Cup qualifying contest 4-2 on 6 September 2013 - thanks mainly to a stunning second half hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo. Since that defeat though Michael O’Neill’s charges have won seven and drawn two of their subsequent nine Euro and World Cup qualifying encounters at the National Football Stadium, scoring 20 goals while conceding just three.

Skipper Steven Davis has played in 46 of Michael O’Neill’s 49 games in charge, more than any other player. The three games he missed were the 6-0 friendly defeat to the Netherlands in June 2012; a 2-0 reverse in a Euro 2016 qualifier against Romania on 14 November 2014 and the 1-1 friendly draw with Qatar at Crewe on 31 May 2015.

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