THEY love to sing, they love to dance, the Green and White Army is off to France.
Like Girls Aloud, many Northern Ireland supporters may not speak French, but they let their funky music do the talking, with their full repertoire of songs lustily aired in celebration of securing qualification for Euro 2016.
“We’re not going home”, they declared, and perhaps some of them did just stay out all night after this famous victory, before heading off to Helsinki to continue the party. “We are top of the league”, they pointed out, and there they remain, at least until the final round of matches this Sunday.
Romania might take over then, if Northern Ireland lose in Finland, but no one will really care. No one cared when Greece scored late on Thursday night. The home fans were too busy “Making all the noise” and doing “The bouncy”.
Home skipper Steven Davis was the biggest hero, scoring twice, having only netted five times in 76 previous appearances. In between his goals, goalkeeper-turned-centre-forward Josh Magennis, only in the team because leading scorer Kyle Lafferty was suspended, opened his international account.
On one of those rare nights of qualification, 30 years in the waiting, there was the unusual sight of tricolours out in force at Windsor Park – although they were the red-white-and-blue French versions.
The Steven Davis song, of course, was loudly repeated, and he certainly seemed to be combination of Lampard and Gerrard at their peak in last night’s performance.
The party started early, with hopes initially raised higher by one unlikely name, then made certain by those two unexpected scorers for the north. Nerves had been settled somewhat by Roaldur Jakobsen of the Faroe Islands, who scored early on in Budapest, where Hungary needed to win to keep their automatic qualification hopes alive. The Hungarians ended up doing so, but it didn’t matter, because the men in green made their dream come true themselves.
Davis improved matters just over 10 minutes before the break, finishing off a fine move to put his team in pole position, although Greece did come close to levelling on the stroke of half-time.
At that stage many in Windsor Park may have worried that fortunes could still take a turn for the worse.
Yet by the hour mark there was no doubt that supporters could start planning their trip to France next summer. Magennis looped the ball in from a corner less than four minutes into the second half, then Davis guided a header into the same top corner nine minutes later. The supporters went loopy. Sales of guides to France soared.
Despite the pre-match nerves, it was a night of noise and song. The home support set the tone, booing every Greek touch, and the Northern Ireland players responded, with a positive, confident performance, despite the absence of four key players through suspensions and injury.
The home line-up was as expected, with Paddy McNair and Craig Cathcart replacing Conor McLaughlin and Jonny Evans in defence, while Jamie Ward and Josh Magennis came in for Chris Baird and Kyle Lafferty.
However, there was a slight surprise with Corry Evans remaining as an advanced midfielder, albeit infield this time, with Oliver Norwood taking over from Baird as the deepest-lying midfielder. That suited Norwood’s passing game, while the younger Evans buzzed about behind Magennis.
Norwood did get forward to lash a fierce shot into the side-netting after a half-cleared early corner, then almost released Magennis with a fine long pass over the top, but the centre-forward’s chest control let him down.
News of the Faroes going ahead in Hungary filtered through and was quickly converted into an approving chant. Yet as the hosts’ early enthusiasm burned off, the Greeks began to knock the ball around nicely. Indeed they came closest to opening the scoring when centre half Sokratis Papastathopoulos headed down but Tziolis’s close range shot was kept out by a combination of keeper and defender.
The north came even closer then at the other end, when the ball fell to Magennis after a clever run and cut-back by Stuart Dallas, but as fans rose to acclaim a goal the shot deflected wide off Moras.
Greece were stretching the home rearguard too, Chris Brunt making an important header and keeper Michael McGovern diving to bravely punch away.
However, the hosts made the breakthrough – and it was a beautifully worked goal. Davis started the move, sweeping possession left to Evans, who spotted Dallas unexpectedly on the right, and picked him out with a superb pass. The Leeds winger did his bit, delivering across the six-yard box, and Davis slid in to net gleefully. Cue bedlam.
Davis, who had been quiet before his goal, then denied on-loan Benfica striker Mitroglou, hooking Holebas’s dangerous cross off the forward’s foot, before embarking on a brilliant run the next minute that was only ended by a foul.
Mitroglou did get a shot away just on half-time, the ball coming to him after a brave block by Brunt, but his drive came back out off the base of the post. Luck continued to favour the hosts, with Magennis not making great contact with Norwood’s corner only for the ball to go into the net anyway.
There was much more precision about Davis’s second goal, the captain deliberately directing his header in superbly after Brunt’s corner was only nodded out to the edge of the penalty area.
The rest of the match was merely a matter of singing and dancing. Greece netted with five minutes remaining, Aravidis turning in a low cross from their captain Torosidis, but that was met with a collective Gallic shrug.
The Green and White Army are off to France.
MATCH STATS
Northern Ireland: McGovern; McNair (McCullough, 85), McAuley, Cathcart, Brunt; Norwood, Davis (capt.), C Evans; Ward (McGinn, 81), Magennis (Boyce, 78), Dallas.
Greece: Karnezis; Torosidis (capt.), Moras, Papastathopoulos, Holebas; Karelis (Mantalos 65), Samaris, Tziolis, Kone (Pelkas, 71), Aravidis; Mitroglou (Athanasiadis, 75).
Referee: Bas Nijhuis (Netherlands).
Attendance: 11,700.
