North's fairytale campaign ends on high note against Finland

ONCE upon a time Northern Ireland might have been gutted about losing a lead late on and missing out on a rare away win.

Yet this was still a fairytale campaign for Michael O’Neill’s men, even if it wasn’t quite a fairytale finish, with the Finnish denying them what would have been an amazing fourth victory on their travels.

The journey will continue to France next summer, and Craig Cathcart’s first international goal ensured first place in the group, despite the 87th minute equaliser from Finland centre back Paulus Arajuuri.

Once upon a time (say, a couple of years ago), the north would have been protecting an away lead for its utter rarity value; no-one would have predicted that failing do so would still have meant them topping the group. Yet that’s what this draw and point achieved, completing a remarkable transformation in the team’s fortunes. From one win in the  last qualifying campaign to just one defeat in this one, and six victories.

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As skipper Steven Davis said: “I think nobody would have seen this coming. We had belief we could compete and improve but it’s been remarkable, just the turnaround we’ve had…

“It’s been an incredible week for everyone and one we will cherish forever, seeing the fans around the hotel and you can only imagine what they’ve been feeling and what the players have been feeling, so it has been a great few days and nice to finish top of the group.”

Goalscorer Cathcart acknowledged that conceding the late goal was something of a setback, but it’d be impossible for Northern Ireland not to be happy about their work overall: “It wasn’t the best of games but it was nice to get my first goal and the point to get us to the top of the group at the end of it. It was disappointing to draw in the end but we didn’t play well – but that shows the spirit, that we ground out the result.”

What mattered most was qualification, and then topping the group, with the latter fact pleasing Cathcart particularly ahead of mixing it with the best in Europe next year: “It’s a big statement, and it’s the first time a team from Pot Five has topped a group, which is an amazing achievement from the lads.

“It’s easy to win two games on the bounce but we’ve gone and done it throughout the whole campaign. We’ve shown great consistency, showed just how good the squad has been.”

That squad depth was shown again in Helsinki. While Cathcart himself has come in for the hamstrung Jonny Evans, manager O’Neill was able to make three changes to the team that beat Greece last Thursday, all arguably boosting the side.

The boss restored Chris Baird and Kyle Lafferty to the starting line-up, in place of Corry Evans and Josh Magennis. However, the other player who’d been suspended, Conor McLaughlin, did not come back straightaway, with Manchester United youngster Paddy McNair retaining his place at right back.

Niall McGinn was also called up on the right wing, replacing Jamie Ward and the Aberdeen attacker created the first opening, firing over a low cross, but there was no-one in the middle to make contact.

Stuart Dallas really should have done better on the opposite flank when Arajuuri bizarrely gave the ball to him, but his awkward right-foot shot was comfortably saved.

Chris Brunt then belted in a couple of fierce efforts from distance, but both were deflected off-target after hitting team-mates.

Finland managed very little in response, despite some neat inter-play outside the penalty area, although their skipper Tim Sparv did shoot narrowly wide after poor attempts to clear by Cathcart and Brunt.

The latter again showed that he’s much better going forward, although when he sent over a wicked centre Lafferty could not connect.

Still, the visitors were making themselves very much at home, looking very comfortable, and the deserved breakthrough came just after the half hour. A half-cleared corner came to McNair, who found McGinn on the right, and his dangerous, whipped cross was deftly headed past the ’keeper by Cathcart.

Although he’d broken his international duck in his 23rd appearance, the Watford centre back was as calm about that as he is on the pitch, simply saying: “I saw a bit of space at the near post, Niall put a good ball, and I just got a glance on it. I didn’t really think too much about it, I’m not one to get over-excited about scoring. I’ll reflect on that later, obviously it’s a big goal.”

He was more excited about actually being back in the team, having come in for that crucial game against Greece, saying: “It’s nice to finally play my part and I really look forward to helping the lads in the tournament.”

Yet for all Northern Ireland’s dominance, matters might have been level again minutes after the goal, only for Michael McGovern to save smartly from a close range shot by Joel Pohjanpolo.

Finland were much improved after the break, dominating possession and putting their opponents on the back foot, although their shooting was still off-target. Pohjanpolo really should have forced a save when left-back Jere Uronen picked him out, but he opened up too much and his right-foot shot flew well over.

Pohjanpolo and Sakari Mattila were then more accurate but far too weak in their shooting, barely troubling McGovern beyond the boredom of waiting for the ball to reach him. However, the pressure finally told, with three minutes of normal time remaining. Substitutes Teemu Pukki and Kasper Hamalainen combined well, the former crossing for the latter to nod back into the path of Arajuuri, who controlled the ball before crashing a shot powerfully into the net.

The response to that from the 2,200 travelling supporters was to sing more loudly than they had done for most of this match.

There are still more chapters to be written, we’re far from the end of Northern Ireland’s fairytale.

MATCH STATS

Finland: Hradecky, Jalasto, Arajuuri, Ojala, Uronen, Schuller (Hamalainen 79), Sparv, Mattila, Ring (Lod 43), Sadik (Pukki 66), Pohjanpalo; Subs Not Used: Maenpaa, Moisander, Toivio, Arkivuo, Lam, Raitala, Joronen; Goals: Arajuuri 87. 

Northern Ireland: McGovern, McNair (Conor McLaughlin 51), McAuley, Baird, Cathcart, Davis, Brunt, Norwood, Dallas, McGinn (Ferguson 71), Lafferty (Magennis 79); Subs Not Used: Carroll, McCullough, McKay, Ryan McLaughlin, McCourt, Reeves, Ward, Boyce, Mannus; Goals: Cathcart 31. 

Ref: Sergei Karasaev (Russia).

Att: 14,550