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Two Irish teams at Euro 2016 is 'unbelievable' - Pat Jennings

Peter McParland, Pat Jennings and Billy Hamilton speaking during the Northern Ireland Euro 2016 squad announcement at the Titanic Museum, Belfast<br />Picture by PA
Peter McParland, Pat Jennings and Billy Hamilton speaking during the Northern Ireland Euro 2016 squad announcement at the Titanic Museum, Belfast
Picture by PA
Peter McParland, Pat Jennings and Billy Hamilton speaking during the Northern Ireland Euro 2016 squad announcement at the Titanic Museum, Belfast
Picture by PA

GOALKEEPING legend Pat Jennings has hailed the “unbelievable” achievement of both Irish teams qualifying for Euro 2016.

However, he warned against Northern Ireland supporters setting their sights too high after topping their qualification group, pointing to the shortage of top club level players in the squad.

Along with 1958 hero Peter McParland and 1980s icon Billy Hamilton, Jennings attended the NI squad announcement on Saturday and commented: “It's just unbelievable to qualify. We were lucky enough to qualify for two World Cups in ’82 and ’86. We never managed to make the European Championships, having beaten West Germany home and away as well.

“Realistically, I think this small country, two international teams, we do unbelievable just to qualify and you can't realistically expect us to qualify for competitions year in, year out. The fact it took us so long from Peter's time in ’58 to our time in ’82 and then somehow qualifying again in ’86, it was just unbelievable.”

As a man who earned 119 international caps, ‘Big Pat’ has immense experience and he urged caution ahead of the tournament in France: “I'm saying don't get carried away. Michael [O’Neill]'s done unbelievable to, not only qualify, but finish top of the group and to have a run of 11 games undefeated, that says so much for the team.

“I hope we just don't go there expecting too much from the team. There's no doubt he'll have them wound up, although he doesn't need to wind them up the way you see the team, everybody playing for each other and that was the way it was in our team.

“As spectators, you can't ask for anything more than that, seeing players give everything, at whatever level you play. Once you ask players to give 100 per cent, you can't ask for any more and I think that's what we're getting from the team.”

The small number of players with English top-flight clubs in O’Neill’s 23 was another similarity with the Newry native’s time on the international scene, as he acknowledged.

“We probably had that as well in my day. Whenever you look back over the last years at the Premier League, all the players coming in from Europe have been detrimental to our opportunities - Ireland, Wales, Scotland, even England, where players aren't getting blooded week-in, week-out because of the influx of foreign players.

“Whenever you look at the Premier League and the amount of talent there is to watch, it is brilliant, but it has been detrimental to the national team. I suppose you can't have it both ways.”

That applies to Northern Ireland’s current goalkeepers, as Jennings noted when asked to assess them: “To be honest, I haven't seen enough of them, they're not playing in the Premiership.

“I thought [Michael] McGovern did really well in the later qualifiers, but then of course Roy Carroll played against Slovenia, saved a penalty and also made a couple of other very good saves.

“The lad [Alan] Mannus did well in the second-half against Belarus, so it's a nice problem to have, but I'm sure the manager knows who he wants to play in France. I think Roy Carroll has given him a problem with his performance in the last match [against Slovenia], but it's nice that Michael has that problem.”

Jennings was a world class ’keeper of course, but he recalls that even he was surprised by the events of just over 30 years ago: “What we achieved in qualifying for Mexico, we had six clean sheets. I never had six clean sheets at 28, never mind 40, that was what we achieved - incredible.”

He recalled that was down to the team set-up put in place by Billy Bingham, in contrast to his predecessor as boss Danny Blanchflower: “Poor old Danny… If you wanted to win for a manager, it would have been Danny because he was so into the underdog. Danny loved the underdog.

“Whenever he came in and took over, I'm sitting there, listening and saying, 'Right, Danny, we're boring people to death with 1-0, 2-0'. He says, 'Let's go out and entertain and give the public something they want to watch, let's lose 5-4'. I'm sitting there thinking ‘Five goals!? We could give away five, but we couldn't score four!’

“Billy [Bingham] came in and he was the opposite, ‘Don't give goals away, keep it tight defensively’ - and with those big lads up front, Billy [Hamilton] and Gerry Armstrong, we were always going to get opportunities from set-pieces.

“Qualifying for the ’86 World Cup, six clean sheets on the trot, unbelievable - two matches against Turkey, friendlies against the great Platini [France] team in Paris, then went on to a friendly in Spain, then we go to Romania and beat them 1-0 and going to Wembley to get a point to qualify for Mexico. Looking at some of the film and bringing back memories, you're thinking ‘How did we do it?’”

The former Arsenal and Spurs goalkeeper admires the defensive solidity O’Neill has built up, saying: “It suits us the way we're playing. Keep clean sheets. [Against Belarus] I don't think they had two shots and that's the way it's been, cutting down the opposition's opportunities on goal.”

Aaron Hughes may join Jennings as Northern Ireland’s only ‘centurion’ this Saturday, if he’s given his 100th cap against Slovakia, and Big Pat is delighted for him, despite some ‘old school’ grumbling about the modern game.

“It's fantastic for Aaron to be closing in on a century of caps. It's a great honour to play for your country 100 times," he said.

“I think I played 118 games and-a-half. Nowadays, you come on for five minutes and you get a cap, so things have changed, but that doesn't take away from Aaron. The service he has given NI is brilliant and nobody deserves it more.”