Dr.Hategan will see you now: NI World Cup Qualifying 2018
Following the summer holiday of a lifetime, Northern Ireland returned to World Cup Qualifying duties with the air of a return to work the first…
International
A long man from Kesh: NI Euro Qualifying 2016
Many weren’t sure if manager and one time financial adviser Michael O’Neill would survive the bottom line and keep his job after the previous series…
A walk through the killing fields: World Cup Qualifying 2014
There are a few times in my Celtic-crossed footballing life that the pallor fails and your remaining drops of adrenaline suggest you flee from the…
GAWA: Gormless or worthless? NI Euro 2012 Qualifying Campaign
The slow petering out of the previous qualifying campaign had cast a ghostly pallor over the side, and the intervening friendly matches more than confirmed…
A fall of a Swiss mountain, a foothold in the heart: Northern Ireland v Switzerland
Basel. An everyday routine city in north-western Switzerland became another landmark for the Northern Irish footballing family last Sunday. If the real story lay elsewhere,…
GAWA: Thirteen to one – Not odds, but odd. NI World Cup Qualifying 2010
A glorious late summer day in Bratislava greeted the long snake of green-shirted fans heading through the narrow streets to the Tehelne Pole Stadium. Apartment…
GAWA: Baking a dozen in Northern Europe – NI Euro 2008 Qualifying
So a respectable enough showing in the previous World Cup campaign had Northern Ireland enjoying life in the mid-noughties. Manager Sanchez had now got a…
Neutrality Violated: Northern Ireland v Switzerland Play-Off Preview
Northern Ireland find themselves in their first ever World Cup play-off on Thursday 9th November since the 1958 Italian encounter. Cows and bells and William…
GAWA: Heal thyself – NI World Cup Qualifying campaign 2006
Slowly and gently, Northern Ireland fans gently and gingerly began to filter out of their shelters and self- help groups after the previous year. The…
GAWA: “It only takes a second to score a goal” – NI Euro Qualifying Campaign 2004
God alone knows what Brian Clough who coined the above saying would have made of Northern Ireland’s 2004 Euro qualifying campaign. He was fond of…