Euro 216: Northern Ireland extend record unbeaten run with Slovakia draw
Northern Ireland had chances of their own and Lafferty was furious an early attempt that was heading for the net appeared to be blocked by Peter Pekarik’s arm, only for Romanian referee Marian Radu Petrescu to turn down his appeals.
Craig Cathcart, meant to be part of a three-man back line to take the field against Poland next Sunday in Northern Ireland’s first appearance at a major finals in 30 years, left the field with a knock in the first half as Slovakia resorted to some heavy-handed tactics in a bid to knock O’Neill’s side out of their comfortable stride.
Games against Ukraine and Germany follow in Group C.
The only Northern Ireland player to pass 100 caps is goalkeeper Jennings who made 119 appearances, and the Northern Irish legend said: “It will be an absolutely fantastic achievement”.
He believes they can make people stand up and take notice of the improvements made by his country after three decades of hurt.
FERMANAGH’S Roy Carroll, Kyle Lafferty and Michael McGovern are ready to face whatever challenges Euro 2016 might throw at them as they headed off for pre-tournament training with their Northern Ireland teammates earlier this week.
‘When you walk into your bedroom, just above the telly you’ve got the final group - how it looked and your picture beside it.
You have to admire the spirit and fight Northern Ireland displayed in qualifying for Euro 2016.
The back-room team even installed a United Kingdom television service - enabling the squad to watch the news and programmes from back home - as well as a massive touchscreen panel that is being constantly updated with supportive tweets and videos uploaded by the fans in Northern Ireland.
Lafferty has 17 worldwide goals in 50 appearances for Northern Ireland, which makes him the country’s second top scorer.
It just makes it seem a bit more homely. Their opening match of the group stage is a tough one against a high-scoring Poland side.
“Certainly by going 12 games unbeaten and by not conceding goals, that would be the key to us having some level of success in the tournament”.
A 1 - 0 win for Slovakia is the most likely outcome with William Hill and Bet365 offering odds of 5/1 and 9/2 respectively.
The 2-0 defeat of Greece gave Michael O’Neill’s three wins from three and the belief they could get out of the group.
‘But I expect that will all change in France’.