Northern Ireland Men's Football Team

Joel Bell
BBC Sport NI

Image source, Getty Images

Northern Ireland defender Terry Devlin insists ''there's a lot of things we can improve on'' after their hard-fought 1-1 friendly draw with Wales on Tuesday night.

Jamie Donley opened the scoring for Northern Ireland before Wales drew level just after half-time through Sorba Thomas.

After making his debut last March against Switzerland, Devlin is delighted with the experience he has gained over the last few days under Michael O'Neill, after starting against Italy and in Tuesday's draw in Cardiff.

''A lot of people thought it was going to be a pointless or dead rubber game, but for what it was, it was a really intense and hard-fought game between the two sides and it was a good experience for a lot of us players,'' Devlin told BBC Sport NI.

''Wales are a top nation, they've a lot of really good top players. They've loads of players in the Premier League and top Championship level players.

''For us to be level or match them for the 45 or 90 [minutes], it's a really good thing for us to take. We can still be better, there's a lot of things we can improve on, we're a young squad and I'm sure we'll definitely do that.''

Donley's goal against Wales was his second for his country after he netted his first international goal back in November against Luxembourg and Devlin was pleased for his teammate.

''Jamie [Donley] is a top lad, he works really hard and he's a top player and it's massive for him to get that [goal],'' Devlin added.

''That's two goals in two camps now, that jersey's his at the minute and he just needs to keep hold of it and keep scoring goals for us.''

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist in Cardiff

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill praised the "character" of his side in Tuesday's 1-1 draw in Wales.

Both Wales and Northern Ireland lost their respective World Cup play-offs to set up the friendly that nobody wanted.

Jamie Donley scored a deserved opener but Wales hit back less than 60 seconds after the restart as Sorba Thomas tucked home.

Eoin Toal and Callum Marshall had chances to snatch victory, but it was the response to the equaliser which impressed O'Neill as his young side bounced back from the World Cup defeat by Italy with a solid performance in Cardiff.

"The team has good resilience because at the end of the day, as much as we sat deep and it was difficult for us to get out in the last 20 minutes, we still had an opportunity to win the game," said O'Neill, who also hit back at concerns over a conflict of interest with his dual role with Blackburn Rovers.

"To come away, with the age profile of the team and where the team is at this minute at time, and not be beaten here was a real positive."

O'Neill added it was "a good night's work for us" as he "asked a huge amount" of young players in a second half that was littered with substitutions, but Northern Ireland deserved their draw in Cardiff.

He handed a debut to 19-year-old defender Tom Atcheson, who plays under him at Blackburn Rovers, but Liverpool's Kieran Morrison did not make his senior bow as O'Neill made eight substitutions.

"He's a very young player. I think he's shown up well in the camp all week," O'Neill said on Atcheson.

"We would have liked to have got Kieran Morrison on the pitch as well at some point, but you wouldn't have been able to do it without having to take a sub that you put on, off again, without asking someone to play in a position which was totally alien to them.

"Given the number of substitutions we made, we're pleased with the response we got from the players."

Lauren McCann
BBC Sport NI Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Former Northern Ireland midfielder Chris Brunt has questioned the wisdom of Uefa for making Michael O'Neill's side play Wales in a "complete dead rubber" friendly on Tuesday.

Northern Ireland travel to Cardiff after losing their play-off semi-final 2-0 against Italy in Bergamo, which ended their World Cup hopes.

Wales were beaten on penalties by Bosnia-Herzegovina in their semi-final and Brunt, who won 65 NI caps was critical of the decision to go ahead with the friendly in an already busy football calendar.

"For the supporters, it's a complete dead rubber. It is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard - it's pointless," he told the BBC Sportsound programme.

"The schedule of games coming up in England - boys play Friday and Monday [when they go back to their clubs] so it's ridiculous. If you look at the previous qualifying games, they're scheduled Thursday, Sunday and Friday, Monday or Saturday, Tuesday, so why come to this stage of the season go Thursday, Tuesday?

"With all due respect to Wales, they're putting on a game in Cardiff that means absolutely nothing. The only good thing that comes out of it is some of the younger lads get a chance to have a bit of exposure at that level."

Brunt, who is now a tactical scout and head of loans and pathways for former club West Bromwich Albion, believes O'Neill will rotate his team for the friendly and give those not involved in Bergamo such as Kieran Morrison, Dion Charles and Jamie McDonnell, an opportunity at Cardiff City Stadium.

"All the lads on the pitch the other night, physically and mentally it takes so much out of you and not getting the result we wanted. It's a difficult one for everyone to pick themselves up and go again," he added.

"There are a lot of lads who go around Europe for the qualifying campaign and don't get to play a lot of football, so it's an opportunity to give something back for them who have supported the other lads through qualifying."

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It's matchday at the BBC Sport NI team are all set up to bring you live coverage from Bergamo of tonight's World Cup play-off semi-final between Italy and Northern Ireland.

HOW CAN I WATCH THE MATCH?

The game will be live on BBC iPlayer, BBC Three, BBC One NI and the BBC Sport website from 1900 GMT with Stephen Watson joined by legendary Italy striker Gianfranco Zola and former NI internationals Stuart Dallas, Stephen Craigan and Gerry Armstrong.

HOW CAN I LISTEN TO THE MATCH?

We will have live radio coverage on BBC Radio Ulster, Radio Foyle and BBC Sounds from 1930 GMT with Michael Clarke joined by Jim Magilton, George McCartney and Keith Gillespie.

HOW CAN I FOLLOW ONLINE?

We'll start the build-up to a huge night of football from 1500 GMT with all the news, interviews and stories from the week with our reporters in Italy bringing you the colour from Bergamo ahead of kick-off.

During the match we'll have live text updates plus all the action with in-play clips and the best reaction and analysis from our team of pundits.

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