I hope that in the future I will be given the opportunity, as a Celtic player, to also enjoy my international career

Neil Lennon

Sammy McIlroy: Delighted by decision

McIlroy would like to draw a line under the whole unpleasant affair, but the acid test will come on 24 March when Lennon runs out at Windsor Park for Northern Ireland's World Cup qualifier with the Czechs.

McIlroy wants all of the crowd to get behind the entire team.

"Understandably the booing Neil received upset him and his family," he said.

"Hopefully that's gone now, and we can all get on with playing football.

"That's all Neil ever wanted to do, and he just wants to play football for his country.

"Let's hope all the crowd get behind the whole team and cheer us on," added McIlroy.

Irish Football Association president Jim Boyce was just as pleased as McIlroy and he appealed for all the fans to cheer Lennon on against the Czechs.

"Following Neil's announcement, the message loud and clear from the Irish Football Association is `we don't want these kind of people at matches who bring the country into disrepute'.

"I hope the proper fans will come along and give Neil the kind of support he deserves at our next match for making this decision."

Martin O'Neill advised Lennon to play on

The IFA hope to eradicate sectarianism from Northern Ireland matches and they intend to announce a raft of measures at a press conference on Wednesday.

Boyce said: "We want to rid this cancer from our midst once and for all."

However, the IFA's anti-sectarian drive could be inhibited by the ending of a European Union grant-aided programme which has been in place for the last two years.

Funding for the IFA and Northern Ireland Community Relations Council initiative runs out at the end of March and money may not be made available to continue the scheme.

Lennon's club manager O'Neill, for whom he has great respect, had advised the midfielder to carry on.

"He asked my opinion - that's all he asked me and I said to him that I maybe thought he should continue and saw how it went," said O'Neill.

O'Neill, who also represented Northern Ireland in his heyday, praised Lennon for the way he handled the situation and responded by producing the goods for Celtic.

"I'm more pleased that he's made the decision now than letting it drift on and on and the decision then might have played on his mind, but he's made his decision now and I'm pleased.

"Now I think he can get on with things although I didn't honestly think it was effecting his play for Celtic," added O'Neill.