Michael O’Neill savoured a “special night” after watching his young Northern Ireland side thrash Bulgaria 5-0 in an outstanding display that sent them top of their Nations League group.
Isaac Price stole the show with a hat-trick, crowning it with a stunning strike from the edge of the box, but O’Neill could point to brilliant individual performances all over the pitch as Northern Ireland delivered one of their most entertaining displays in recent memory.
After the frustration of Saturday night’s goalless draw against Belarus in Hungary, when Northern Ireland created chance after chance but could not make them count, everything came together at Windsor Park.
“When you create chances in the game there’s nights when you don’t take them and nights when you do and we were very clinical,” O’Neill said. “But it was more the quality of the play and the nature of the chances again which was most pleasing.
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“The attitude of the team was terrific, the intensity and the quality of their play. Everyone was right at the top of their game. As a manager, I’m very proud of the performance.
“The reaction to Saturday is very important. One of the things I’ve been concerned about with such a young team is can they play the second game and how they adapt to play the second game and every answer I got tonight was very positive.”
The 21-year-old Price swept home the opener in the 15th minute and was on hand to lash in another in the 29th minute, but the Standard Liege man’s second-half strike into the top corner was the standout.
“He’s scored five goals now against good opposition,” O’Neill said. “Isaac is still a young player finding his position at club level. There’s things in his game I know he needs to improve and he knows that himself, but he has real high quality and he does demonstrate that.
“Yes we see his running power. But his finishes tonight, for him to be in the position to score takes a real willingness, he’s covered the ground brilliantly for the first two goals and then the third goal is a bit special.”
Price grabbed the match ball but was just one of many standout performers. Shea Charles was superb in midfield alongside Ali McCann, while Dion Charles deserved to see a goal that was ruled out for offside as reward for his own tireless efforts.
Brodie Spencer came in to the team on the left side of defence and excelled, with the third goal coming when his shot struck a post and bounced in off goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov.
“Brodie was brilliant,” O’Neill said. “He kept quiet their most dangerous player, (Kiril) Despodov, and also gave us a huge amount going forward. The third goal, he’s very unlucky that’s not his goal. He’s only 19, Callum (Marshall) is also 19 playing on that side, I thought they were both terrific.”
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The only negative for Northern Ireland on the night was an injury to Eoin Toal, who went to hospital with concussion after a collision with Martin Minchev – a penalty was given, somewhat harshly, but Despodov struck the crossbar.
“It’s a special night for me,” O’Neill added. “I’m very proud of the performance. We had massive highs in the past with the previous team, getting to a major tournament. This is a game at a different level of international competition and we have to be mindful of that.
“Where I look with this group is very different. I think there’s real capacity to develop this team further. We’re in the early building stages of it because the players will improve.
“This is just a proud night for me as a manager and for the players.”
