Northern Ireland boss convinced his side won't get stage fright and qualify for Euro 2016

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill confident his side can qualify for Euro 2016

MICHAEL O"NEILL is convinced Northern Ireland will not suffer stage fright as they bid to reach a first major tournament in 30 years.

"Obviously we're confident, we've played seven games, won five and drawn one," he said. "We've got all the characteristics to see this game through and see this campaign through.

"It's nice to go into the game top of the group, that's a nice positon to be in. I don't think there's a nervousness in the players, there's an excitement, a really strong belief.

"They know what they're good at as a team and they execute it, so expect to see a level of performance similar to what we've had in the campaign.

"Their focus has been tremendous. As soon as they came off the pitch on Friday their minds turned to this game.

"Our objective is to finish the job but if we don't do that here we'll have other opportunities; our destiny remains very much in our hands."

 

Chris Brunt managed to avoid picking up his second yellow card against the Faroe Islands

O'Neill expects to have a full squad to pick from, having avoided any new niggles in the Faroes, while Chris Brunt and Kyle Lafferty managed to avoid picking up their second yellow cards of the campaign.

There had been an outside chance of Nottingham Forest's Jamie Ward linking up with the squad in Belfast but his hamstring injury means he has not recovered sufficiently.

It would be fitting if Northern Ireland sealed qualification against Hungary, having kicked off their impressive sequence of results with a 2-1 win in Budapest last September.

"We've already beaten Hungary once and that was the start of it for us, but we recognise it's possibly a different Hungarian team we're facing this time," he said.

"They have a new coach, their third in this campaign, and we expect a very tough game."

Northern Ireland v Hungary, 7.45pm. TV: Sky Sports 5.