Come the 2016 European championships, Northern Ireland will have not featured in an international tournament for 30 years exactly. For such a small country it may not seem as a surprise, but for a country with some fine footballers within its ranks, a trip to a major championship is well overdue. After Northern Irish goalkeeping Pat Jennings had finished with his duties in the draw, top seeds Greece and minnows Faroe Islands had been drawn into Group D. After 'Norn Iron' had been put into the group, Finland, Hungary and Romania followed suit. Manager Michael O'Neill had this to say after the draw was made in Nice:

"I think we've got to be pleased to be honest. You always look at the top nations, and Greece will be a very tough game but they would probably have been the one you would have chosen. There are teams in there - Hungary, Finland, Romania - who I believe we can compete with and get points from and give ourselves a chance. Obviously we have the Faroe Islands who we have had trouble with in the past and a team who will cause problems for all the teams in the group. So I'm happy with the draw. Greece is the only team in recent times which has a track record of qualification. That hopefully will help us. We need to pick points up at home. We need to learn lessons from recent times when we have dropped points against some of the weaker nations. We have to make sure we maximise points at home and I think against the likes of Hungary, Finland and Romania we are capable of doing that.

O'Neill is a big supporter of the expansion of the tournament to 24, "It gives everybody belief, not just for the players but also for the fans as well. They get behind the campaign very early." O'Neill is targeting third place, but feels automatic qualification is not out of the question, "Whilst you want to get there automatically - the third place is achievable with 14 points. The key thing for us will be avoiding Greece early and possibly Romania," he said. "One of the things we failed with in the last campaign was getting points on the board early. If we can do that then the fixtures later in the group will take care of themselves."

While the draw looks like Northern Ireland have a very realistic chance to qualify, they must be wary of the quality players that the other nations have in their Arsenal.

Greece

Serial qualifiers for the European championships as O'Neill says, they may not possess the most exciting or flamboyant squad, but their squad togetherness is second to none, no better was this seen when they won the competition in 2004. Without any real standout player to rely upon, the team know that a strong collective effort will see them through. While they may not have the Ronaldo's and Messi's of this world, they do have the likes of Celtic's Giorgos Samaras, Fulham's new record-signing Kostas Mitroglou and Bologna's Lazaros Christodoulopoulos to provide a very real attacking threat. In defence they can call upon Borussia Dortmund's Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Schalke's Kyriakos Papadouplos, as well as the Olympiacos back four, the Greeks are well served in that department. However, they lack any bite or pace in defensive midfield, which could be well exploited by McGinn, Ward and whoever Michael O'Neill chooses to use in that final attacking role. Another worry for the Greece team is that without Antonios Nikopolidis, they have been without a reliable goalkeeper and this is another area Northern Ireland could exploit. Despite these weaknesses, it's clear to see their quality and will most likely top the group.

Romania

The Romanians haven't been at a major championship since EURO 2008 and will be confident they can obtain at least a play-off place this time around. Romania don't have many household names, but in Mancherster City's Costel Pantilimon, Stuttgart's Alexandru Maxim, former West Ham defender Razvan Rat and Tottenhman's Vlad Chriches they have a base to build off of. Maxim is a real star for Stuttgart in the Bundesliga, having everything a promising young attacking midfielder needs, including a more than impressive set-piece delivery. While Chirches, Rat and Pantilimon will provide a solid defence, they do lack an out and out goalscorer and have a weak midfield. For a chance, this could play into Northern Ireland's hands as their midfield should get the better of the Eastern European opponents and the defence should be able to marshal Maxim and co. to keep them quiet. The rest of the Romanian side is made up largely of Steaua and the other top clubs from the country, and this could prove important to provide continuity as they seek to go one better than the play-off loss in the World Cup qualifying late last year.

Hungary

The Hungarians also haven't played at a major tournament since 1986 and will be hoping they can end that run in conjunction with Northern Ireland's 30 year wait. One player that fans here will be familiar with will be Gabor Kiraly, famous for wearing track bottoms through-out his career and well-known for his time at Crystal Palace. Adam Bogdan, Zoltan Gera and Jozef Varga all ply their trade in England and with quality players such as Balazs Dzsudzsak, Adam Szalai and Tamas Hajnal will all provide plenty for the Northern Irish defence to worry about. Though the Hungarians defence definitely isn't the strongest and Martin Paterson and the attacking midfielders will look to make the most of the weaknesses there. Dzsudzsak will be one of the main concerns for the Green and White army, his shooting and creative ability will be of great worry, and Adam Szalai of Schalke will be ready and waiting to pounce on anything that comes his way.

Finland

The Finnish were most recently here in Northern Ireland in 2012 for a friendly and also my first commentary game, they'll be hoping that it's not a repeat of the 3-3 thriller as both sides will take a 1-0 win as they strive for the 3 points. The Finns are yet to reach a major championship, but like many others in the group, they will feel this is their best opportunity for a while. Northern Ireland will look to pick up maximum points against an aging Finnish side, yet they will be wary of players like Temmu Pukki, Niklas Moisander, Väyrynen and the Eremenko's as they provide a very real attacking threat. However, Northern Ireland were comfortable in large portions of the game two years ago and would look at individual errors rather than Finnish brilliance for the concession of goals, apart from Perparim Hetemaj's thunderbolt of a costless-kick. As seen then, when they conceded 3 goals, they are there for the taking and it's not often that Northern Ireland score that many in a game and this will give Norn Iron hope going into the games.

Faroe Islands

Despite being ranked as one of the worst footballing nations, Northern Ireland found it hard going against the minnows in Toftir, where they held Northern Ireland to a 1-1 draw. Though they were compreshensively beaten 4-0 in the game in Belfast, it was a major coup for the Faroes. Yet this time, it's hard to see them getting the same sort of result and Northern Ireland should win comfortably in both ties.

So will Michael O'Neill be the first manager in 30 long years to qualify for a major championship? Yes. I really do believe that Northern Ireland will be enjoying EURO 216 first hand rather than the usually watching it on TV.

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About the author
Jonathan Walsh
SoccerSight IFA commentator. VAVEL deputy editor-in-chief/VAVEL Bundesliga editor-in-chief and writer. Email: [email protected]