Michael O’Neill committed to seeing out contract with Northern Ireland

Michael O’Neill has said he plans to remain as Northern Ireland manager beyond the summer after his young side’s hopes of reaching the World Cup were ended by Italy in Thursday night’s qualifying play-off semi-final.

O’Neill has been juggling final preparations for this week with his role as Blackburn manager, having surprised many fans when he jumped into a Championship relegation battle only six weeks before a crunch qualifier.

The 56-year-old’s contract with Rovers runs until the end of the season, but his decision to take that job was seen as a sign that O’Neill wants to return to club football full-time.

O’Neill has lifted Blackburn out of the relegation zone, four points clear of the bottom three, and the IFA will still be braced for the possibility that Thursday night was his last competitive game with Northern Ireland – and that Tuesday’s friendly away to Wales could end his second stint in charge.

Speaking after the defeat O’Neill was initially evasive when asked about his future plans, but offered more clarity when a local journalist asked if he could explain a situation that was seen in Italy as “a bit strange”.

“As things stand, I will manage the game on Tuesday night, and I will manage the remaining seven games for Blackburn Rovers,” O’Neill said.

“But my contract is still with the IFA. I’m contracted to 2028 and after Blackburn Rovers I’ll revert back to the status quo which is the national team manager.”

O’Neill will have seen plenty in Thursday night’s performance that would make any manager want to stick around with this young Northern Ireland side.

They may have lost but nevertheless held their own away to top-level opposition despite a tender average age of 22.5 in the starting eleven, with Paddy McNair, 30, the only player over the age of 24 involved from the off.

Although they have fallen short this time, Northern Ireland’s qualifying campaign as a whole has offered plenty of encouragement to those who believe they can reach Euro 2028 with another two years’ development.

“Of course we want to challenge (for qualification) all the time, but we’ve got to recognise where we are as a nation and what we have to do to get to a World Cup is extremely difficult,” O’Neill said.

“For us to get to a World Cup we have to get there at the expense of a nation like Italy, which is a huge challenge. We had a huge challenge in our group with Germany.

“But I believe that to get to this stage is a real positive. We will take this forward when qualification comes for Euro 2028. The players will be further along in their journey.

“We might have some additional players in the squad as well, but the squad is only going to improve because we’re not going to see a drop off.

“We’ve only got two or three players that are in the category that will maybe reflect on their international careers.

“The majority of the squad will remain together for a good few tournaments to come.”