Euro 2016: Late Late Lafferty Keeps Northern Ireland On Course For Finals (Photos & Highlights)

Alan Duffy

7th, September 2015

2 Comments

A late Kyle Lafferty goal rescued a precious point for Northern Ireland against Hungary on Monday night, with the 1-1 draw keeping Michael O’Neill’s men on course for France next summer.

The Northern Irish could have sealed qualification with a win against Hungary and the hosts dominated for large periods of the game.

However, they couldn’t make the breakthrough and instead, on 74 minutes, Hungary took the lead courtesy of a howler from ‘keeper let Richard Guzmics net from close-range.

Things went from bad to worse for the Northern Ireland when Chris Baird was sent off for two rapid-fire yellows. The defender received the cards one straight after the other, one for a foul earlier on in a move by Hungary (when the ref waved play on) and the second for the bad foul which ended the same move.

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Despite going down to 10 men, the home side battled on and at the death, their Euro-goal-machine Kyle Lafferty came up with the goods once again, netting from close range after a shot from Niall McGinn.

The point sees Northern Ireland stay top of Group F, with a win from their last two games (Greece at home and Finland away) all that is needed to secure a Finals berth in France next summer.

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(Highlights: Dailymotion)

Posted in Euro 2016, International football, Newsnow, Photos, Videos

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2 Comments

  1. Jarren says:

    How quickly hope can turn to resignation.

    That’s how I felt up to the 93rd minute of the game, and as I was working here in Canada (5 hours behind) I was working while keeping one eye on the BBC text service.

    Then it popped up…

    “Northern Ireland 1 – 1 Hungary”

    I felt like I had just come up on MDMA.

    The job’s not over, lads, but well done!

    We’ll have to do without Kyle and Chris for the Greece game, but let’s get the job done in their honour.

    Let’s not leave it to Helsinki. Let’s go to Finland with heads held high, not in trepidation.

    Allez les verts!

  2. PetrovskyKSC says:

    @Jarren
    I just came here to see what you would have to say about that game yesterday.
    It’s fantastic to see your wee country in such an amazing shape!
    There are no words to describe the team’s fighting spirit and moral.
    To me, a clash between Norn Iron and Germany (my country btw) in the finals sounds nice, doesn’t it?
    The best is yet to come, but still I’ll definitely keep my fingers crossed!

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