With matches against Belarus and Luxembourg scheduled for next month, the young team is in the driver’s seat in Group C3 after their 5-0 thumping of Bulgaria at Windsor Park on Tuesday.
Even if the opponent played poorly—remember, though, that Bulgaria was superior when the two teams met in Plovdiv just a month ago—the night’s main event was how Northern Ireland’s youthful core controlled the proceedings.
Even though they recorded another clean sheet, their sixth in the last eight international matches, they truly stood out at the other end.
The team had only scored seven goals in seven games following last Saturday’s dismal 0-0 draw with Belarus. Captain Conor Bradley had boldly claimed that the goals would soon follow, but even he could not have imagined that he would be proven correct so quickly.
It was the first time Northern Ireland had scored five goals in a single game since 1995, so this was very unusual. On that day, a central midfielder named Michael O’Neill scored twice against Austria.
