Northern Ireland vs Germany: Nation's new heroes will always have Paris

Paris in summer will not be erased from the Northern Ireland collective memory for many a long year. They were submitted to such an avalanche of German pressure that it was all they could do to stop themselves being dragged under and yet to be here, fighting for a knock-out place when the achievement was supposed simply to have been participating, offered what it has for so many smaller competing nation: a beautiful form of self expression.

How they seized it. Not the players, it is fair to say, whose strategy was akin to what the Slovakians had employed in St Etienne on Monday night, except that this Germany side look light years ahead of England. But the green and white enclave told the world who they were, just as they have been throughout the last ten days. Passion, fun, grace, resolve: that's what they represent. They can dance a bit too.

And they happen to have done enough to have a round of 16 place well within their grasp - something confirmed with the results in Group D later on Tuesday. Wales or France await them and you fancy it is the hosts they will want.

The win over Ukraine allowed the Irish, like the Welsh, to proclaim that they were going to 'win the league' and when that notion was reduced to dust by what Mario Gomez, Thomas Muller and the brilliantly effective Mesut Ozil combined to offer, it morphed into some of the anthems coined on this fabulous adventure. The 'Will Griggs on fire' song, with no matter that the Wigan player was on the bench. The melody of the 'Yaya' 'Kolo' song of the Toure brothers, sung to 'Jonny' and 'Corry'. Evans, that is. Half-time was beckoning when 'We're going to win 2-1' struck up.

The hero of the piece was Michael McGovern, the Hamilton Academical goalkeeper who is destined for a big move to Celtic or Rangers when this tournament is done and showed precisely why.

The game was a few minutes old when he threw his body in front of Muller, played in by the deftest Ozil touch. His prompt clearance actually created Northern Ireland's only genuine chance to catch the Germans on the counter attack. Conor Washington, the loneliest man in the field as the green shirts defended deep, raced away into the space created by Jogi Low's advanced full-backs. He failed to pick out Steven Davis, unmarked in the penalty area and imploring him to find the pass. Though judging by what was to follow it cannot be judged a fateful lack of awareness.

Jonny Evans joined McGovern in throwing himself in front of Muller in the difficult minutes before Germany led and the goalkeeper also managed to repel Gotze's shot when Joshua Kimmich drifted a cross with perfect weight over Aaron Hughes' head to where he waited, early in the second half.

open image in gallery

Then, a sharp drop down from McGovern to drive away with the two hands Sami Khedira's strike. The two gloves were necessary - sending the ball away with too much power for the Muller to fasten a header onto. But the best save was the last. A Kimmich cross, Gomez leaping to direct a strong header down towards goal, and McGovern throwing himself across this six-yard box to apply the vitally important fingertip touch to safety.

This performance from the man wearing fluorescent yellow mattered monumentally, as they will be reminding you in Belfast for a long time to come. A heavy defeat would have sunk Michael O'Neill's team beneath the others who will end the group stage on three points. Conversely, the pressure intensified for Germany when Poland led in their game, taking over at the top of Group C. The permutations honestly seem to matter little, though. The down-side of a Euro 2016 for so many nations is a tournament which, for the best, does not begin in earnest until the back end of its third week. The opposition is actually an irrelevance. Defeating Germany will take some performance.

Gotze was smiling at the sheer monopoly of his side before he side-footed narrowly wide. The breakthrough had required a deflection, from the foot of Gareth McAuley, but the post and the bar also kept the Irish within sight of parity. The cameramen enjoyed their images of Rory McIlroy, in a George Best t-shirt, in the stand, though this is the time when his celebrity is not needed for once. There is a new team of Northern Ireland legends now.