Northern Ireland vs Greece preview: Michael O’Neill’s unlikely lads survive blows to stand on the brink of history

Gareth McAuley walked into the team hotel sporting an exaggerated limp. Guffaws all around. Aaron Hughes landed after a 32-hour journey that took him from Melbourne to Singapore to London to Belfast, even though he is not certain to play. Josh Magennis arrived from Kilmarnock’s 1-1 draw at Hearts in which the former goalkeeper turned right-back turned international striker did not score.

There are various elements to the rousing Northern Ireland story in these European Championship qualifiers and here were three of them: camaraderie, commitment and adaptability. Together they have brought another: overachievement.

In Belfast, should Northern Ireland defeat Greece, the European Championship finals will have been reached for the first time. Should it be a draw, there is a possibility that will be enough. Even a defeat would still leave the trip to Finland on Sunday.

Michael O’Neill’s squad have given themselves a chance, or “two bites” as he said. They stand on the brink of history.

Of course, this is where they stood a month ago. Then the Irish had to overcome Hungary to guarantee qualification and only an exhilarating last-minute equaliser from Kyle Lafferty kept them standing.

Now the scenario is the same, except that Greece are the opposition and Northern Ireland are not at full strength, as they were in September.

That point against Hungary came at a cost of three suspensions – Chris Baird, Conor McLaughlin and the goalscorer Lafferty – and O’Neill confirmed that Jonny Evans is out with a tight hamstring, while Hughes has a calf niggle.

Almost half the outfield 10 which faced Hungary will be missing and it is a measure of O’Neill’s managerial ability that, with reinforcements called up from League One clubs such as Bradford City and Doncaster Rovers, he has kept Northern Ireland competitive.

Not that the impressive, calm O’Neill – earning admiration from Celtic and others – sees it that way this week. “Obviously the injury to Jonny at the weekend was a blow,” he said. “But one thing I have noticed in those three days, maybe more so than in the past, is that the squad is stronger now than at any time I’ve been in charge.”

It is a cliché to speak of spirit in a camp, but when O’Neill talked of “belief and trust” among his players it was a genuine response. This is a team without stars – though captain Steven Davis has been beaming all week since scoring for Southampton at Chelsea last Saturday.

“If you offered me Gareth Bale, I’d take him,” joked O’Neill. “But what we have found in this campaign – we played Conor McLaughlin away in Hungary and he is a Fleetwood Town player. He is still a Fleetwood Town player but he has played eight games for us, he’s been phenomenal.

“What we have built in this squad is that spirit, they don’t want to let the other players down. That is hugely important. When we ask those players to step up – for example if it is an SPL [Scottish Premiership] player or a League One player – they come in and believe they belong in the squad.

“The senior players and particularly the ones who play their club football at the highest level make them feel that. They make them feel that they deserve to be there and are an integral part of the squad. Subsequently their performance transcends what they do on a weekly basis.”

Hungary remain the team that can deny the Irish qualification. The Hungarians are expected to win against the Faroe Islands in Budapest and then travel to Greece on Sunday, when Northern Ireland are in Helsinki.

There are head-scratching permutations but all those can be erased by an Irish victory. This brings the focus on the 25-year-old Magennis, the muscular Kilmarnock striker who will win his 13th cap. He is yet to score for Northern Ireland.

Following Lafferty’s yellow card against Hungary, Magennis became the most likely option. He has scored three times for Kilmarnock since Lafferty’s suspension and O’Neill was at Kilmarnock’s match at Tynecastle last Saturday.

Given Magennis’s playing background, for him to be the one who scores the goal which takes Northern Ireland to France would be truly remarkable.

A talented rugby player from Bangor, near Belfast, Magennis joined Irish League club Glentoran as a boy and played for their youth team. But it was as a goalkeeper, not a forward. When he was selected for Northern Ireland at youth level, it was as a keeper, and when he signed for Cardiff City in 2007, it was as a keeper.

But by 2009, when Magennis replaced Jay Bothroyd in a Championship match against Scunthorpe, he was no longer wearing gloves. When he then joined Aberdeen it was as a striker, though they played him for 20 games at right-back. “It’s a bit surreal,” Magennis said of his career path.

It was Cardiff’s Academy manager Neil Ardley who spotted some striking potential, but even Ardley cannot have foreseen a stage where Magennis could be so potentially pivotal.

“It’s absolutely mental to think about it, to be honest,” Magennis added. “Sometimes I get glimpses. I get a moment on my own and I’m thinking, ‘This is absolutely surreal’.

“Six years ago, I was a goalkeeper. Now there’s a possibility to play as a striker in one of the biggest games in the nation’s history to get them to the Euros.”