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Northern Ireland national football team
International Friendlies
May 27, 2016 at 7.45pm UK
 
Belarus national football team

3-0

Lafferty (6'), Washington (44'), Grigg (88')
FT(HT: 2-0)

Michael O'Neill set on Northern Ireland squad for Euro 2016

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill reveals that he has already decided on the 23 players that he will take to Euro 2016 this summer.

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill has revealed that he has all but decided upon his final 23-man squad for this summer's European Championships.

O'Neill named a provisional 28-man squad for the tournament and will cut that down by five after Friday's warm-up match against Belarus in Belfast.

However, he will not use the fixture as an opportunity to take a last look at any players, insisting that he has known the main make-up of the group he will take to France since they sealed qualification for their first major tournament in 30 years.

"Tomorrow night isn't about trying to give somebody an opportunity to clinch their place in the squad. I've known the majority of the make-up of the squad since qualification. As opposed to coming out and naming a 23-man squad 10 days ago, the purpose of the two weeks was to actually give those players an opportunity," O'Neill told reporters.

"We have a number of players who haven't played as much first-team football as I would like. I had to assess them somehow. If you can't see them playing for their clubs, how do you assess them? Those players had played a part in the campaign, some more than others, so it was important they still felt an involvement in it and we brought them together.

"The two weeks' preparation that we've had to date has been more important in terms of assessing them for selection than throwing them in and saying, 'Give me a good 45 minutes and I'm going to select you off that basis'. Realistically, what we see tomorrow night is as good as 99% what we expect to see going to France."

Northern Ireland have been drawn in Group C at Euro 2016, alongside Germany, Poland and Ukraine.

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Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards 2015.
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