Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill anxious to avoid England in Euro 16 draw

Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill fears the possibly destabilising impact of drawing England at Euro 2016.

“The big thing for me is that an England game overshadows everything,” he said ahead of today’s draw in Paris.

“Everyone will focus on ‘you’re playing England, you’re playing England.’

“There’s three games and you’ve to find a way of getting four points to get out of the group. Four will give you a good chance, three might well be enough.

“When I looked at different pots, I thought that an England game could possibly be detrimental to that. If it comes, we’ll deal with it. We’ll see what comes out of Pot 2 and 3.

“We showed recently how capable we are against Portugal and Russia. Those are games we’ll reflect on when we go to the finals.

“This team has done well. The games that have disappointed were the ones against the weaker nations where we’ve let ourselves down.

“In the finals, I don’t see that as a problem.

“A top seed is a top seed. If you’d have asked Martin [O’Neill] would he have wanted to play Germany, I’m sure he wouldn’t have, but he got four points against them and one off Scotland.

“You wouldn’t have envisaged that. You see what comes out and deal with it. I think for both us and the Republic, it’s who we will get in Pot 2 and 3 will be the most important thing.”

The former Shamrock Rovers manager thinks that tournament football can sometimes give the lesser lights a chance to outshine the stellar sides.

“The top nations have top players playing top-level football. They’re challenging for leagues, cups, and the Champions League.

“So when it comes to the tournaments, I can understand that there’s an element of fatigue and mental fatigue.

“Our players are going into their first tournament in 30 years. They’re cock-a-hoop to be going. We don’t have any players in the Champions League. That can work in our favour to some extent.

“But the biggest thing that will give us a chance is ensuring that our preparation is right. That’s my job and I’ll make sure we do it right. We have a preferred option on a base but we haven’t finalised that. The association did a great job in this campaign so we’ll not fall short.”

And what of the possibility of an All-Ireland clash once past the group stage next summer?

“I sent Martin a text saying that I’d see him in the semi-final,” his namesake Michael revealed with a grin.

That’ll do nicely.