Experience breeding confidence in Northern Ireland camp – Paddy McNair

McNair believes Northern Ireland will benefit from ever-increasing big-game experience when they take on Slovakia

Paddy McNair said Northern Ireland can lean on much greater experience within the squad on Thursday night (Liam McBurney/PA)

Paddy McNair believes Northern Ireland will benefit from ever-increasing big-game experience within the squad when they take on Slovakia in Thursday’s Euro 2020 qualifying play-off final.

The match will be the biggest of the careers of many players in Ian Baraclough’s squad, but with a core around who reached Euro 2016 with a dramatic win over Greece in 2015 and were within a whisker of playing at the 2018 World Cup, the Windsor Park fixture is not as daunting as it once might have been.