Northern Ireland v Slovakia

Words Darren Fullerton Daily Mirror

HUNGRY FOR A RETURN TO THE BIG STAGE Niall McGinn is confident Northern Ireland have the big game nous to deal with tonight’s UEFA Euro 2020 Path B Play-Off Final with Slovakia.

The stakes will be as high and precipitous as the north face of the Eiger with a place at next summer’s finals up for grabs at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park. Not a landscape for the faint-hearted, but Aberdeen winger McGinn believes the Northern Ireland squad are battle-hardened and experienced enough to deal with all eventualities. Senior members of the current squad are certainly no strangers to daunting dates, both in recent qualifying campaigns and at UEFA Euro 2016 in France.

McGinn, who scored in the famous win over Ukraine in Lyon just over four years ago, said: “It’s important that a lot of the boys have been down this road before. “To get across the line against Slovakia it will take a combination of a lot of things - working hard, playing well but also using that experience of the past to help us. “In big games at Windsor Park in recent years we’ve shown we can be a match for anyone and we’re always confident playing big games here.

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