Northern Ireland fight out 14-goal thriller with Scotland in futsal first
Dramatic end to history-making match in Newry
Last updated 23rd Jun 2018
Northern Ireland staged a dramatic fightback last night in their first-ever international at home to Scotland.
Trailing 7-2 at half-time, Jonny Michael’s side looked down and out – but four goals on the spin in a second period onslaught brought the house down at a packed Newry Leisure Centre.
In the end, though, they simply ran out of time – eventually going down 8-6.
While disappointed, Michael said there was much to admire from his team’s overall performance particularly late on, against a much more experienced Scotland side.
He told Downtown & Cool FM: “There are loads of positives to take away and we are closing the gap.
“There was a great finish to the game but we were disappointed with the start – maybe the occasion of playing for the first time at home got to them.
“When we got the boys in at half time we made a few changes and changed tactically.
“We said to them to go out and win the second half and they did that and put in a great performance. We ran them very close in the end.”
Jack Magee, Craig Taylor, Conor Glenholmes, Connor Millar, Adam Barr and a wonder-strike from debutant Danny Stapleton (main picture) completed the scoring for the locals.
Captain, Barr agreed the edgy start could be blamed on the impact of the occasion – being the first NI side to play an international match at home.
“We have ourselves a mountain to climb after the poor start,” he said “But all credit to the lads – they were excellent in the second period – our confidence was high and we nearly did it.”
Northern Ireland will meet the Scots for the second of their history-making weekend double header, later tonight.
Michael said they know what they have to do.
“We will go in with that same intensity and momentum and hopefully the result will be different,” he said.
“For us we have confidence will can play at the level and we are a match for anyone now – we feel we are at the point now where we can compete in matches and run teams close.
“We have shifted our focus now from development of players to going out to win matches.”
That game kicks off at Newry Leisure Centre at 7.30.