Disappointing end for NI futsal team after Home Nations early promise

Northern Ireland’s international senior futsal squad have returned home from the Home Nations tournament in Edinburgh.

A heavy defeat last night at the hands of 2016 winners Wales, brought their campaign to a disappointing end.

Jonny Michael’s side got off to a promising start in the tournament which kicked off on Friday evening when they were unlucky to lose to Scotland in the opener.

And, then, they pushed a strong England team – the competition’s eventual winners – all the way before going down 5-1.

Michael said he could take a lot of positives out of the games, particularly given the infancy of the sport in Northern Ireland.

“The odds are stacked against us, we’re 12 months in to our development,” he told Downtown & Cool FM.

“The boys are still very much learning the game but are learning very very quickly.”

Defender, Kris Lindsay, who is also assistant coach at Glenavon, said it was a great experience for everyone involved – and that as a team they can only get better.

“The strides we have made since the beginning have been massive and that’s all credit to IFA and Jonny Michael for what’s been done,” he said.

“Every game we play we are learning and we are progressing and there is no reason why we cannot compete a lot more in the near future.

• futsal