Poland 1 Northern Ireland 0: Michael O'Neill's side off to rocky start

NORTHERN IRELAND’S big Euro party was spoiled yesterday as they suffered opening-day stage fright in Nice.

By Simon Collings

OPENER: Arkadiusz Milik tucked away Poland's first goal of the tournament

The Green and White Army were appearing in their first major finals since the 1986 World Cup and fans were jumping for joy pre-match.

But they were left feeling flat in the end as Arkadiusz Milik’s second-half strike sent them crashing to a deserved defeat.

Poland dominated this Group C match throughout and Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill confessed that his side froze early on.

He said: “If you look at our team the two lads that are playing in the wing-back positions play their club football at League One level.

“I think looking at it again, I felt Poland started very brightly. I think we didn’t expect that type of start.

“It is a massive game for us to come into. There was fantastic support and there is huge prestige around the game. Everything around the tournament has been top class.

“Maybe there was an element in our play where it took us a while to settle into the game.”

Before the game Northern Ireland were boosted by key man Kyle Lafferty overcoming a groin injury to start.

The striker had the airport in Belfast named in his honour for the day to mark Northern Ireland’s first major tournament in 30 years.

But Lafferty and his team failed to take off as Poland bossed the first-half before taking the lead shortly after the break.

Jakub Blaszczykowski swept the ball in from the left and Milik took one touch before smashing the ball home in the 51st minute.

O’Neill threw on forwards Conor Washington and Jamie Ward to find a way get back into the match.

But it wasn’t enough as they rarely troubled Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Northern Ireland now face a crucial clash with Ukraine on Thursday but O’Neill has warned that he won’t go gung-ho chasing a win.

He added: “I think there is always a balance. First of all you can only go for it if you have the ball.

"If you don’t have the ball you can’t go for it. We have to play sensibly and we have to recognise that. I thought our three centre-backs did defend really well.

“We take from tonight that we were in the game for 90 minutes. We were not playing a game where we are 3-0 down with nothing to play for.”

Poland: (4-4-1-1): Szczesny; Piszczek, Glik, Pazdan, Jedrzejczyk; Blaszczykowski (Grosicki 80), Krychowiak, Maczynski (Jodlowiec 78), Kapustka (Peszko 88); Milik; Lewandowski.

Northern Ireland: (4-5-1) McGovern; McLaughlin, Cathcart, Evans, McAuley; McNair (Dallas 46), Norwood, Davis, Baird (Ward 76), Ferguson (Washington 66); Lafferty.

Referee: Ovidiu Hategan (Romania)