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European Championship | Qualifiers
Oct 8, 2015 at 7.45pm UK
 
GN

3-1

Davis (35', 58'), Magennis (49')
FT(HT: 1-0)
Aravidis (86')

Live Commentary: Northern Ireland 3-1 Greece - as it happened

:Headline: Live Commentary: Northern Ireland 3-1 Greece - as it happened: ID:251525: from db_amp
Relive Sports Mole's live coverage as Northern Ireland book their ticket to Euro 2016 after beating Greece 3-1 in Belfast.

Steven Davis scored twice as Northern Ireland beat Greece 3-1 in Belfast tonight to book their place at Euro 2016 and end a 30-year wait to reach another major tournament.

The Southampton man finished off a slick passing move to fire the host into a slender-half-time lead, before Josh Magennis added a second shortly after the break.

Davis's bullet header on 58 minutes then effectively sealed their place in France next summer, before Christos Aravidis reduced the arrears late on.

Below relive our live text commentary.

Good evening and welcome to Sports Mole's live coverage on could prove a night of history for Northern Ireland. Michael O'Neill's side host Greece at Windsor Park knowing that victory would book their place at Euro 2016, thus ending a 30-year wait to reach another major tournament. Let's look at some team news.
NORTHERN IRELAND XI: McGovern, McAuley, McNair, Cathcart, Brunt, Davis, C Evans, Dallas, Norwood, Ward, Magennis
GREECE XI: Karnezis, Moras, Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, Holeba, Tzilois, Kone, Aravidis, Samaris, Mitroglu, Karelis
NORTHERN IRELAND SUBS: Mannus, Carroll, Hodgson, McArdle, McCullough, Reeves, McCourt, Griggs, McGinn, Boyce, McKay, Ferguson
GREECE SUBS: Kapino, Kitsiou, Pelkas, Vyntra, Vellidis, Stafylidis, Fortounis, Mantalos, Tachtsidis, Tzanetpoulos, Athanasiadis
The suspended Kyle Lafferty drops out for Josh Magennis. Behind him, there's Jamie Ward and Oliver Norwood, who line up ahead of Stuart Dallas, Corry Evans and Steven Davis in midfield. No Chris Baird, who is also suspended. No Jonny Evans, who is injured, but the West Brom man is replaced by Craig Cathcart. His Baggies teammate Chris Brunt lines up at left-back.
Click here for a full brief on the team news.
Let's have a quick look at how both sides came to sit top and bottom of Group F.
Starting with the Northern Irish - who have never qualified for a European Championship - and O'Neill's men won their first three qualifiers to enjoy a rip-roaring start, before a 2-0 defeat by Romania brought them back to earth. However, it proved their only defeat thus far. They bounced back by beating Finland and Faroe Islands, either side of a draw with Romania in Belfast, before drawing 1-1 in Hungary last time out. Lafferty netted a 93rd-minute equaliser that night.
On to the Greeks now and they suffered three defeats and one draw in their first four qualifiers. They drew 1-1 in Finland, having lost their opener 1-0 to Romania, before losing to the Northern Irish and the lowly Faroe Islands in back-to-back home defeats. It was the latter which cost Claudio Ranieri his job back in November.
They continued to toil after a five-month break, drawing 0-0 in Hungary and losing to the Faroe Islands again, before also suffering a 1-0 home defeat to Finland. They drew 0-0 with Romania last time out in September and they'll be keen to end a miserable campaign with a flourish.
Let's whet the appetite with one or two stats before kickoff.
As touched on above, Northern Ireland won this fixture 2-0 in Piraeus last year in what was only the fifth competitive meeting between the sides. Two of the previous ones came back in 2003 during Euro 2004 qualifying, when Greece won both games by an aggregate of 3-0. That was their first meeting in quite a while, with the previous ones coming in 1961 when Greece won one and lost one. It was World Cup qualifying on that occasion.
Greek clubs have also enjoyed the better of it when facing Northern Irish competition in the domestic stakes, winning three, drawing two and losing once. In addition to that, Greece have won three and lost one of the four UEFA age-group meetings between both nations.






Three minutes to go!
KICKOFF: And we're off in Belfast. Greece, playing from right to left, get us underway.
Excellent defending from Papastathopoulos who comes in and clears Magennis out of the way with a no-nonsense challenge. He had to because the Northern Irishman hitman was through.
SHOT! It's been a fast and furious start from the hosts and Oliver Norwood drills wide of the Greece net, with the angle terribly against him it has to be said.
Norwood swings in a wonderful corner as Dallas looks to direct it at goal, but Greece get it away well. It's been an urgent start by O'Neill's men. Remember - a victory and they're in France.
Greece enjoying a good spell of possession now. They're not afraid to knock it around that's for sure, but they're going nowhere with it and the hosts have a corner all of a sudden.
Scratch that - it was a throw-in but Greece eventually clear their lines. Mitroglu looks a little isolated as the spearhead of Greece's attack so far. I can't see them doing much.
Left-back Brunt does excellently here as he heads back to his goalkeeper following a hopeful - and hopeless - long ball from Samaris.
UPDATE: Big news from Budapest and Hungary are 1-0 down to Faroe Islands. If it stays like that then O'Neill's men go through whatever happens here tonight.
CHANCE! First big chance of the game as Alexandros Tziolis's back-post header is kept out by Michael McGovern. They just switched off there amid chants of "1-0 to the Faroes".
CHANCE! Thankfully the game is starting to open up a little now and Jamie Ward has the hosts' best and only chance so far as he heads well wide from Norwood's fantastic free kick. He should've done a whole lot better.
Greece haven't bad at all to be fair to them. They're rock bottom of Group F, without a win, but they're playing without pressure tonight and that isn't ideal for the hosts.
CHANCE! It's very, very, very nearly 1-0 to the hosts as Magennis swivels and looks certain to volley into the net from close range, but veteran Vangelis Moras deflects it out for a corner, which then came to nothing.
Good goalkeeping from McGovern but it's a useless crouch from Karelis in what should've been a promising chance but the Northern Irish keeper kept it out.
Greece have looked very dangerous from the flanks in this first half-an-hour it has to be said, and it could be an avenue of success for them over the next 60 minutes. The hosts defending well though.
Magennis has been a real handful for Greece's defence tonight and he heads at goal just now, but it's never testing the Greek stopper and the visitors win a goal kick.
Huge defensive header from Norwood as Karelis looked poised to head home. From the resulting corner, McGovern is assured again as he comes out to punch Kone's delivery and the visitors' attack breaks down once more.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 1-0 Greece (Steven Davis)
We've got lift-off in Windsor Park as Davis taps home a wonderful team goal to put his nation on the brink of Euro 2016 qualification. It was an excellent goal it really was.
Six minutes left in the half and Northern Ireland comfortable. Very comfortable. With Hungary still trailing to the Faroes, they're effectively in France. But they'll need to remain focused because Greece have thrown up one or two hairy moments.
Davis opened the scoring, and he has certainly preserved the lead with a fantastic block to thwart Mitroglu from close range. Excellent work by the skipper. He epitomises Northern Ireland tonight.
HALF TIME: Northern Ireland 1-0 Greece
Wow. It was a thrilling end to a very decent half after Mitroglu's long-range effort came back off the post! Moments earlier, Chris Brunt produced a superb block to keep out Karelis's close-range volley and it seems as if lady luck, combined with a full-blooded defensive effort, has Michael O'Neill's charges on the brink of the Euros! Hungary still losing 1-0 to Faroe Islands. They're as good as there.
KICKOFF: And we're back underway in Belfast and Northern Ireland starting this second half like a house on fire.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 2-0 Greece (Magennis)
That's most probably game, set and match, folks. Josh Magennis, who's been a nuisance all night, has a goal for his labours as his excellent looping header from Oliver Norwood's corner nestles in the top corner. It was superb header it really was.
Greece, to their credit, are still coming thick and fast. They want a goal to take home and, you know what, they might just get it. The game is almost certainly beyond them, but if they get one then who knows.
Northern Ireland have set up shop. Their tempo has dropped dramatically, which is a risk because there's still time for Hungary and Greece to turn it around. We're talking over half-an-hour.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 3-0 Greece (Davis)
That's it, my friends! Northern Ireland are heading to France. It's a wonderful, bullet header from Davis, who's near the edge of his box, but his execution just has too much pace on it and it darts into the corner.
Fair play to Greece they're not leaving Belfast without a goal. Well, they don't want to, but they might have to because despite their attacking, nothing is doing as of yet.
UPDATE! Not that it matters a whole lot for the Northern Irish now, but Hungary have pegged back Faroe Islands. It's 1-1 in Budapest.
CHANCE! Magennis is in one-on-one but Papasthathopoulos pulls off a world-class, last-ditch challenge just before the Kilmarnock man could pull the trigger. He's actually been good tonight, has Papastathopoulos.
We've got, hmm, 19 minutes to go and the hosts completely in control - and they're hunting a fourth!
It's petering out a little now unfortunately. Still, we've had an excellent game so far. Few can complain.
SUB: Boyce replaces the brilliant Magennis for the final 12 minutes or so. He gets a rousing applause and he deserves every bit of it.
SUB: O'Neill throws on his second sub now as Niall McGinn replaces the quiet Jamie Ward.
Both sides going through the motions now. It's gone flatter than a desk in the last 10 or 15 minutes.
SUB: O'Neill makes his final change as McNair makes way for McCullough.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 3-1 Greece
Torosidis drills an excellent ball into the mixer and second-half sub Aravidis bundles it home. Good goal, but it's too late. Surely.
THREE MINUTES ADDED ON:
FULL TIME: Northern Ireland 3-1 Greece
That's it! Northern Ireland are heading to the Euros! They also ended a 30-year wait to reach another tournament. Richly deserved three points and a thoroughly deserved passage to France next summer. Well done. Anywho, that's us. Cheers for joining us on a night of history in Belfast and we'll see you again. Cheers.

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