Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill felt his players “gave everything” in their 2-0 World Cup play-off semi-final defeat to Italy.
A youthful Northern Ireland team were attempting to take a step closer to ending the nation’s 40-year World Cup wait – but that dream was ended after second half goals from Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean in Bergamo.
O’Neill’s side were handed the toughest possible task with a showdown against four-time champions Italy away from home, but he believes their display shows how far they’ve progressed in a short space of time.
"I’m very proud of the performance, I thought the players gave everything,” he said on BBC. “First half, we were terrific in our shape and structure and made it difficult for Italy.
Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill hugs Shea Charles. (Photo by Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill hugs Shea Charles. (Photo by Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP via Getty Images)
"We had to defend corners but we defended them extremely well. I thought at times we could have been a little bit better on the ball, we had opportunities where we over hit the pass or took the wrong option at times.
"We had a strong claim for a penalty with the handball as well.
"Second half, we gave them a few moments we created ourselves. The goal is poor from our point of view, Terry (Devlin) is out of shape and Isaac (Price) isn’t where you want him to be.
"It’s headed down into a poor area and the one person you don’t want the ball landing to is Tonali...it’s a strong hit.
"I felt there was always something for us in the game, the second goal takes it away from you a bit, but we had a couple of chances towards the end to try and make it tense.
"It was a very young team, I think the average age is 22, they gave everything and I’m very proud of them. I feel they’ve showed we have made huge strides.”
With eight of Northern Ireland’s starting line-up aged 22 or under, a large majority of the current squad will have another opportunity to qualify for a World Cup in 2030.
O’Neill insists disappointment of this nature is all part of the international journey and says they can take plenty of positives from Thursday night.
"Of course they’re (the players) disappointed,” he added. “For some of the older lads, they’ll maybe think this won’t come again, for a lot of the younger ones it will.
"It’s part of the journey they are on. For a lot of lads, they’re only in their third year of senior international football and they’re playing at the top-end here.
"I thought for us to come to Italy, to produce a performance like that with a team of that age, it was a real positive for the team going forward.”