O'Neill's new NI take huge step towards future

Isaac Price took home the matchball thanks to a hat-trick against Bulgaria on Tuesday

While Michael O'Neill has consistently said it would be no disaster if his side do not win their Nations League group, at this stage of proceedings it would have to register as a disappointment at the very least.

Their 5-0 demolition of Bulgaria at Windsor Park on Tuesday has the youthful side in the box seat in Group C3 with games against Belarus and Luxembourg to come next month.

Although the opposition were poor - it should be remembered, though, that Bulgaria were the better side when the pair met in Plovdiv only last month - the story of the night was how Northern Ireland's young core dominated proceedings.

While they registered yet another clean sheet - a fifth in their past eight internationals, it was at the other end where they really caught the eye.

After last Saturday's frustrating 0-0 draw with Belarus meant the side had found the net just seven times in seven games, captain Conor Bradley had confidently predicted that the goals would soon come but even he cannot have thought he would be proved so right, so soon.

This was a rarity indeed, the first time Northern Ireland had found the net five times in the same game since 1995. On the scoresheet twice against Austria that day was a central midfielder by the name of Michael O'Neill.

The manager had started five players aged 21 or younger against Belarus and, by bringing Brodie Spencer into his starting line-up in place of Jamal Lewis, it was six against Bulgaria.

The most encouraging aspect of the noteworthy win for Northern Ireland was how central that sextet were to everything good about the hosts' performance.

Isaac Price (21) stole the headlines by becoming the first Northern Ireland player to hit an international hat-trick since David Healy in 2007. Certainly if the Standard Liege midfielder, who had two previous international strikes in 15 caps, can regularly add goals to his game, it would provide an answer to one of the side's most enduring question marks.

Shea Charles, who at 20-years-old already has 21 caps, was the dominant force in the centre of the park alongside the restored Ali McCann, with his energy in the press proving just as important as his calm presence on the ball.

The Sheffield Wednesday man's younger brother Pierce had few saves to make in his second cap, but his eye-catching distribution, most notably before Dion Charles' (no relation) disallowed goal, means it would be no surprise if he was to retain the number one jersey for the games next month even if first-choice keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell is fit in November.

Spencer (20) was again deployed out of position as a left wing-back and not only managed to negate the impact of Kiril Despodov, who had so been influential in the last meeting, but also team up with 19-year-old Callum Marshall to give Viktor Popov a torrid time.

Such were the performances of those around him, there was no sense of waiting for Bradley, again captaining the side at 21-years-old, to exert undue influence over the game.

Pierce Charles and Conor Bradley celebrate after Bulgaria miss a penalty

With the starting team on the night boasting an average age of less than 23, and no player in their thirties featuring until Josh Magennis and Jamie Reid came off the bench in the closing stages, what will surely have excited the almost 18,000 Northern Ireland fans in attendance is how much more room this team has to improve.

While the likes of Shea Charles, Bradley and Price already feel like fixtures of the side, they still have considerably more road ahead of them than behind.

Since losing so many experienced internationals in quick succession after returning to the job in 2022, it has long been assumed that O'Neill is building a side not for today but the qualifying campaigns ahead.

For those watching such a strikingly dominant performance from back to front on Tuesday, however, that future will have felt considerably closer.