Northern Ireland: Italy scalp caps off year like no other for Kenny Shiels' side

This year was already shaping up to be one like no other for Northern Ireland. Yet, manager Kenny Shiels' side had one more moment of magic in them.

Italy came to Seaview for the final game of year. It was a delayed homecoming, as such, after the highs of Euro 2022 in the summer.

Backed by an energised home support, Northern Ireland didn't give Italy, ranked 35 places above their opponents in 14th, a sniff.

The positivity turned to jubilation when Sarah McFadden - arguably NI's player of the year - was on hand to slam home the winner midway through the second half.

Italy huffed and puffed in search of an equaliser, but the resilient hosts stood firm to claim a famous win.

"They are a massive nation in terms of their culture. Football is their culture," said Shiels.

"They strolled through to the finals of the World Cup and to take that scalp is a brilliant feeling."

McFadden, who scored the historic goal, added "every single player was outstanding".

"From the first minute we showed Italy that they weren't here for a kick around," said the defender, who added 2022 has been "incredible".

"You think of the girls who might have come to their first game tonight, they have witnessed Northern Ireland beat Italy. When does that ever happen for any Northern Ireland team?

"They might say, 'I got into football because I watched Northern Ireland beat Italy'. That's massive and what we want to keep doing."

The Seaview effect

Northern Ireland were back at their spiritual home of Seaview for the first time in 12 months - and it was like they had never been away.

The north Belfast stadium is a tight and intimate football venue which suits Shiels' side. It's only the limited capacity in the ever-growing demand for tickets that puts any doubt over its suitability as NI's full-time home.

"It is such an intimidating environment," added Shiels.

"It's very intimate with us. We feel a great connection with the supporters and the children all around it.

"Our tactics were to get a foothold in the game in the early part because we needed the support. We said the first five minutes will win or lose us the match.

"We played in a way in which we turned them as much as we could, and the crowd were excited. We had them, we had the crowd based on the first five to ten minutes."

Sarah McFadden scored in the 63rd minute to secure Northern Ireland victory

It's arguably the biggest win for Northern Ireland since they stunned Norway in Lurgan back in 2011.

Eleven years on they have claimed another major scalp, but this time there is a major difference.

"Of course it's way up there, but it's funny because of the expectations now. Whenever we beat Norway we partied all night," laughed McFadden.

"But against Italy, you seen at the end, people were happy but we weren't chanting and celebrating. It's almost a given now that we can compete with these teams and we have to keep going.

"All the memories we have had against big nations have given us a lot of confidence and that's all we thought about - sell-out crowd, our little home ground and we knew we would get a result."

Newfound momentum

While both sides featured at the Euro 2022 finals, the size of Northern Ireland's task is put in perspective by Italy's performance in World Cup qualifying.

Le Azzurre won nine out of their 10 games, scoring 40 goals and conceding just two.

Even more remarkably, Northern Ireland ended the night with seven Irish Premiership players on the pitch. In fact, Shiels used 12 in total and four of his substitutes - Joely Andrews, Toni-Leigh Finnegan, Caitlin McGuinness and Louise McDaniel - are 22 or younger.

Those domestic players are back to being part-time following the conclusion of the Euros, back balancing football with jobs or studies.

In comparison, the Italians brought a side littered with talent from Juventus, Milan, Fiorentina and Roma - all giants of football.

"To beat Italy with what we had on the pitch, I'm not being derogatory to them, but they are very young and very inexperienced," added Shiels.

"It was great to see them get some experience. This is our future and it is important that we keep rebuilding."

Celebrations were muted as Northern Ireland claimed the biggest scalp of Kenny Shiels' tenure

McFadden said beating a team like Italy is "what we are all about" and has challenged the squad to use the result to grow momentum into 2023.

In the shadow of the heights of the Euros, Northern Ireland struggled to wins away to Luxembourg and Latvia in September's World Cup qualifiers but the 35-year-old feels the win over Italy can kick-start another fairytale run.

"We have to keep improving and moving forward," said the Durham defender.

"We haven't really had a result like this for a while. I think it is what we needed to motivate us and pick us up again.

"The high of the Euros was incredible, but it is very hard to get yourself going again.

"We went two years unbeaten, this is the start of it again and we need to make sure we keep winning games, pushing on and developing the youth below us."

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