Scotland v Northern Ireland: Euro 2024-bound hosts 'very much the bar' for NI

Northern Ireland last played Scotland at Hampden Park in 2015

While there was plenty of optimism after a youthful Northern Ireland's 1-1 draw in Romania, Michael O'Neill hopes that is just the start.

Now, a bigger challenge awaits away to Euro 2024-bound Scotland, who will be hurting after a 4-0 defeat by the Netherlands on Friday.

O'Neill was manager when the sides last faced off in 2015, and although a lot has changed since that encounter, the Northern Ireland manager is hoping that Scotland's journey will be a blueprint for the future.

"I was always aware that Scotland was a team that was going to grow," said O'Neill.

"They have had consistent form for a number of years. They are very much the bar for us.

"I saw a lot of these players play through the early phases of their careers. It is something I spoke to the players about.

"For example, I remember seeing Stuart Armstrong play for Dundee United, John McGinn play for Hibs and now they are playing in the Premier League or have played in the Premier League for a number of years.

"So the journey their players are on is hopefully the journey that a lot of our players will go on as well.

"We are asking a lot of the younger players at this moment in time but it will be a good game."

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'Ballard a natural leader'

The draw in Romania was an impressive result for O'Neill's young side. The average age across the starting team was just 23.5 - the oldest of which was 29-year-old goalscoring debutant Jamie Reid - and the average caps was 14.5.

O'Neill has acknowledged that there will likely be the odd painful night ahead as his team continues to develop, but with senior players Jonny Evans, Corry Evans and Stuart Dallas all to come back in, he says he is "positive" about his group of players.

With Evans absent, Sunderland defender Daniel Ballard will likely come back into defence after missing the draw in Bucharest after the birth of his son, Colby.

"Dan is a young player but he is an experienced player in his team at Sunderland in a very young club side and he brings a lot to us. He is one of our more experienced players, along with Paddy McNair and Jordan Thompson.

"They're pretty much our most experienced players in this group so it's nice to have Daniel back. He's in a good place and when you see him playing for Sunderland you see a natural leader. Hopefully you see that emerge at international level as well.

"This is an easy group to lead, they spend a lot of time with each other, they've known each other.

"We have young players like Isaac [Price] and Shea [Charles] that came through eligibility but were playing in our teams from a young age, so there's a real good group of lads, who are friends as well.

"I think that's very important. I do have a positive feeling about this group of players. The young lads in particular have been terrific to work with."

Former Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis has joined Michael O'Neill's coaching team

After announcing his retirement in January, former Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis has stepped into O'Neill's coaching set-up and he adds having the former Rangers midfielder involved "has been really positive" in helping the young players.

"He's brought a different side than he brought as a player, because he brings a lot of information in terms of what he believes the players need at the present time, which is very important," said O'Neill.

"His opinion on the game is very important and those one-on-one situations with young players and talk with them and give reassurance, games when he was younger when he didn't maybe play as well as he had hoped. All of those experiences can only help this group and this squad.

"It's a very open-ended thing. I love having Steven around and certainly I'd be more than keen for this to continue. It just depends what he does next in football and whether that permits him to be involved at international level, which is obviously a little bit more sporadic. Or whether he feels it's time to look at a club situation which is obviously pretty much 24/7. It's been brilliant having him around and we will obviously have those conversations going forward."