Former Town captain Gareth McAuley scored the opening goal as Northern Ireland beat Ukraine 2-0 in Lyon to claim their first ever win at a European Championships.

The 36-year-old West Brom centre-half rose high to nod home Reading midfielder Oliver Norwood's freekick in the 49th minute with Aberdeen’s Niall McGinn adding a second in injury time of a game in which the sides were briefly taken off by the referee just before the hour mark due to teeming rain and hail.

"People had written us off, nobody gave us a chance," McAuley told the BBC. "It's a very special moment.

"We weren't at it against Poland and we wanted to put it right. We let ourselves down against Poland in terms of the intensity we wanted to play at so we had a point to prove to ourselves.

"It was a wonderful team performance and we are delighted for everyone, especially the supporters.

"We have something to play for in our last game against Germany, which is what we wanted. We can take a lot of confidence into that game."

McAuley’s goal was Northern Ireland’s first at a major competition since the 1986 World Cup when ex-Town youth player Colin Clarke netted in a 2-1 defeat by Spain and the victory was their first at a tournament since they defeated the Spanish 1-0 at the 1982 World Cup.

Larne-born McAuley joined the Blues from Leicester in 2008 and made 126 starts and one sub appearance, scoring eight goals, before moving on to the Baggies in 2011.

#NIR defender Gareth McAuley is the @carlsberg Man of the Match 👏#EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/AngeAVh61V– UEFA EURO 2016 (@UEFAEURO) June 16, 2016

Photo: Action Images

hampstead_blue added 19:31 - Jun 16 Awesome!
2

Kentish_Tractor added 19:44 - Jun 16 I can't believe it's 5 years since he left us! If you'd have told me in 2011 that he would still be a premier league regular and putting in a Man of the Match performance in a European championships I would have laughed at you. But here he is, doing just that. Well done Gareth!
6

mickeyjb added 19:45 - Jun 16 Good day all round really u less your names dai or rodrey or Gareth Bale!
2

Bergholtblue added 19:51 - Jun 16 Is this the same McAuley that Roy Keane said wasn't good enough to play for Town. What a tw*t he turned out to be.
5

ArnieM added 20:17 - Jun 16 Brilliant Gareth!
2

hoppy added 20:39 - Jun 16 Shame it didn't finish one nil really, as he would've had all the McGlory himself...
0

dannyrr added 21:55 - Jun 16 Fantastic goal and a well deserved win for NIR and Martin O'Neill. Still in with a chance
1

ronnyd added 00:38 - Jun 17 Don,t you mean Michael O,Neill dannyrr.
1

trevski added 01:58 - Jun 17 I wish we never got rid of him :( I always like McAuley and he was always a solid defender. Sadly another loss from the dark (Keane) times
4

woohoo added 07:21 - Jun 17 Great Gareth!! I listened to the match on the radio and it they must have mentioned his name every 30 seconds - and in a good way! I confess that when he was with us I never thought that he would make it in the Premier League. How wrong can you be?
1

carsey added 07:26 - Jun 17 Pleased for McAuley. Every time I see the likes of him and Jonathan Walters or Rhodes it reminds me of what a dick Keane was and what might have been with a decent manager. Good luck to Northern Ireland hope they qualify.
2

MVBlue added 10:36 - Jun 17 Well happy as I won £130 on G Mac to score. Always scored important goals but bookies had hm at 13/1.
1

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls