"but he is happy with the trajectory of his young side. "I think at times we've been a little bit unfortunate with some of the decisions that have gone against us and also a little bit unfortunate with the players we've had unavailable to us with injury as well," O'Neill said. "But over the piste, we've made a lot of progression, and that gives us a lot of optimism for the games in March.""
""We obviously had to make a lot of changes to the team. If you look at the players we used tonight, five of the players are under 21, so I think that's really positive for us," O'Neill said. "Luxembourg are a good team. The results in this campaign are probably a little bit harsh on them, and their performances have been good.""
Northern Ireland closed qualifying with a 1-0 win over Luxembourg and finished third in Group A, earning a March play-off for World Cup qualification. The side may face a top-seeded away opponent such as Italy, Poland, Ukraine or Turkey. Manager Michael O'Neill described progression and optimism despite unlucky decisions and injuries that left key players unavailable. Several youngsters started or appeared: five under-21 players featured, Conor Bradley was withdrawn at half-time, Trai Hume and Justin Devenny were rested, Jamie Donley scored his first international goal, Jamie McDonnell impressed, Ruairi McConville defended strongly and Patrick Kelly made his senior debut.
Read at www.bbc.com
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