#northern-ireland

#northern-ireland

The play-offs are more complex than ever. From the 12 qualifying groups, the second place teams automatically book their spot in the qualification. The remaining four spaces are decided by Nations League performance, with group winners who finished outside the top tow of the World Cup qualifying group able to gain a place in the play-offs. Northern Ireland gained their place this way, with all group winners from Nations League A and B finishing inside the top two of their World Cup qualifying groups.

Leaked letter says politicians in Northern Ireland should be granted observer status

On a grassroots level, it could not be clearer: Irish people want to learn Irish. An island-wide Údarás na Gaeltachta study found last year that 74pc wish to improve their level.

We don't celebrate defeat, but the performance was exceptional. We have to celebrate that. I think the way in which the players executed the gameplan, we haven't conceded from open play. The first one [goal] is frustrating because I think it's really preventable from our point of view, but we'll learn from that. It's 2-0, we're still in the tie. There are improvements to be made, but, overall, I'm really proud of the group.

Mansergh, who has died aged 78 of a heart attack during a trip to Western Sahara with other retired Irish parliamentarians, was educated at a British boarding school and Oxford University yet helped shape the Irish republican dimensions of the agreement. In 1988, he was political adviser to the then taoiseach, Charles Haughey, who tasked him with opening up a secret channel of communication.

It was amazing, surreal, extraordinary and very, very special for us as a small family-run business that they wanted to come here to our farm to meet us as a family, to be interested in us as a family, and to be concerned about us as a family - particularly after Storm Amy and how it affected the farm

[He was] over fussy, I felt to give two minutes at the end of the game was incredible given the number of substitutions and stoppages,

I didn't mean any disrespect. I said it may not be beautiful to watch but the more important topic, the key topic I mentioned is they do it really well. They play long balls with an idea. They have a special mood in the team and I also mentioned it's very difficult to beat this team, they don't concede many goals and they create a lot of chances by set-pieces.

As he looks to become the first Northern Ireland manager to take the country to a World Cup since Billy Bingham at Mexico 86, Michael O'Neill will emulate the man who gave him his international debut in a different way on Monday night. In the 2026 World Cup qualifier against Germany at Windsor Park, O'Neill will become only the second man to take charge of the national side 100 times.

Until he was 19 years old, Maik Taylor had never played a game in goal. Until he was 24, he had not been a professional footballer, but a lance corporal in the British Army. Until he was 27, when he appeared for their under-21 side as an overage player, he had never even set foot in Northern Ireland. Yet, when all was said and done, with assistance from the likes of Ray Clemence, Graeme Souness

Northern Ireland's health trusts spent almost 22m in a single year on restricted procedures which should only be carried out in very specific circumstances, according to the auditor general. Dorinnia Carville said about 12,000 operations, which include tummy tucks and tonsillectomies, were carried out in 2023-24 without any assurance they complied with government policy. Ms Carville described the lack of oversight by the Department of Health and the trusts as "very disappointing".

Peter Robinson and Sammy Wilson will be among a host of high-profile witnesses called in a major corruption trial involving the sale of Nama's Northern Ireland loans, a jury was told this morning.

Northern Ireland faces a permacrisis from recurring race riots and may need to use military bases to shelter people burnt out of their homes, government documents reveal. Officials fear the region faces prolonged instability and that a single incident, local or international, could spark widespread disorder. The stark warnings say some displaced families have gone off-grid for security and that authorities may struggle to provide safe emergency accommodation if renewed unrest erupts.

The Northern Ireland secretary has said new measures aiming to deal with crimes committed during the Troubles will address the unfinished business of the peace agreement struck 27 years ago. Hilary Benn said the significant reforms would replace the controversial Legacy Act 2023 brought in by the Conservative government, which he said had failed to confront the past, partly because it had been rejected by all five main political parties and victims' families.

The education department in Northern Ireland has removed research on LGBTQ+ pupils from its website. The research, commissioned by the Department of Education itself in 2015, was publicly published in 2017 and detailed the school experiences of 16 to 21-year-olds who are LGBTQ+. At the time, the research found two-thirds of LGBTQ+ young people did not feel welcome in their schools and nearly half said they experienced bullying because of their sexuality and/or gender.

"It's not easy to defend a lot of long balls and not easy to defend a lot of second balls, so I'm happy with the result," Nagelsmann told BBC Sport NI. "It's not that easy when every set piece and ball that's free on the pitch they play a long ball and attack with 10 players with the second ball. "There are always a lot of players in our own red zone. It's not brilliant to watch, this way of soccer, but it's effective and it's not that easy to defend it. "I think we had 10 or 12 set-pieces to defend, and we only conceded one goal. It's really a strength of the Northern Ireland team. It's not that easy - we have better players but it's not that easy to defend this way of playing soccer."