Michael O’Neill remains cautious on Northern Ireland goalkeeping issue – footboom1.com

Manager Michael O’Neill remains cautious about Northern Ireland’s goalkeeping situation as Bailly Peacock-Farrell returns to international duty for National League fixtures against Belarus and Luxembourg.

Birmingham City goalkeeper Peacock-Farrell missed last month’s games against Belarus and Bulgaria, during which time Pearce Charles replaced him and was highly rated.

The young shot-stopper also impressed in Sheffield Wednesday’s recent Carabao Cup win against Brentford. Despite this, O’Neill declined to answer when asked who would be wearing the gloves in next week’s crucial group stage finale.

“The competition for the position is intense and Bailly has a lot of international experience,” O’Neill said. “We have to assess how every goalkeeper is doing in terms of performance and confidence level at the club.

Bailly has had a difficult start to his career at Birmingham, with injuries particularly keeping him sidelined. His main focus is to regain his position and perform at the level he is capable of achieving.

Competition is healthy, Pearce is only 19, Connor Hazard plays for Plymouth, Christy Pym plays for Mansfield and Luke Southwood plays for Bolton. We are experiencing more goalkeepers playing regularly compared to previous years.

We only have three goalkeepers to choose from, so unfortunately Christie will be out this time. It’s refreshing to have this competition as we have traditionally struggled with fruitful competition at this position.

O’Neill also expressed relief at confirmation that the game against Belarus will go ahead as scheduled at Windsor Park. Speculation had surfaced over whether the Belarusian team and staff would be able to obtain visas from the UK government, but O’Neill was pleased that the issue had been resolved.

“Our opportunities to play at home in 2024 were limited, so this opportunity is great for our players,” he said. “Everyone enjoyed the atmosphere, the performance and the crowd against Bulgaria… It would have been a shame to play in an empty stadium at a neutral venue.

Securing this match at home is a big boost for us and we will aim for even better results. It is unrealistic to expect to win every match by five goals, but such intensity was what the team showed in the match against Luxembourg and especially in the second half against Bulgaria. This level of performance must be the basis of our future strategy, especially when we play the game here in Belfast.

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