‘Relief and joy as leader Magill saves hot and cold NI’

As the final whistle blew in Inver Park, Simone Magill turned and struck the air.

Northern Ireland’s captain and talismanic striker, Magill was the hero with two late goals to stun Bosnia-Herzegovina.

After the Bosnians scored a quick-fire double after a restart, they were facing a fourth consecutive defeat.

But up stepped Magill, who produced a captain’s performance with two late goals.

In the 89th minute, she headed Ellie Mason’s long ball into the bottom corner to drag her side level.

There was a lot of joy and relief around the ground after she had saved her side from the brink.

“To win a game like that, that’s why you play the game and love football so much”, Magill said after the game.

“I’m extremely happy now but we didn’t make that easy on ourselves.

” I’m so proud of the character of the group, not only did we come back but we didn’t settle for a draw.

Northern Ireland lost a strange game in five minutes after half-time, going from being entirely in charge to looking shell-shocked.

Tanya Oxtoby’s side took a deserved first-half lead through Brenna McPartland’s header, but they allowed Bosnia into the game.

First of all, less than 60 seconds after the restart, Emina Ekic was allowed to run 60 yards unchallenged to slot home the equaliser.

Marija Milinkovic fired home a stunning 20-yard effort from the post after Rachel Dugdale’s poor clearance was punished three minutes later.

Although the ending of Tuesday’s game was a happy one, it can be frustrating to watch Northern Ireland perform together for 90 minutes without getting everything right.

The quick-fire concession of goals, which also occurred on Friday and again in the Euro 2025 play-off against Norway before Christmas, is another alarming trend.

Magill admits there was an “element of complacency” after dominating the first half, and her side must learn from that heading into April’s double-header with Romania.

“That’s what we were going after, we wanted to be in control of the game”, Magill said.

“I think with control comes an element of complacency, and if we look at the second half that’s exactly what did happen.

After October’s Euro 2025 play-off victory over Croatia, when Lauren Wade scored an extra-time winner, NI could not build on that winning moment against European giants Norway as they missed out on reaching this summer’s tournament.

They will be favorites against Romania this time, though, and they will have a real chance to carry that momentum and feeling into the coming weeks.

Magill thinks Oxtoby’s young team can benefit from Northern Ireland’s resilience as a springboard moving forward.

After her heroics, the Birmingham City striker will likely be in the headlines, and rightfully so, but others have already done their part.

The 30-year-old praised 18-year-old striker Kascie Weir, making her first start, defender Mason, who provided the two late assists, and substitute Emily Wilson, who was impressive with her aggressive approach on the wing.

” It’s how we reacted after that, that’s what I’m really proud of.

It would have been very simple to enter our shell and not to leave the game in search of something, we’ve said a lot about the development of this team.