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Northern Ireland's path to Euro 2004 | |
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Sammy McIlroy waves goodbye to qualification
Who's who of Northern Ireland's rivals in Euro 2004 Qualification Group 6 Northern Ireland manager Sammy McIlroy will probably be glad when the final whistle blows in Athens on Saturday night. It will bring an end to what has been a nightmare campaign for McIlroy's men. No wins, no chance of qualifying and not even a solitary goal to celebrate from their seven games so far. After 1,152 minutes of football - that's 12 games and over 19 hours - Northern Ireland still haven't managed to break a goal drought dating back to February 2002. Three creditable results, albeit scoreless draws, against Spain and Ukraine home and away gave Northern Ireland hope. That was dented by a 1-0 defeat at home to Armenia.
With Greece fighting to win the group and Northern Ireland out to end the campaign in some sort of positive fashion it could be a firey encounter. The Greeks won 2-0 in Belfast in a game when Northern Ireland finished with nine men. As far as qualification goes those hopes disappeared about a year ago for Northern Ireland. Only three points from seven games have been collected. Roll on the World Cup campaign.
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2003
Mar 29: Armenia 1-0 Northern Ireland
Apr 2: Northern Ireland 0-2 Greece
June 11: Northern Ireland 0-0 Spain
Sept 6: Ukraine 0-0 Northern Ireland
Sept 10: Northern Ireland 0-1 Armenia
Oct 11: Greece v Northern Ireland
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