Michael O’Neill has said trying to qualify for Euro 2024 is no longer his primary concern as Northern Ireland’s injury crisis shows no sign of abating.

Craig Cathcart was a late withdrawal ahead of Friday’s 1-0 defeat to Denmark in Copenhagen, taking the number of senior players missing through injury into double figures.

A youthful line-up that included teenagers Conor Bradley, Shea Charles and Isaac Price handled the intimidating atmosphere of the Parken Stadium admirably and thought they had a stoppage-time equaliser to cancel out Jonas Wind’s goal, only for debutant Callum Marshall’s strike to be ruled offside by VAR.

Defeat leaves Northern Ireland with one win from their opening three qualifiers, albeit still only three points off top spot with Denmark, Finland, Slovenia and Kazakhstan all on six points.

When O’Neill, the man who guided Northern Ireland to Euro 2016, returned to the job in December, there was real hope that they could capitalise on what was seen as a favourable draw in Group H.

But asked if Friday’s defeat put pressure on Northern Ireland to beat Kazakhstan at Windsor Park on Monday, O’Neill said: “We had six under-21s on the pitch. We’re not thinking about qualification. We’re thinking about putting points on the board. We have 10 senior players out injured.

“We’re not in that place that the teams we’re playing against, the likes of Denmark, are. We’re building a team here that’s dealing with a difficult situation with the number of senior players we’ve lost.

“We’re not in there before the game talking about qualification, we’re talking about a level of performance, to give a really good account of ourselves, which we did. Obviously if we can take points which we nearly did we’d be delighted but we’re not talking in that vein at the moment.”

With the likes of Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas, Corry Evans and Shane Ferguson all out with long-term injuries, O’Neill was already relying on young players during March’s fixtures and was made to do so again for a trip away to the top seeds in the group.

Cathcart could return in time for Monday’s fixture, but a huge amount of vital experience is missing from O’Neill’s ranks.

“You know the players who are missing and you know the players we’re asking to play at this moment in time,” he said.

“They’re not first-team players at their respective clubs on a regular basis and we’re playing against established international players who play at top clubs in Europe.

“We have to be realistic with the level we can compete at on a consistent basis.

“But the experience the players will have from nights like this, this is a brilliant place to play football, a brilliant stadium, brilliant home support, a fantastic pitch, and they will be better at the start of what is an international journey for a lot of these players.

“A number of these players will have long and distinguished international careers, it’s nights like these they will really benefit from.”

Northern Ireland left Copenhagen still frustrated by the disallowed goal, with VAR having taken five minutes to decide Jonny Evans’ heel was offside before he headed the ball on for Marshall to finish, but there was pride in a battling display.

One mistake proved the difference, with Wind pouncing when Ciaron Brown failed to deal with Joakim Maehle’s cross into the box.

“It’s disappointing to lose to a goal of that nature,” O’Neill added. “But we have to look at so much that was positive in our performance. We lost Craig Cathcart overnight with a back injury and I think what we got from our lads was terrific and as a manager you can’t really ask for much more.”

Callum Wilson hailed England’s clinical nature after they breezed past Malta.

The Newcastle striker came off the bench to score a penalty and wrap up a 4-0 Euro 2024 qualifying win on Friday.

Ferdinando Apap’s own goal, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s stunner and Harry Kane’s spot-kick put England in control before the break.

It tightened their grip on top spot in Group C ahead of Monday’s clash with North Macedonia in Manchester.

Wilson said: “We were very clinical and ruthless in the first half and it kind of put the game to bed and then it gives players like myself an opportunity to get on the pitch.

“We’ve not played as a team in a while and the Premier League ended about two-and-a-half weeks ago and we blew away the cobwebs during the week and put in a great performance against Malta.

“Any time you have away from the football field you’re going to have a bit of rust when you come back to it but we managed to keep in shape and come back.

“The intensity of training is always high and the standard is really high.”

The 31-year-old replaced Kane after an hour and won the penalty when his cross hit Steve Borg’s hand to add a fourth with seven minutes left, just his second goal and first since scoring on his debut against the USA in November 2018.

“I managed to get in the position and I see Phil Foden in the box and when it was blocked I was one of the first people to call for it,” he told the BBC.

“It was about a minute after the referee blew the whistle and we weren’t sure what was going on as we didn’t know if we had VAR. I was happy to step up and take it and put it away.

“It has been a wait. It’s always an honour to play for your country and then to score it tops it all off really.

“It makes all of the hard work that you’ve put in to get yourself here worthwhile. Probably the only downside is that I didn’t score more. I had a couple of chances but it was a great team performance.”

Josh Cullen has admitted the Republic of Ireland have no-one to blame but themselves after defeat in Greece ripped apart their Euro 2024 qualification hopes.

Stephen Kenny’s men headed for Athens in bullish mood after a creditable performance as they went down 1-0 to World Cup runners-up France in their opening Group B fixture in March.

With the Netherlands also waiting in the wings, they knew victory over Gus Poyet’s men – or certainly something more than the 2-1 defeat they ultimately suffered at the OPAP Arena – would be required if they were to prosper, but in the event, they were outplayed for long periods and emerged with what they deserved.

Burnley midfielder Cullen said: “We are very disappointed. We’ve got to be better than that, it’s as simple as that.

“We have to take account as players. We need to look at ourselves, there is no excuses we can make.”

Ireland survived an early blitz, largely thanks to keeper Gavin Bazunu, but succumbed after a VAR intervention prompted Austrian referee Harald Lechner to award a penalty after Callum O’Dowda had blocked George Baldock’s cross with his arm.

They dragged themselves back into it before the break courtesy of defender Nathan Collins’ finish after Evan Ferguson had flicked on Will Smallbone’s corner, but were undone again four minutes after the restart when the excellent Tasos Bakasetas played in Giorgos Masouras to beat Bazunu.

Cullen said: “When you come away in big matches like this, the last thing you want to do is make mistakes that end in goals. We have been doing that too much recently.

“It’s a disappointing night and we need to reflect and go again on Monday.”

It was the manner of the defeat as much as the fact of it that was concerning as Ireland, who face Gibraltar in Dublin on Monday evening, found themselves on the back foot for much of a contest dominated by a slick Greek outfit which sit three places below them in FIFA’s ranking table.

They were never able to get to grips with Trabzonspor schemer Bakasetas or Masouras in midfield and starved of meaningful possession, struggled to create much of note until a late flurry as the hosts sat back on their lead.

Kenny and his players must now put their disappointment behind them and prepare for a game in which even a comprehensive victory over a side beaten 3-0 at home by France on Friday evening would do little to improve their parlous position in the group.

However, asked how he saw the situation, Cullen said: “Monday. We aren’t looking any further than that. We have to prepare for that and make sure we get a result.”

Kenny will be forced to make at least one change with wing-back Matt Doherty suspended after his stoppage-time red card in Athens for a push on Kostas Tsimikas amid a melee as tempers frayed.

Team Bahrain-Victorious have withdrawn from the Tour de Suisse following the death of rider Gino Mader on Friday.

Mader, who was 26, died as a result of the injuries he suffered in a high-speed crash on a descent in Thursday’s stage five.

Friday’s stage six was cancelled, with the peloton instead riding the final 20 kilometres of the route in a neutralised group ride in memory of Mader.

Late on Friday, race organisers announced the final two stages of the race will go ahead this weekend – a decision reached in consultation with Mader’s family.

However, his team Bahrain-Victorious will not take part in the final two stages.

“Following the tragic loss of Gino Mader, Team Bahrain Victorious has taken the decision to withdraw from Tour de Suisse @tds,” the team said on social media.

There had been questions over whether the Tour would be completed, and also whether or not the women’s edition, which starts on Saturday, would begin.

Race director Olivier Senn said: “After consultation with all the people involved, we as the management stand united behind this decision and are trying to hold the last two stages of the men’s race in an appropriate setting.”

Justin Turner homered twice and tied a career high with six RBIs and Masataka Yoshida had two of Boston’s eight doubles as the Red Sox pounded the rival New York Yankees 15-5 on Friday.

Turner’s two-run homer off Domingo German in the second inning extended Boston’s lead to 4-1 and he capped a six-run third with a grand slam - a 429-foot blast to center - to make it 10-1.

Turner fell a triple shy of the cycle and drove in six runs for the second time in his career, also done against the Atlanta Braves while with the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 7, 2019.

Yoshida put Boston ahead to stay with a two-run double in the first inning, singled in the six-run third and doubled again and scored in the sixth. The Japanese rookie had his first four-hit game in the majors. 

The Red Sox tacked on three more runs in the fourth inning on a two-run single by Connor Wong and an RBI hit by Pablo Reyes.

Josh Donaldson homered and Anthony Rizzo knocked in three runs for New York.

There was a scary incident in the fifth inning when Boston starter Tanner Houck was struck on the face with a line drive off the bat of Kyle Higashioka. Houck immediately went to the ground and stayed down for a few minutes but was able to leave the field under his own power with a towel covering his cheek.

The Red Sox later announced that Houck received stitches and was checked out at a hospital.

Rays’ McClanahan first in majors to 11 wins

Shane McClanahan became the first pitcher in the major leagues to win 11 games, pitching into the seventh inning in the Tampa Bay Rays’ 6-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.

McClanahan, who entered as the only MLB pitcher with 10 wins, held the Padres to one run and three hits over 6 2/3 innings with three walks and five strikeouts. He won his third consecutive start and lowered his ERA to 2.12.

Isaac Paredes hit a solo home run and Randy Arozarena added a three-run shot and four RBIs to help major league-leading Tampa Bay win its third straight.

Arraez goes 5 for 5 with home run in Marlins’ win

Luis Arraez ended an 0-for-15 slump with a 5-for-5 performance that included a home run and three RBIs as the Miami Marlins topped the Washington Nationals 6-5.

Arraez had four singles and his first home run since April 11, ending a 52-game stretch without one. The five hits matched his career high, set June 3 against Oakland.

The Marlins won for the 10th time in 13 games to improve to 39-31, their best 70-game start since they went 42-28 in 1997, when they won the World Series.

Rory McIlroy vowed he would never give up seeking more major titles after heading into the third round of the 123rd US Open just two shots off the lead.

McIlroy covered his last nine holes in five under par to card a second round of 67 at Los Angeles Country Club, where Rickie Fowler set the pace after a rollercoaster 68.

Fowler, whose opening 62 equalled the lowest score in any men’s major, made eight birdies, six bogeys and just four pars to post a 10-under-par halfway total of 130, equalling the lowest in a US Open set by Martin Kaymer in 2014.

Fowler’s 18 birdies over the first two days are also the most in championship history and kept the 34-year-old in pole position to claim a first major title.

McIlroy, who is seeking his fifth and a first since the US PGA Championship in August 2014, said: “No-one wants me to win another major more than I do.

“The desire is obviously there. I’ve been trying and I’ve come close over the past nine years and I keep coming back.

“I feel like I’ve showed a lot of resilience in my career, whether I get rewarded or punched in the gut I’ll always keep coming back.”

Quote of the day

Rickie Fowler responds to a fan’s query of ‘What are you doing?’ with a shrug, despite three-putting the seventh.

Shot of the day

Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick did not see it go one, but definitely DID make the third hole-in-one of the week on the short 15th.

Round of the day

Australia’s Min Woo Lee carded six birdies and a solitary bogey in a second round of 65.

Statistic of the day

Halfway leader Rickie Fowler’s mistakes have been offset by a record 18 birdies over the first 36 holes.

Easiest hole

The reachable par-four sixth hole played to an average of 3.670 as 68 of the 156-man field made birdie, although evidence suggested it was better to play the hole conventionally rather than attempt to drive the green.

Hardest hole

The easiest hole was immediately followed by the hardest as the 299-yard, par-three seventh played to an average of 3.510. Just seven players made birdie and 13 made a double bogey.

Weather forecast

Fog could greet the early starters on Saturday, but mostly sunny skies should take over before lunchtime with temperatures climbing well into the 70s. That will cause southwest winds to pick up to possible highs of 18mph.

Key tee times (all BST)

2307 Sam Bennett, Min Woo Lee
2318 Dustin Johnson, Harrish English
2329 Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy
2340 Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler

England will attempt to make early inroads into Australia’s batting to vindicate Ben Stokes’ bold declaration on day two of what has already been an enthralling first LV= Insurance Test.

Joe Root registered his first Ashes century in eight years, compiling a majestic 118 not out to underpin England’s 393 for eight declared at Edgbaston, where they went at five an over.

Stokes pulled a rabbit from the hat when he waved Root in – the earliest declaration in Ashes history after just 78 overs of the match – but his hopes of sniping a late wicket did not materialise.

The renewal of Stuart Broad’s personal duel with David Warner provided some late theatre, but Australia will resume on 14 without loss on Saturday morning after surviving the challenge.

To walk or not to walk

Zak Crawley set the tone at the outset by clubbing Pat Cummins’ first ball for four before welcoming the returning Josh Hazlewood in identical fashion. Crawley continued to silence his detractors in a freewheeling 61 off 73 balls but when he was on 40, he played and seemed to miss a Scott Boland delivery that whizzed past his outside edge. The Australians did not deem it worth an appeal but an UltraEdge replay in the next over showed that the ball had grazed his bat. Crawley’s sheepish smile said it all and but Boland had the last laugh after brushing the opener’s thumb with a rising ball, with Australia this time rewarded for sending the not out decision to the third umpire.

What they said

The former Australia captain played 168 Tests during a glittering career and may have thought he had seen it all but even he was left surprised by Nathan Lyon’s dismissal of Harry Brook for 32. Lyon’s delivery hit Brook’s thigh-pad, looped gently over him and crashed into the stumps. For that brief moment of flight, batter, bowler and wicketkeeper Alex Carey all lost sight of the ball.

Stat’s entertainment

England went at five an over as Australia bowled just two maidens across the entire innings – one each from Hazlewood and Lyon.

Another century for the Yorkshiremen

Root and Jonny Bairstow’s swashbuckling 121-run partnership for the sixth wicket was their 11th 100-run partnership in Tests. Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe top the list among Englishmen with 15 ton-plus stands in the longest format.

Australia’s fielding woes

Australia were uncharacteristically poor in the field. The non-appeal of Crawley was the tip of the iceberg as Brook was dropped on 24 by Travis Head, who spilled when diving forward after running in from deep point. Head’s miserable day continued a couple of overs later when he misfielded on the boundary. Carey, diving full stretch to his right, was unable to cling on when Bairstow on 68 got a thick edge off Hazlewood although the drop was not too costly as the Yorkshireman was out for 78.

Declaration of intent

England’s declaration was the quickest ever in Ashes history. It took the Edgbaston crowd a moment to process what was happening when Root and Ollie Robinson jogged off the field with the score at 391. But once it sunk in that Stokes had called them in, they responded with gusto. The first over of the Australian innings was the loudest Edgbaston had been all day.

Rory McIlroy vowed he would never give up seeking more major titles after a flying finish left him just two shots off the halfway lead in the 123rd US Open.

McIlroy covered his last nine holes in five under par to card a second round of 67 at Los Angeles Country Club, where Rickie Fowler set the pace after a rollercoaster 68.

Fowler, whose opening 62 equalled the lowest score in any men’s major, made eight birdies, six bogeys and just four pars to post a 10-under-par halfway total of 130, equalling the lowest in a US Open set by Martin Kaymer in 2014.

Fowler’s 18 birdies over the first two days are also the most in championship history and kept the 34-year-old in pole position to claim a first major title.

McIlroy is seeking his fifth and a first since the US PGA Championship in August 2014, a month after he had won the Open at Royal Liverpool with a performance which has inspired this week’s approach.

“For whatever reason I went on to YouTube a few weeks ago and was looking back at Hoylake 2014 and I could not believe how many irons and three woods I was hitting off the tee and it set something off in my mind,” McIlroy said.

“You know how to do this, you know how to play smart. You don’t have to take driver – yes it’s a big weapon but I feel like I have more weapons in my arsenal than I did then so I may as well use them.”

Asked how much he wanted to win another major after a drought of almost nine years, McIlroy added: “I started thinking about winning this thing on Monday and no-one wants me to win another major more than I do.

“The desire is obviously there. I’ve been trying and I’ve come close over the past nine years and I keep coming back.

“I feel like I’ve showed a lot of resilience in my career, whether I get rewarded or punched in the gut I’ll always keep coming back.”

Fowler had failed to qualify for the last two US Opens as a loss of form saw him tumble to 185th in the world rankings, but came into the week on the back of successive top 10s on the PGA Tour and ranked 45th.

“I sure hope everyone can relate to struggles because everyone deals with them. No one’s perfect,” the Californian said.

“I think you’d be lying if you haven’t been through a tough time, especially if you play golf.

“I’m looking forward to the weekend. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this good in a tournament, let alone a major. It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

American Wyndham Clark was a shot behind Fowler following a 67, with Xander Schauffele alongside McIlroy on eight under after only managing to add a 70 to his opening 62.

Harris English held outright fifth place on seven under with Dustin Johnson recovering from a quadruple-bogey eight on the second to remain six under, a total matched by Australia’s Min Woo Lee thanks to a superb 65.

Tournament officials had earlier insisted they would not respond harshly to the record low scores on day one,  although the par-three 11th measured 297 yards and water had only been applied to “isolated spots on the greens for turf health”.

John Bodenhamer, chief championships officer of the USGA, told NBC: “(On Friday), as planned, we will play the golf course longer. We could do things that could make it stupid hard. We’re not going to do that.”

Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick made a hole-in-one on the 15th as he carded a 70 to lie one over par and make the halfway cut with a shot to spare.

Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny is refusing to give up on Euro 2024 qualification despite seeing his side slip to a damaging defeat in Greece.

Kenny admitted Ireland have given themselves “a mountain to climb” if they are to get out of Group B after losing both of their opening fixtures following Friday night’s 2-1 reverse in Athens, but he remains defiant ahead of Gibraltar’s visit to the Aviva Stadium on Monday evening.

Asked if the task is now near-impossible, he said: “It’s only the second game. We’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb.

“At the moment we’ve just got to get ourselves ready for Monday, a home game, nearly a full stadium, we have to give them a victory and that’s what we’ve got to focus on.”

Ireland fell behind to Tasos Bakasetas’ 15th-minute penalty, awarded for handball by Callum O’Dowda after a VAR review, but levelled before the break when Nathan Collins fired home from Evan Ferguson’s flick-on, again following a check.

But they were caught again within four minutes of the restart when Giorgos Masouras struck, and the visitors’ misery was complete in stoppage time when Matt Doherty was sent off for pushing Liverpool defender Kostas Tsimikas during an ugly scuffle.

Kenny said: “We didn’t play as well as we would have wanted. Greece were the much better side in the first half overall. They had more control than we would have wanted, they played well.

“That can happen away from home for international teams, but you’ve got to defend better than we did, see it out and that’s what hurt us in the end.

“It was just a really poor second goal to give away. I can’t believe we gave it away to be honest. That’s hurt us. We were still in the game and could have drawn the game – but it might have flattered us.

“I’m very disappointed with the sending off, it seemed very harsh, Matt got involved to get people out, but he didn’t touch his face, he touched his chest. There was too much made of it with the player going down, but there was no facial contact.”

While Ireland will have to lick their wounds and prepare for Gibraltar, Gus Poyet and his players head for France and a game the Uruguayan sees as a free-hit.

He said: “I think we both knew – we were depending a lot on France and the Netherlands – but between the two, maybe one of the two, [Ireland] and us, one maybe will have a chance to go out fighting.

“To be able to be there, we needed to beat each other. If not, then you have no chance because then you depend on them as well.

“Obviously you need to also do well against the Netherlands, but especially this game, you must win it. If you think you’re going to win the other ones, then you are not realistic, so that was, for me, a must-win game for both teams.

“Obviously we were lucky enough to win it and that gives us a platform now, depending on what happens on Monday. In September, we are going to be second because we are there.

“It gives us then the feeling to go to France in a different way because now we have got six points. It’s a different game with six points than one and if you don’t get something, you’re out, so it was very, very important.”

Rob Page suggested Wales’ Euro 2024 qualifying defeat to Armenia was a necessary “slap” as he surveyed the wreckage of one of the most humiliating losses in the nation’s football history.

Armenia ran out shock 4-2 winners in Cardiff, despite being ranked 97th in the world and 71 places lower than Wales.

Page’s side – who took four points from their March games away to Croatia and at home to Latvia – would have topped Group D with victory in Cardiff.

Instead a first European Championship qualifying defeat at home since 2011 dropped them to third in the group as Turkey won 3-2 in Latvia. Wales’ next qualifier is away to Turkey in Samsun on Monday.

“They fell well short of the standards they have set before,” said Page. “I didn’t see that coming. It has really shocked me.

“Everything happens for a reason, perhaps it’s the slap we need, a little bit of a reality check.

“Everybody is starry-eyed and getting carried away. Yes, we had a great start in March but there are no bad teams now anymore.

“Look at what Turkey had to do in the 96th minute against Latvia.”

Daniel James’ sixth international goal fired Wales into an early lead, but Armenia exploited some dreadful home defending to lead by the half-hour mark through Lucas Zelarayan and Grant-Leon Ranos.

Armenia extended their lead through Ranos before Harry Wilson reduced the deficit with 18 minutes to play.

Ranos hit the post before Zelarayan’s second killed off Wales and home misery was completed 12 minutes from time when Kieffer Moore was sent off for a kick on goalkeeper Ognjen Chancharevich.

Page confirmed that Wales would not appeal Moore’s red card and the Bournemouth striker will now miss the Turkey game.

“I felt such in a positive place before the game, full of confidence and I didn’t see that coming,” Page said.

“That’s really shocked me as much as anyone else.

“The fundamentals of what we stand for, what we represent, the hard work…we were too expansive and that’s not what we’re all about.

“We’re hard-working and we pride ourselves in doing the not-so-pretty side of it.

“They taught us a lesson in that, how to do the not-so-pretty side of the game.”

Victory was especially sweet for Armenia manager Oleksandr Petrakov, who was in charge of Ukraine for their World Cup play-off final defeat in Cardiff exactly 12 months ago.

Petrakov said: “We have a game in Latvia in three days so if we go on celebrating, this victory will not mean anything.

“It’s more or less the same Wales team apart from Gareth Bale so I can not under-estimate the valuation of my team.

“My only objective as Armenia coach is to is to qualify for a major tournament.”

Michael O’Neill said his Northern Ireland players were “angry and upset” after teenage debutant Callum Marshall saw a stoppage-time equaliser ruled out by VAR for a marginal decision in Friday’s 1-0 Euro 2024 qualifying defeat to Denmark.

Marshall had only been on the pitch for a few minutes when the West Ham youngster flicked on Jonny Evans’ header to find the corner of the net, cancelling out Jonas Wind’s 47th-minute strike and sparking huge celebrations amongst the 1,700 travelling fans.

But hearts sank as referee Daniel Stefanski signalled a VAR check that would last a full five minutes, with Tomasz Kwiatkowski taking an age to review the footage before determining that Evans had been fractionally offside when the free-kick was sent into the box.

“I thought it was all about ‘clear and obvious’ and the different terminology that we have in different situations,” O’Neil said. “If it takes that long to disallow a goal why would they disallow it in that situation? I don’t know whose call that is.

“The referee obviously doesn’t go to the monitor to look at it so whoever is looking at it has to take that decision. But I’m baffled that it took so long, and clearly the margin was so minimal. For me it’s not how the technology should be used.”

Jordan Thompson had sent in a free-kick from 40 yards out on the right, with Evans heading it goalwards and Marshall’s flick beating Kasper Schmeichel.

“By the time Jonny heads it Jonny is clearly onside so we’re looking pre-the delivery of the ball,” O’Neill said. “Did he gain any advantage? The referee said to me something about 30 centimetres. I don’t know where he gets that from.

“I’m not really sure where we gain an advantage. We won’t get a satisfactory explanation, I know that, so it’s done and we have to move on.”

Asked if he wanted his players to use a sense of injustice as fuel going forward, O’Neill added: “I don’t think we need it. We don’t need that to turn around our team to be ready to play on Monday night (at home to Kazakhstan).

“We’ll be playing in front of a vociferous crowd who will be proud of how we played tonight. We’re angry and we’re upset but we don’t need that.”

O’Neill was seen with a consoling arm around Marshall’s shoulder as the players went to applaud the travelling support.

“We’ve put him on because he’s got a lot of potential,” he said. “He’s come on, scored a goal and he’s had the fairytale start to his international career taken away from him.

“I put my arm around him and told him there’ll be plenty more goals. He’s a young player with massive potential but it’s heartbreaking to have that taken away from you in that type of scenario.”

For all the frustration at the end, O’Neill was proud of the way his young Northern Ireland side had handled the toughest fixture in Group H.

An injury to Craig Cathcart took the number of senior players missing to 10, with O’Neill forced to rely on inexperienced players including four teenagers.

“It was a tough game but we did very well in the first half to contain them and we managed the game well,” he said.

“I felt the second half with the goal got a bit ragged and we should have done better out of possession but our reaction to going a goal down was excellent. At that point you have to stay in the game, it would be easy here to concede again but we didn’t do that.

“We knew we could get a bit of play in the last 15-20 minutes and on the basis of the last 15 minutes we deserved to get something from the game and we feel pretty aggrieved that we didn’t.”

Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick had more than one reason to celebrate after making his first hole-in-one as a professional in the 123rd US Open.

Fitzpatrick aced the 115-yard 15th hole at Los Angeles Country Club on his way to a second round of 70 which looked set to secure his place in the final two rounds on one over par.

“As soon as I hit it I thought that it had a good chance of going close,” said Fitzpatrick, who was looking down at his club when the ball went in.

“The rough’s covering the hole so you couldn’t see it going in any way. My hand was a bit sore afterwards, I’ll be honest, after all the high-fiving. But, yeah, it was good.

“I wish it [the roar] would have been louder. I wish it was a few more people. But, yeah, I’m surprised there’s not been as many people out as I thought this week.

“But it was so exciting to see it and first ever professional hole-in-one. Without that I probably wouldn’t be here for the weekend. It was needed.”

Fitzpatrick gave back the two shots he gained on the 15th with a double bogey on the 17th and although he birdied the difficult 18th, the 28-year-old from Sheffield could only post eight pars and a bogey on the front nine.

“I’m third last in driving this week, so I feel very lucky to be here,” the world number eight added.

“I feel like every other aspect of my game is pretty decent, just can’t get the driver going. I feel like if I get the driver going I can shoot a really good score.

“I think the big issue around this place is you miss the fairway by a yard and you’ve got to chip out. I think it’s very poor when golf courses are set up like that. You can hit it 40 yards off line and you’ve got a lie.

“So I think there needs to be more done to sort of help more accurate players off the tee. By missing the fairway by a yard you shouldn’t have to be chipping it out. If you miss it by 40 you should be having to chip it out.”