For the first time in 315 days, Northern Ireland are back in Belfast.
Michael O’Neill’s side welcome Hungary to Windsor Park for a Nations League Group B2 contest on Monday night, just 51 days shy of a year since a Jamie Donley penalty saw the side to a 1-0 win over Luxembourg in their previous home fixture.
In the interim, they have played five times on their travels, a run that began with World Cup play-off defeat by Italy in Bergamo in March and concluded with victory over Georgia on Friday night.
If that win in Tbilisi represented a something of a breakthrough in terms of away performances – they had won just two of their previous 12 competitive away games – form back at Windsor has been strong despite the sporadic fixtures.
Since losing to Slovenia in October 2023, only Germany have left Belfast with a win and that a 1-0 triumph on a night the hosts missed numerous good chances.
A run of seven wins in nine home games is in stark contrast to what went before when, in the preceding nine at Windsor Park, Northern Ireland had beaten only San Marino and Kosovo, the latter courtesy of a 94th-minute winner.
O’Neill said he does not put much stock in such runs of form given the changing squads in international football, but acknowledged his team are in “a really good phase” at Windsor Park.
“This is a new team, so they’re not saddled by the performance of previous teams,” he said.
“They love playing here at the stadium. You know there was a period where the team of 2016 [who qualified for the European Championships of that year] didn’t enjoy playing at home.
“Then suddenly they started to win games and they loved playing at home. Teams go through phases and at this moment in time this team is in a really good phase in terms of the home form.”
