Northern Ireland will hope to show they deserve a place on the big stage with one final dance against England at Euro 2022, says defender Rebecca McKenna.
The Euro debutants were knocked out following a 2-0 defeat to Austria on Monday evening but have the chance to end their tournament on a high against the Lionesses on Friday.
McKenna, who plays for Barclays Women’s Championship side Lewes, started in the loss earlier this week and has enjoyed her taste of finals football.
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“I got told the morning of the game in the team meeting that I was starting against Austria and it was a great feeling,” said the full-back.
“Everyone wants to play on the big stages and Monday night was different class, it would have topped it off if we could have got the result.
“We know that Friday night is our last game in the tournament, but we don’t want this to be a one-time thing.”
England, their opponents on Friday, have already qualified for the quarter-finals, but McKenna hopes their many past clashes, including most recently in World Cup qualifying, will stand Northern Ireland in good stead.
She added: “They are a top team and we know it’s going to be difficult.
“We’ve played them in the past so we just have to look back at the footage and we’ll see areas that we can exploit and hopefully we can do that on Friday.”
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While McKenna was optimistic about making a return to major tournaments, head coach Kenny Shiels believes Northern Ireland have over-performed in just reaching Euro 2022.
He said: “When you look at where we were when we came in, we have reached this level too soon.
“I don't think we've got a good future yet because we're going to be losing some of the more experienced players.
"We have to keep improving the under-19s and the under-17s until they reach a level where they are ready to play.
"Some of our players who are with us on this [full-time] programme are not ready to play against these types of opponents. But the experience they are getting from it is part of the development. It is important that we know that."
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