Slovakia 1-0 Northern Ireland: Michael O’Neill’s side are eyeing the qualifiers after a huge punch in Kosice

When the clock struck 90 minutes in Slovakia, the visitors were on course for a point that would have left them in first place for second place and qualifying from their place in Group A in the qualifiers without having to rely on their success in the Nations League.

Had they held out, or referee Istvan Kovacs ruled out Tomas Bobcek’s stoppage-time winner due to pressure on Daniel Ballard, it would not have changed the fact that this was their worst performance in what has been an encouraging season.

Such a result always felt a distinct possibility given their notable absence from the game.

In Kosice, Shea Charles was a huge loss, but no one following Northern Ireland during O’Neill’s second spell would have expected anything less.

Brad Lyons and George Savile were consistent in midfield throughout, but, with the exception of Connor Bradley, arguably no player was more important to the case than Southampton’s elegant midfielder.

This is not to say that Northern Ireland did not test the theory during the election campaign.

The team was without Bradley and Ethan Galbraith for one match due to suspension, while eventually Sunderland centre-back Daniel Ballard will have played in just three of the six matches.

Add to that the absence of Ali McCann this window, and the fact that No. 1 goalkeeper Pierce Charles missed the entire season, and you get an idea of ​​how O’Neill’s depth will be tested.

It is certainly no coincidence that their strongest performance, a 2-0 home win over Slovakia last month, came from their strongest team on paper.

“The one thing we’ve learned this season is that you can lose a player at any moment,” O’Neill said.

“You can never control that, but hopefully come March, the challenges we faced during this group will not be with the absence of players, and we will be as strong as possible.”