Michael O'Neill confident Northern Ireland can reach Euro 2024

Michael O'Neill will begin his second reign as Northern Ireland manager believing his side has every chance of reaching the Euro 2024 finals.

The 53-year-old, who returned to the job in December almost three years after leaving for Stoke, hopes Thursday's opening qualifier away to San Marino is the start of a campaign in which they can replicate the greatest success of his previous eight-year stint in charge, when they made it to Euro 2016.

"At the start of any campaign you feel you have a real chance, that is the most important thing and this campaign is no different," said O'Neill, whose side will also face Finland on Sunday with Denmark, Slovenia and Kazakhstan the other sides in Group H.

"It was not that difficult a decision for me to come back into the role. I unfortunately missed the opportunity to take the country into the (Euro 2020/21) play-off which was part of the deal when I left.

"To get the chance again in terms of a qualification campaign with this group of players, and also to have...a lot of the senior players still around was important for me.

"I suppose during the first three months, I knew what I was going to get from these lads, (and) what I saw potentially coming through which obviously gave me a lot of excitement and motivation as well."

Sitting alongside Craig Cathcart, who will captain the side this week, O'Neill cut a relaxed figure after watching his side train in Serravalle.

Injuries have robbed him of the services of Steven Davis, Jonny Evans, Stuart Dallas, Corry Evans, Liam Boyce and more, so O'Neill will turn to a younger core of players he does not know so well.

"I'm feeling good," he said. "I've really enjoyed it since Sunday. The problems we had were pre-coming in because the injuries happened