Michael O'Neill targets Euro Qualifier win over Romania after Northern Ireland beat Finland

Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill refused to get carried away after his side boosted their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2016 with a 2-1 win over Finland.

Kyle Lafferty scored both goals in the first half at Windsor Park to help Northern Ireland cement second spot in Group F.

They remain a point behind Romania at the halfway stage ahead of a crucial meeting with the group leaders in June.

Asked whether automatic qualification is now the target, O’Neill said: “It’s a realistic possibility but we are not setting targets, our next target is Romania, simple as that.

“We know they are an excellent team and they top the group, so we will have to be at our very best to beat them. But we are capable of doing that and the players believe that.

“With every game they are starting to believe more and more and it’s a game we can look forward to.”

Northern Ireland were beaten 2-0 in Bucharest in November but a win over Romania in the summer would be a huge step towards qualification for Euro 2016.

“We are back to winning having lost in Romania and we now have the game in June and a win would take us top of the group again,” said O’Neill .”The players recognise that, we have our preparation laid out ahead of us and we are looking forward to a good 7-10 days with the players and we hope for a similar performance and similar result.”

Asked about Lafferty’s impressive display against Finland, O’Neill said: “Confidence is the big issue, he had a bit of a difficult year but he has put that behind him, he is playing with a smile on his face which is lovely to see.

“He is a big part of the squad and he recognises how important he is to this squad and this team. You saw today he was a real handful and scored a couple of fantastic goal. We emphasis the point of getting quality balls in the box and we saw the benefits of doing that.”

Northern Ireland could have won by a greater margin had Chris Baird not had a goal ruled out for offside in the 10th minute.

There was some confusion over why it was disallowed but O'Neill revealed it was because Chris Brunt was offside when he took a short corner.

"It seems a bizarre rule to me," he added. "There is not a lot room here at the side of the pitch to take inswinging corner so that’s the reason why we moved the ball, but it seems a very strange situation for him to give offside.

"Thankfully it didn’t affect us, it would have given us a great start but the players deserve enormous credit because sometimes things like that go against you and you have to deal with that and it shows the strength of the team."