MICHAEL O’NEILL’S NORTHERN Ireland squad have donated their match fees from last summer’s European Championships to a local cancer charity.
Ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Croatia, the players visited Daisy Lodge cancer centre in Co. Down, a facility which is also supported by Rory McIlroy’s Rory Foundation.
Speaking to Sky Sports, defender Gareth McAuley revealed the players wanted to use their success at Euro 2016 in a positive way and decided to pledge their £46,000 match fees to the cancer centre.
“We wanted to give something back,” he said. ”We got a lot out of football and wanted to use Euro 2016 in a positive way.”
In addition, McAuley also donated his shirt he wore whilst scoring in the 2-0 victory over Ukraine in France.
Northern Ireland continued their rich vein of form with a comfortable 4-0 win over Azerbaijan on Friday night. It leaves them in second place in Group C behind Germany.
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