O’Neill pays Hughes tribute

Michael O’Neill has paid tribute to defender Aaron Hughes as he prepares to win his 100th Northern Ireland cap four years after performing a retirement U-turn.

The 36-year-old, who spent last season with Melbourne City, had initially called time on his international career in 2011 after making 79 caps only to rejoin the fold when O’Neill took the job three months later.

O’Neill explained how Hughes’ commitment at the start of his time in charge was a boost and he could now select the defender on Saturday against Slovakia, the country whom he made his debut against in 1998.

“We got an inkling that he would have welcomed a conversation (about coming back), which I would have had anyway, but it made it slightly easier,” O’Neill revealed.

“He phoned me on a Saturday night, I’d been at a game and flown back from Belfast, and it was a real positive from me having just been in the job that Aaron wanted to come back.

“I hadn’t put a timescale on that. We had a game three weeks later against Norway but he made his intentions …

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