IT is getting close to nine months since Northern Ireland secured their historic qualification to Euro 2016.

But for Corry Evans, the Blackburn Rovers midfielder who is a key cog in Michael O’Neill’s inspirational side, the sheer scale of their achievement has yet to sink in.

Nor does he think it will sink in when they take to the field in the first European Championship game in the country’s history against Poland at the Stade de Nice on Sunday week.

Nor does he think it will sink in during their mouthwatering last Group C match against reigning world champions Germany at the Stade de France, the venue for the final, on June 21.

Indeed Evans wonders if it will only be when he has hung up his boots that he will grasp exactly what Northern Ireland did in getting to France.

Not only did they end their 30-year wait for a place at a major tournament, they also became the first country to finish top of their group after being drawn from pot five.

Few expected Northern Ireland to qualify for the tournament in the first place, and now that they are there, few will expect them to emerge from a group that also contains Ukraine.

But, such is the tight bond that has built up between a set of players superbly drilled by O’Neill, and in a year when Leicester City have also proved fairytales do happen, Evans believes anything is possible.

“Over the years there’s always been a bit of negativity around Northern Ireland,” said the 25-year-old, who signed a new three-and-a-half year contract with Rovers in November.

“We’ve tended to do well against big teams, but against teams similar to ourselves or lower teams, we’d always struggle.

“But in the first game of this campaign, away to Hungary, we managed to pick up a win, and then momentum allowed us to kick on.

“The first game was massive. Once we won that game it just snowballed from there, the confidence and the belief in the lads grew, and now we’re going into games thinking, ‘we’re going to get a result here, we’re not going to get beat’.

“It’s a really good feeling to have and to know that no matter who plays, or no matter who we are playing, we’re going to stick together and have a right good go at it. It’s a good attitude to have and it’s got us this far.

“It goes to show what can be done through hard work and organisation. This could be the year of the underdog and hopefully we can surprise a few and do well for ourselves in the tournament.

“We’ve got a good group of players, there’s a good mixture of experience and youth, and we’ve got a good manager who has stuck by us and who fills us full of belief and confidence. It’s all come together.

“We’ve had to wait 30 years as a nation but thankfully it’s come around and the whole country can’t wait for it now.”

You have to go back to 1986 for the last time Northern Ireland qualified for a major tournament as a squad featuring then Rovers striker Jimmy Quinn bowed out at the group stage of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Four years earlier a squad featuring then Rovers winger Noel Brotherston, who tragically lost his life 1995, at the age of 38, went one stage further at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, inspired by Gerry Armstrong’s heroics.

“Those two teams, ‘82 and ’86, were before my time, as I was born in 1990, so growing up I didn’t have much to cheer about, and I think we broke the record for the most minutes without scoring a goal,” said Evans, who played in Friday’s 3-0 friendly win over Belarus at Windsor Park.

“So, as I say, we’ve not had much to cheer about, but hopefully what we’ve done can inspire the younger generation and give them something to look up.

“We never thought it was possible, growing up there was never a big expectation on us to reach these tournaments, and through the years we never went close to qualifying.

“But now the timing is right. We have the right team, the right manager, and we’ve managed to get there.”

Northern Ireland sealed their place at Euro 2016 with a 3-1 win over Greece on a never to be forgotten night in Belfast in October.

“It was brilliant and at the same time a bit surreal,” said Evans, who has won 32 caps for his country after making his international debut in June 2009.

“It probably didn’t sink in until a good few months afterwards and even speaking about it now, it’s hard to put into words exactly what it means to be thinking about going and playing against the best players in the world.

“For a nation of our size, it’s a massive achievement, and I probably won’t realise what a big thing it is until I’ve been there, and I’ve had a chance to sit back and reflect on it, maybe when I retire.”

And what will make it all the more special for Evans is the fact that he will share the experience with his older brother Jonny, the West Brom centre-back who, like his younger sibling, came through the ranks at Manchester United.

“The family are all going to fly out, it will be a great occasion, and I’m sure they will be really proud of both us,” said Evans junior.

“When you’re walking out at Windsor Park together, and they’re in the stand, it’s good, but it’s going to be even better if we can walk out together in France, at a major tournament, which will be televised to thousands and millions around the world.

“I’m sure they will be really proud of both of us.”

The brothers were named in Northern Ireland’s 23-man for Euro 2016 squad when it was announced on Saturday.

And Evans admits he will go into the tournament feeling better than ever after undergoing a minor operation in March to cure a niggling thigh injury that had plagued him since around the time of Paul Lambert’s appointment as Rovers boss in November.

“It was two or three games in when Lambert had taken over when I started feeling the pains,” said Evans, who was sad to see the former Scotland midfielder leave at the end of the season.

“You want to impress your new manager and I was out going to be out of contract this summer at that time as I hadn’t signed a new deal. I wanted to impress and try and get my future sorted, which I managed to do.

“Lambert was great also, any days that I needed to take off training he would allow me to recover and he was great about coming in for the op, he let me miss a couple of games either side of the international break to help me.

“He wished me luck and said he’d be watching me in France.”

From Belfast to Blackburn, he will not be the only one.