FIRST off, I have got to talk about Northern Ireland’s exploits in France, and the game against Ukraine which we comfortable won 2-0.

I was a bit surprised when the manager, Michael O’Neill, left out Kyle Lafferty for the match.

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In fact, the Northern Ireland boss axed five of the team who had played in the 1-0 defeat by Poland, but to his credit Kyle, who had scored seven goals in the qualifiers, was the reason they made it to France.

Next up for the Boys in Green is Germany this evening, and that is not going to be easy.

But I think that the last time that we played the Germans we actually won it, so let’s go boys and win this one.

We need to as well, if we want to progress further.

In last Friday’s Daily Mirror there was a fantastic photo of the supporters of my wee country showing a flag with a photo of Billy Hamilton, one of the legends of Burnley on it, alongside the badges of Burnley FC and the crest of Northern Ireland.

Holding the flag was my son Jonathan. How proud I was of him!

He had it specially made for his journey to France to watch little Northern Ireland.

Next up, my congratulations to Burnley on getting Dafabet to sponsor their shirts next season.

The fixtures are out and we have Swansea at home on August 13. Not an easy one, but then the next two are away to Liverpool and Chelsea.

So that’s nine points in the bag and a great start to the season... I wish.

We are in the Premier League and these games will come, but I have complete faith in our manager who is very thorough for his preparations for every game.

He is behind the scenes at the moment looking for possible new faces to boost his squad and I’m sure the new faces will have been well and duly scrutinised on his infamous DNA.

The supporters will give their usual fantastic support and I admire them for getting behind the team, even when things were not so good.

To the Clarets squad, I wish you all the very best for the coming season, and I also hope we can keep hold of Michael Keane as Premier League champions Leicester City have come after him.

He has been outstanding since his arrival and to replace him will be very difficult.