Euro 2016: QPR's Conor Washington goes from postman to brink of last 16 with Northern Ireland

(Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Chris Hatherall17 June 2016

Northern Ireland’s fairytale victory over Ukraine — which leaves them with a real chance of reaching the knockout stages — has one foot in west London.

Queens Park Rangers striker Conor Washington led the line for Michael O’Neill’s men but just four years ago he was a postman and playing for non-League St Ives Town.

The 24-year-old, who qualified for Northern Ireland thanks to his grandmother and made his international debut only in March, was ably supported by Stuart Dallas, the man who Brentford brought to England from amateur club Crusaders in Northern Ireland before eventually selling him on to Leeds.

You could also add in Niall McGinn — scorer of the second goal in Lyon after Gareth McAuley had headed his side in front — who once spent a year on loan at Griffin Park, plus substitute Will Grigg who had two years with the Bees before moving on to Wigan.

Washington’s story, however, is the most engaging of all. Chosen up front for Ireland ahead of first-choice striker Kyle Lafferty, he now has a chance of leading the line against world champions Germany in his side’s final Group C game in Paris next Tuesday.

“When you think I was delivering letters and playing non-League and now I could be playing Germany to qualify for the last 16 of the Euros — it’s the kind of thing you only dream about,” said Washington. “To start the game was massive. I’ve come so far in the last four years and this was the icing on the cake. But to get the win was even sweeter.

“There’s a real chance of qualification for us now. We didn’t want to say it before but this was a must-win game for us.”

Another ingredient in Washington’s remarkable story is that he is not even a regular for QPR. In fact he has yet to score a goal for the side since joining from Peterborough for £2.8million in January. So last night’s performance is one he hopes will boost his club career as well as his international one.

“This was the kind of performance I want to take into QPR next season,” he said. “That’s my main aim, to get into the team every week and score goals.

“The guys at QPR have been great. I speak to the media team and assistant manager David Oldfield a lot and I had a message from the manager [Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink] wishing me luck.

“In fact, my phone is full of Facebook notifications. My girlfriend, stepdad and mum were in the ground and I got a message from the manager at St Ives just before kick-off.

“It’s just amazing. I can’t even say that I dreamt back in those days that this would ever happen. I really didn’t. But I don’t want it to stop.

“We’ve got Germany on Tuesday and we can get a result. I would say most teams would struggle to get anything against us when we play like we did against Ukraine — with high intensity pressure. It can’t be easy to face.”

Dallas has the same sense of wonderment. “Five or six years ago I was playing amateur league football with my local side and sometimes I look back and think, ‘Wow, I’ve come a long way’,” he said.

“But I’ve always had great coaches from the Irish League days and then Uwe Rosler and Mark Warburton at Brentford. Warbs played me in the right way and I owe a lot to him and his assistant David Weir, the same with Uwe who was at Brentford before that and also took me to Leeds. I still keep in contact with them all and I wouldn’t be where I am without them. I’ll always be thankful to them.”

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