Poland vs. Northern Ireland: Score and Twitter Reaction from Euro 2016

Poland downed Northern Ireland 1-0 in their Euro 2016 curtain-raiser on Sunday and temporarily shot to the summit of Group C thanks to an early second-half winner from Arkadiusz Milik. 

Northern Ireland were tame in attack en route to an opening defeat in their maiden European Championship campaign, while the Poles struggled to make the most of their barrage of chances on goal.

It was far from a barnstormer in Nice, with Poland pressing against a mountain of Northern Ireland bodies for much of the tie. Manager Michael O'Neill's side paid the price for refusing to show much fervour in attack.

O'Neill's men failed to get a shot on target throughout the 90 minutes, and OptaJohan illustrated a particularly limp opening 45 minutes:

Northern Ireland travelled to the Allianz Riviera having managed to keep clean sheets in each of their last three matches, but their goal came under immediate threat in Nice, as Poland started in the ascendancy.

However, that early passage of Polish pressure gave way to a long lull of Northern Irish possession, although writer Brian McNally highlighted their shortcomings in attack:

Centre-backs Gareth McAuley and Jonny Evans in particular were tasked with keeping Poland and Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski at bay, and it worked to good effect for the opening period, at least.

Even Northern Ireland's official Twitter account tweeted its joy at maintaining a stalemate after the 30-minute mark:

As the halfway interval approached, Northern Ireland had still failed to land a single shot on target, while Poland's advances began to test their opponents more and more vigorously.

Glamorous it may not have been, but O'Neill's tactics made their impression on former Manchester United and England centre-back Rio Ferdinand, per Match of the Day:

However, all that graft counted for naught after Poland found the initiative after the restart. It took Milik just five minutes of the second half to nudge his side ahead.

Jakub Blaszczykowski cut in off the right before slipping an inside ball to the onrushing Milik, who only needed one touch before poking the ball through Craig Cathcart's legs and past stopper Michael McGovern. By doing so, the Ajax attacker made history for his national team:

West Bromwich Albion duo Evans and McAuley continued to block Lewandowski from getting up to his usual standards in front of goal, and it was the latter who actually had Northern Ireland's only shot of the first 80 minutes.

The last half-hour of the match read much like the first, and a speculative Kyle Lafferty bicycle kick from 25 yards out was about as exciting as it got for O'Neill's hopefuls.

Claude Paris/Associated Press

Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny showed superb guts to come out of his area and claim a late cross, but he clattered into team-mate Lukasz Piszczek for his troubles, although both came out of the clash all right to carry on.

Poland boss Adam Nawalka can also afford to have concerns, after seeing just three of his side's 15 total shots find their way on target, per WhoScored.com. 

His team are now past what many expect to be the tamest threat in Group C, but the way in which Poland were muted as Lewandowski was obscured was a concern. FourFourTwo's Andy Mitten highlighted Northern Ireland's fans revelled in denying the striker any joy on Sunday, too:

Fellow Group C contenders Germany and Ukraine will collide later on Sunday evening, but the world champions are no shoo-ins after losing three of their last five games.

Both Poland and Northern Ireland may hope to see pool favourites Germany drop to defeat in their opener, with Group C liable to get blown wide open if the Ukrainians can cause an upset in north France.

Post-Match Reaction

Ariel Schalit/Associated Press

Northern Ireland could have caused an upset on Sunday had they only posed more of an attacking threat on Poland, such was the resilience of their defence.

However, head coach O'Neill couldn't get away from the fact improvements are needed before they face Ukraine on Thursday, and he pointed out as much in his post-match comments, per the Belfast Telegraph:

"

I felt they started very brightly, maybe we didn't expect that type of start. If you look at our team the two lads that were playing in the wing-back positions, they play their club football at League One level.

It was a massive game for us to come in, (with) fantastic support and the prestige of the game. Everything around the tournament has been top class. Maybe there was an aspect that it did take us a while to settle into the game.

"

O'Neill also touched upon the need to "adapt quickly" owing to the fact that Poland an other teams in France have power "in every area of the team."

With Ukraine and Germany next on the fixture list, things aren't going to get easier anytime soon for O'Neill and his side.