Northern Ireland were undone by a superb Michael Olise hat-trick as France jetted off to the World Cup with a 3-1 friendly win on Monday.
Olise struck either side of half-time, both goals unerring finishes on the rebound, and after Northern Ireland's Patrick Kelly pulled one back the Bayern Munich man delivered a superb curling strike to settle it in the 75th minute.
But France, among the favourites to lift the World Cup this summer, hardly had things all their own way as Northern Ireland – whose starting XI had an average age of just 22.6 – dug in to produce another determined display showing maturity beyond their years.
And that was rewarded in the 64th minute when Kelly turned in a Shea Charles cross, silencing the crowd to deliver on coach Michael O'Neill's plea for his players to act as "badly-behaved guests" at France's going-away party.
Didier Deschamps, taking charge of France for the final time on home soil, fielded a side which could well be the starting XI for their World Cup opener against Senegal on June 16, with Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Olise forming an imposing front four.
