The moment Trai Hume's lofted effort made its way into the unguarded net, Windsor Park erupted. It was a wave of unbridled joy, with a hint of relief, as a wall of noise made its way around south Belfast. The goal by Hume, who grew up playing at Windsor Park for Linfield before making the leap to Sunderland, secured a 2-0 win and a huge three points as Northern Ireland look to reach a first World Cup in 40 years. Defeat would have all but ended hopes of automatic qualification. Now, against the odds, they are joint-top of Group A on six points after three matches, tied with Germany and Slovakia.

"We discussed before about is this the best [performance] since Michael O'Neill returned?" said BBC Sport NI pundit David Healy, who is Northern Ireland's record men's goalscorer. "You may even question, was it the best full 90 minutes since Michael has been in charge 99 times? That was the level of performance tonight. Overall, tonight, 2-0 certainly flattered Slovakia."

That sentiment was echoed by 1982 World Cup hero Gerry Armstrong, who said it was "as good a performance I have seen in the last 10-15 years here". "They look like they have so much more experience from the tender years because they are playing like a team with confidence and belief in each other and that's what I love about them," Armstrong added. "They have this passion, and they just want to get out on the pitch and play."

O'Neill admired the performance of his young side, who have made a superb start to qualifying. A win in Luxembourg was followed by an hour of matching European heavyweights Germany, who eventually prevailed to win 3-1. Friday's win was superb from first minute to last. A Patrik Hrosovsky own goal broke the deadlock before Hume's superb effort with just under 10 minutes left made sure - but was it the best under O'Neill?

"I don't really look at games like that because teams evolve," O'Neill said when asked if it was the most complete performance since his return in 2023 for a second spell in charge. The Germany fixture will be his 100th game as Northern Ireland boss. "The team when I came back in is very different to the team now," O'Neill said. "They have given other good performances, like at home here to Bulgaria [a 5-0 win in October 2024] when we were excellent. I think tonight was a team of a higher calibre as well, so you can say it is one of the best performances we've had, but I still think there is more in the tank, and I think the players believe that as well."

O'Neill was also full of praise for Hume, who has moved up the leagues with Sunderland and is now a Premier League regular. The defender's goal had come after the in-form David Strelec poked an effort wide for Slovakia. In the past, when there felt like an inevitability that the opposition would hit back, Hume's effort changed that narrative. "We deserved to be more than one goal ahead with how the game had gone, but we needed that second goal," said O'Neill. "Slovakia are a good team and are very experienced at international level, and it only takes a moment. They did have that chance and they missed it. As a young team you can lose confidence and momentum in that situation, but when the second goal went in - and it was a great finish - it was great for him as he's such an important player for us."

With three teams level at the top of Group A, the remainder of the campaign effectively becomes a shootout to reach top spot. Germany, who brushed aside Luxembourg 4-0 on Friday, will still be favourites to automatically qualify. In November, Northern Ireland travel to Slovakia and host Luxembourg in their final qualifier. There's a lot of football still to be played, and O'Neill said his team's win was a "huge result in the context of the group". "We've now a massive game at home to Germany," he said. "All three teams are on six points, and we have two home games left, so maybe that gives us a slight advantage. We have to try and take what we did tonight and bring it into the game on Monday against a very, very good team."

Any time a big nation visits Windsor Park it is a huge occasion. But now, with World Cup dreams still on the line, the fuel of Julian Nagelsmann's September comments about NI's playing style and the century landmark for O'Neill, it feels even bigger still.