Michael Olise’s maiden senior international hat-trick helped France secure a 3-1 win over Northern Ireland, ensuring Didier Deschamps’ final home match as national team coach ended in victory.

A celebratory mood filled Lille as supporters honoured Deschamps, the manager who guided France to the 2018 World Cup title, ahead of his expected exit following this summer’s tournament. For France’s final match before travelling to North America, Deschamps selected a strong starting lineup.

As expected, France controlled much of the possession, with Kylian Mbappé denied in a one-on-one situation by goalkeeper Pierce Charles after 15 minutes. However, Northern Ireland nearly shocked the hosts shortly afterwards when Patrick Kelly fired just wide after being played through by Isaac Price on a counterattack.

That proved to be one of Northern Ireland’s few opportunities in the opening half. France continued to apply pressure, and Aurélien Tchouaméni struck the post before Désiré Doué squared the rebound for Mbappé to finish, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.

Deschamps appeared more frustrated than expected during the first-half drinks break, with France’s surprise 2-1 defeat to Ivory Coast just days earlier likely still on his mind.

However, his mood would have lifted shortly before the interval when France finally found a breakthrough. Ousmane Dembélé’s effort took a deflection and fell kindly to Olise, who calmly finished from close range to give Les Bleus the lead.

Northern Ireland believed they had levelled the score deep into first-half stoppage time when Jamie Donley managed to bundle the ball into the net, but the goal was ruled out after Ruairi McConville was judged to have fouled Theo Hernández during the build-up.

Jules Koundé picked up a knock late in the first half and was substituted at the break, with Malo Gusto coming on—raising a potential injury concern for Deschamps just eight days before France’s World Cup opener against Senegal.

Northern Ireland had largely managed to frustrate Les Bleus before half-time, but their resistance was broken further just four minutes after the restart when Olise fired home after the ball dropped loose inside the penalty area.

France then began to find more rhythm, with both Kylian Mbappé and Maxence Lacroix sending efforts over the bar in quick succession. However, Northern Ireland responded when Shea Charles outmuscled Dayot Upamecano before setting up Patrick Kelly for a simple finish, marking his first senior international goal and only the second ever scored by Northern Ireland against France.

Mbappé then sent another attempt off target as France briefly showed signs of nervousness again, but Olise eased the tension with a superb curling strike into the far corner from outside the box to complete his hat-trick and take his senior international tally to seven goals.

The win extends France’s unbeaten run against Northern Ireland to seven matches (five wins, two draws), as Les Bleus now shift focus to their bid for a third World Cup title. Northern Ireland, meanwhile, will not return to action until they begin their UEFA Nations League campaign in September.