Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill has been named Coach of the Year at the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year awards in Belfast.

The 46-year-old guided his country to their first ever participation at a European Championships as they qualified for the 2016 tournament in France in October, also representing their first appearance at a major tournament in 30 years.

Collecting the gong to rapturous applause from the local crowd, O'Neill said: "To be on this stage as manager of my country is special. To be going to France is obviously very special as well!

"One thing I'll say about the people of Northern Ireland is they do support their team. It's easy to support your team when it's good, it's not so easy when it's not so good. You've stuck by the team. When things weren't so good, you never turned on the team and you never turned on me. That's a testament to Northern Ireland as a whole and a community.

"You're not a coach without your players. We may not have the greatest players in the world but we have great players to work with. They come from both sides of the community and they represent Northern Ireland."

O'Neill's Welsh counterpart Chris Coleman was also in the running for the award.