Having guided Northern Ireland to a first major tournament in 30 years, Michael O'Neill is hoping his side can do enough to make it to the last 16 of the European Championship before they face Germany in their final group match.

Northern Ireland were drawn in Group C at Saturday's Euro 2016 draw in Paris along with Ukraine, Poland and the reigning world champions.

They will face Poland in their opening game in Nice on June 12 before facing Ukraine in Lyon on June 16 and then the Germans at the Parc des Princes in Paris five days later.

"Having looked at the games I think it works in our favour that we play Germany third in Paris. It's good that we play Poland in the opening game in Nice and then Ukraine in Lyon -- the Ukrainians will hopefully take an absolute battering off the Germans in game one!" O'Neill told reporters after the draw.

"The Republic of Ireland took four points off Germany (in qualifying) so that gives us hope -- we beat the Republic 6-0 in a behind closed doors game recently so we did!"

O'Neill added that the Germans "wouldn't have been my first choice" from the top seeds as the sides will meet again in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.

However, he was relieved to avoid Italy of all possible opponents in pot two, with the Azzurri being drawn alongside Martin O'Neill's Republic instead.

"I was worried about the Italians...delighted the Republic got them! No that was a rascal one for Martin that -- a tough group," he said.

Northern Ireland's last major tournament appearance came at the 1986 World Cup but O'Neill has been eager to point out that his side have very much made it to France on merit rather than benefiting from the expansion of the Euros to 24 teams.

They finished top of their qualifying group ahead of Romania and Hungary to secure a first ever appearance at the European Championship.

"Thirty years is a long time to wait. It's been a good decision by UEFA to expand the tournament but we won our group. If this tournament was nine teams we would be here -- people overlook that at times," he said as he targeted third place in the section, which could mean a last-16 tie with the hosts.

"You'd think four points would be enough to get you one of the best third-placed finishes, so we've got to aspire to get that at least. The main thing is to get something in your opening game," he added.