Craigan said O’Neill’s decision to stay will come as a major boost for a squad packed with youthful talent, such as Conor Bradley, Trai Hume, Dan Ballard and Shea Charles.
“The one thing you always hear when the players are interviewed, they speak very highly of Michael, they like the way he works.
“He has clearly improved a lot of them individually, even with regards to just tactical shape. The players have taken things on board and have made great strides.
“2028 was always the target for this group of players but, within that process, getting promotion to Nations League B was massive, a World Cup play-off spot came along with that, that was a big bonus as well.
“So there’s lots of experience now, it was all about accumulating caps so that they could get as much experience at international level as they could.”
Northern Ireland will face Guinea in Cadiz and France in Lille in forthcoming friendly matches in early June, followed by a Nations League campaign in the autumn in a group comprising Georgia, Hungary and Ukraine.
The priority, however, will be qualification for the next European Championships.
“The next step is going to be qualifying for a major tournament and I just think having Michael there beside them, having done that before, will give the players plenty of hope.
“We know they’re heading in the right direction, there are little bits of fine-tuning that have to be done, at the top end of the pitch, being a bit more creative and finding a goalscorer.
“That sometimes comes as players get that bit older, but they look like a really strong unit and I think having Michael leading them will give them great confidence, especially coming into two international games in the summer.
“It would have been uncomfortable for them coming into these games. It would have been easy for them not to arrive for international football in June if Michael hadn’t been there and there had been an interim manager in charge.
“It would have looked a little bit untidy but the fact that he has made this decision gives the players a major boost.”