BUDAPEST, Hungary - Romania and Northern Ireland both won on Sunday to tighten their grip on the top two places in Group F of European Championship qualifying, while Greece showed signs of improvement in a 0-0 draw against Hungary.

After five of 10 rounds, Romania leads the group with 13 points, one ahead of Northern Ireland. Hungary follows with eight points, while Greece is last with two and looks increasingly likely to miss the 2016 tournament. Finland has four points and the Faeroe Islands three.

In Belfast, Northern Ireland moved a step closer to appearing in a first major tournament since 1986 by beating Finland 2-1.

Kyle Lafferty scored both of Northern Ireland's goals in the first half at Windsor Park, taking the striker's tally in qualifying to five goals.

The Northern Irish have won four of their five qualifiers and are a point behind Romania, which beat the Faeroe Islands 1-0 thanks to Claudiu Keseru's 21st-minute goal.

There was a small protest before the match in Belfast, with dozens of people gathering outside a church near the stadium to oppose Northern Ireland's first ever home game on a Sunday.

Greece, playing under new coach Segio Markarian who replaced the sacked Claudio Ranieri, did not show the same defensive lapses as in some of their earlier games but did not impress in attack.

In fact, it was the Hungarians, playing in front of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who had the best chances late in the game.

Greece goalkeeper Orestis Krnezis tipped Adam Pinter's blistering shot over the bar in the 87th and Nemanja Nikolic shot way over from point-blank range.

"We had a very good start in the second half, where we had six chances in the space of nine minutes; in the end, we lost our concentration and gave them some openings, but we played very well," Markarian said.