Isaac Price scored his first Northern Ireland hat-trick as O’Neill’s side hammered Bulgaria 5-0.
Price scored twice and Dimitar Mitov’s own goal made it three before half-time.
Standard Liege midfielder Price sealed his hat-trick with a stunning 25-yard effort and Josh Magennis rounded off the scoring late on.
O’Neill said the players “have to enjoy” playing at Windsor Park with the victory over Bulgaria coming after a big, confidence-boosting win over Denmark at the tail end of 2023.
“The players have to enjoy playing here,” the 55-year-old added.
“I said to them before the game that we may not get the chance to play here in November so to give the crowd something to remember.
“They certainly did in terms of level of performance.
“The most important thing is that when you step out here to play for your country that you have belief and you look forward to the situation, I think as young players the crowd gave them a lot.”
Having conceded just one goal in four Nations League matches, O’Neill said that the positive traits from Tuesday’s win must become “good habits”.
“I’ve seen progress throughout the two two years [since his return],” he added.
“We’ve also had difficult nights but that is part of progress. You have to go through that as a team.
“There are a lot of plus points. We have had two clean sheets in this camp and three in the campaign.
“We won’t be a team that scores five every time we take to the pitch, we know that, but when we got the opportunity tonight the performance was excellent.”