Northern Ireland v Israel

When Northern Ireland under-21s played their Israeli counterparts in a friendly match in February 2006 midfielder Sammy Clingan scored after just 14 seconds. That feat was bettered in 2016 when senior women’s international Simone Magill netted after just 11 seconds of their 4-0 victory over Georgia.

Tonight will be Northern Ireland’s

245th full international match at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park. The first ever senior international to take place here was on 19 March 1910 when a 54th minute Fred Thompson goal gave the hosts a 1-0 victory over Scotland.

Michael O’Neill has only lost two of his eight friendlies in Belfast. The first was in February 2012 (his first match in charge) when Norway won 3-0 and the last occasion was in November 2016 when Croatia won by the same margin. His full record in friendlies reads: P W D L F A Home 8 5 1 2 11 10 Away 11 0 5 6 1 15 Neutral 1 0 1 0 1 1 Total 20 5 7 8 13 26

Northern Ireland have previously played three international matches on 11 September. The first was in 1985 when Billy Bingham’s side travelled to Izmir for a World Cup qualifier with Turkey which ended in a scoreless draw. Six years later they defeated the Faroe Islands 5-0 in a European Championship encounter in Landskrona thanks to a Colin Clarke hat-trick. The last 11 September match came in 2012 when Michael O’Neill’s charges drew 1-1 at home to Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier in Belfast. Dean Shiels got the goal that night.

Louis James Bookman won four international caps for Ireland between 1914 and 1921. Not only was he a talented footballer he was also an accomplished cricketer, playing on 14 occasions for Ireland. A left- handed batsman and slow left arm bowler, he scored 573 runs for Ireland (including four half centuries) and took six wickets.

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