Northern Ireland v Norway

If Gavin Whyte manages to score in either of the Nations League games against Romania or Norway he will become the first Cardiff City player ever to find the net in a full senior international for Northern Ireland. Likewise if winger Shane Ferguson is among the goalscorers in either of Ian Baraclough’s opening two matches he will become the first ever Millwall player to score in a senior Northern Ireland match.

If Hearts defender Michael Smith managed to find the net against Romania on Friday night he would have become the first ever player to score a goal in a full international for Northern Ireland on his birthday! There have been a number of players who have been close though. Olphie Stanfield was a day past his 23rd birthday when he found the net against Wales in February 1896, while Johnny Crossan was a day shy of his 24th when he scored in a 2-0 win over Poland in November 1962. Striker Gerry Armstrong was just a day off turning 30 when he equalised against Wales in May 1984 and Jimmy Quinn scored that memorable goal against the Republic of Ireland at Windsor Park the day before celebrating his 34th birthday.

If, as expected, skipper Steven Davis equals Pat Jennings’ long standing appearance record tonight against Norway he will, along with the great man himself, be the third most capped player ever in the United Kingdom. Currently at the top of the list is former England legend Peter Shilton who made 125 international appearances from 1970 to 1990, while ex-Manchester United star Wayne Rooney lies in second spot with 120 caps for the Three Lions over a period of 15 years.

After being sidelined for the best part of a year with a knee injury Arsenal central defender Daniel Ballard is back in the Northern Ireland squad. If the 20-year-old is given his senior debut against either Romania or this evening’s opponents Norway, he will become the first player from the North London outfit to win a Northern Ireland cap since Steve Morrow played in a 3-0 friendly win against Belgium in February 1997.

The 11 players who have scored two or more goals on their international debut for Northern Ireland are as follows: Andrew Gara 3 v Wales (a) (22.02.1902) John McCandless 2 v Wales (a) (13.04.1912) Billy Gillespie 2 v England (h) (15.02.1913) Samuel Curran 2 v Wales (h) (13.02.1926) Henry Johnston 2 v Wales (a) (09.04.1927) David Martin 2 v Scotland (a) (16.09.1932) Norman Lockhart 2 v Scotland (h) (28.09.1946) Sammy Smyth 2 v Scotland (h) (04.10.1947) Peter McParland 2 v Wales (a) (31.03.1954) Trevor Anderson 2 v Cyprus (n) (08.05.1973) David Healy 2 v Luxembourg (a) (23.02.2000)

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