Northern Ireland v Switzerland 08SEPT

DID YOU KNOW?

WORDS: MARSHALL GILLESPIE

When Ali McCann fired home his first international goal in the 3-0 win against Malta at the end of May he became the 230th player to find the net for Ireland/Northern Ireland since 1882. McCann also became only the third player from St Johnstone to score for Northern Ireland, the other two being George O’Boyle (May 1996 v Germany) and Danny Griffin (May 1999 v Republic of Ireland) . He has, of course, since moved to Preston North End.

When Edinburgh-born Ali McCann scored against Malta in May he became the first player born in Scotland to register a goal for Ireland/Northern Ireland in 119 years! The last player to do it was Linfield centre half Bob Milne, who was born in Inverarity in Forfarshire. He found the net , ironically, against Scotland in a 5-1 defeat on 1 March 1902 at Grosvenor Park in Belfast .

As of the start of the 2021-2022 season, there were a total of 40 players plying their trade with professional clubs in England and Scotland who have graduated through the Irish Football Association’s Club NI programme. A total of 17 of those players are attached to clubs in the English Premier League and 16 with teams in both the EFL Championship (eight) and League One (eight) , while there are six with Scottish Premiership sides and one with a club in the Scottish Championship.

The legendary George Best scored a total of nine goals for Northern Ireland, however his first ever goal for his country came against tonight’s opponents Switzerland. Best was aged only 18 years and 177 days and was winning just his fifth Northern Ireland cap when he scored against the Swiss in a 2-1 World Cup qualifying defeat in Lausanne on 14 November 1964. His last international goals came when he bagged a 12-minute hat-trick in a 5-0 European Qualifiers win over Cyprus at Windsor Park on 21 April 1971. When Ian Baraclough gave Conor Bradley his senior international debut against Ukraine in June, he became only the fifth Liverpool player ever to be capped by Ireland/ Northern Ireland. The first was the inside forward Billy Lacey who won the first of his 12 caps as a Liverpool player in 1913. Belfast-born David McMullan played three games for Ireland while at Anfield between 1925 and 1927, while the great Elisha Scott made a total of 27 appearances for his country while playing for the Reds, the last coming in 1933. In 2014 full-back Ryan McLaughlin became the first Liverpool player in 81 years to don the Northern Ireland jersey when he made his debut against Uruguay.

24

NIR V SUI