Euro 2024 qualifiers: How Northern Ireland players have performed going into crucial games

A young Liverpool right-back who lit up League One while on loan. A Premier League left-back who has barely figured for his side. And a midfielder that started almost every game for a Scottish Premiership mid-table team.

Not to mention the hugely-experienced big name, and stand-in captain, whose team was relegated from England’s top flight.

Yes, the make-up of the Northern Ireland squad for their upcoming Euro 2024 qualifier double-header continues to be the mixed bag that it normally is.

There are success stories in there, albeit, quite significantly, none at the highest level. However, there are also some statistics that help paint a picture of the task facing manager Michael O’Neill as he aims to get the two positive results that Northern Ireland need from matchdays three and four of this qualifying campaign.

Ahead of Friday night’s trip to Denmark and the visit of Kazakhstan to Belfast three days later, BBC Sport NI takes a look back at what sort of season the Northern Ireland players have had with their clubs.

Conor Bradley’s stock has been rising ever since he made his Northern Ireland and Liverpool debuts in 2021, but this will be the first time he has joined up with the international squad on the back of playing regular first-team football.

The 19-year-old full-back won the hearts of Bolton Wanderers supporters during a one-season loan that saw him impress massively – contributing seven goals and eight assists – while making 48 starts as Bolton won the EFL Trophy and made it to the League One play-off semi-finals.

Indeed, the University of Bolton Stadium has been a happy hunting ground for Northern Ireland players this campaign, with in-form striker Dion Charles – who scored his first international goals in March – hitting the target 21 times.

Another young right-back, Sunderland’s Trai Hume, has also been a resounding success this campaign. Having made the significant step up to the Championship from Irish Premiership side Linfield in January 2022, the 21-year-old has well and truly found his feet in the professional ranks.

Hume impressed manager Tony Mowbray, starting every league game since Boxing Day – and 29 in total – with his consistent performances earning him a spot in a few pundits’ Championship teams of the season.

The Irish League continues to be represented in O’Neill’s squad, with both Larne striker Lee Bonis and Glentoran winger Conor McMenamin joining up with confidence high.

New call-up Bonis spearheaded the Larne attack as they won the first top-flight title in their 134-year history while McMenamin, who has looked promising on each of his four international caps, consistently showed his quality either side of an injury-interrupted winter.

Promising young Nottingham Forest striker Dale Taylor claimed five goals and one assist in 19 starts after going on loan to League One’s Burton Albion in January, while midfielder Ethan Galbraith – currently without a club having just left Manchester United – forced his way back into O’Neill’s squad by playing 38 times and scoring four goals on loan at League Two’s Salford City

Goalkeeper Luke Southwood made more starts last season than anyone else in O’Neill’s squad, playing 51 times for League One’s Cheltenham Town while on loan from Reading, while fellow back-up keeper Conor Hazard has kept 14 clean sheets in 39 games during a loan spell at HJK Helsinki.

Uncapped Sean Goss has been virtually ever-present in the centre of Motherwell’s midfield, making 40 starts as they finished seventh in Scotland’s top flight, while versatile defender Ciaron Brown was a mainstay of the Oxford United backline, starting on 46 occasions for the League One outfit.

Midfielder George Saville, who still doesn’t seem to have fully won over the Northern Ireland supporters, continues to be integral at Millwall, starting 37 times as they narrowly missed out on a Championship play-off place.

Wing-back Paddy Lane also had a consistent season with 40 starts in a campaign that began with Fleetwood Town and ended with Portsmouth, with Jordan Thompson starting half of Stoke City’s games as did Mattie Kennedy for Aberdeen.

Paddy McNair’s Middlesbrough made the Championship play-offs but lost in the semi-finals. He will perhaps have hoped to have made more starts than the 30 he amassed, while the same could be said for experienced defender Craig Cathcart, who had to settle for 27 starts as his Watford side failed in their bid to secure an immediate Premier League return.

He ended the campaign celebrating promotion back to the Premier League with Burnley, but goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell’s lack of regular game time is not ideal going into these international games.

The former Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday keeper has been a reliable number one for Northern Ireland for some time, but he managed just five starts in the league and three substitute appearances. He was on the bench for the other 38 Championship games, though he was Vincent Kompany’s keeper for five FA Cup ties and three in the League Cup.

It is a huge relief for O’Neill, the players and the Northern Ireland supporters to have stand-in captain Jonny Evans back in the squad. However, the 35-year-old out-of-contract centre-half will make the journey to Copenhagen on the back of an injury-plagued campaign which ended with the huge disappointment of relegation from the Premier League with Leicester City.

O’Neill will also be relieved to have been able to call on Blackpool striker Shayne Lavery and Preston North End midfielder Ali McCann this time around, though both have had game time limited by injuries this season. Winger Gavin Whyte, meanwhile, departs Cardiff having only scored one goal in four starts and 12 appearances from the bench.

Teenage Man City midfielder Shea Charles is one of the most exciting Northern Ireland prospects to emerge for some time, but his first-team experience in the season just finished amounted to no more than a substitute appearance on the final day, though he is a key player for City’s Under-23 team.

Left-back Jamal Lewis continues to barely feature for Newcastle United, making just one start and coming off the bench three times, while Isaac Price’s opportunities at Everton were perhaps hindered by their relegation scrap, with the 19-year-old midfielder making just one substitute appearance before making an interesting move to Belgium’s Standard Liege.

Northern Ireland’s other two players at top-flight clubs are West Ham United’s 18-year-old striker Callum Marshall and Nottingham Forest defender Aaron Donnelly, who just turned 20. Both are yet to appear for their parent club’s first team, though Donnelly did play 20 games on loan for Port Vale in the second half of the season.

None of the above will present a particularly new challenge for O’Neill, of course, but it does lay out some of the factors he will have to take into consideration when naming his side.