similar to what Jonny Evans has had? Or has Aaron Hughes had? Who knows?
The Northern Ireland under-21 team defeated Azerbaijan 5-0 on Saturday, the same day that the senior team struggled to get past Belarus goalkeeper Fedor Lapoukhov for ninety tortuous minutes in western Hungary.
Tommy Wright’s youth team has been playing well lately; they drew with England in September and defeated Serbia on the road in March before winning handily last weekend.
The fact that so many of their eligible players are already seasoned, senior internationals adds even more credibility to their recent success.
Against Belarus, Michael O’Neill started five players who were 21 years of age or younger, according to it.
The more seasoned Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Conor Hazard were injured, so 19-year-old goalie Pierce Charles was making his debut. However, his brother Shea (20), Conor Bradley (21), Isaac Price (21) and Trai Hume (22) have formed the backbone of the team throughout the Nations League campaign, and they will play Bulgaria at Windsor Park on Tuesday night.
First, they listen. “We’ll see,” O’Neill quipped when asked what the main benefits of working with such a young bunch were.
