Northern Ireland new girl Keri Halliday desperate to play at Windsor Park for first time

Northern Ireland star Keri Halliday

Keri Halliday may be a Linfield player, but she’s yet to fulfil her dream of playing a match at Windsor Park.

Linfield Women play their home games at Midgley Park, while Halliday was an unused sub when Northern Ireland lost 6-1 to the Republic of Ireland at the national stadium in December.

The 19 year-old striker may finally get the chance next Tuesday when Tanya Oxtoby’s team host Montenegro in the second leg of the Nations League Promotion/Relegation Play-Off.

Halliday said: “My biggest goal has always been to play at Windsor Park.

“I've never played at Windsor Park for club or country before. I got to step on the pitch during the last camp for training and even that was absolutely incredible.

“So I can’t wait to play a match there. Hopefully I can score my first goal there.”

Before next week’s home leg, Halliday will travel to Podgorica for Friday’s first leg (1pm).

The Linfield hotshot believes it is essential that Northern Ireland win the tie and retain their place Nations League B.

She said: “It’s an international play-off, so you know it’s going to be a difficult game but we will be well prepared.

“The camp in Leicester has been positive and training has been good. We know we need to win this play-off.”

Although Halliday was an unused sub for the 6-1 defeat to the Republic, she did make her international debut four days earlier as a second half sub in a 4-0 win over Albania in Tirana.

Halliday described her first call-up as the highlight of her short career.

“I was just home from a training session and I had a missed call on my phone.

“There was a message saying, ‘ring me back as soon as possible.’

“It was probably one of the proudest moments of my life and a proud moment for