Northern Ireland’s faith in young guns will serve us well in the future, says Michael O’Neill
Shea Charles has played a prominent role for Northern Ireland during the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill maintains his young lions are maturing and will deliver on the big stage.
The Euro 2024 qualifying campaign has been a tough watch for supporters and O’Neill has had to throw promising prospects in at the deep end as senior players queued up for the treatment room.
It’s been a steep learning curve for the young players but as he prepares for the final double header against Finland and Denmark, the former Shamrock Rovers and Stoke City boss is expecting those talents to blossom.
O’Neill has selected midfielder Shea Charles, who will be suspended for the first match away to Finland on November 17.
And he’s identified the 20-year-old Southampton man as one the classy performers offering a glimpse into a brighter future.
“I look at all the younger players and I don’t think there’s been a negative,” argued O’Neill at Wednesday’s squad announcement.
“Shea has played the most minutes for us of any player, he started the campaign as a 19-year-old who hadn’t played a first team game.
“Now he is a 20-year-old who has played the most minutes in this campaign and has had a big move at club level (from Manchester City).
“It’s an awful lot at that age to deal with but he has done extremely well. Isaac (Price) is the same, he has either played or came off the bench and had a real impact.
“Conor Bradley was set to have a really strong campaign but that has been robbed by injuries, we have just had three games out of Conor and that has been a blow to us.
“They will probably learn most about the margin of defeat. When I look at us against sides like Finland, Slovenia and Kazakhstan with respect to
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