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Hall of Fame - Most Appearances


Players awarded 50 plus caps by Northern Ireland:

Rank

Player

Career

Caps

St

Sb

Gls

1

Steven Davis

2005-22

134

124

10

13

2

Pat Jennings

1964-86

119

119

0

0

3

Aaron Hughes

1998-18

112

100

12

1

4

David Healy

2000-13

95

83

12

36

5

Jonny Evans

2006-22

94

93

1

4

6

Mal Donaghy

1980-94

91

90

1

0

7

Sammy McIlroy

1972-86

88

86

2

5

8

Maik Taylor

1999-11

88

85

3

0

9

Keith Gillespie

1994-08

86

77

9

2

10

Kyle Lafferty

2006-21

85

55

30

20

11

Gareth McAuley

2005-18

80

75

5

9

12

Chris Baird

2003-16

79

73

6

0

13

Jimmy Nicholl

1976-86

73

72

1

1

14

Michael Hughes

1991-04

71

67

4

5

15

Craig Cathcart

2010-22

69

63

6

2

16

Corry Evans

2009-22

69

50

19

2

17

Niall McGinn

2008-22

69

37

32

6

18

David McCreery

1976-90

67

55

12

0

19

Josh Magennis

2010-22

67

35

32

9

20

Nigel Worthington

1984-97

66

60

6

0

21

Chris Brunt

2004-17

65

55

10

3

22

Martin O’Neill

1971-84

64

58

6

8

23

Gerry Armstrong

1977-86

63

56

7

12

24

Stuart Dallas

2011-22

62

53

9

3

25

Terry Neill

1961-73

59

59

0

2

26

Iain Dowie

1990-99

59

51

8

12

27

Oliver Norwood

2010-18

57

50

7

0

28

Danny Blanchflower

1949-62

56

56

0

2

29

Billy Bingham

1951-63

56

56

0

9

30

Damien Johnson

1999-09

56

48

8

0

31

Jimmy McIlroy

1951-65

55

55

0

10

32

Stephen Craigan

2003-11

54

51

3

0

33

Shane Ferguson

2009-22

54

35

19

2

34

Allan Hunter

1969-79

53

53

0

1

35

John McClelland

1980-90

53

50

3

1

36

Paddy McNair

2015-22

53

42

11

5

37

Alan McDonald

1985-96

52

51

1

3

38

Jim Magilton

1991-02

52

50

2

5

39

Gerry Taggart

1990-02

51

50

1

7

40

Chris Nicholl

1974-83

51

49

2

3

41

Sammy Nelson

1970-82

51

48

3

1

42

Bryan Hamilton

1968-80

50

46

4

4

43

James Quinn

1996-06

50

35

15

4

44

Pat Rice

1968-79

49

49

0

0

45

Dave Clements

1965-76

48

48

0

2


Cap Milestones

10

TB Molyneaux

20/03/1886

Scotland

 

11

TB Molyneaux

24/03/1888

Scotland

12

W Crone

08/02/1890

Wales

 

15

OM Stanfield

27/02/1892

Wales

20

OM Stanfield

24/02/1894

Wales

new world record

25

OM Stanfield

29/02/1896

Wales

30

OM Stanfield

27/03/1897

Scotland

world record stood until 1909

31

E Scott

11/03/1936

Wales

40

RD Blanchflower

03/10/1959

Scotland

 

50

RD Blanchflower

22/11/1961

England

56

RD Blanchflower

28/11/1962

Poland

 

=56

WL Bingam

20/11/1963

England

59

WJT Neill

19/05/1973

Wales

 

60

PA Jennings

11/05/1976

England

*

75

PA Jennings

07/02/1979

England

 

100

PA Jennings

21/09/1983

Austria

109

PA Jennings

27/03/1985

Spain

new British record

117

PA Jennings

03/06/1986

Algeria

new European record #

119

PA Jennings

12/06/1986

Brazil

British and European records stood until 1990

120

S Davis

08/10/2020

Bosnia-Herzegovina

126

S Davis

31/03/2021

Bulgaria

new British record

134

S Davis 

29/03/2022

Hungary

# when Jennings won his 117th cap he surpassed Sweden's Bjorn Nordqvist's European record. At the time it was widely reported as a new world record, however, it had already been surpassed by South Korea's Cha Bum-Kun. Like Jennings, Bum-Kun brought his international career to a close at the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico with a total of between 121 and 136 caps (depending on criteria used). Similarly, and although also widely reported, when England's Peter Shilton surpassed Jennings in 1990 he only claimed the British and European records.

* Outfield Records (1982-2020)

Caps

Player

Date

Opponent

Notes

60

SB McIlroy

01/07/1982

Austria 

 

75

SB McIlroy

27/05/1984

Finland

88

SB McIlroy

15/10/1986

England

 

91

MM Donaghy

11/06/1994

Mexico

92

DJ Healy

29/02/2012

Norway

 

95

DJ Healy

26/03/2013

Israel

96

AW Hughes

31/05/2015

Qatar

 

100

AW Hughes

04/06/2016

Slovakia

109

AW Hughes

12/11/2017

Switzerland

most capped British defender

112

AW Hughes

03/06/2018

Costa Rica

116

S Davis

16/11/2019

Netherlands

most capped British midfielder

119

S Davis

07/09/2020

Norway

121

S Davis

11/10/2020

Austria

most capped British outfield player


Figures in BOLD denotes a player's final cap.

Appearance Records by Competition:

Finals

FIFA World Cup

 

UEFA Euros

#

Apps

Players

 

#

Apps

Players

= 1

8

Billy Hamilton

 

= 1

4

Steven Davis

David McCreery

 

4

Jonny Evans

Sammy McIlroy

 

4

Gareth McAuley

Jimmy Nicholl

 

4

Craig Cathcart

Norman Whiteside

 

4

Oliver Norwood

 

4

Michael McGovern

 

4

+3 others

Qualifiers

FIFA World Cup

 

UEFA Euros ±

#

Apps

Players

 

#

Apps

Players

1

43

Steven Davis

 

1

39

Steven Davis

2

37

Aaron Hughes

 

= 2

32

Aaron Hughes

3

33

Pat Jennings

 

32

Chris Baird

 

UEFA Nations League

 

#

Apps

Players

 

1

10

Stuart Dallas

 

= 2

9

Steven Davis

 

9

Paddy McNair

Other Matches

British Championships

 

Minor Tournaments*

#

Apps

Players

 

#

Apps

Players

1

43

Pat Jennings

 

= 1

4

Niall McGinn

2

33

Jimmy McIlroy

 

4

Oliver Norwood

= 3

32

Danny Blanchflower

 

= 2

3

4 players

32

Sammy McIlroy

 

 

Friendly Matches

 

#

Apps

Players

 

1

39

Aaron Hughes

 

2

35

Maik Taylor

 

3

34

David Healy

 

± includes matches in European Nations Cup; * includes matches in the Canada Cup, Carling Nations Cup and Copa Antel.

See also:
50 Cap Club

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm a little surprised to see jim Magilton's name up there for having 52 caps. While I always rated Jim as a very classy central midfield player I didn't think he'd played quite as many times as that for us.

We could still have been doing with him over the past few years even in his veteran years.
jcd said…
It is funny how some players manage to creep to such high cao totals, and others who you think have been around forever, finish lower down.

For instance, Jimmy vs James Quinn. Jimmy was playing on strong at 35, yet only made 46 appearances because he didn't make his debut until he was in his mid-20s. James has now surpassed 46 (47th against Finland) at 31 years-old. I guess its because I remember James braking through in the mid-90s that he still seems like a youngster, whereas, to me, Jimmy was always just there.
gbwa download said…
Steven Davis is a legend and I love him.