Around fifty players have made their debut for Northern Ireland before their twentieth birthdays. The following is a list of those that were under eighteen...Player............(Club)............Born......Debut........Age
Sam Johnston..... Distillery.... 18-09-1866 18-02-1882 15 Yr 154 Dys*
Norman Whiteside. Manchester Utd 07-05-1965 17-06-1982 17 Yr 41 Dys^
Sam Burnison..... Distillery.... 30-11-1890 15-02-1908 17 Yr 77 Dys
George Gaukrodger Linfield...... 07-12-1877 16-03-1895 17 Yr 99 Dys**
William Gibson... Cliftonville.. 01-10-1876 24-02-1894 17 Yr 146 Dys#
Sammy McIlroy.... Manchester Utd 02-08-1954 16-02-1972 17 Yr 198 Dys
John Gorman...... Wolverhampton. 26-10-1992 26-05-2010 17 Yr 212 Dys
Jim Nicholson.... Manchester Utd 27-02-1943 09-11-1960 17 Yr 256 Dys
Tom Mulholland... Belfast Celtic 13-04-1888 17-02-1906 17 Yr 310 Dys
Shane Ferguson... Newcastle Utd. 12-07-1991 06-06-2009 17 Yr 329 Dys
Olphie Stanfield. Distillery.... 26-02-1869 05-02-1887 17 Yr 344 Dys
Josh Carson...... Ipswich Town.. 03-06-1993 24-05-2011 17 Yr 355 Dys
George Best...... Manchester Utd 22-04-1946 15-04-1964 17 Yr 359 Dys
* Scored on his second appearance, making him Ireland's youngest ever goalscorer.
** Scored on his debut, thus making him the second youngest goalscorer in (Northern) Ireland's history.
# The only other player to score an international goal for Ireland prior to his eighteenth birthday was William Gibson, who scored on his second appearance at the age of 17 years and 153 days.
^ Whiteside's debut against Yugoslavia at the Espana 82 made him the youngest player ever to appear at a World Cup Finals, beating the record previously held by Pele. In the same match he also became the youngest Northern Ireland player to collect a booking.
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