Northern Ireland Players in the FA Youth Cup Final

- FA Cup - Football League Cup - Minor English Cups - FA Amateur Cup/FA Trophy -

- FA Youth Cup - Scottish Cup - SFL Cups -

- UEFA/FIFA Competitions -

The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is the Under-18 equivalent of the FA Cup. It has been graced by some of the major stars of English football since 1953, while many who have played in the finals faded into obscurity.

Below is a list of Northern Ireland-born players who have played in the finals. Those in bold have been recognised at Full International level.

Year	Winners		Runners-Up
	Player	Team	Player	Team
2014 2013 2008 2007 2005 2004 2003 2002 2002 1998 1998 1998 1998 1997 1997 1996 1995 1993 1993 1992 1989 1989 1989 1988 1988 1982 1982 1982 1974 1966 1964 1962	- Cameron.McGeehan Ryan McGivern - Chris Casement - - Steven Davis David Scullion - - - - Wes Boyle - Davy Larmour Phil Mulryne - - Keith Gillespie - - - Steve Morrow Al-James.Hannigan - - - Noel Brotherston Pat Rice George Best David Craig	- Norwich City Manchester City - Ipswich Town - - Aston Villa Aston Villa - - - - Leeds United - Liverpool Manchester Utd - - Manchester Utd - - - Arsenal Arsenal - - - Tottenham H. Arsenal Manchester Utd Newcastle United	Liam Donnelly - - Corry Evans - Jamie Ward Chris Brunt - - Gary Hamilton Garth Scates Jonathan Topley Steven Hawe Gareth Graham Wayne Carlisle - - Keith Gillespie Colin Murdock - Neil Lennon Gerry Taggart Michael Hughes - - Phil Hughes Norman.Whiteside Ken Scott - - - -	Fulham - - Manchester Utd - Aston Villa Middlesbrough - - Blackburn R. Blackburn R. Blackburn R. Blackburn R. Crystal Palace Crystal Palace - - Manchester Utd Manchester Utd - Manchester City Manchester City Manchester City - - Manchester Utd Manchester Utd Manchester Utd - - - -

General Northern Ireland Player Records:
Most recent Winner: Cameron McGeehan (Norwich City, 2013 vs Chelsea)
Most Final Appearances: 2 Keith Gillespie (Manchester United 1992, 1993)
Most NI Players in a Winning Side: 2 Steve Davis, David Scullion (Aston Villa, 2002 vs Everton)
Most NI Players in a Final: 4 Garth Scates, Gary Hamilton, Jonathan Topley, Steven Hawe (Blackburn Rovers, 1998 vs Everton)

- FA Cup - Football League Cup - Minor English Cups - FA Amateur Cup/FA Trophy -

- FA Youth Cup - Scottish Cup - SFL Cups -

- UEFA/FIFA Competitions -

Transfers - Summer 2008

NIFG will try to track all the comings-and-goings involving Northern Ireland internationals through this close-season...

Transfers:
15-May Michael Ingham, Hereford United to York City, Free. STORY
16-May Colin Murdock, Shrewsbury to Accrington Stanley, Free. STORY 1, STORY 2
23-May Rory Hamill, Glentoran to Cliftonville, Free. STORY
06-Jun Jeff Hughes, Crystal Palace to Bristol Rovers, Undisclosed (had been on loan). STORY
17-Jun Sammy Clingan, Nottingham Forest to Norwich City, Free. STORY
17-Jun Michael McGovern, Celtic to Dundee United, Free. STORY
18-Jun Gareth McAuley, Leicester City to Ipswich Town, Undisclosed (c.£1,000,000). STORY
19-Jun Lee McEvilly, Accrington Stanley to Cambridge United, Free (had been on loan). STORY, STORY
19-Jun Pat McCourt, Derry City to Celtic, Undisclosed (c.£150,000). STORY
19-Jun Kyle Lafferty, Burnley to Rangers, £3,000,000. STORY
23-Jun Martin Paterson, Scunthorpe to Burnley, £1,300,000. STORY
30-Jun Ciaran Toner, Grimsby Town to Rochdale, Free. STORY, STORY, STORY
01-Jul Stuart Elliott, Hull City to Doncaster Rovers, Free (had been on loan).
07-Jul Warren Feeney, Cardiff City to Dundee United, season loan. STORY
17-Jul Peter Thompson, Linfield to Stockport County, £100,000. STORY
01-Aug Andy Kirk, Yeovil to Dunfermline. STORY
17-Aug Peter Kennedy, Portadown to Ballymena United, Free. STORY
21-Aug Steve Davis, Fulham to Rangers, £3,000,000 (had been on loan). STORY
21-Aug David Healy, Fulham to Sunderland, Undisclosed (c.£1,200,000). STORY
31-Aug George McCartney, West Ham United to Sunderland, £6,000,000. STORY
??-Aug Sean Webb, Accrington Stanley to Þór Akureyri (ThorSport, Iceland), Free.

Players Available:
Paul McVeigh (Luton Town) STORY
Steve Robinson (ex-Luton Town) STORY
Danny Sonner (ex-Wrexham) STORY
Jeff Whitley (ex-Wrexham) STORY
Michael Hughes (ex-Coventry City)

Other Transfer Speculation:
Chris Baird to leave Fulham. Jonny Evans to leave Manchester United for Sunderland in a permanent deal or possibly sign for Newcastle United. Warren Feeney to leave FA Cup Finalists Cardiff City for League One Millwall or Stockport (since joined Dundee United on a seasons loan). Tony Capaldi, another FA Cup Finalist with Cardiff, also to join Wolves or possibly Coventry. Alan Mannus to move from Linfield to English or Scottish football. Maik Taylor to leave relegated Birmingham City to join Liverpool as goalkeeping back-up or to Everton (since signed new two year contract with Brum). Phil Mulryne training with Linfield with a view to a move (David Jeffrey decided against offering Mulryne a deal). Andy Smith to leave "relegated" Portadown for ex-club, Glenavon or Linfield.

Help us keep this up-to-date. Leave a comment or get in touch with any transfer news or gossip.

Thanks to Aaron Allen for his input.

See also:
Transfers January 2008
Transfers Summer 2007
Million Pound Men

France 1998 FIFA World Cup - Qualifying

FIFA World Cup 
- 1930 - 1934 - 1938 - 1950 - 1954 - 1958 (Finals) - 1962 - 1966 -
- 1970 - 1974 - 1978 - 1982 (Finals) - 1986 (Finals) - 1990 - 1994 - 1998 -
- 2002 - 2006 - 2010 - 2014 - 2018 - 2022 -

In 1998 the World Cup was hosted by France for the second time, and for the second time Northern Ireland did not make the trip. While the Irish FA, along with the other Home Nations, had not entered the 1938 competition, Northern Ireland's failure to qualify meant that they missed out for a third consecutive tournament, despite an increase to 32 finalists. 

Following a strong finish to their Euro 96 qualifying campaign Northern Ireland felt they might have had a chance of making it - alas it was not to be. Strong performances against European Champions Germany and a decent home draw with a fancied Portuguese team were off-set by poor results against an (incorrectly) unregarded Ukraine and the group's genuine minnows, Armenia and Albania. Northern Ireland finished second bottom of their group, with a single win to their name. Ultimately, the poor campaign cost manager Bryan Hamilton his job.

European Qualifying Group 9

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Germany	10	6	4	0	23	9	14	22
2	Ukraine	10	6	2	2	10	6	4	20
3	Portugal	10	5	4	1	12	4	8	19
4	Armenia	10	1	5	4	8	17	-9	8
5	N. Ireland	10	1	4	5	6	10	-4	7
6	Albania	10	1	1	8	7	20	-13	4

Germany qualified for the finals. 
Ukraine qualified for the play-offs where they lost 3-1 on aggregate to Croatia.

Results

	ALB	ARM	GER	NIR	POR	UKR
ALB		1-1	2-3	1-0	0-3	0-1
ARM	3-0		1-5	0-0	0-0	0-2
GER	4-3	4-0		1-1	1-1	2-0
NIR	2-0	1-1	1-3		0-0	0-1
POR	2-0	3-1	0-0	1-0		1-0
UKR	1-0	1-1	0-0	2-1	2-1

Northern Ireland Line-Ups

Terry Hayes (physio), Steve Lomas, Danny Griffin, Gerard McMahon, Derek McKinley (team attendant), Jon McCarthy, Kevin Horlock, Cameron Ramsey (medic)
Darren Patterson, Jim Magilton, Barry Hunter, Roy Carroll, Alan Fettis, Aidan Davison, Iain Dowie, Gerry Taggart, James Quinn
Gerry Armstrong (assistant manager), Keith Rowland, Michael Hughes, Nigel Worthington, Bryan Hamilton (manager), Phil Mulryne, Keith Gillespie, George O'Boyle, Willie McFaul (gk coach)
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Match Programmes 

<< Euro 1996 Qualifying Campaign --- Euro 2000 Qualifying Campaign >>
<< World Cup 1994 Qualifying Campaign --- World Cup 2002 Qualifying Campaign >>
Friendlies 1994-1997

Northern Ireland Players in the Championship Play-Off Final

The Football League introduced the play-off system in 1986/87 season. The four teams who finish outside the automatic promotion places (usually those placed third to sixth) play-off over two-legged semi-finals and a final to decide who will play in the higher division the following season.

Originally the play-offs involved one team from the higher division (who finished just above the automatic relegation places, e.g. Chelsea in 1988) and three teams from the lower division. Prior to 1990 the play-off finals were played over two legs and the finalists home grounds before changing to a single match at Wembley Stadium. Between 2001 and 2006 the play-off finals were hosted by the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as Wembley was being re-built.

The Championship Play-Off final (previously the Second Division Play-Off final until 1992 and the First Division Play-Off final from 1993-2004) is regarded as the richest single match in world football, promotion to the Premier League being valued at over £100 million to the successful team.

The following Northern Ireland players and managers have been involved in this most valuable of matches...

Year	Winners			Runners-Up
1987
1988				Kevin Wilson	Chelsea
1989
1990
1991
1992				Colin Hill	Leicester C.
1993				Colin Hill	Leicester C.
1994
1995				Jimmy Quinn	Reading	(s/m/1)
1996	Neil Lennon	Leicester C.
	Colin Hill	Leicester C.	(s)
	Martin O'Neill	Leicester C.	(m)
1997
1998
1999	Peter Kennedy	Watford
2000	Jim Magilton	Ipswich Town
2001				Colin Murdock	Preston.N.E.
				David Healy	Preston.N.E.
2002	Damien Johnson	Birmingham C.	(u)	Phil Mulryne	Norwich C.
				Paul McVeigh	Norwich C.
				Nigel Worthington	Norwich C.	(m)
2003
2004	Michael Hughes	Crystal Palace		Steve Lomas	West Ham
	Iain Dowie	Crystal Palace	(m)
2005
2006				David Healy	Leeds U.	(s)
2007	Lee Camp	Derby Co.	(u)
2008				Ivan Sproule	Bristol City	(s)
2009	Michael Duff	Burnley		Jamie Ward	Sheffield U.	(s) _
	Martin Paterson	Burnley
2010				Tony Capaldi	Cardiff	(u)
2011
2012	George McCartney	West Ham	(s)	Craig Cathcart	Blackpool	(u)
2013

2014

Aaron Hughes

Q.P.R.

(u)

2015

Key:

(s) appeared as substitute

(u) unused substitute

(1) number of goals scored

(m) team manager

_ sent-off

See also:

Premier Players

English Title Winners