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Hall of Fame - The Young Ones

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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 Years 154 Days*
Norman Whiteside
Manchester Utd
07/05/1965
17/06/1982
17 Years 41 Days^
Sam Burnison
Distillery
30/11/1890
15/02/1908
17 Years 77 Days
George.Gaukrodger 
Linfield
07/12/1877
16/03/1895
17 Years 99 Days**
William Gibson
Hymie McKee
Cliftonville
Cliftonville
01/10/1876
16/09/1877
24/02/1894
09/03/1895
17 Years 146 Days#
17 Years 174 Days
Sammy McIlroy
Manchester Utd
02/08/1954
16/02/1972
17 Years 198 Days 
Johnny Gorman
Wolverhampton
26/10/1992
26/05/2010
17 Years 212 Days
Jim Nicholson
Manchester Utd
27/02/1943
09/11/1960
17 Years 256 Days
Tom Mulholland
Belfast Celtic
13/04/1888
17/02/1906
17 Years 310 Days
Shane Ferguson
Newcastle Utd
12/07/1991
06/06/2009
17 Years 329 Days
Olphie Stanfield
Distillery
26/02/1869
05/02/1887
17 Years 344 Days
Josh Carson
Ipswich Town
03/06/1993
24/05/2011
17 Years 355 Days
George Best
Manchester Utd
22/04/1946
15/04/1964
17 Years 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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