Northern Ireland’s Men’s Under-17s will be aiming for three in a row when they compete in Euro qualifiers next week.
Northern Ireland U17 sides have progressed from the qualifying (first) round to the elite round of UEFA U17 Euro qualifiers over the past two seasons.
And this year’s U17s will be aiming to make it three in a row when they take on Scotland, Republic of Ireland and Lithuania on home soil.
The Irish FA is staging the Round 1 Group 8 mini tournament from 29 October to 4 November, and Seaview Stadium in Belfast and Inver Park in Larne will be the host venues. Entry is free to all of the games.
Northern Ireland will play all three of their group matches at Seaview, beginning with a game against Scotland next Tuesday (29 October). Kick-off time is 3pm. Earlier that day Inver Park will host Republic of Ireland v Lithuania (12 noon).
On matchday two (Friday 1 November) Northern Ireland will be taking on the Republic at 6pm. Seaview is also hosting the Scotland v Lithuania match that day (noon).
Matchday three is Monday 4 November. Both the game at Seaview between Lithuania and Northern Ireland and the match in Larne between Scotland and the Republic will kick off at 3pm.
There’s a new-look U17 Euro qualification format for this season, beginning with Round 1 this month and next month.
R1 of the 2024-25 UEFA European Under-17 Championship features 14 mini tournaments.
Qualifying still features two rounds, however the second stage is now split into two tiers. The reformatted eight-team final tournament will be in Albania, scheduled for 19 May to 1 June 2025.
In R1 the top two teams in each group qualify to take part in Round 2 League A (which will decide the seven teams joining hosts Albania in the finals) and the other teams transfer to Round 2 League B.
Northern Ireland U17s head coach Andy Waterworth has chosen a 20-strong squad for the upcoming R1 matches. Waterworth will be supported by Kris Lindsay, David Miskelly and Gareth McAuley.
Returning to the Northern Ireland set-up is Gillingham defender Jo Orpwood, who featured for the U15s a couple of years ago. All the other players have been included in U16 or U17 squads in recent times.
The Northern Ireland squad for the U17 Euro qualifiers is as follows:
Goalkeepers – Finn McDonnell (Bohemians), Zak Robinson (Larne).
Defenders – Callum Leacock (Linfield), Darragh McCann (Ipswich Town), Cead McGrath (Derry City), Oisin Gamble (Cliftonville), Noah McDonnell (Aberdeen), Jo Orpwood (Gillingham).
Midfielders – Alex Eakin (Larne), Alex Watson (Linfield), Troy Savage (Burnley), Jack Faloona (Glentoran), Matthew Burns (Coleraine).
Forwards – Paul McGovern and Chris Atherton (both Glenavon), Joel Kerr (Glentoran), George Feeney (Tottenham Hotspur), Luke Hawe (Ballymena United), Ceadach O’Neill (Arsenal), Scott Hamilton (Nottingham Forest).
