Northern Ireland v Norway Official Match Programme

As well as scoring goals Niall has weighed in with six assists during his eight-year international career. His first arrived in August 2011 when he set up skipper Steven Davis to score Northern Ireland’s second goal in a 4-0 victory over the Faroe Islands at Windsor Park. Perhaps not surprisingly three of his assists have led to goals for striker Kyle Lafferty. They were delivered during the successful qualification campaign for Euro 2016. Niall is the 36th player to have reached the half- century milestone for Northern Ireland. If he plays against Norway this evening he will join the likes of Sammy Nelson, Chris Nicholl and Gerry Taggart on 51 caps.

During his 50 full internationals the Tyrone man has been on the winning side on 12 occasions. He has tasted defeat in a green shirt 24 times, while the remaining 14 games have ended in draws. Although he missed out on youth international honours for Northern Ireland Niall did play one game at ‘B’ level - against Scotland in May 1989 - which ended in a 3-0 defeat. Current international team-mates Oliver Norwood, Shane Ferguson and Corry Evans were also in the side that evening. Words: Marshall Gillespie

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