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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
www.irishfa.com27