Northern Ireland v San Marino Offical Match Programme

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Northern Ireland have scored a
total of 132 goals in 123 World Cup
qualifying games since 1949. Those
goals have been spread among
65 players with all-time record
goalscorer David Healy (pictured)
topping the charts with a tally of
nine in 31 appearances. The leading
goalscorers in World Cup qualifying
games are:
David Healy 9 in 31 games
Gerry Armstrong 5 in 17 games
Johnny Crossan 5 in 6 games
Iain Dowie 4 in 19 games
Jimmy McIlroy 4 in 12 games
James Quinn 4 in 22 games
Norman Whiteside 4 in 9 games
Goalkeeper Pat Jennings
(pictured) played a total of
40 games in the World Cup,
including the Finals of 1982
and 1986. His first ever
match in the competition
was on 14 October 1964
when Northern Ireland
defeated Switzerland 1-0 at
Windsor Park while his last
appearance came on his
41st birthday on 12 June
1986 when Brazil defeated
Billy Bingham’s side 3-0 in
Mexico. He kept a total of
16 clean sheets in those 40
games.
When Northern Ireland
reached the World Cup
Finals in Spain in 1982 they
did not concede a goal in
any of their four qualifiers
at Windsor Park. They
started off their campaign
with a 3-0 win over Sweden
and followed it up with a
1-0 success over Portugal,
a scoreless draw with
Scotland and another single
goal victory over Israel.
Northern Ireland’s heaviest
ever defeat in a qualifying
campaign was a 9-2 reverse
against England at Maine
Road, Manchester, on 16
November 1949 in front of
a crowd of 69,762. Fulham
goalkeeper Hugh Kelly made
his debut in goal for the
visitors that day, however
he fared much better in his
second international outing
when he kept a clean sheet
against Wales in a scoreless
draw in Wrexham the following
March.
The first ever qualifying
game in the competition to
take place at Windsor Park
was on 1 October 1949
when Scotland chalked up
an emphatic 8-2 victory in
front of 55,000 spectators.
Despite that disastrous
start Northern Ireland do
have quite an impressive
home record in the
competition, having won 27
of the 57 matches played
at Windsor, drawing 13 and
losing just 17.
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