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Northern Ireland have
only previously played one
game on home soil on 2
June which was back in
2001 when Bulgaria were
the visitors to Belfast for
a World Cup qualifying
game. Unfortunately they
left Windsor Park with
a 1-0 victory thanks to
a second half goal from
Georgi Ivanov.
Kyle Lafferty became
the 27th substitute to
come on and score in an
international match for
Northern Ireland when
he found the net twice in
the 4-0 victory over San
Marino at the National
Stadium last October. He
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ever substitute to score
twice in the same match.
Thirteen of Kyle Lafferty’s
20 international goals for his
country have been scored
at Windsor Park, with 10 of
them notched in front of the
GAWA seated at the Kop/
West end of the stadium.
Perhaps surprisingly only
one has been a header,
which came in the 2-1 Euro
2016 success over Finland
in March 2015.
Striker Liam Boyce scored more
domestic goals than any other
Northern Ireland player in England and
Scotland during 2016-17. His tally of
23 in the Scottish Premiership (24 in all
competitions) made him the league’s
leading scorer, two ahead of Celtic’s
Scott Sinclair.
The 47 goals Northern Ireland have
scored during Michael O’Neill’s reign
as boss have been spread among no
fewer than 16 players. Leading the
way is, of course, Kyle Lafferty with a
very healthy 12 goals.
The full list is:
Kyle Lafferty
12 in 30 games
Gareth McAuley
7 in 36
Steven Davis
5 in 42
Jamie Ward
4 in 29
Niall McGinn
3 in 34
Martin Paterson
3 in 10
Conor Washington
3 in 10
Craig Cathcart
2 in 24
David Healy
1 in 4
Dean Shiels
1 in 5
Will Grigg
1 in 10
Stuart Dallas
1 in 19
Chris Brunt
1 in 21
Conor McLaughlin
1 in 23
Josh Magennis
1 in 24
Shane Ferguson
1 in 29
Skipper Steven Davis has played in 42 of Michael
O’Neill’s 45 games in charge of Northern Ireland,
more than any other player. The Southampton
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has come on as a substitute twice. In total he
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four of them at the National Football Stadium at
Windsor Park.
www.irishfa.com23