A Northern Ireland Under-16 squad jetted off to Albania today to take part in a four-team UEFA development tournament.
The U16 development team, led by U19s and U17s coach Gareth McAuley and U21s boss John Schofield, will face hosts Albania, Luxembourg and Peru in the UEFA competition.
The players in the 20-strong Northern Ireland squad will be aiming to impress ahead of U17 Euro qualifiers later this year.
Their first game in the development tournament, which is being staged at the National Team Centre in Kamez, is against hosts Albania on Saturday (11am local time).
Next up is a match against Luxembourg on Monday (11 April), which is scheduled to kick off at 2pm local time. And on matchday three, next Thursday, they will come up against Peru at 1pm.
The squad features six players from Glentoran, five from Derry City and five from Linfield.
The qualifying round for U17 Euro 2023 is due to be staged this autumn. Northern Ireland have been drawn in Group 4 where they will face Scotland, Czech Republic and mini tournament hosts Malta from 19-25 October.
The top two teams in 13 qualifying groups will join top seeds Netherlands and Spain in the spring 2023 elite round along with the four third-placed teams with the best records against the top two in their section. Hosts Hungary qualify directly for the 16-team final tournament in May 2023.
Northern Ireland U16 Development squad:
Goalkeepers: Mason Munn and Lorcan Donnelly (both Glentoran).
Defenders: Logan Graham, Brendan Hamilton and Theo McToal (all Glentoran), Adhamh Patton and Kyle McCloskey (both Derry City), Josh Briggs and Callum Cowan (both Linfield), Bobby Harvey (Glenavon), Josh Lyons (Bohemians).
Midfielders: Ben McGonigle and Callum McCay (both Derry City), Francis Turley (Glentoran), Ryan Donnelly (Dungannon Swifts).
Forwards: Jay McDowell, Jack Hastings and Cole Brannigan (all Linfield), Sam Anderson (Dungannon Swifts), Cieran O’Hara (Derry City).
