Crystal Palace midfielder Justin Devenny has been called up to the Northern Ireland senior squad for the first time.
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill has fast-tracked the Under-21 international after he made his Premier League debut for Palace against Fulham at the weekend.
Providing a squad update this afternoon, O’Neill revealed U21s boss Tommy Wright has been pushing for Devenny to be included in the senior panel for some time.
He said: “The number of players we have pushed through from the 21s in the past 12 months is extremely high and Justin has been on that pathway.
“Obviously Justin having made his Premier League debut has accelerated things and with their not being a U21s camp in this international window it’s great to have him in. We know what he is capable of, and it’s a good opportunity for him.”
The 21-year-old, who was born in Scotland, was a youth player at Kilmarnock when Tommy Wright was manager of the Scottish Premiership side. His mother is from Northern Ireland.
Devenny made the switch to Airdrieonians from Killie in 2022-23 and he joined Crystal Palace from the North Lanarkshire club in August 2023. He played for the London club’s U21 team last season, however he has been part of Palace’s first team squad this season. He was a regular for Northern Ireland’s U21s in their recent Euro qualifying campaign.
Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Shea Charles, Standard Liege midfielder Isaac Price and Kilmarnock midfielder Brad Lyons were all in action for their respective clubs yesterday.
O’Neill revealed the trio have arrived into camp injury free but there is a doubt over Rangers winger Ross McCausland. He was involved for Rangers against Hearts in the Scottish Premiership yesterday but was unable to train today due to a niggle.
The Northern Ireland manager further said: “All the boys have come into the camp in good form off the back of the games in October.
“We just did light training today, but there will now be three days of hard work leading in to the Belarus game on Friday.”
Devenny, who played from the start for Palace in the 2-0 defeat to Fulham at Selhurst Park on Saturday before being substituted after 74 minutes, will meet up with the Northern Ireland senior squad later tonight.
Northern Ireland, who are currently sitting top of UNL League C Group 3 following their 0-0 draw with Belarus and 5-0 win over Bulgaria last month, are due to play the Belarusians at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park in Belfast on Friday (15 November, 7.45pm kick-off).
And then they will be facing Luxembourg at Stade de Luxembourg in Luxembourg City next Monday (18 November, 7.45pm kick-off UK time) to bring the curtain down on their latest Nations League campaign.
O’Neill’s side have seven points from four games, while unbeaten Belarus are second on six points (one win, three draws) with the Bulgarians in third on five and Luxembourg propping up the C3 table with two.
