Northern Ireland Under-19

Nickname(s)	The GAWA, Norn Iron
Association	Irish Football Association
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Gareth McAuley
Home stadium	various
FIFA code	NIR
First colours Second colours
First international
Ireland Youth 0–4  Wales (Solitude, Belfast; 10 January 1948)
European Championship
Appearances	13 (first in 1948)
Best result	Runners-Up: 1963

The Northern Ireland national under-19 football team also known as Northern Ireland under-19s or Northern Ireland U19s represents Northern Ireland in association football at under-19 level. It is controlled by the Irish Football Association and began under the name of Ireland Youth when the Home Nations first held a round robin of friendly matches in 1948. The same year they entered the first International Youth Tournament, now the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. Their best performance was in 1963 when they finished as runner-up. The team evolved into the Northern Ireland under-18 team then the current under-19 team. As well as the UEFA Under-19 Championships the team also enters the annual Milk Cup (currently as an under-20 side). In addition, the team plays regular friendlies, sometimes as an under-20 or under-18 team by agreement of the opposing association.

Competitive record

  Champions   Runners-up   Third Place   Fourth Place

European Championships

• 1948–1954 – FIFA Junior Tournament
• 1955–1980 – UEFA Junior Tournament
• 1981–2001 – UEFA European U-18 Championship
• 2002–present – UEFA European U-19 Championship

UEFA European Under-18/19 Championship Finals record										Qualification record
Year*	Round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1948	Sixth place	3	1	0	2	7	12	−5		No qualification needed
1949	Fourth place	3	0	1	2	3	10	–7		No qualification needed
1950	did not enter									did not enter
1951	Fourth place	3	1	0	2	3	3	0		No qualification needed
1952	did not enter									did not enter
1953	Fifteenth place	4	1	0	3	11	16	−5		No qualification needed
1954	Eighteenth place	5	0	0	5	4	22	−18		No qualification needed
1955	Group stage	3	0	1	2	2	9	−7		No qualification needed
1956	did not enter									did not enter
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963	Runners-up	5	2	2	1	9	11	–2		2	1	1	0	4	3	+1
1964	Group stage	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1		No qualification needed
1965	did not enter									did not enter
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975	Group stage	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1		2	2	0	0	5	2	+3
1976	Group stage	3	0	0	3	3	10	−7		Walkover against  Scotland
1977	Group stage	3	2	0	1	3	1	+2		2	1	0	1	2	1	+1
1978	did not qualify									2	0	0	2	2	9	−7
1979										4	1	1	2	4	6	−2
1980	Group stage	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2		2	1	1	0	2	0	+2
1981	did not qualify									2	0	0	2	0	4	−4
1982										2	1	0	1	1	2	−1
1983										4	0	1	3	2	9	−7
1984										2	1	0	1	1	3	−2
1986										6	0	2	4	5	12	−7
1988										6	1	1	4	8	14	−6
1990	did not enter									did not enter
1992	did not qualify									6	0	3	3	4	10	−6
1993										4	0	1	3	8	14	−6
1994										2	0	2	0	1	1	0
1995										2	2	0	2	6	6	0
1996										2	1	0	1	4	3	+1
1997										2	0	0	2	0	6	−6
1998										2	1	0	1	6	2	+4
1999										5	3	0	2	9	5	+4
2000										5	3	1	1	12	5	+7
2001										2	0	0	2	1	4	−3
2002										3	1	1	1	2	2	0
2003										6	2	1	3	10	6	+4
2004										3	0	1	2	2	5	−3
2005	Group stage	3	0	0	3	1	4	−3		Qualified as hosts
2006	did not qualify									6	2	1	3	10	9	+1
2007										3	0	0	3	2	8	−6
2008										3	0	1	2	2	4	−2
2009										3	1	0	2	4	7	−3
2010										6	1	1	4	10	9	+1
2011										3	1	1	1	3	3	0
2012										3	1	0	2	5	8	−3
2013										3	1	1	1	9	4	+5
2014									3	1	0	2	1	4	−3
2015									3	1	0	2	5	7	−2
2016									6	1	1	4	4	9	−5
2017									3	1	0	2	2	5	−3
2018									3	0	1	2	2	9	−7
2019									3	1	1	1	4	5	−1
2020	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic								Qualified as hosts
2021									Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2022	did not qualify								3	1	0	2	2	5	−3
2023									6	1	2	3	7	11	−4
2024	to be determined								Qualified as hosts
2025	to be determined								to be determined
Total	Runners-up	43	9	6	28	53	109	–56	140	36	27	79	173	241	–68
*Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Honours

Milk Cup Elite Section

• Winners: 1997, 2008, 2009, 2014

Coaches

Coaches of the Northern Ireland youth/under-18/under-19 side include:

Manager	Career
Billy Cook	[1]
Norman Kernaghan	[2]
Joe Kinkead	[3]
Tommy Casey
Jackie Cummings	1979–??[4]
Roy Millar	1983–1999
Mal Donaghy	2000–2008
Steve Beaglehole	2008–2011[5]
Stephen Robinson	2011–2013[6]
Stephen Craigan	2013–2016[7]
Stephen Frail	2016–2020[8]
Gerard Lyttle	2021–2023[9]
Gareth McAuley	2023–[10]

Players

Current squad

Players born on or after 1 January 2005 will be eligible until the end of the 2024 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. Names in bold denote players who have been capped by Northern Ireland in a higher age group.

The following players were named in the squad for a friendly tournament against  Hungary on 15 November 2023,  Czech Republic on 18 November 2023 and  Portugal on 21 November 2023.^[11]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
	1GK	Pierce Charles	(2005-07-21) 21 July 2005 (age 18)	Sheffield Wednesday
	1GK	Mason Munn	(2006-03-30) 30 March 2006 (age 18)	Rangers
	2DF	Sean Brown	(2005-04-01) 1 April 2005 (age 19)	Larne
	2DF	Phoenix Scholtz	(2005-04-26) 26 April 2005 (age 19)	Milton Keynes Dons
	2DF	Ruairi McConville	(2005-05-01) 1 May 2005 (age 18)	Brighton
	2DF	Gallagher Lennon	(2005-12-19) 19 December 2005 (age 18)	St Mirren
	2DF	Joshua Briggs	(2006-03-14) 14 March 2006 (age 18)	West Ham United
	2DF	Brendan Hamilton	(2006-05-20) 20 May 2006 (age 17)	Aberdeen
	2DF	Tom Atcheson	(2006-09-22) 22 September 2006 (age 17)	Blackburn Rovers
	2DF	George Goodman	(2006-12-11) 11 December 2006 (age 17)	Bradford City
	3MF	Corey Smith	(2005-01-24) 24 January 2005 (age 19)	Larne
	3MF	Lewis Trickett	(2005-04-27) 27 April 2005 (age 19)	Accrington Stanley
	3MF	Joel Thompson	(2005-07-25) 25 July 2005 (age 18)	Nottingham Forest
	3MF	Rio Oudnie-Morgan	(2005-12-06) 6 December 2005 (age 18)	Ipswich Town
	3MF	Francis Turley	(2006-01-14) 14 January 2006 (age 18)	Celtic
	3MF	Ryan Donnelly	(2006-09-04) 4 September 2006 (age 17)	Leicester City
	3MF	Jack Doherty	(2007-01-02) 2 January 2007 (age 17)	Fleetwood Town
	3MF	Blaine McClure	(2007-02-05) 5 February 2007 (age 17)	Rangers
	4FW	Sam Glenfield	(2005-05-10) 10 May 2005 (age 18)	Fleetwood Town
	4FW	Reece Evans	(2005-09-25) 25 September 2005 (age 18)	Leicester City
	4FW	Devlan Moses	(2005-10-17) 17 October 2005 (age 18)	Sheffield Wednesday
	4FW	Kieran Morrison	(2006-11-09) 9 November 2006 (age 17)	Liverpool

Recent call-ups

The following players have previously been called up to the Northern Ireland under-19 squad and remain eligible.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Daithí McCallion	(2005-04-08) 8 April 2005 (age 19)	-	-	Finn Harps	v.  Norway, 28 March 2023
DF	Reece Jordan	(2005-03-06) 6 March 2005 (age 19)	-	-	Cliftonville	v.  France, 22 March 2023 INJ
DF	Darragh McCloskey		-	-	Derry City	Football Federations Cup, 23–28 March 2022
MF	Jack Patterson	(2005-10-16) 16 October 2005 (age 18)	-	-	Everton	v.  Italy, 7 September 2023
FW	Leon Boyd	(2005-12-05) 5 December 2005 (age 18)	-	-	Glentoran	v.  Italy, 7 September 2023
FW	Rhys Walsh	(2006-07-08) 8 July 2006 (age 17)	-	-	Glentoran	v.  Italy, 7 September 2023
FW	Jamie Donley	(2005-01-03) 3 January 2005 (age 19)	-	-	Tottenham Hotspur	v.  Faroe Islands, 3 September 2021
COVID = Player withdrew due to a positive COVID test or from being in close contact with someone with a positive COVID test. INJ = Player withdrew from the squad before any games had been played. PRE = Preliminary squad / standby. SEN = Player withdrew from the squad due to a call up to the senior team. SUS = Suspended from national team. WTD = Withdrew due to other reasons.