Northern Ireland Men's Football Team

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Northern Ireland teenager Kieran Morrison has signed a new contract at Liverpool.

The 19-year-old, who joined the Reds in 2019, impressed during the recent U21s campaign and was nominated for Premier League 2 Player of the Season.

Morrison has also made two senior appearances for Arne Slot's side in cup competitions.

The versatile winger captained the U21s for a period of the season and netted 14 goals and registered four assists in PL2.

At international level, he is involved in Michael O'Neill's squad to face Guinea and France in June's international friendlies but is yet to make a senior appearance.

"It's been a massive improvement from last year. That was my goal this year – just to impact myself and PL2 as much as I can," Morrison said.

"I think I've done quite well. As a team, we wanted to get further in the play-offs but we've come a long way as a team, especially with Rob [Page], the new manager, and obviously me becoming captain during it.

"It just shows how much we've come [along] since the beginning of the season. So, I'm really proud of my performances and the team's performances.

"I always set targets and this season I feel like I've accomplished a lot of my targets. So, hopefully next season goes just as well."

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Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill has been appointed to the Fifa Technical Study Group [TSG] for this summer's World Cup.

O'Neill is named as part of a 10-strong group that also includes Otto Addo, Tobin Heath, Jurgen Klinsmann, Jayne Ludlow, Gilberto Silva, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Paulo Wanchope, Aron Winter and Pablo Zabaleta.

The team of experts will be guided by former Arsenal manager and current Fifa Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger to provide deeper insights into each of the 104 games at this summer's tournament in North America through the Fifa Training Centre social media accounts and YouTube channel.

"The Technical Study Group helps identify trends in the game, prepare future generations for football's development and contribute to making the sport more exciting by highlighting the qualities players will need in the future," said Wenger.

"With an unprecedented level of high-quality data, the TSG will be able to describe, analyse and interpret what is happening on the pitch in a way that inspires both technical experts and football fans.

"We are not only collecting more data than before but also trying to strike the right balance between technical expertise and data. At the same time, we want to share our technical observations in real time during the tournament."

The TSG will study each game from a unique tactical position, either at the respective stadium or from a performance suite in Miami, with access to six video angles and thousands of data points live during each match.

TSG members will also select the tournament awards.

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Northern Ireland legends Marissa Callaghan and Gareth McAuley will be inducted into the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Hall of Fame.

Callaghan and McAuley will join a host of established names in the Hall of Fame such as George Best, Harry Gregg, David Healy and Steven Davis.

Former Northern Ireland midfielder Callaghan captained Northern Ireland at the Euro 2022 finals - a first major tournament for the women's side.

The midfielder retired from football this year after a career that saw her earn 91 international and win two Women's Premiership titles with Cliftonville, in 2022 and an invincible year in 2024.

"It's an honour to join the NIFWA Hall of Fame alongside so many famous names from the world of football," said Callaghan, who will be the first women's player to receive the honour at Sunday's annual awards.

"The award is not just a reflection of my efforts, but the support and help of all my team-mates and coaches over the years."

The former Cliftonville midfielder is joined in the Hall of Fame by McAuley, who won 80 caps for Northern Ireland between 2005 and 2018.

McAuley scored one of the most famous goals in the history of Northern Ireland football in the historic Euro 2016 win over Ukraine in Lyon.

At club level, McAuley made his name in the Irish League with Crusaders and Coleraine before turning out for Lincoln City, Leicester City, Ipswich Town, West Bromwich Albion and Rangers.

"It's very pleasing and an honour to be inducted into the Football Writers' Hall of Fame," McAuley said.

"The Euros was ten years ago, and I've been retired nearly seven years, so to be remembered and recognised in this way is really humbling."

Joel Bell
BBC Sport NI

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Northern Ireland defender Terry Devlin insists ''there's a lot of things we can improve on'' after their hard-fought 1-1 friendly draw with Wales on Tuesday night.

Jamie Donley opened the scoring for Northern Ireland before Wales drew level just after half-time through Sorba Thomas.

After making his debut last March against Switzerland, Devlin is delighted with the experience he has gained over the last few days under Michael O'Neill, after starting against Italy and in Tuesday's draw in Cardiff.

''A lot of people thought it was going to be a pointless or dead rubber game, but for what it was, it was a really intense and hard-fought game between the two sides and it was a good experience for a lot of us players,'' Devlin told BBC Sport NI.

''Wales are a top nation, they've a lot of really good top players. They've loads of players in the Premier League and top Championship level players.

''For us to be level or match them for the 45 or 90 [minutes], it's a really good thing for us to take. We can still be better, there's a lot of things we can improve on, we're a young squad and I'm sure we'll definitely do that.''

Donley's goal against Wales was his second for his country after he netted his first international goal back in November against Luxembourg and Devlin was pleased for his teammate.

''Jamie [Donley] is a top lad, he works really hard and he's a top player and it's massive for him to get that [goal],'' Devlin added.

''That's two goals in two camps now, that jersey's his at the minute and he just needs to keep hold of it and keep scoring goals for us.''

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist in Cardiff

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill praised the "character" of his side in Tuesday's 1-1 draw in Wales.

Both Wales and Northern Ireland lost their respective World Cup play-offs to set up the friendly that nobody wanted.

Jamie Donley scored a deserved opener but Wales hit back less than 60 seconds after the restart as Sorba Thomas tucked home.

Eoin Toal and Callum Marshall had chances to snatch victory, but it was the response to the equaliser which impressed O'Neill as his young side bounced back from the World Cup defeat by Italy with a solid performance in Cardiff.

"The team has good resilience because at the end of the day, as much as we sat deep and it was difficult for us to get out in the last 20 minutes, we still had an opportunity to win the game," said O'Neill, who also hit back at concerns over a conflict of interest with his dual role with Blackburn Rovers.

"To come away, with the age profile of the team and where the team is at this minute at time, and not be beaten here was a real positive."

O'Neill added it was "a good night's work for us" as he "asked a huge amount" of young players in a second half that was littered with substitutions, but Northern Ireland deserved their draw in Cardiff.

He handed a debut to 19-year-old defender Tom Atcheson, who plays under him at Blackburn Rovers, but Liverpool's Kieran Morrison did not make his senior bow as O'Neill made eight substitutions.

"He's a very young player. I think he's shown up well in the camp all week," O'Neill said on Atcheson.

"We would have liked to have got Kieran Morrison on the pitch as well at some point, but you wouldn't have been able to do it without having to take a sub that you put on, off again, without asking someone to play in a position which was totally alien to them.

"Given the number of substitutions we made, we're pleased with the response we got from the players."

Lauren McCann
BBC Sport NI Journalist

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Former Northern Ireland midfielder Chris Brunt has questioned the wisdom of Uefa for making Michael O'Neill's side play Wales in a "complete dead rubber" friendly on Tuesday.

Northern Ireland travel to Cardiff after losing their play-off semi-final 2-0 against Italy in Bergamo, which ended their World Cup hopes.

Wales were beaten on penalties by Bosnia-Herzegovina in their semi-final and Brunt, who won 65 NI caps was critical of the decision to go ahead with the friendly in an already busy football calendar.

"For the supporters, it's a complete dead rubber. It is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard - it's pointless," he told the BBC Sportsound programme.

"The schedule of games coming up in England - boys play Friday and Monday [when they go back to their clubs] so it's ridiculous. If you look at the previous qualifying games, they're scheduled Thursday, Sunday and Friday, Monday or Saturday, Tuesday, so why come to this stage of the season go Thursday, Tuesday?

"With all due respect to Wales, they're putting on a game in Cardiff that means absolutely nothing. The only good thing that comes out of it is some of the younger lads get a chance to have a bit of exposure at that level."

Brunt, who is now a tactical scout and head of loans and pathways for former club West Bromwich Albion, believes O'Neill will rotate his team for the friendly and give those not involved in Bergamo such as Kieran Morrison, Dion Charles and Jamie McDonnell, an opportunity at Cardiff City Stadium.

"All the lads on the pitch the other night, physically and mentally it takes so much out of you and not getting the result we wanted. It's a difficult one for everyone to pick themselves up and go again," he added.

"There are a lot of lads who go around Europe for the qualifying campaign and don't get to play a lot of football, so it's an opportunity to give something back for them who have supported the other lads through qualifying."