While there was naturally disappointment after that loss to Italy in March, there has long been a sense that this group’s best chance of major tournament qualification lies in the years ahead.
Of the starting XI that featured in Bergamo, only Hull City’s 31-year-old defender Paddy McNair is older than 26.
The average age of the 28-man squad named last week was just 24-years-old with a quartet of teenagers – Ceadach O’Neill, Kieran Morrison, Braiden Graham and Tom Atcheson – giving the panel an even more youthful look.
In addition to McNair, the only two other players in the squad older than 30 are central striking options Dion Charles, 30, and Josh Magennis, 36.
O’Neill, however, is expected to stick with the 21-year-old Jamie Donley up top as he continues to build for the qualification campaigns ahead.
The Tottenham Hotspur player has scored twice in 10 caps and started the past five games for Northern Ireland, but he endured a difficult 2025-26 season at club level on loan at Stoke City and Oxford United.
Despite featuring for Spurs during pre-season, he will spend this year with Luton Town, back on loan in League One where he impressed for Leyton Orient in 2024-25.
“What happened with Jamie last year was not really of Jamie’s doing,” said O’Neill.
“The game time at Stoke was, I think, unfair on the player, to be honest. The second loan he gets injured in his first game but the games he did play, he did well.
“I think the thing for Jamie is just to play regularly. I think he’s got all the attributes of a top, young player. He’s still a Tottenham player on a long-term contract and I think he’s gone to a good club (in Luton).”
