O'Neill points to club form as Northern Ireland regroup for Nations League double-header

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill has highlighted the club form of his squad as his side prepares for Nations League fixtures against Ukraine on Saturday and Hungary three days later, according to a BBC Sport report. Northern Ireland top Group B2 after four games, and the report notes that the players reconvened this week despite having been together for 16 consecutive days only a month earlier.

The report cites a series of recent club moments involving squad members: Pierce Charles made a double save from Jarrod Bowen's penalty to preserve a point for Queens Park Rangers against West Ham, Isaac Price recovered from his own spot-kick disappointment at West Bromwich Albion, and Terry Devlin scored twice for Portsmouth against Swansea. BBC Sport frames the manager's likely priority as the amount of playing time his players are getting at club level, noting that O'Neill has consistently stressed the link between a player's club situation and his international prospects.

According to the report, nine of the 24-man squad made permanent or loan moves during the summer. Excluding uncapped trio Dermot Mee, Eoin Kenny and Braiden Graham, the rest of the panel have averaged more than 1,000 minutes of club action in the 2026-27 campaign, and only Tom Atcheson, who has been carrying a knock, Paddy McNair, Kieran Morrison and Callum Marshall have started fewer than four games since the most recent international against Georgia last month. O'Neill is without Daniel Ballard, Conor Bradley and Arsenal's Ceadach O'Neill for this window through injury.

O'Neill said there are many players featuring regularly for their clubs, which he called a real positive, and argued that at this stage of their careers they should be aiming higher. He said his Championship players should aspire to the Premier League and that he believes some are capable of making that step, adding that many are still in the 20-to-22 age range. He said getting more players into the Premier League would help the nation and that while he is pleased with where many currently stand, he still sees room for individual growth at their clubs.

The report notes that a regular goalscorer remains elusive for O'Neill, with the side having scored just once in their past four home games, a Donley penalty against Luxembourg. Jamie Donley, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, plays a deeper role at Luton Town than the false nine position he fills for Northern Ireland and has scored three goals with two assists since a goalless four-game Nations League window across late September and early October. O'Neill said Donley has played well as a nine for Northern Ireland, describing him as a linking player who drops deeper, and cautioned against comparing the chances he gets for a strong Luton side in League One with those available in Nations League B. He said the key is that Donley arrives at camp confident and that scoring for his club can only help regardless of position.

Marshall, 21, is among the few still struggling for starts at club level, though he has scored four times in League One since joining Luton from West Ham in the summer, following previous loan spells at West Brom, Huddersfield Town and VfL Bochum. He has featured once in Northern Ireland's past five games and has yet to score internationally. O'Neill said he encouraged Marshall to make the move permanent because loan scenarios can be difficult, speaking from his own experience as a manager bringing in loan players, and noted that Jack Wilshere wanted him and Luton paid a decent fee. O'Neill said it is now down to Marshall, that the club should suit him as a striker, and that the ball is in his court.