Key talking points ahead of Northern Ireland’s clash with Romania

Northern Ireland return to action with a friendly against Romania in Bucharest on Friday night.

The fixture is the first of back-to-back away games, with a trip to Glasgow to face Scotland up next.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the key talking points ahead of the Romania game.

Youth movement

After a hugely disappointing Euro 2024 qualifying campaign ruined by injuries, it is time for Michael O’Neill to hit the reset button. Those injuries accelerated the need for a rebuild of the Northern Ireland squad, and almost half of the players in O’Neill’s camp have 10 caps or less, and only two of them – Josh Magennis and George Saville – are over the age of 30. But there is much to be encouraged by, with Conor Bradley, Shea Charles, Isaac Price and Trai Hume among a group of exciting young players who can, given time, get them back to a major tournament. These games are about getting more experience into those players ahead of bigger challenges to come.

Bradley’s break-out

After starring on loan at League One Bolton last term, Bradley has hit the spotlight in recent months after breaking into Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side with a string of eye-catching displays. In January he scored his first goal and provided two assists in a man-of-the-match display in a 4-1 win over Chelsea, and a month later he lifted the Carabao Cup. The 20-year-old missed the last six Euro qualifiers through injury last term, but Northern Ireland will be excited to welcome back a player who deserves to have some extra swagger in his step.

Davis’ new role

After missing more than a year with a serious knee injury, long-time Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis made the difficult decision to announce his retirement in January. But the 39-year-old is not one to stay away for long and has promptly joined O’Neill’s backroom staff for these games. His long-term role is yet to be determined and may depend on whether he makes a move into club coaching, but for now both O’Neill and his players are delighted to have their old skipper’s huge experience to draw on as they mould a new-look team.

Taking the long view

Northern Ireland will have more friendlies to come in June, there is expected to be a warm-weather training camp in Spain, before the Nations League returns in September. Northern Ireland have not had much fun in UEFA’s newest tournament to date and have dropped into League C, where they will face Belarus, Bulgaria, and Luxembourg later in the year. But the campaign that O’Neill and his players point to more than the Nations League is the World Cup qualifying that starts in early 2025. The goal is to have the squad ready to take on that task in a year’s time.

No easy caps

Although O’Neill has spoken extensively about the lack of experience in his squad, he was adamant he would not be putting players in for the sake of it. “We have to create competition,” the manager said. “You have to earn the right to get on the pitch.” The uncapped Aaron Donnelly has joined up with the squad from the under-21s in the absence of Dan Ballard, who has not travelled after becoming a father. Caolan Boyd-Munce and Jamie Reid, the Stevenage striker who has received his first call-up at the age of 29, are the other players in the squad still awaiting their first taste of international football.