Mitchell gets Northern Ireland call up
The 2016/17 season is coming to a close but one Burnley player has received a call up to a week long training camp for his country ahead of two international games, one a friendly and the other a World Cup qualifier.
Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill has named an 18-man squad for a training camp to be held in Manchester from Monday 22nd May as preparations get underway for a home friendly against New Zealand on Friday 2nd June, followed by the World Cup qualifier eight days later against Azerbaijan at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in Baku.
Players who still have club matches to play haven’t been considered but the squad includes three ex-Clarets along with one current Burnley player.
The ex-Clarets are Danny Lafferty, who left us for Sheffield United on a permanent basis in January, Kyle Lafferty, recently released by Norwich, and Shay McCartan, who has ended this last season with 11 League Two goals for Accrington.
It’s a first call up for McCartan, who joined Burnley as a scholar in 2010 and that’s also the case for goalkeeper Conor Mitchell who has just completed five years at Turf Moor since arriving as a scholar himself in the summer of 2012.
Mitchell, who has recently signed a contract extension with the Clarets, has progressed through the junior teams for his country and has caps at under-21 level but he’s now been named as one of four goalkeepers which means he’s very much in O’Neill’s thoughts.
It’s not unprecedented for a Burnley player to be capped for Northern Ireland before making a first team appearance, that was the case back in 1963 when Willie Irvine wore their colours before making a debut at Turf Moor.
Up the Clarets are delighted to hear of Conor’s call up to the squad which is, in full:
Goalkeepers
Michael McGovern (Norwich)
Roy Carroll (Linfield)
Conor Hazard (Celtic)
Conor Mitchell (Burnley)
Defenders
Ryan McLaughlin (Oldham)
Tom Flanagan (Burton)
Danny Lafferty (Sheffield United)
Luke McCullough (Doncaster)
Conor McLaughlin (Fleetwood)
Adam Thompson (Southend)
Midfielders
Oliver Norwood (Brighton)
Stuart Dallas (Leeds)
Matthew Lund (Rochdale)
Callum Camps (Rochdale)
Forwards
Kyle Lafferty (Norwich)
Josh Magennis (Charlton)
Jamie Ward (Nottingham Forest)
Shay McCartan (Accrington)
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