Michael O’Neill has enlisted the 19-year-old for the squad for the Euro 2020 qualifiers with Estonia and Belarus.
Arsenal teenager Daniel Ballard has been called up to the Northern Ireland squad for the first time for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Estonia and Belarus.
The 19-year-old featured three times for the Under-21s last year, scoring in the 1-0 win over Iceland and starting in the victories over Spain and Slovakia.
He is the only new face in Michael O’Neill’s 27-man group, though there are recalls for forwards Will Grigg and Conor Washington.
“At Under-19s or at U21s, when I put the green shirt on it’s a feeling of pride,” the young defender said. I want to do well when I represent my country.
“To do that for the first team would be amazing. It’s always been a dream and I’ll keep dreaming until it comes true.”
Sheffield United midfielder Oliver Norwood has been omitted for personal reasons while Jamie Ward, Kyle Vassell, Michael Smith and Trevor Carson are all missing through injury.
Northern Ireland, who reached the last 16 at Euro 2016, begin Euro 2020 qualifying against Estonia on March 21 in Belfast before another home game against Belarus three days later.
Their group also includes Germany and Netherlands as they aim to qualify for back-to-back European Championships for the first time.
Another new addition comes in the form of Steve Harper, who joins O’Neill’s backroom team as goalkeeping coach.
The 43-year-old currently works with ‘keepers in the Newcastle United academy but will combine his role in the north east with his new position starting next week.
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He said: “I met Michael O’Neill at a Newcastle game about six weeks ago and we were just talking football – nothing was mentioned about any roles, it was just a general chit-chat about Newcastle United. Michael obviously played there back in the day and it was the first time I’d met him.
“Then I got a call out of the blue just to say that the position was available and would I be interested in doing it? The opportunity to work at international level was something I wasn’t fortunate enough to do as a player but I have a lot of European experience from my time at Newcastle and, briefly, at Hull, and it’s an opportunity you can’t afford to turn down.”
The squad in full:
GOALKEEPERS: McGovern, Peacock-Farrell, Hazard
DEFENDERS: Hughes, McAuley, J Evans, Cathcart, C McLaughlin, McNair, Lewis, Flanagan, Ballard
MIDFIELDERS: Davis, McGinn, C Evans, Ferguson, Dallas, Saville, Jones, Whyte, Thompson
FORWARDS: Lafferty, Magennis, Boyce, Smyth, Grigg, Washington