A nine-strong contingent of the Danske Bank Premiership's rising stars have been named in the Northern Ireland U21 squad for the forthcoming UEFA Euro 2021 qualifier away to Ukraine.
Drawn from four clubs, newly promoted Portadown are the best represented with no fewer than three players amongst the panel, namely Nathan Kerr, Lee Bonis and, receiving his first call up, Luke Wilson.
Ballymena United's Trai Hume is also named for the first time and is joined by team-mate Kofi Balmer, who will be looking to add to his nine caps to date.
Glentoran's Paul O'Neill, scorer of three goals for the U21s last month including the winner in the first game against Ukraine, unsurprisingly keeps his place as does his Oval team-mate Caolan Marron while, for Linfield, Shayne Lavery and Ross Larkin also make the journey to Kovalivka.
The full squad for the game on Tuesday 17th reads:-
Goalkeepers: Oliver Webber (Crystal Palace), Liam Hughes (Celtic)
Defenders: Eoin Toal (Derry City), Caolan Marron (Glentoran), Ciaron Brown (Livingston), Kofi Balmer (Ballymena United), Jack Scott (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Daniel Amos (Doncaster Rovers), Ross Larkin (Linfield), Nathan Kerr (Portadown), Lewis Thompson (Blackburn Rovers)
Midfielders: Alfie McCalmont (Leeds United), Caolan Boyd-Munce (Birmingham City), JJ McKiernan (Watford), Amrit Bansal-McNulty (Como), Luke Wilson (Portadown), Trai Hume (Ballymena United), Liam Ravenhill (Doncaster Rovers)
Forwards: Shayne Lavery (Linfield), Paul O’Neill (Glentoran), Lee Bonis (Portadown), Chris McKee (Rangers)
