Northern Ireland striker Josh Magennis admits reaching a milestone of 100 international caps is a major source of personal motivation – and says sealing World Cup qualification would be “unbelievable”.

Magennis has been named in Michael O’Neill’s 28-player squad for this month’s World Cup play-off semi-final trip to former champions Italy as Northern Ireland look to end their 40-year wait to appear on football’s biggest stage.

The 35-year-old is one of four listed strikers picked by O’Neill alongside Dion Charles, Callum Marshall and Jamie Reid, while Jamie Donley, who is on loan at Oxford United from Tottenham Hotspur, could also fill that position.

Magennis is hoping to add to his impressive tally of 86 caps in Bergamo before Northern Ireland potentially take on either Bosnia & Herzegovina or Wales in a crunch decider.

placeholder image — Northern Ireland's Josh Magennis. (Photo by Desmond Loughery/Pacemaker Press)

Bangor native Magennis made his international debut against Turkey in May 2010 and scored a maiden Northern Ireland goal in 2015.

Only four players – Steven Davis, Pat Jennings, Aaron Hughes and Jonny Evans – have surpassed the 100-cap mark for Northern Ireland with Magennis sitting in joint-10th alongside Keith Gillespie on the all-time appearance list.

Magennis has started in just 14 League One matches for Exeter City this term, netting five goals for the English club, but he’s determined to keep going in order to achieve his dream.

"I think the motivation for me, whether that's scoring 15 goals in one season, playing every single minute of one game, it's to get 100 caps," he told BBC Radio Devon. "The only way to do that is perform at Exeter and try and do well.

"But I'm still chasing that, whether I attain that or not, that's not up to me, but that will always be my motivation.

"If I don't attain that it would be absolutely criminal of me to have any ill feeling because I've had 80-odd caps before that that have been absolutely sensational and every one of those have meant the world to me and more.

"So for me when I say I want to get the 100, it's not because I want to guarantee and nail it on, it's just it's just my it's my motivation to just do what I want to do and what I need to do."

Northern Ireland haven’t appeared at a World Cup since 1986 in Mexico, where they drew with Algeria before losing out to Spain and Brazil.

Magennis was part of the last squad to reach a major tournament – the 2016 European Championships – and knows the impact such a feat can have on the country.

"For Northern Ireland we haven't managed to attain that (World Cup) since the 1980s," he added. "We have the likes of Jimmy Nicholl, who's on our staff, Gerry Armstrong, Pat Jennings, when you see these lads, they always tell you about what it was to play for your country.

"Most importantly it brings the country together. When we were at Euro 2016 all the fan zones, everything was green and white

"When we came back and the way we were welcomed it was something I've never witnessed before, so it's not just personally but together as a country it would be unbelievable."