'It's always an honour to put on the green shirt' - Luton Town youngster living Northern Ireland dream after making U19 European Championship debut
It has been a whirlwind few days for Luton Town youngster Dylan Stitt.
Only called into Northern Ireland’s squad for the U19 European Championship after confirmation that Francis Turley would be travelling with Celtic on their pre-season tour to America, Stitt made his debut at the age level in Thursday’s 3-0 defeat to defending champions Italy at Inver Park, where he faced off against young stars from the likes of AC Milan, AS Roma and Borussia Dortmund.
The 17-year-old previously spent time in Linfield’s academy before earning a move to Luton last summer and has represented the club’s U18 side alongside former Dungannon Swifts starlet Sam Anderson.
Gareth McAuley’s young charges will round their Group A campaign off against Norway at Seaview on Sunday with victory potentially seeing them progress into the semi-finals – and securing a place at next year’s U20 World Cup in Chile in the process – while finishing third would be enough to seal a play-off spot for a ticket to South America.
"It's always an honour to put on the green shirt and playing two years above in the U19s, especially in a major tournament, has always been a dream,” Stitt told the IFA’s media channel. "We played some good stuff and some not so good, but if we can take the good things from the Italy game and put them into practice against Norway...if we get three points we've a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals and the World Cup, which is our aim as well."
Northern Ireland drew Monday’s opener against Ukraine 0-0 before suffering defeat to Italy – AC Milan’s 16-year-old wonderkid Francesco Camarda, who is Serie A’s youngest-ever player, netted either side of half-time in Larne.
McAuley has been impressed by the “bravery” of his players to persist against quality opposition and believes this tournament shows there are plenty of reasons to be positive for the future.
"It's the positive attitude and if you think you can, you can type of attitude that we have and that we'll take forward,” he said. “The most pleasing thing for me is the bravery of the boys to keep going in the game and that's great for the future and for me in November if I look forward that I have such good young players that can compete at a high level against a really strong Italian side.
"It (the crowd support) has been unbelievable. I keep talking about a journey with the players and they gave everything. They'll see that they're young, fighting, so proud to represent Northern Ireland - that's all you can ask for."