Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill has revealed he called upon legend Jonny Evans for feedback ahead of naming Manchester United goalkeeper Dermot Mee in his senior squad for the first time – and believes Eoin Kenny’s inclusion is a deserved reward.

Mee and Kenny were the two new names in O’Neill’s panel for this month’s Nations League double-header against Ukraine and Hungary as the country look to convert their current top spot advantage into League A promotion.

Birmingham-born Mee qualifies for Northern Ireland through Tyrone connections in his father’s family and previously represented the nation up to U21 level, playing in the same team as Ethan Galbraith and Terry Devlin.

Although 23-year-old Mee hasn’t yet made a senior appearance for Premier League giants United – a club he joined 11 years ago – he signed a new two-year contract last summer.

placeholder image — Manchester United goalkeeper Dermot Mee has been called up to Northern Ireland's senior squad for the first time. (Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images)

Mee has featured in matchday Champions League squads for Michael Carrick’s men this term, sitting on the bench against Sabah and Atletico Madrid.

Despite Senne Lammens, Karl Darlow and Tom Heaton being ahead of Mee in the pecking order at Old Trafford and his last senior appearance coming during a loan spell at Altrincham in 2022, the shot-stopper is now set to take his spot in O’Neill’s panel.

Mee has replaced Bailey Peacock-Farrell, who has dropped to the standby list, in the squad and will provide support to cemented number one Pierce Charles and back-up Conor Hazard.

"Dermot has been in our U21s in the past, so he knows a lot of the players,” said O’Neill. "He's involved in their Champions League squads and I had a good chat with Jonny Evans about him, and he spoke very highly of him.

"I think the dynamic of the goalkeeping situation is really important, it gives Dermot a chance to come in, work with Tony Caig, the goalkeeping coach, and offer support to Pierce and Conor as well.

"That's part of the nature of a goalkeeper in that situation, and he has a lot of experience in having that role, so it's good to get him in.”

Kenny played in all 10 of Northern Ireland’s U21s European Championship qualifying matches throughout the recent campaign, scoring in a 3-1 win over Latvia in March, and was named captain for their final fixture against Greece at Mourneview Park last month.

The 20-year-old netted 22 goals in 94 appearances for League of Ireland club Dundalk before earning a move to Portsmouth last summer and made his Championship debut against Wolves on October 20.

Born in Londonderry, Kenny represented Northern Ireland’s youth teams before switching to the Republic of Ireland at U19 level.

The son of former Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny, Eoin has pledged his allegiance to Northern Ireland and earned his first senior call-up after a glowing recommendation from U21 boss Tommy Wright.

"Eoin Kenny is really a reward for his strong campaign for Tommy in the U21s,” added O’Neill. "He made a move from Dundalk to Portsmouth in the summer, and it just gives us a chance to see him.

"Otherwise, we're waiting on him getting minutes at Portsmouth. He's had some, it's not been easy for him there, in terms of getting minutes, but he's around the first team.

"I think he's made a positive impact since he went there, you never see the players truly until you get them in and get the chance to work with them.

"Really just since he came into the U21s (I’ve been aware of him). I knew him obviously through Stephen, and I knew that he played within the League of Ireland, but it was only when the eligibility thing came to the forefront and Tommy Wright had him in with the U21s.

"Tommy's been very positive about him in every squad, in terms of his level of performance, but also who he is as a lad, it’s all very positive.”

O’Neill is without several key players with the likes of Conor Bradley, Dan Ballard, Ali McCann and Eoin Toal injured, but a number of young stars have stepped up in their absence.

"We knew this wasn’t a realistic target for Conor and Dan picking up the injury as he did, he had surgery so we knew that he would be out for these games as well,” said O’Neill. “Ali's coming back from hamstring surgery, we’ve been a little bit unlucky with hamstrings in particular.

"The squad has to continue to develop, players have to step in and you have to give players the opportunity to do that.

"It's very young. It will be stretched again, we'll be tested, no doubt, in these two games.

"But we give ourselves a good chance with obviously what we've done in the games to date.

"There's a lot of players who are playing on a regular basis at their clubs, which is a real positive.

"I think at this stage of their careers, they should be looking up...our players that play in the Championship hopefully will have aspirations to play in the Premier League, and we have players that are capable of that.

"We’ve players in our squad who are currently playing in League One who can play in the Championship.

"A lot of these players are still around that sort of 20, 21, 22 age group and they're capable of taking that step.

"The more players we can get to the Premier League will help us as a nation, there's no doubt about that.

"I'm pleased where a lot of the players are at this minute in time, but I still think, individually, with their clubs, they've got a lot of scope to grow and develop as well.”