Northern Ireland set a standard in Romania draw – Conor Bradley

The 20-year-old made his first international appearance since June following injury, but showed flashes of the explosive play that has made him a hit at Anfield since his last cap, playing an instrumental role in setting up debutant Jamie Reid to score just seven minutes in.

Although Dennis Man levelled for the hosts midway through the first half, it was a promising display from Northern Ireland against a Euro 2024-bound Romania, who are now unbeaten in 12 games.

As Michael O’Neill tries to mould a young squad into a side that can themselves reach a major tournament soon, nights like these offer a foundation.

“We wanted to set standards, to set out how we want to play,” Bradley said. “These are friendlies but for the next campaign coming we want to get our identity out there and I think we’ve done that.

“It was a really good performance and it’s a decent result away from home, especially as they qualified for the Euros so we knew before it was going to be a tough game but I think we played really well at times.

“I think we knew when to play and when to sit off, I think we got it right.”

O’Neill fielded a starting 11 with an average age of 23.5 and at the end of a week in which the manager had spoken of a “rebirth” for Northern Ireland, it felt like a night where the next generation had been given their chance to take ownership of the side.

Bradley combined impressively with fellow 20-year-olds Isaac Price and Shea Charles down the right, while 19-year-old Brodie Spencer held his own playing out of position at left wing-back to give Northern Ireland plenty of impetus going forward.

Even in a hostile atmosphere, the youngsters played without fear.

“That’s what Michael told us before the game,” Bradley added. “He said we shouldn’t fear anything.

“Go out there and just bring our club form into the international shirt and I think that’s what we’ve done.

“It’s a lot of fun (to play in this team). At times we play really good football, especially down that right-hand side. I really enjoyed playing with Isaac, Shea and with Trai (Hume) behind me.

“It’s mad that the average age is only 23, there’s a lot of young players. I think this is only going to help us and as we get more experienced we’ll be able to help more in the future.”

Ironically the oldest player in Northern Ireland’s starting line-up was the 29-year-old Reid on debut.

Paddy McNair, 28, took the armband as he earned his 68th cap, almost twice as many as the next most capped player in the side, Jordan Thompson.

O’Neill said after the game he was perhaps asking a lot of the pair to guide their young colleagues through the game, but McNair said they did not need too much help.

“They’re all playing at a good level,” he said. “I don’t think it’s too much guiding them, I think they can all sort of cope with it...you have to sort of help them along but I think they’re well up to it.”

Northern Ireland now head to Glasgow to face Scotland on Tuesday, the same fixture in which McNair made his debut in a 1-0 defeat nine years ago.

“Christophe Berra in the 86th minute,” McNair recalled with a rueful grin. “It’s going to be a tough game.

"We’ve seen their result (a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands) so they’ll be up for it and it’s going to be a good game.”