Northern Ireland Are the Only Nations League Team Yet to Concede, Two Games From League A

Fifty-four national teams are playing in this edition of the UEFA Nations League, and only one of them has not conceded a goal yet: Northern Ireland. Michael O'Neill's young side go into the final two games of League B Group 2 top of the table with eight points and four clean sheets, and wins over Ukraine in Belfast on Saturday and Hungary in Budapest next Tuesday could take them into League A for the first time.

The run started in late September with a 1-0 win in Georgia, sealed by Shea Charles in stoppage time. It was Northern Ireland's first ever win in League B of the competition. A 0-0 draw with Hungary at Windsor Park followed, then a 3-0 win over Ukraine in Trnava, Slovakia, and a 0-0 draw with Georgia back in Belfast, where Isaac Price had a late penalty saved.

That last result felt like two points dropped at the time. A month later, the table looks kinder. Northern Ireland have eight points, Hungary seven, Ukraine four and Georgia two, according to the Irish FA. Top spot brings automatic promotion to League A, while second place means a playoff against one of the lowest-ranked teams from the top tier.

The context makes the defensive record more striking. Conor Bradley has not played since January, and Sunderland defender Daniel Ballard was only fit for the first game of the last window. He is injured again now, along with Eoin Toal and Jamie McDonnell.

Northern Ireland did not win any of their first 14 Nations League matches between September 2018 and September 2022, and they were relegated to League C for the 2022-23 edition, as the Belfast News Letter points out. BBC Sport noted that their first nine points in the competition took 17 games. In the last window alone they took eight in 11 days.

They have done it with a very young group. The starting lineup against Ukraine averaged just 22 years old, the youngest for Northern Ireland since World War II according to the BBC, and 17 of the 25 players in O'Neill's current squad are 23 or younger.

"The players have a massive carrot," O'Neill told the Belfast Telegraph. "They have the opportunity to finish top of the group, the opportunity to go to Nations League A, the highest level of international football we can play at."

The squad lost another piece on Monday when 18-year-old Arsenal forward Ceadach O'Neill withdrew injured. He has four caps and came off the bench in the away wins over Georgia and Ukraine in the last window. The squad already includes two uncapped newcomers, Manchester United goalkeeper Dermot Mee and Portsmouth striker Eoin Kenny.

Premier League fans will know a few of the regulars. Trai Hume plays for Sunderland, Shea Charles for Fulham, and Paddy McNair is at Hull. Most of the rest come from the Championship and below, which is part of why this run has caught people's attention.

Saturday's game at Windsor Park is sold out, and the Irish FA is running a waiting list. If Northern Ireland keep another clean sheet against Ukraine, the decider in Budapest's 67,000-seat Puskás Aréna on Tuesday will decide more than a group: for a nation of under two million people, a place in League A would be one of the biggest acheivements of O'Neill's long career in charge.