2026 World Cup Qualifier: Northern Ireland v Luxembourg
Venue: Windsor Park, Belfast
Date: Monday, 17 November
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Coverage: Live on BBC Two NI, BBC Three and BBC iPlayer; listen on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster, and live text commentary on BBC Sport app & website
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill says he will “have to make a decision” on whether to field players who are at risk of suspension in their concluding 2026 World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg at Windsor Park on Monday night.
The hosts have already secured their play-off place thanks to success in last year’s Nations League. However, following Friday night’s 1-0 loss in Slovakia, Northern Ireland can finish no higher than third in Group A.
Four players—Trai Hume, Justin Devenny, Josh Magennis, and Jamie Reid—are each a yellow card away from triggering a one-game suspension, which would rule them out of the play-off fixture scheduled for March.
“We’ve got players on yellow cards and we have to be wary of that,” O’Neill said. “A second yellow would rule them out of the play-off. These are all factors that come into play. We have to make a decision whether they start the game, whether they come into the game, or whether they do neither.”
Suspensions Impact Northern Ireland Squad
In a World Cup qualifying campaign, players are banned for one game after accumulating two cautions. Conor Bradley and Ethan Galbraith have already missed fixtures during Group A due to suspension. Additionally, Daniel Ballard and George Saville are suspended for Monday’s concluding qualifier following yellow cards in the defeat against Slovakia.
O’Neill emphasized that he would have to “hammer home the message” that international football is refereed differently from the club game. He noted that receiving two yellow cards across six or eight games “is not a lot” and expressed hope for future reforms regarding yellow card rescissions.
“We have so much video that you could look at a booking and say, ‘well, actually, that didn’t merit a booking,'” he explained. “When there’s an inconsistency of decisions, I think that there’s possibly a fairer way. We don’t want players missing games for suspensions. If the offence merits a suspension, yes, but I think sometimes we need to find maybe a little bit of middle ground where these things could possibly be overlooked and possibly overturned.”
Ruairi McConville Set to Start Against Luxembourg
With Ballard missing through suspension, and his Sunderland defensive colleague Trai Hume among the quartet at risk of suspension, one player who seems sure to start against Luxembourg is centre-back Ruairi McConville.
The 19-year-old moved from Brighton to Norwich City in February but did not feature in any of his club’s first 12 games of the 2025-26 Championship season. He has since played in each of the past three matches and was solid for O’Neill in Slovakia on what was his eighth international cap.
At Carrow Road for less than 10 months, McConville has already experienced managerial changes, with Norwich’s replacement for Liam Manning (who was sacked last week) becoming the third boss during his spell. While O’Neill admitted the transition has not been easy, he believes the young defender will flourish with more playing time.
“First of all, I think we’ve got a really top young player on our hands that came away from a Premier League club on the basis of going to Norwich City to play,” O’Neill said. “There aren’t many 19-year-old centre-backs playing in the Championship and if there are, they’re typically on loan. I don’t think Ruairi’s had the chance, to be honest. I don’t think he’s had enough opportunities.”
Regardless of the difficult spell at club level, O’Neill expressed no hesitation in giving McConville his chance at the international stage.
“I think when we’ve asked him to play, he’s done extremely well. He had a difficult night in Sweden [in a March friendly] with a very, very inexperienced team, but he learned from that. He’s bright, he understands the game, he asks questions. Physically, he’s the profile you would want of a centre-back. He can play.”
“It’s all ahead of Ruairi. All he needs to continue his development is games,” O’Neill added.
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/ni-wary-play-off-bans-201122194.html
