Preston North End have provided five members of the Northern Ireland U19 squad to tackle Spain later this month.
Conor McLoughlin has already been a regular member of the Northern Ireland U19 set-up and was also on duty for the U21 squad last week. He's been joined by Neil Dougan who recently signed professional forms, Daniel Devine, Scott Davidson and first-year pro Adam Barton who qualifies through his Belfast-born grandad.
The five will all be hoping for selection against Spain's U19 squad at the Oval in Belfast on Wednesday 24th March.
Preston North End's Director of Youth Dean Ramsdale was delighted with the call-ups.
"It's excellent news. I had a feeling that we would get maybe three or four in the squad but to get five called up is fantastic. We got them all in the office this morning and had a good chat with them," Ramsdale told pne.com.
The inclusion of Blackburn born Adam Barton may come as a surprise to some but Ramsdale revealed that the switch has been in the pipeline for some time now and that the youngster can't wait to get involved.
Ramsdale said: "Jamie is in frequent contact with Steve Beaglehole who is the Northern Ireland manager and they were talking about players and games. Steve has been to a couple of our games and Jamie asked him whether he had thought about Adam Barton.
"Adam's granddad was born in Belfast and Jamie told him all about Adam's potential as a footballer and where we thought he was up to in terms of his development and Steve has jumped on that straight away and got him included in the first squad that he could which is obviously this one coming up against Spain.
"Adam has been in and around the first team squad, he has travelled to a few away games and he has been in and around it at home.
"He's chomping at the bit now to take that next step forward, I've just spoken to him out on the training ground, he's enjoying it under the new manager and Kev and Dave and it's great for him. He's excited about getting that opportunity to go and play international football."
North End's youngsters are sure to face a tough challenge against one of the world football's top nations.
"I am sure they will have one or two who aren't bad," Ramsdale joked.
"Any international recognition for the boys is fantastic, I was talking to Conor and though San Marino was an easy game I am sure that Spain will be completely opposite ends of the scale - I am sure they will be a delight to play against."
You can check out the Youth Team's progress this weekend when they tackle Wrexham at Springfield's this Saturday with an 11am kick-off.
