Although the domestic football season is now over, a handful of North End players are still in action for their respective national sides, with some featuring over the bank holiday weekend.
was first in action when he featured for Republic of Ireland U21s in their friendly against Qatar Olympic in Aachen, Germany. Will Hayhurst
Hayhurst played 40 minutes in the 1-1 draw, coming off for Kieran Sadlier just before half-time. Qatar took the lead on 32 minutes, but a last minute header from Mason Watkins-Clarke, of Aston Villa, secured a draw against a tough Qatar side.
Will is part of a younger, new-look U21s side under manager Noel King, who will be hoping to impress to secure a place in the squad for the remainder of the UEFA U21 Championships 2015 qualifying campaign as well as the following campaign.
On the other side of the world, Bailey Wright was settling into life as an international following his first call-up when he was named in the Australian preliminary 30-man World Cup squad. It has today been confirmed that Bailey is part of the final 27-man squad who will travel to Brazil and so his seat on the plane is now guaranteed.
Australia faced South Africa on Monday morning, and although the 21-year-old did not feature in the game, he was on the bench for his first match day experience with the Socceroos.
The Aussie will be hoping to impress in training with the hope of reaching the 23-man squad when the final squad is announced on 2nd June, before their final friendly before the World Cup against Croatia on Friday 6th June.
Australia were held to a 1-1 draw with South Africa, with Ayanda Patosi giving South Africa the lead on 13 minutes, only for Tim Cahill to equalise for the Socceroos just a minute later.
Their World Cup campaign begins on 13th June, where they will face Chile in their first match of a tough group alongside Netherlands and Spain.
Chris Humphrey has also had his season extended with a recall to the Jamaican national side under Winfried Schäfer and made his first international start.
The Reggae Boyz played their first friendly of the summer against Serbia on Monday, but fell to a 2-1 defeat, following two first half goals from Serbia.
Jamaica did get one back in the second half through Michael Seaton, but the spirited second half performance was unable to produce an equaliser.
The side can be happy with the performance against tough opposition with many positives to take from the game and will be hoping to take those in to the friendly against Switzerland this Friday.
Elsewhere, Scott Wiseman was part of the Gibraltar side that earned a 1-1 draw with Estonia. The side are preparing for their first ever UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign with this friendly against Estonia, followed by a match against Malta on Thursday 5th June.
Wiseman played over 70 minutes of the game, which marked his second cap for the side, who themselves have only played four matches since their first official international match in November 2013.
Their qualifying campaign starts on 7th September against Poland and Scott and his teammates will be hoping for a win against Malta in next month’s friendly to go into the qualifiers on a positive note.
Tomorrow, youngster Alan Browne will be in action for the Republic of Ireland U19s, who will host Iceland in the European Championships elite qualification phase.
This will be their first game of this group stage, which also features Turkey and Serbia. Should they qualify, they will compete in the U19s championships in Hungary at the end of July this year. The second game is against Turkey on Friday 30th, before facing Serbia on Sunday 1st June.