Northern Ireland defender Trai Hume will be out to lead Sunderland to the Premier League
Northern Ireland’s Daniel Ballard will hope more celebrations are on the way with Sunderland
Northern Ireland’s Daniel Ballard will hope more celebrations are on the way with Sunderland
Northern Ireland defender Trai Hume will be out to lead Sunderland to the Premier League
Northern Ireland defender Trai Hume will be out to lead Sunderland to the Premier League
Northern Ireland’s Daniel Ballard will hope more celebrations are on the way with Sunderland
thumbnail: Northern Ireland’s Daniel Ballard will hope more celebrations are on the way with Sunderland
Steven Beacom
thumbnail: Northern Ireland defender Trai Hume will be out to lead Sunderland to the Premier League
thumbnail: Northern Ireland defender Trai Hume will be out to lead Sunderland to the Premier League
Michael O’Neill insists that Sunderland duo Trai Hume and Daniel Ballard are ready to play in the Premier League.
The Northern Ireland manager has also admitted he is “desperate” for the duo and the Black Cats to win Saturday's Championship Promotion Play-Off against Sheffield United at Wembley despite his links with Newcastle United.
O’Neill joined Newcastle as a teenager from Coleraine and played regularly for the Toon Army between 1987 and 1989 but admires Sunderland as a club and has cast aside any North East rivalry in the hope he has two more Northern Ireland players in the top-flight of English football in the 2025/26 season.
In his 26-man squad for the June friendlies away to Denmark and at home to Iceland, which was announced on Thursday, O’Neill only has two Premier League players – Liverpool’s title winner Conor Bradley and Crystal Palace’s FA Cup winner Justin Devenny.
Given the quality of Hume and Ballard, there is every chance top-flight clubs could come looking for them in the summer if they don’t go up with Sunderland, though O’Neill feels it may be better for the defenders to do it with their current side as they are established at the Stadium of Light.
Asked if he felt his top defenders Hume and Ballard were ready for the Premier League, O’Neill replied: “Yes, I do. I think sometimes we maybe underestimate our players in that situation. I do believe they are.
“There would be a lot of clubs aware of how consistent they have been in the Championship, and we have seen other players step up from the Championship and do well in the Premier League.
“But it is a challenge. Sometimes I think you are better going up with a team than being bought into a club.
“If you go up in that situation, as Sunderland may do, then you are already well-established at the club and they are first-choice players, which is important as well.
“They will play against a more experienced Sheffield United team and a team that have been through it and have more players that have been in the Premier League, but there is a real freshness to Sunderland.
“If Sunderland can deal with the occasion, I think they have a really good chance.”
O’Neill wants as many of his players performing at as high a level as possible, hence his desire to see Sunderland deliver at Wembley even though he enjoyed playing for their fiercest rivals Newcastle at the start of his professional career.
“I’m desperate for Sunderland to get up,” stated ex-Stoke City boss O’Neill.
“It’s quite funny because when I went to Newcastle, Sunderland were actually in Division Three. I never played in a Newcastle v Sunderland game. We weren’t in the same League, so I probably don’t have that same rivalry that exists in the North East.
“I have enjoyed going to watch Sunderland over the past two and a half years. It is probably one of the more enjoyable places to watch a team play.
“The crowd are fantastic, the stadium’s fantastic and it’s a really good club, and I think if Sunderland go up, it will be a real positive thing for the Championship because they have built their team and built it with young players.
“I know what it’s like because I walked into a club (Stoke) that tried to buy their way back into the Premier League when they went down and it is a very difficult situation if that doesn’t happen, so I think Sunderland are well-primed.
“They have been good consistently in the Championship over a long period of time, and I’ve seen them develop as a team and I’ve seen that in Daniel and Trai when they come with us so, hopefully, they can take that next step.”
Two other players named in O’Neill’s squad are involved in the Football League Play-Offs with Jamie Donley, on loan from Tottenham, and Ethan Galbraith playing for Leyton Orient against Charlton on Sunday in the League One decider.
While Liverpool’s Bradley was the standout name returning to the squad for the trip to Denmark on June 7 and the friendly against Iceland in Belfast three days later after missing out on the March matches, O’Neill also welcomes back Ballard, Preston’s Ali McCann, Bolton’s Dion Charles and St Mirren’s Caolan Boyd-Munce.
Not included are Bolton’s Eoin Toal, Motherwell’s Kofi Balmer, Oxford’s Ciaron Brown, Rangers winger Ross McCausland and Jordan Thompson, who has just signed for Preston from Stoke. Goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell has been left out.
“We’re still missing one or two through injury, but I think overall we look a little bit stronger than we did in March,” O’Neill said.
Northern Ireland are due to train in Marbella in Spain for four days ahead of the friendly against the Danes.