Trai Hume expects Northern Ireland to feed off the success that has been enjoyed by several of their young stars over the past few weeks.
Hume and his Sunderland team-mate Daniel Ballard have been celebrating earning promotion to the Premier League after a dramatic play-off campaign that ended with victory over Sheffield United at Wembley.
And that came at the end of a month in which Conor Bradley received his first Premier League winner’s medal with Liverpool and fellow 21-year-old Justin Devenny lifted the FA Cup with Crystal Palace.
Ballard, 25, and Hume, 23, will double the Premier League contingent in Michael O’Neill’s squad, something that Hume believes can only help as they look ahead to their World Cup qualifying campaign that starts in September.
Northern Ireland internationals Dan Ballard (left) and Trai Hume celebrate success with Sunderland in the Sky Bet Championship promotion play-off final at Wembley. (Photo by John Walton/PA Wire)Northern Ireland internationals Dan Ballard (left) and Trai Hume celebrate success with Sunderland in the Sky Bet Championship promotion play-off final at Wembley. (Photo by John Walton/PA Wire)
Northern Ireland internationals Dan Ballard (left) and Trai Hume celebrate success with Sunderland in the Sky Bet Championship promotion play-off final at Wembley. (Photo by John Walton/PA Wire)
“I don’t think there’s any doubt,” Hume said. “You’re exposing yourself to the best league in the world, so you want to try your best to do well there and if you can, you’re going to become a better player because of it.
“Obviously me and Dan are still young, Conor and Justin are still young, so hopefully we can have a lot of years in the Premier League and that will only benefit Northern Ireland going forward.
“I have no doubt there’s other players in the squad that will get themselves into the Premier League as well. Obviously it’s us four at the minute and hopefully we can try and push the lads and bring them up to the standard that we’re going to set.”
Northern Ireland are preparing for Saturday’s friendly away to Denmark and Tuesday’s match at home against Iceland, but their eyes are already on September when they begin their World Cup qualifying campaign with an away double-header against Luxembourg and Germany, with Slovakia also in Group A.
Playing in high-pressure games like the Championship play-off final is valuable experience ahead of facing the likes of Germany, and Hume said: “I think it will help us deal with the atmosphere a bit better. Obviously, the calibre of players will be a lot different. I think we will try our best to deal with that.
“I think the big games you do play in, you get used to the emotion of it and the challenge of playing in front of the crowd and not getting caught up in the emotion of the game.
“Germany is definitely going to be a lot different than Sheffield United. Like I say, we will just have to try our best to be ready and be focused for it.”
Germany are obvious favourites to top the group, with Northern Ireland vying to beat Slovakia and Luxembourg to second place and the play-off spot that would bring.
Ballard said they would treat their games against those two nations as cup finals.
“I think we can make a really positive start to the group,” he said. “I think the games against Luxembourg and Slovakia are going to be really important for us. I think they will all be like cup finals.
“I feel like we have a real opportunity this year to go and put ourselves in a strong spot to qualify.”
Sitting alongside Hume at Northern Ireland’s training camp in Marbella, Ballard reflected on two hugely memorable moments with Sunderland.
“I think everyone in the league agrees, if you can make it through the play-offs, it’s the most enjoyable way to (gain promotion),” Ballard said. “The goal is top two and we knew that was going to be a tough challenge.
“So I think we finished where we aimed this season and we probably knew we’d have to do it through the play-offs. If you win them, it’s an incredible two, three weeks. Not so much if you lose.”
It was particularly special for Ballard at the end of a season where he was restricted to 23 club appearances due to a succession of injury setbacks.
“I’ve been in and out of the team with injury and I’ve had to sit on the bench quite a bit as well this season which has been different for me and it’s been tough, psychologically, trying to deal with that and trying to keep going and help push the team,” he said. “It’s been a year where I’ve learned so much, and (Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris) helped me massively. I stayed connected with the team and by the time those games came round, I was fully focused and I was ready to give everything.”