Injury concerns quashed as Portsmouth midfielder's surprise omission from Northern Ireland's victory over Denmark explained

Terry Devlin’s omission from the Northern Ireland squad for Monday night’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Denmark has been explained.

The Pompey midfielder’s name was absent from the match-day team-sheet, after being called up to Michael O’Neill’s senior set-up for their games against the Danes and Finland on Friday.

There was concern that the 20-year-old - who has started the Blues’ past two league games - had picked up an injury while away on international duty and was the latest name to be added to the Fratton Park injury list.

However, those fears have since been quashed with news that the Pompey youngster was left out of the latest senior Northern Ireland so that he could link up with the under-21s for their Euro 2025 qualifier against England.

That game is being played at Goodison tonight (7.45pm kick-off), which should then see Devlin head back south on Wednesday and ahead of Blackpool’s Fratton Park visit on Saturday.

The decision saw Devlin - who was an unused sub in the 4-0 defeat to Finland - miss out on a famous win for O’Neill’s side as they beat Denmark 2-0 at Windsor Park for only their third qualifying campaign win. However, tonight’s game at Everton will give the former Glentoran man another chance to get important minutes under his belt, having started for Tommy Wright’s side against Serbia under-21s back in October.

No information has been provided yet on the calf injury that forced Pompey winger Paddy Lane to pull out of Northern Ireland’s latest international fixtures. But Blues fans should know more on that, along with Marlon Pack and Tom Lowery’s potential availability for Saturday’s League One game against Blackpool, when John Mousinho hold’s his pre-match press conference on Wednesday.

Devlin has featured 12 times for Pompey since his summer move, scoring twice and recording one assist.