Northern Ireland have been forced to promote several youngsters to the senior ranks in recent years
Michael O'Neill insists it is crucial that Northern Ireland adopts a "sensible approach" with the country's emerging young prospects.
Liverpool's Conor Bradley has become a pivotal talisman for O'Neill, alongside the likes of Shea Charles, Trai Hume and Dan Ballard who scored against Luxembourg. "Where we set the bar for these players, we have to be, not realistic, but sensible. We have to be sensible with it. The average age of the team was just over 24 on Thursday night, I'm looking at our group of players and some of them are already very close to having 20 international caps, and they're 20 years of age.
"For a lot of these lads, their careers at this minute and the level it can go to is a little bit unknown. But what I do know is, I see characteristics in all of them that makes me think they can play at the top level of the game and if you have players playing at the top level, obviously you've a better chance at international level.
"There's always relief and, yeah, I was a little bit worried. It was a difficult week, we didn't have many players to choose from once we lost a few," he said.
Jonny Evans Michael O'neill Paddy Mcnair Steven Davis
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