Dale Taylor thanked the Green and White Army and manager Ian Baraclough after making his senior Northern Ireland debut.
The Nottingham Forest teenager replaced Josh Magennis in the 78th minute of Friday night's World Cup qualifier in Belfast.
Northern Ireland recorded a 1-0 win courtesy of Benas Satkus' own goal in the first half.
It is their first win on home soil in two years and a welcome victory which lifts Baraclough's side into third spot in Group C.
At just 17 years and 335 days old, Taylor becomes the 12th youngest player to play for Northern Ireland.
"Obviously it was an unbelievable atmosphere as always," Taylor told the Irish FA.
"The GAWA (Green and White Army) is unbelievable and I want to thank all the fans for coming out.
"And big thanks to Ian for trusting me to give me my debut. It was unbelievable.
"There were a few butterflies before, but when I entered the pitch and everyone was screaming and shouting, it was unbelievable."
Baraclough beamed at Taylor's confident performance under the Windsor spotlights.
He told Sky Sports : "Dale hasn't been fazed by it at all. He has come in at 17 years of age and dealt with everything that's been thrown at him.
"There have been a couple of times in training where you see a flash of brilliance, and you think, 'go on, give him a chance'.
"You would have preferred being two or three up at the time, but Josh (Magennis) felt a bit of fatigue and we didn't want to take any chances with that.
"So we decided to throw Dale on and see what he can do for 15 or 20 minutes. And nothing fazed him and he didn't look worried."
