Corry Evans is thankful for the decade he has had in a Northern Ireland shirt but hopes to add Euro 2020 to his list of national treasures.
It was 10 years ago yesterday that the 28-year-old made his debut in a largely forgotten friendly defeat to Italy in Pisa.
Nigel Worthington was the boss as a makeshift team, including Irish League players Colin Coates and Marty Donnelly, suffered a 3-0 loss at Arena Garibaldi.
“It’s really flown by,” said Evans.
“I remember chasing Gennaro Gattuso around for 70-odd minutes and it was a night I’ll never forget.”
As a teenager at a time when Northern Ireland were struggling for form and direction, Evans never suspected his career would deliver the memories it has.
The Blackburn midfielder scored his first goal in green against Slovenia in a Euro 2012 qualifier the following year and played alongside brother Jonny at the Euro 2016 finals.
“Beating Ukraine in Lyon was special,” he said.
“When I retire and look back on my career, that win over Ukraine will be right up there at the top of the memories.”
He now hopes to gatecrash next summer’s Euro 2020 finals at the shock expense of Germany or Holland.
“It’s night and day since I made my debut to where we are now and huge credit has to go to Michael O’Neill,” said Evans.
“The way the fixtures have fallen is kind in the sense we can target 12 points from the opening four games.”
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