McMullan gets International call-up for Iceland friendly

The 20-year-old, who is currently on loan at Waterford FC from his club Fleetwood Town FC cut his teeth in Warrenpoint coming through their Academy before making his debut for the Senior panel in the NIFL Premiership in 2022 – already a sensational talent at just 17 years of age.

It wasn’t long before his skills were spotted and Stephen signed for Fleetwood Town at the end of that season where he made his first team debut in April 2023 with a clean sheet in their 1-0 victory over Milton Keynes Dons.

"He's a lovely lad and we always knew he was going to do well,” said Warrenpoint Town Chairman Johnny Bird.

“He was only 17 when he was with our senior team. His father was very much involved with the club as well. He had a coffee shop in Dundalk where they lived and Stephen used to travel up and down.

“He could do everything, he was a great catcher of the ball, great at coming out and a great shot stopper. We were sorry to lose him but we're delighted for him. Barry Gray brought him in from the Academy. His attitude was second to none and he's still in contact and comes up to us to see games when he's home. There are no airs or graces about him and we're all delighted to see him getting the call-up and doing so well.”

Michael O’Neill named McMullan on the squad for their final friendly game of the current International window after Northern Ireland’s narrow 2-1 defeat away to Denmark last Saturday.

The Waterford number 1 has been in fine form in recent weeks and clearly made an impression on the Northern Ireland manager with a string of strong performances in the League of Ireland.

It’s not the first call-up for the Armagh native who was included in the squad as a substitute for their UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers against Denmark and Finland in 2023. He had worked his way through the ranks before that, representing Northern Ireland at U21, U19 and U18 level and for the ROI U18s in 2021.