Quartet brought back for Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez has kept faith with four players who decided to sit out the match against Germany two months ago for Wednesday night’s friendly against Malta.

Jeff Whitley, Phil Mulryne, Colin Murdock and James Quinn have all been reinstated for the friendly in Valletta.

The quartet were all free agents in June and felt that if they got injured against Germany it could harm their prospects of getting contracts.

Whitley and Mulryne are now with Cardiff, while Murdock is at Rotherham and Quinn at Peterborough.

Sheffield United’s Keith Gillespie, who was also a free agent at the time but decided to play, is also included in the 16-man squad.

Promising pair Chris Brunt of Sheffield Wednesday and Warren Feeney have also been drafted in while Wrexham goalkeeper Michael Ingham will provide back up to Maik Taylor.

Northern Ireland squad to face Malta on August 17: Taylor (Birmingham), Ingham (Wrexham), Hughes (Aston Villa), Murdock (Rotherham), Craigan (Motherwell), Whitley (Cardiff), Davis (Aston Villa), Johnson (Birmingham), Brunt (Sheffield Wednesday), Elliott (Hull), Gillespie (Sheffield United), Mulryne (Cardiff), Healy (Leeds), Quinn (Peterborough), Feeney (Luton), Jones (Crewe).