Irish call up means McCartan misses Walsall clash

McCartan, who was spotted by the Clarets playing in the Northern Ireland Milk Cup in 2009, is in the Northern Ireland squad for the Elite stage of the European Under-17 Championships and they've been placed in a group with England, Belgium and Spain for the tournament that will be played in Belgium.

The Irish get underway on Saturday with a game against England that will be played in the Stadion de Leunen in Geel. They will follow that up with games against Spain and Belgium on Monday and Thursday next week with those two games to be played at the De Kempen Stadion in Tielen.

McCartan said before the squad left: "The opening game will be a big test, but I believe we are well matched with England in terms of skill. Spain, I think will be similar to Portugal, whom we played last year. Although we opened the scoring in that fixture, we slipped up and ended up losing 3-1.

We know we've come a long way to date and want to be able to give our best. It will be tough, but we're determined and want to proceed to the final stages of the Championship."

The winners of the group will qualify for the finals along with the winners of the six other Elite groups. They will join host Serbia in those finals which will be played in early May.