He hadn't started an international since a few weeks before he suffered his cruciate ligament injury. Since his return from that injury he'd made five substitute appearances including their win at home against Belgium and the wins in Israel and Cyprus.
They won 2-0 tonight with goals from their star pair Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale. It wasn't enough for them to win the group; they've finished as runners up to Belgium who beat Israel 3-1 with both Man City's Kevin De Bruyne and Chelsea's Eden Hazard on the scoresheet.
But the Welsh are off to their first finals tournament since 1958 even if that particular statistic has upset former Claret Leighton James who recalls them reaching the quarter-finals in 1976 in the days when only the semi-finals and final were played in tournament format.
With Sam winning his latest cap, three of our players were also on duty for Northern Ireland's under-21 team who were beaten 2-1 in Lurgan by Macedonia despite having a 1-0 lead at half time. Cameron Dummigan was again in the starting line up, playing the full game but both Conor Mitchell and Luke Conlan were unused substitutes while former Burnley player Shay McCartan came on as a sub during the second half.
Could any of those players push themselves into the full Northern Ireland squad for the Euros?
But tonight's about Sam and Wales and our congratulations to Sam who should now become the first Burnley player to appear in the Euro finals.
His cap tonight has been added to the Internationals section which can be found in the Players drop down menu.