Michael Ingham (footballer) - International Career

International Career

Ingham was capped once for Northern Ireland at under-18 level, having made his first and only appearance in a 2–1 defeat to the Republic of Ireland on 9 March 1999. After being understudy to David Miskelly for two under-21 matches in 2000 he made his debut for the team in a 2–0 defeat to the Czech Republic on 23 March 2001. Having made his last under-21 appearance in a 4–0 defeat to the Czech Republic on 5 June 2001, his international career at this level concluded with four caps. Ingham was called into the senior Northern Ireland squad in August 2002 after Roy Carroll was released. He was called into the Northern Ireland B squad in May 2003, but was forced to withdraw because of injury. Ingham's form during a loan at Wrexham saw him called placed on standby for Northern Ireland's match with Serbia and Montenegro in April 2004. He was named in the Northern Ireland squad for their tour of the Caribbean in May, but he dislocated a finger in training in June, which meant he missed out on making his debut for the team. He eventually won his first cap for Northern Ireland in a 4–1 defeat against Germany in a friendly at Windsor Park on 4 June 2005, the Irish Football Association (IFA)'s 125th anniversary game, after coming on as a substitute for Maik Taylor on 76 minutes and conceding one goal scored by Lukas Podolski. On reflection of this match, Ingham said "The reaction of the crowd when I came on was amazing. To be honest I was holding back the tears as I never thought I would get such a reception. I was the proudest man in the ground." For this match, he was offered insurance by the IFA, due to him not yet being under contract at Wrexham. This appearance would result in a £30,000 payment for former club Cliftonville, which came as a part of the deal for Sunderland to sign him, but by August this had still to be received by the club. The FA Premier League was eventually called into the situation by Cliftonville, as they had only received the first part of the payment after he made his first team debut for Sunderland. Ingham himself was also due a £20,000 bonus for this appearance. Ingham featured on the bench for Northern Ireland as they beat England 1–0 in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier in September. He received call ups for friendlies against Portugal in November and Estonia in March 2006, although he only made the bench for both games. He was named by Northern Ireland in their end-of-season tour of the United States in May and started in the 1–0 defeat against Uruguay at the Giants Stadium on 21 May. By November, he had established himself as Northern Ireland's third choice goalkeeper behind Taylor and Roy Carroll. Ingham came on as a substitute for the second half of Northern Ireland's 0–0 draw against Wales on 6 February 2007, giving him his third and most recent international cap.