Michael Gault has revealed how his one and only Northern Ireland call-up came amid a haze of St Patrick's Day beers and celebrations.
The former Linfield captain was drafted in by Nigel Worthington for a friendly against Georgia back in 2008, which Northern Ireland won 4-1.
Worthington notified Gault of his inclusion by telephone, catching the ex-Blues midfielder in the middle of a Paddy's Day party at a bar run by the family of then teammate Conor Hagan.
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Gault joked that he woke up the next day wondering if the Worthington conversation even happened.
Speaking on Belfast Live's That's What I Call Football podcast, he said: "It was actually St Patrick's Day at about 8pm when I got the call. So as you can imagine I was enjoying myself when I saw this number ringing me.
"It was actually Conor Hagan's bar in Lurgan. He used to run a bar up there with his family.
"So it was free drink all day and all night, and I think my face was painted green at one stage.
"I saw the number ringing me and it turned out to be Nigel Worthington. I remember waking up the next day and thinking 'did that actually just happen to me?'.
"So it was quite eventful."
Gault was joined by Linfield teammates Peter Thompson and Alan Mannus in that Northern Ireland squad. Current Blues boss David Healy was also in the panel.
"I never got a touch in training," Gault joked.
"Steven Davis was in the squad, as were David Healy and Damien Johnson who I know well. Grant McCann and Jonny Evans were also there.
"I was just grateful to be involved. I will never forget it. I was a hard-working centre midfielder and not a flair player, so I was just pleased to be involved.
"Peter Thompson and Alan Mannus were also involved. So there were three Linfield players on the pitch at the same time which was nice for the club and great for us."
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