Squad Profiles - Senior
Damien Johnson
Club: Birmingham City
Date of birth: 18th November 1978
Place of birth: Lisburn
NI debut: 29th May 1999; away v. Republic of Ireland (W 1-0)
Caps: 48
Goals: 0
By Martin Harris
MAKE no mistake, Damien Johnson is one of the most talented players currently gracing the full Northern Ireland set-up.
Damien first came to public attention with some inspired performances for the Under-21s (for whom he appeared 11 times) although the more dedicated among us will have followed his career since his U15 days.
He made his full debut in the Omagh benefit game against the Republic of Ireland in May 1999, coming on for the last quarter-of-an-hour in place of Keith Rowland.
A number of cameo appearances followed before he completed his first entire game, the 1-0 defeat to Yugoslavia in August 2000. Since then he hasn't looked back.
A tricky midfielder/right winger in the Keith Gillespie mode his club career took a little while to get going but he eventually commanded a regular starting slot with Blackburn Rovers before moving to Birmingham City in March 2002.
He marked his first few months at the club in style with a long range strike against Leeds United which would eventually be voted by Blues fans as their goal of the season.
He is currently playing the best football of his career and at the beginning of the 2006 / 2007 season Brummie boss Steve Bruce handed him the captain's armband.
