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Patrick Kelly says he is "delighted" to have made his Northern Ireland debut but is "itching" for more caps.
Th 21-year-old Barnsley midfielder came on as a late substitute in the 1-0 win over Luxembourg, which brought the Group A campaign to a close for Michael O'Neill's side.
Kelly came through at Irish Premiership side Coleraine and moved to West Ham as a teenager in 2022.
After a loan at Doncaster Rovers, he joined League One side Barnsley on a permanent deal in the summer.
"It's something I've been working towards now for ages," Kelly said about his Northern Ireland debut.
"I'm really happy, a proud moment to make my debut.
"I was on standby for the last two camps when I knew I wasn't too far away. I'd spoken to Michael then and then obviously there were a couple of injuries in midfield, so I knew there was a good chance I could get called up and thankfully that has happened."
Kelly confirmed he had spoken to O'Neill about the prospect of moving away from West Ham, and says moving to Yorkshire with Barnsley has "worked out for me so far".
His call-up came after injuries to key midfielders Shea Charles and Ali McCann, while Ethan Galbraith and George Saville were both suspended for a match each.
NI's final qualifier in Belfast was a dead rubber, but they now have the play-offs to look forward to in March.
"I had a year left at West Ham [on his contract] and I had just had a good loan, and I was probably going to go on loan again to Doncaster - the same team I was at.
"We just had a chat and I asked him for a bit of advice because I had a couple of offers to go permanent.
"I just felt permanent would be better because I feel like when you're at a club as a permanent player you feel more valued and you maybe play a bit more.
"I just asked him what he thought I should do. He thought getting out of the loan cycle would be good and I didn't really see a pathway at West Ham as I could see going to other places, and at the time I thought it was the right thing to do."
Speaking in his post-match press conference, O'Neill said he felt Kelly had made the "right decision" by moving to Barnsley.
"He spoke to me in the summer and asked what I thought. I felt it was the right thing for him to leave and go to Barnsley.
"And that's not why he's in the squad - he's in the squad because he's made a real impression there.
"Conor Hourihane [Barnsley's manager] spoke glowingly about how he's adapted to their team, and they're a team that obviously want to challenge for promotion as well.
"He's just got to continue playing games, and if he continues to play games and play well, then obviously he's knocking on the door of the squad."
After earning his first senior cap, Kelly is now targeting more senior appearance in Northern Ireland's World Cup play-off in March.
Northern Ireland will discover their opponents in Thursday's draw, but know they will be away to a pot one team in the semi-final.
"I'm itching for it and it'd be the biggest came of my career," Kelly added.
"So hopefully I can kick on now at Barnsley and have a really good run of games to try and get myself in the squad, and the fingers crossed we get to the World Cup."
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