ALL those years spent declining a night on the town with teammates in favour of resting in his room and dedicating his youth to football has proved worth it for George McCartney.

Growing up in Northern Ireland, he always knew one day he would have to move to England if he was to succeed in becoming a professional footballer.

So, at the tender age of 16, having just left school, McCartney took the gamble. He flew over to the British mainland to spend a couple of weeks at Sheffield United, Ipswich and Swindon, where he impressed.

But it was when he arrived in the North-East for trials at Middlesbrough and Sunderland that he had his real chance to fulfil a dream. It came down to a coin toss between the two neighbours.

"I had a choice between the two. I just thought everyone here was friendly and I thought this was the club for me," says McCartney, who was spotted playing for Northern Ireland under-15s by Bryan 'Pop' Robson and Jim Hagen.

Signing apprentice forms for Sunderland was his first step up that ladder. But he wanted to make sure that uprooting across the Irish Sea was not just going to be for the short-term.

Sacrifices had to be made. No Saturday nights on the town with the boys, instead he would keep himself in his hostel room and read a book or watch television - a difficult task in itself when you consider he shared a house with 20 other promising teenage footballers.

"I always said to myself I was going to make it as a professional footballer one day. But it was hard, I was homesick for the first few months," says McCartney.

"At the start of my time at the club I lived in a house with a group of lads. Jim and Karen (the landlords) helped me through my days and I owe them a great deal.

"It can be hard for young footballers because they come in at 15, 16 and 17 and they just want to go out drinking all of the time thinking they have made it. I wasn't one of those, I wanted to concentrate on football.

"I wanted to prove that one day I was good enough to be a regular in someone's first team. I'm at the stage now where I know I'm playing and I couldn't be any happier."

Little did he know when he first arrived that, six years later, he would be putting on the captain's armband at the age of 22 and leading Sunderland out in an FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford.

"I'd never even captained my local team before this," says McCartney who turns 23 on April 29. "But I've just always made sure that I have given 110 per cent and worked hard."

Overcoming Millwall tomorrow will offer McCartney the chance to become one of the youngest ever captains in an FA Cup final, though he will not set a record, as former Middlesbrough coach David Nish led Leicester out against Manchester City in 1969 at the age of 21 years and 212 days.

McCartney will not be too concerned about records, particularly with the tricky test of meeting the Lions in the semi-final lying in front of him.

It is the Belfast-born defender's first season as skipper, so it is incredible for him to think about the prospect of appearing in a final and having the possibility of playing in the UEFA Cup next season.

McCartney classes himself 'lucky to step into Michael Gray's shoes' but Gray, for one, may feel a tinge of jealousy, having been with Sunderland for ten years without major success.

Had Jason McAteer not missed so much of the campaign with a couple of hamstring injuries then it may have been different. McAteer had been installed as captain by Mick McCarthy.

"The manager asked me if I would do it against Huddersfield in the League Cup in September. I just thought it was a one-off. Come the next game I expected McAteer or Paul Thirlwell to have it back.

"But I've kept it ever since and it's certainly the proudest moment of my career. I would never have thought I would lead a team in a semi-final at 22.

"Jason likes to have his say and probably still sees himself as captain on the pitch as well. When he came back from injury it was probably a bit of a shock to him."