The 29-year-old – who qualifies for Northern Ireland via his Belfast-born grandmother – has been drafted in by boss Michael O’Neill following confirmation on Monday of first-choice shot-stopper Bailey Peacock-Farrell’s injury withdrawal.
Pym has already featured in his first Northern Ireland training session alongside goalkeepers Bolton Wanderers’ Luke Southwood and Pierce Charles of Sheffield Wednesday.
Pym is now in his third season with Mansfield, having initially joined the club on loan from Peterborough United.
Pym kicked off his youth and senior club career at home side Exeter City before a transfer to Peterborough in 2019 and also has a loan spell with Stevenage on his CV.
His only previous experience of international football was with England under 20s for a friendly against Romania during 2014.
O’Neill has also had his preparations for the forthcoming UEFA Nations League games against Belarus and Bulgaria disrupted by the exit of Daniel Ballard due to injury.
Northern Ireland will remain at Stockport County’s Carrington training venue until Thursday when the squad departs for a neutral behind-closed-doors date this Saturday in Hungary against Belarus.
O’Neill’s men kick off this latest international window sitting third in League C Group 3 following a 2-0 victory over Luxembourg and loss to Bulgaria, with the latter set to visit Belfast next Tuesday.
On Monday, O’Neill highlighted the need to maximise Northern Ireland’s training time in England.
“This is a great base for us,” he said. “We are developing as a team and there are good facilities here to work in.
“We just want to continue to progress.
“We have a longer lead-in time to this game (against Belarus) than for previous games so we’ve got to make the most of the time we have here.
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