Context: Northern Ireland (; Ulster Scots: "") is a top-level constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the northeast of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or "part" of the United Kingdom, amongst other terms. Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the UK's population. Established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Assembly holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the British government. Northern Ireland co-operates with the Republic of Ireland in some areas, and the Agreement granted the Republic the ability to "put forward views and proposals" with "determined efforts to resolve disagreements between the two governments"., Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second largest on the island of Ireland, and the heart of the tenth largest Primary Urban Area in the United Kingdom. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after the 2015 council reform. Belfast was granted city status in 1888., A Primary Urban Area (PUA) is an area defined by the Department for Communities and Local Government in the United Kingdom as a statistical tool for analysing the major cities of England, originating as part of their "State of the English Cities" report and database., The River Lagan (Ulster Scots: "Lagan Wattèr") is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs 53.5 miles (86 km) from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The River Lagan forms much of the border between County Antrim and County Down in the east of Ulster. It rises as a tiny, fast-moving stream near to the summit of Slieve Croob; Transmitter Road runs nearby. From here it continues on its journey to Belfast through Dromara, Donaghcloney and Dromore. On the lower slopes of the mountain, it is joined by another branch from Legananny (Cratlieve) Mountain, just opposite Slieve Croob. At Dromara, about four miles from its source, its height above the sea is 390 ft (119m). As the river continues on its journey to Belfast, it turns east to Magheralin into a broad plain between the plateaus of Antrim and Down., Ireland (Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth., The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, it includes the island of Great Britain (the name of which is also loosely applied to the whole country), the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign statethe Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to its east, the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south-south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of , the UK is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants. Together, this makes it the fourth most densely populated country in the European Union., Billy ( Bill ) McCracken ( 29 January 1883 , Belfast -- 20 January 1979 ) was a Northern Irish association football player . His position was defender . McCracken played for the English club Newcastle United from 1904 to 1924 , helping them win three League titles and the FA Cup . McCracken was so adept at catching the opposing teams forwards offside that he forced a change in the rules of the game . In total he played 432 games for Newcastle , scoring 8 goals . After leaving Newcastle he went on to become Hull City manager in 1923 and he took them to the FA Cup semi-final in 1930 . He left the club a year later . He later had a short term in charge of Gateshead F.C. , before managing Millwall F.C. from 1933 -- 1936 . He later went on to manage the now defunct Aldershot F.C. McCracken is one of just a few players whose actions have brought changes the Laws Of Football when , as a centre - half at Newcastle , he masterminded the technique of making opposition forwards ruled `` offside '' when the rules stated that 3 defenders must be between the attacking player and the goal line . So successful was McCracken 's defensive ploy that the Offside Rule was changed to `` 2 defenders '' between the foremost attacker and the goal line `` . His team mates while playing for Ireland included Archie Goodall , Billy Scott , Jack Kirwan and Robert Milne ., Subject: billy mccracken, Relation: country_of_citizenship, Options: (A) earth (B) england (C) great britain (D) ireland (E) northern ireland (F) united kingdom
Output: northern ireland