I'm not going to criticise the player but there's two things that you've said there which carry no weight in your defence of him.
He's 23, that's not young by any stretch of the imagination in footballing terms. If he was 20 or younger, then you might have a point. There's 100s of players younger than him in the English leagues who have been first team regulars at their respective clubs since their teens.
Also, getting picked for a Northern Ireland squad is hardly a testament of his ability. They have players from League One in their squad.