Taylor made his debut for the Northern Ireland U21 team in April 1998 at the age of 27, as an over-age player in a 2-1 friendly victory over Switzerland. His senior debut was against Germany in 1999: Northern Ireland lost 3–0. In an August 2005 friendly Taylor saved an injury time penalty from Malta's George Mallia to keep the score at 1–1. He became a regular in the Northern Ireland national team, and played 88 matches, including the famous 1–0 victory over England in September 2005.