Two years ago Stan brought the future of Irish soccer to America. Where are they now?

[eirebhoy]

Some guy called "Gleeson" who I can't even recall who they are.
He's 1st choice central midfielder for the U21s. Our U21s midfield is very strong. Even when we're losing 3-0 we tend to be controlling the game.

[Stuttgart88]

Stephen Gleeson is still in our U21s and has played quite well. He's struggling to get into Wolves's team and is back out on loan again. MK Dons?

Harsh on Shane Long. I think he's doing alright but his club have been poor over last couple of months. I think he's got every chnace still.

Colin Doyle may get another chance soon, Taylor won't go on forever. Superb physique for a keeper but I often come away having expected better from him.

I don't think Wayne Henderson is good enough. I don't even think he was our best U21 keeper when he had that shirt.

St. Ledger should be in the squad in most people's opinion.

O'Halloran has been really unlucky with injury - 2 ACL injuries as far as I can remember.

Funny thing about Potter is that he actually played really well out there, showing composure and a passing range we don't usually see in an Irish midfield. He played well in Denmark too I think. It poses the question as to what standard the opposition was exactly, and also whether you need top quality players to compete against the middle tier in international football, or just the right type of player.

You've also got to remember that Stan picked that bunch, probably with input from Givens. You can be pretty sure that better young Irish players like Shane Supple or others were left out. I always felt that many of Stan's young or fringe call ups were haphazard at best.

[Jicked]

I always felt that many of Stan's young or fringe call ups were haphazard at best.

I think that sums up the entire reign of Staunton, haphazard at the very, very best. The guy simply didn't have a clue and never even tried.

[Royal rover]

excellent post - i think it's awful though that really one on this list has made it if you like - you mention alan o brien - i went to watch him a few months ago for hibs- he wasn't up to much - in saying that he is starting to play well, and start more regularly

[irishultra]

I thought it was interesting looking back at all the "starlets" and older "promising" but untested players many of whom have vanished from the international fold, probably never to be seen again.

The roster for the trip was:

IRELAND

GOALKEEPERS: Nicky Colgan (Barnsley / ENG), Colin Doyle (Birmingham City / ENG), Wayne Henderson (Preston North End / ENG)

DEFENDERS: Alex Bruce (Ipswich Town / ENG), Derek Geary (Sheffield United / ENG), Stephen Kelly (Birmingham City / ENG), Paul McShane (West Bromwich Albion / ENG), Joseph O’Cearuill (Arsenal / ENG), John O’Shea (Manchester United / ENG), Sean St. Ledger (Preston North End / ENG)

MIDFIELDERS: Stephen Hunt (Reading / ENG), Stephen Ireland (Manchester City / ENG), Kevin Kilbane (Wigan Athletic), Darren Potter (Wolverhampton / ENG)

FORWARDS: Kevin Doyle (Reading / ENG), Shane Long (Reading / ENG) Alan O’Brien (Newcastle United / ENG)

Manager: Steve Staunton

http://njmg.typepad.com/sbi/2007/05/rosters_announc.html

(Ireland and O'Shea pulled out because they're lazy dicks, McShane had a playoff game so was also excused)




The 3 goalkeepers are all rotting for the reserves of their clubs, the trip was meant to signal Colin Doyles coming of age as he was Birminghams number 1 but has spent 2 years on the bench since. Colgan and Henderson may never get international callups again.

Derek Geary has fallen down the pecking order had Sheff Utd and is just some joe average championship bencher these days. Alex Bruce similarly. Though the latter still gets called up for some reason.

Joseph O’Cearuill has faded into Eircom League obscurity, never to be seen again.

Darren Potter looked like the future of our midfield but has had an atrocious two seasons looking like utter muck these days. Another who won't be part of the Irish setup for the foreseeable future. And Alan O’Brien has fallen off the map completely.

Long has pretty much stagnated, he's still at a decent level but has never forced himself into the first side for Reading. Doyle, Hunt and St.Ledger are the only ones who can claim to have gone from strength to strength. The latter bizarrely never getting a cap.

Then there were others drafted in later. O'Halloran and Bennett who are almost forgotten players at this stage. Some guy called "Gleeson" who I can't even recall who they are. The unmistakable Joe Lapira and the transparently token showing of Joe Gamble. Keogh, Stokes and Murphy all made the trip too. None of them have really progressed but at least they're still on the stage, still its disappointing how the only one out of this entire batch who has come on leaps and bounds since then is the one who entered self-exile. :mad:

an indication to the joke that is the irish national team, that a player performing excellently at the time would be considered a 'token' player.


and the 'eircom' league doesn't exist, surely someone so into football like yourself ciaran would know this?

[tetsujin1979]

Graham Gartland was called up as well, but missed the phone call because he was at a wedding!
People criticise the capping of Joe Lapira, but far more things went wrong in those two games - Ronnie O'Brien refused to train with the squad, Michael Parkhurst likewise turned down the chance to turn out for the Boys in Green

[Irish_Praha]

How's that Norris guy doing at Ipswich? Keeping quite after his (in)famous goal celebration?
Has Lee Frecklington made any progress over the last few years?
Lewis Emanuel got a Football League Trophy winners medal today.

[irishultra]

Graham Gartland was called up as well, but missed the phone call because he was at a wedding!
People criticise the capping of Joe Lapira, but far more things went wrong in those two games - Ronnie O'Brien refused to train with the squad, Michael Parkhurst likewise turned down the chance to turn out for the Boys in Green



Parkhurst is an Irish-American (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish-American) and thus holds an Irish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ireland) passport. He had declared that he would be willing to play for the Irish national team (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ireland_national_football_team) if his American ambitions never came to fruition.[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Parkhurst#cite_note-futureisnow-1) Parkhurst was called up by the United States national team (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_men%27s_national_soccer_team) for the 2007 Gold Cup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_CONCACAF_Gold_Cup), and earned his first cap against Trinidad and Tobago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_and_Tobago_national_football_team) on June 9, 2007, thus eliminating any further possibility of playing for the Republic of Ireland.


lol who did he think he was? 'willing to play for the irish national team' lmao.

[Mouthpiece]

Ronnie O'Brien refused to train with the squad,

To be fair to O'Brien to say he refused is a bit off the mark, he was recovering from knee surgery when he got the call to say he'd been named in the squad, nobody had bothered to check if he was fit or available before releasing the squad.

[tetsujin1979]

I posted this table about the original squad called up by Staunton for the States, and the squad that eventually went

Original Squad Eventual Squad Reason for withdrawal

Goalkeepers Goalkeepers
Nicky Colgan Nicky Colgan
Wayne Henderson Wayne Henderson
Colin Doyle Colin Doyle

Defenders Defenders
Stephen Kelly Stephen Kelly
Paul McShane Play-offs
Sean St Ledger Injured in squad training
Alex Bruce Alex Bruce
Derek Geary Injured
Joseph O’Cearuill Joseph O’Cearuill
John O’Shea Injured
Alan Bennett
Peter Murphy
Stephen O’Halloran

Midfielders Midfielders
Kevin Kilbane Kevin Kilbane
Darren Potter Darren Potter
Stephen Ireland Family commitments
Stephen Hunt Stephen Hunt
Alan O’Brien Alan O’Brien
Liam Miller Family commitments
Stephen Gleeson
Joe Gamble

Strikers Strikers
Kevin Doyle Kevin Doyle
Shane Long Shane Long
Caleb Folan Injured
Daryl Murphy Daryl Murphy
Stephen Elliott Family commitments
Anthony Stokes Anthony Stokes
Andy Keogh Andy Keogh
Joe Lapira

[tetsujin1979]

To be fair to O'Brien to say he refused is a bit off the mark, he was recovering from knee surgery when he got the call to say he'd been named in the squad, nobody had bothered to check if he was fit or available before releasing the squad.
Ireland played Ecuador on May 23rd, 2007: http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/sport/soccer/ireland-draw-11-with-ecuador-in-new-york-friendly-683785.html
According to the Toronto's MLS records from 2007 - http://web.mlsnet.com/schedule/results.jsp?team=t280&year=2007 - O'Brien played a day later in a friendly against Benfica - http://web.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20070523&content_id=94939&vkey=news_t280&fext=.jsp&team=t280
He only missed one of the next six games, or at least he's not mentioned in the match report.
Off The Ball on NewsTalk contacted the club to speak to him, and he said he'd only talk to them if they didn't ask about him not wanting to join the Ireland team. Which was obviously what they wanted to talk to him about, so the interview never took place.

[rambler14]

Incidently potential world superstar Joe Lapira is currently plying his trade for Nybergsund I.L in the Norwegian Adeccoligaen which is the 1st Division in Norway, the league below the Premier Division...............glad to see he's moved on to bigger and better things then!:rolleyes:

[irishfan86]

Incidently potential world superstar Joe Lapira is currently plying his trade for Nybergsund I.L in the Norwegian Adeccoligaen which is the 1st Division in Norway, the league below the Premier Division...............glad to see he's moved on to bigger and better things then!:rolleyes:

While he never should have been capped, I think you're being a bit harsh on him.

He's scored 7 goals in 23 matches in a foreign country, albeit at the second tier.

If he had come over from America and got that kind of tally in League 1 or 2 at age 22, we'd probably be hopeful that he could be a decent player in the future.

I may be laughed out of it, but if this guy continues to progress, he could be an option for us in his mid-late 20s.

[Razors left peg]

While he never should have been capped, I think you're being a bit harsh on him.

He's scored 7 goals in 23 matches in a foreign country, albeit at the second tier.

If he had come over from America and got that kind of tally in League 1 or 2 at age 22, we'd probably be hopeful that he could be a decent player in the future.

I may be laughed out of it, but if this guy continues to progress, he could be an option for us in his mid-late 20s.

I think u may be right:D

[billybunter]

He's 1st choice central midfielder for the U21s. Our U21s midfield is very strong. Even when we're losing 3-0 we tend to be controlling the game.

if we're losing 3-0, we're hardly contorlling the game???

[Dodge]

Joseph O’Cearuill has faded into Eircom League obscurity, never to be seen again.



He simply wasn't good enough for the League of Ireland, despite his two international caps. Played about 10 games for Pats, being the worst player on the park in every single one of them

Proof, if it was ever needed, that the League of Ireland is better than the Irish national side :p

[Razors left peg]

I really thought after that tour that Potter would kick on to be a really good player. I suppose with late bloomers like Andrews and Kinsella before him there might be still hope but unlikely unless he has the desire

[Wangball]

Incidently potential world superstar Joe Lapira is currently plying his trade for Nybergsund I.L in the Norwegian Adeccoligaen which is the 1st Division in Norway, the league below the Premier Division...............glad to see he's moved on to bigger and better things then!:rolleyes:

If you haven't actually seen him play for his new team I don't think you can draw any conclusions....he's still young enough that he can make an impact and given our limited pool of players we can't really afford to be writing anyone off

[Dr. Ogba]

I really thought after that tour that Potter would kick on to be a really good player. I suppose with late bloomers like Andrews and Kinsella before him there might be still hope but unlikely unless he has the desire


same here Razor, I had been touting him for a while ever since seeing him play for the u21s a few times (outshining his then midfield partner Glenn Whelan might I add)....he seems to have faded into obscurity unfortunately and there have been rumours about his bad attitude which can't have helped things. Where is he these days? Still rotting in Wolves reserves?

[Row Z]

on-loan with Sheff Wed, playing alongside James O'Connor if i remember correctly...

[eirebhoy]

if we're losing 3-0, we're hardly contorlling the game???
Why not? We controlled both games against England and they caught us on the break. Defensively our U21s have been a shambles in many games. They've also failed to take lots of chances. But on the ball in the midfield area our U21's have been very impressive with Gleeson a regular. So in conclusion, I think our U21s are weak up front and in defence but in midfield very strong. Lots of competition in that area as proven by James McCarthy only making the bench in the last game despite doing very well at that level in his few games so far.

[Stuttgart88]

Lots of competition in that area as proven by James McCarthy only making the bench in the last game despite doing very well at that level in his few games so far.I'm not sure that it proves anything, given who's in charge!

I agree though, the midfield performances from our U21s have been good. At St. Mary's the trio of Garvan, Quinn and O'Toole were superb. Walcott & Lennon were the difference that night.

[Mad Moose]

if we're losing 3-0, we're hardly contorlling the game???

Of course you can. The opposition may only have had a limited number of attempts but were clearly more clinical. You can be absolutely outplayed and win a game. Ask Jack Charlton.

As for the original thread well I think your been a bit unfair on Steve Staunton. I've seen quite a few of the lads in that squad the last couple of seasons and I would have respected Staunton's decision to blood players on a tour. It was always going to be a chance and a gamble on certain players and so it has proved with one or two. Natural wastage however.

We can all stand back in hindsight and draw another nail in Staunton's coffin. Geary was a quick and solid right back whom I liked when I watched him. Sean St Ledger has been growing and developing at Centre Back.Another player I liked. Alex Bruce on the other hand having lived in Ipswich became something of a sicknote and was probably expected to be an excellent defender based on his fathers career. I think Alex suffered breathing difficulties in cold air or something though I'm not certain what medical affliction he had exactly.

Actually looking at the squad the drop off rate of players who didn't make it doesn't actually make for scary reading. Quite a few of that squad are the options available to Trappatoni right now. For players not to fulfill potential isn't a failing of Staunton however. That said one or two of the calls ups were clearly not based on seeing a player but blind hope that because a player isn't Irish he must be good :D.

[Colbert Report]

I really thought after that tour that Potter would kick on to be a really good player. I suppose with late bloomers like Andrews and Kinsella before him there might be still hope but unlikely unless he has the desire

I agree. I watched those two games a few times that summer. He actually captained the side for around twenty minutes in the second half after Kilbane was subbed off. He looked great in the middle - I thought he was destined for Premiership stardom. Shows you what I know.

[irishfan86]

Colbert, to be fair I think he just benefited from the type of football being played.

Potter is a footballing central midfielder, and really did well in a South-American style game. He doesn't get the time in the Championship that he did against Columbia, and thus he doesn't look like being a Premiership player anytime soon; however, maybe if he was willing to ply his trade somewhere on the Continent where the game is played at a slower pace he could be more effective and further develop his game- not gonna happen though!

[irishultra]

Colbert, to be fair I think he just benefited from the type of football being played.

Potter is a footballing central midfielder, and really did well in a South-American style game. He doesn't get the time in the Championship that he did against Columbia, and thus he doesn't look like being a Premiership player anytime soon; however, maybe if he was willing to ply his trade somewhere on the Continent where the game is played at a slower pace he could be more effective and further develop his game- not gonna happen though!

lol ye never going to happen and tbh his option would be spain or italy and the chances of a club wanting him are slim and theres no point moving to portuguese superliga as frankly the standard is horrible.

[Crosby87]

I went to these games, the only player I remember is Steven Hunt as he was the only one worth anything. I thought he could be a solid player. Ecuador was horrible as they only have life at home on top of the volcano they play on.
Against Ecuador at Giants Stadium, ten years ago it would have been 75% Irish but it was instead 75% Ecuador fans....Sign of the times for this area, all the old school Paddies have moved from Long Island to Florida it seems...
As for Lampara He was still in the NCAA at that time or just removed, never had any thoughts to play for Ireland permanently, just took it all as a fun experience. He's a decent guy.
I think Staunton thought all of us here would get a kick out of seeing an American from a good college team putting on the green sweater but of course no one cared. I also remember Staunton just standing the whole time with his hand on his chin and the game being boring as hell, and thinking Giants Stadium looked strange with no one in the upper section. Ive even been to a college game at Giants Stadium that they can't sell alcohol at and it was more full...
Next game was better I think we were up in Boston.
I would say they should come back but no one cares about exhibition anything here and neither do I. Giants Stadium is minutes from where I grew up, so when we beat Italy in 94 It was one of the most fantastic days of my life, Ireland was late after getting stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel it was hotter than hell, maybe some of you were here. Then they came out and Italy made them go back and change into the White Uniforms as they were supposed to be in, which ****ed the Irish team off. The whole stadium was going oohhh ahh Paul McGrath....anyway I expected some of the same atmosphere for the Ecuador game, just because It seemed like a fun idea but the game sucked and I would probably never bother with a friendly again although like I said Boston was a little better I guess....Plus I dont speakey Spanish so I felt like a stranger in a strange town....

[Metrostars]

I went to the game against Ecuador too, thought that Potter was great. Doyle had a well taken goal.

[Colbert Report]

I felt like a stranger in a strange town....

Robbie Robertson fan?

[Stuttgart88]

I also thought O'Halloran stood out during that tour.

[Dr. Ogba]

same here, looked very composed on the ball and I had high hopes for him after that tour...


Bloody hell what is it with some of our most promising players being absolute crocks? :confused:

[the doc]

We can all stand back in hindsight and draw another nail in Staunton's coffin. Geary was a quick and solid right back whom I liked when I watched him. Sean St Ledger has been growing and developing at Centre Back.Another player I liked. Alex Bruce on the other hand having lived in Ipswich became something of a sicknote and was probably expected to be an excellent defender based on his fathers career.:D.

From what I've been told,

St Ledger, got injured whilst training with the squad in Dublin and had to return to Preston for treatment.

He was down to start the games in America, instead Bruce started in the 1st game.

Unimpressed by Bruce's performance, Staunton wanted St Ledger to be flown over for the game in Boston but PNE wouldn't allow it, as they didn't want St Ledger to be risked having a further injury.

I think St Ledger has just been unlucky not be in any of the squads, although it hasn't been helped by Trapp's blinkered squad selection and DG's "alledged" bias and grudges.

[Jicked]

Is there an "ignore" function on these forums whereby I can not be shown posts from certain posters?

[SkStu]

Jicked, there is no problem with the docs post above.

I agree that he has trolled on other threads but that post is fine.

Anyway, yes there is an ignore function which i have used on weldoninhio.

[eirebhoy]

I went to these games, the only player I remember is Steven Hunt as he was the only one worth anything.
I don't remember many of us on here thinking that at the time. He played central midfield if I remember and solid was about as far as it got. Did hardly anything of note. Potter was certainly the main man and judging by the Wolves game last night I wouldn't write a player off because they can't hack that league.

doc - remind us again why Givens holds a grudge against Ledger?