Potentially eligible players thread

[DannyInvincible]

Paddy McEleney scored another lovely goal earlier tonight for Dundalk against Galway as he chipped the ball over the Galway keeper from the edge of the box. I've heard Sunderland and Wigan might be interested in him.

Rory Hale of Belfast also scored a superb goal for Galway.

[geysir]

Conor Gallagher (Chelsea) is eligible for Ireland (as distinct from potentially eligible). He's in the England u17 squad and came on as a sub in the WC final.
His dad Lee said,
"he qualifies for Ireland as well, but we were very pleased to find out he’d been called up by England for the World Cup"

The use of the "but" could indicate that they would be even more pleased if he was called up by Ireland.

[DeLorean]

That's interesting alright. We'd certainly be freaking out by those comments if the situation was reversed. :D

[liamoo11]

Conor Gallagher (Chelsea) is eligible for Ireland (as distinct from potentially eligible). He's in the England u17 squad and came on as a sub in the WC final.
His dad Lee said,
"he qualifies for Ireland as well, but we were very pleased to find out he’d been called up by England for the World Cup"

The use of the "but" could indicate that they would be even more pleased if he was called up by Ireland.

Pity he got included in that squad I'd be surprised if he was keen that he wouldn't have played at least at 16s for us or 17s friendlies

It's a great spot geysir those Brit's have some talent

[DannyInvincible]

Conor Gallagher (Chelsea) is eligible for Ireland (as distinct from potentially eligible). He's in the England u17 squad and came on as a sub in the WC final.
His dad Lee said,
"he qualifies for Ireland as well, but we were very pleased to find out he’d been called up by England for the World Cup"

The use of the "but" could indicate that they would be even more pleased if he was called up by Ireland.

Was his dad born in Ireland, do you know? Could be Donegal roots with a name like Gallagher.

[KrisLetang]

The guy that smashes the watermelons? http://foot.ie/image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBxISEhUSExIVFRUXFxUVFRcXFxUVFxUVFxUXFxcVFR cYHSggGBolHRUVITEhJSkrLi4uFx8zODMtNygtLisBCgoKDg0O GhAQGi0lHyUtLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS 0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLf/AABEIAMIBAwMBIgACEQEDEQH/xAAcAAABBQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIEBQYDBwj/xAA5EAACAQIEBAQEBAQGAwAAAAAAAQIDEQQFITEGEkFRImFxgR OhsfAHMpHBQlLR4RQVYoLS8TNTcv/EABoBAAIDAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgMEBQb/xAAjEQACAwACAgICAwAAAAAAAAAAAQIDESExBBITQSJRMnGB/9oADAMBAAIRAxEAPwDMpDrCpC2OkSwSwJDkgsMeCRFYotgDBth UKCQwwBBwJAMVC2F0WpQZnxJGN40vE9uZ7L07kZSUVyIt8XioU lecreXV iKDGcTvanBLzlr8ihxGKlUlzSk2 5yuZZ3yfXAiZXzatPepL20 hElUb3bfuMchHIob3sB3MHMMbEuIDtGu1qpNejsT8NntaH8fMu 0tSpAak10BolxPVbvaNv5bfuaHLMwjWjzR0a0a7M88uWGUZlKh JtWaf5l3LYXNPkZvgSImXZrTrLwuz6xe/wDcmmxNNaiaG2FFYAMZJCND7CoQzm0A8QQxrESHiAGCWAUBDwY kKAqLClILCDhAGKCBIckADUKkKKhhgiQ6KBCoYFLxXinCjyrRz dvbr xiWzQ8ZYi9SMP5Y6 r 0Z5HPuls2RYDkKhGViGiC2EEAgDhAAQUQAAExUxBQA60qjTvF2 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[OwlsFan]

When I have time someday, I must do up a team of Irish sounding names who play for or have declared for England. Just seeing JohnJoe Kenny playing for Everton prompted that idea.

[DannyInvincible]

There's an alphabetical list of all England senior internationals here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_England_international_footballers_(alphabe tical)

Some that stood out due to an Irish-sounding name after a quick skim through the list:

Tommy Boyle, Michael Keane, Kevin Keegan, Martin Kelly, Ray Kennedy, Martin Keown, Tommy Magee, Terry McDermott, Steve McMahon, Steve McManaman, Thomas Meehan, Danny Murphy, Jimmy Mullen, Peter O'Dowd and Michael O'Grady,

Then there's Wayne Rooney, Gary Cahill and possibly Gareth Barry.

[tetsujin1979]

Martin Keown is the obvious one to me.

[Charlie Darwin]

Fingers crossed we can add Jack Grealish soon.

[liamoo11]

I wonder if mcmanaman wood come over now to us he is 26 not done much for the last 3 years or so since wigan

[KrisLetang]

You broke my heart, Jimmy Mullen.

[gastric]

There's an alphabetical list of all England senior internationals here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_England_international_footballers_(alphabe tical)

Some that stood out due to an Irish-sounding name after a quick skim through the list:

Tommy Boyle, Michael Keane, Kevin Keegan, Martin Kelly, Ray Kennedy, Martin Keown, Tommy Magee, Terry McDermott, Steve McMahon, Steve McManaman, Thomas Meehan, Danny Murphy, Jimmy Mullen, Peter O'Dowd and Michael O'Grady,

Then there's Wayne Rooney, Gary Cahill and possibly Gareth Barry.

Stating the bleeding obvious, but this list really shows the amount of Irish who moved to Liverpool over the years.

[CraftyToePoke]

GK - Alex McCarthy

Back four - Naughton / Carragher / Cahill / Flanagan

Middle - Reid / McMahon / Murphy

Up top - Keegan / Kane / Rooney

Bench - Keane / McManaman / Keown / Etc Etc

[CraftyToePoke]

I wonder if mcmanaman wood come over now to us he is 26 not done much for the last 3 years or so since wigan

Would you want him ? I'd much rather the space he would take up used to give exposure & experience to one of our young lads with their best days ahead of them.

[liamoo11]

Would you want him ? I'd much rather the space he would take up used to give exposure & experience to one of our young lads with their best days ahead of them.

If he wants to play for us and feels strong Irish connections then I would. It's likely economic disadvantage that meant one of his grandparents had to leave their country and I always think it's great when that wrong gets to be righted a little with a later generation like callum getting to reconnect to their roots. Aldrdge came to us around the same age and had a stellar career for us. Come home callum

[Olé Olé]

He must wait until 26 to feel these connections? I think he's dragged this out too much for my liking. Gut.

[geysir]

There should be a path of redemption for the sincere 'diasporian' to work his way back in, but I don't think it would apply to McManaman. Perhaps Jack Grealish? he'd be a more worthy candidate for saving, i.e. should he seek redemption.

[liamoo11]

There should be a path of redemption for the sincere 'diasporian' to work his way back in, but I don't think it would apply to McManaman. Perhaps Jack Grealish? he'd be a more worthy candidate for saving, i.e. should he seek redemption.

Redemption and identity are like love there is no statute of limitations

[KrisLetang]

Redemption and identity are like love there is no statute of limitations

If one of the parties disagrees, there most definitely is. Big problem in society.

[TrapAPony]

James Maddison got his first call-up to the England U21 squad. That is the end of that so.

[DannyInvincible]

James Maddison got his first call-up to the England U21 squad. That is the end of that so.

Only a senior competitive cap with England would actually tie him, although I see he posted the following (https://www.instagram.com/p/BbAJtUBDR6W/) on Instagram:

http://i68.tinypic.com/2vifnnc.png

It seems England is definitely where his heart is. How does he qualify for Ireland, out of interest?

[TrapAPony]

It seems England is definitely where his heart is. How does he qualify for Ireland, out of interest?

I have seen it mentioned a few times that he has an Irish grandparent. It doesn't matter now anyway, I would consider him gone. We have never been able to convince any ex-England U21 cap to join us previously (even the North convinced Lee Camp) and I doubt that is going to change.

[DannyInvincible]

I have seen it mentioned a few times that he has an Irish grandparent. It doesn't matter now anyway, I would consider him gone. We have never been able to convince any ex-England U21 cap to join us previously (even the North convinced Lee Camp) and I doubt that is going to change.

For some reason, I'd thought Ciarán Clark had played with their under-21s, but it seems you're right. He played up to under-20 level. Can't think of anyone else off the top of my head.

[Olé Olé]

For some reason, I'd thought Ciarán Clark had played with their under-21s, but it seems you're right. He played up to under-20 level. Can't think of anyone else off the top of my head.

Jon Macken was under 20 as well.

[Diggs246]

There is a young guy(19) called Callum O'Hare on the bench for villa. Anyone know if he qualifies

[TrapAPony]

There is a young guy(19) called Callum O'Hare on the bench for villa. Anyone know if he qualifies

Supposedly he does qualify. Looks a decent player too.

Kieran O'Neill Dowell on loan to Notts Forest from Everton must surely qualify too. Very useful player in the making but he is in the English U21 setup so I presume that is another lost cause.

*edit* According to Rob Brennan on twitter, the FAI have spoken to Dowell who is eligible.
https://twitter.com/RobBrennan82/status/927099791833751552

[mark12345]

Supposedly he does qualify. Looks a decent player too.

Kieran O'Neill Dowell on loan to Notts Forest from Everton must surely qualify too. Very useful player in the making but he is in the English U21 setup so I presume that is another lost cause.

*edit* According to Rob Brennan on twitter, the FAI have spoken to Dowell who is eligible.
https://twitter.com/RobBrennan82/status/927099791833751552

So we have two "he doesn't qualify" and one "he does qualify" - Callum O'Hare that is. Any more bidders.

[Kingdom]

Jon Macken was under 20 as well.

Yes but he was also crap.

[Wangball]

Would be very surprised if O'Hare weren't eligible given his connections to John Mitchells GAA and Warwickshire GAA. He also has a sister who is a world champion Irish Dancer

https://twitter.com/warwickshireclg/status/895618534159601665

http://www.solihullnews.net/news/local-news/dorridge-girl-world-irish-dancing-7047836

[Closed Account]

Hard to know how accurate this site is:
https://www.transfermarkt.com/spieler-statistik/wertvollstespieler/marktwertetop/plus/0/galerie/0?ausrichtung=alle&spielerposition_id=alle&altersklasse=alle&land_id=189&yt0=Show
but it does list O'Hare as eligible. On the PFA forms when you register it asks you for any other nationalities. Their database isn't the easiest to get access to anymore but I wouldn't be suprised if the data on this site is using that or has some factual basis.

Other players not listed as Irish but as a 2nd nationality (seems fairly accurate)
(England)
Michael Keane
Nathan Redmond
Mark Noble
Aaron Lennon
Kyle Naughton
Jack Grealish
Patrick Bamford
Sean Morrison
Jon Flanagan
David Nugent
Calum McManaman
Peter Crouch
Will Buckley
Will Keane
Adam Hammill
Dan Crowley
Luke Chambers
Mark Bunn
Sean O'Hanlon
Lee Boylan
Ben Heneghan
Luke Williams
Paul Marshall
James Wallace
(Scotland)
Jim O'Brien
Ryan O'Leary
Stephen O'Donnell
(Northern Ireland)
Alex Bruce
Callum Morris
Michael O'Connor
Tony Kane
Adam McGurk
Michael Duffy
Kevin Deery
Dale Gorman
Patrick McEleney

Just going through the U23 squads for any others we might not have mentioned
Arsenal Marcus McGuane (18)
Aston Villa Callum O'Hare (19)
Everton Jack Kiersey (19)
Everton Shayne Lavery (18)
Southampton Will Ferry (15)
FC Twente Lukas Browning Lagerfeldt (18)

[TrapAPony]

Just seen that a young striker called Matthew Shiels who plays for Rangers and has played U16 and U17 for Scotland has accepted a call up to the Irish U18 squad. Good to see.

https://www.thesun.ie/sport/football/1767990/rangers-striker-matthew-shiels-handed-shock-call-up-to-ireland-under-18-squad/

[DannyInvincible]

So Peter Crouch was eligible to play for us? Never knew that. Anyone know anything further on that?

[BonnieShels]

I heard that Crouch thing before but never heard the reasons why.

I assume Granny or Granddad.

[DannyInvincible]

Crouch would have suited our agricultural hoofball style of play perfectly, but instead we had to rely on Caleb Folan. A missed opportunity there!

[DeLorean]

Certainly wasn't a missed opportunity for Crouch himself you would have to say, with 42 caps and 22 goals for England, as well as playing in two World Cups.

[Olé Olé]

Just seen that a young striker called Matthew Shiels who plays for Rangers and has played U16 and U17 for Scotland has accepted a call up to the Irish U18 squad. Good to see.

https://www.thesun.ie/sport/football/1767990/rangers-striker-matthew-shiels-handed-shock-call-up-to-ireland-under-18-squad/
Interesting.

Good to see Will Ferry in there too.

[DannyInvincible]

Certainly wasn't a missed opportunity for Crouch himself you would have to say, with 42 caps and 22 goals for England, as well as playing in two World Cups.

Ha, no, that's true. I meant from our perspective, but not entirely seriously either. I don't think there was ever a hint of him declaring.

[tetsujin1979]

Hard to know how accurate this site is:
https://www.transfermarkt.com/spieler-statistik/wertvollstespieler/marktwertetop/plus/0/galerie/0?ausrichtung=alle&spielerposition_id=alle&altersklasse=alle&land_id=189&yt0=Show
but it does list O'Hare as eligible. On the PFA forms when you register it asks you for any other nationalities. Their database isn't the easiest to get access to anymore but I wouldn't be suprised if the data on this site is using that or has some factual basis.

Other players not listed as Irish but as a 2nd nationality (seems fairly accurate)
FC Twente Lukas Browning Lagerfeldt (18)

I'd forgotten about Browning, was wondering if he'd made any progress at Twente. Turns out he appeared for the Swedish U19s a month ago in their qualifiers: http://www.uefa.com/under19/season=2018/matches/round=2000840/match=2021432/postmatch/lineups/index.html

[Olé Olé]

Balls.ie reporting Shiels has grandparents from Donegal. He has expressed his delight on Twitter. Interesting stuff.

[liamoo11]

Fantastic a real credit to our scouting. Great to see brown from derry come over from the norths set up. Welcome lads

I think that is Brennan's first involvement with us which means I think at this age group we will have 2 ciarain Brennan's one at Southampton and this one. Has there been lots of times two Irish players with the same name played together for Ireland?

[Wangball]

Balls.ie reporting Shiels has grandparents from Donegal. He has expressed his delight on Twitter. Interesting stuff.

His dad was on twitter a couple of weeks back shopping a story about the SFA & Scottish schools not working together so you might think it had something to do with that, once again their loss is our gain!!

https://twitter.com/shiels_thomas/status/911372718792200194

[Olé Olé]

Fantastic a real credit to our scouting. Great to see brown from derry come over from the norths set up. Welcome lads

I think that is Brennan's first involvement with us which means I think at this age group we will have 2 ciarain Brennan's one at Southampton and this one. Has there been lots of times two Irish players with the same name played together for Ireland?
How does this squad compare to our under 17s and 19s, Liamo? Some of the better players from both those ages groups making it into this would lead me to believe it's fairly stacked. Connolly and Idah up front? Wouldn't complain.

[DannyInvincible]

Fantastic a real credit to our scouting. Great to see brown from derry come over from the norths set up. Welcome lads

Here's Rory Brown's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/rorybrownz?lang=en

And a bit more on him from an article two years ago when he signed for Wolves: http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/02/05/wolves-sign-youth-international-keeper-rory-brown-on-a-three-yea/


Brown, who attended the more rugby orientated Foyle College in Derry, was previously signed on as a youth player at Belfast-based Crusaders FC before agreeing to continue his footballing development in England with Wolves.

Interestingly, Brown attended Foyle College (known as "Foyle and Londonderry College" (http://www.derryjournal.com/news/can-derry-tolerate-protestants-1-2826410) until 2011), which is non-denominational but was always seen as "the Protestant grammar school" in the city (http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/11_16/citizenship/sectarianism/newstand04.shtml). Derry's other grammar schools are all Catholic. I don't know whether things have changed now, but I know they didn't have a football or gaelic team back when I was at St. Columb's from 1997 to 2004. Rugby and cricket have always been the main sporting focus of Foyle, whilst 'GSTQ' was regularly played at prize-giving ceremonies and the like, according to past pupils of Foyle that I know. Not sure if that's still the case, but was definitely the case up until under a decade ago.

In saying that, I do know a few people from nationalist/Catholic Ireland-supporting backgrounds who attended the school - indeed, 12 former pupils went on to become priests (http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/11_16/citizenship/sectarianism/newstand04.shtml) - so attendance isn't necessarily indicative of a Protestant, unionist or British-identifying background.

[nigel-harps1954]

Balls.ie reporting Shiels has grandparents from Donegal. He has expressed his delight on Twitter. Interesting stuff.

His grandmother is from Letterkenny, grandfather from Manorcunningham about 5 miles from Letterkenny towards Derry/Lifford direction.

[liamoo11]

How does this squad compare to our under 17s and 19s, Liamo? Some of the better players from both those ages groups making it into this would lead me to believe it's fairly stacked. Connolly and Idah up front? Wouldn't complain.

this age group made the second round in the euros finals in may and got knocked out by the brits who obviously won the world cup last week and are outrageous. Think we had 5 of those who are underage this year at 17 s so we probably lacked a bit of depth in this age group so great to see extra keeper, extra centre half, ferry a midfielder and the rangers lad added. No mccauley imagine how freaked we wood be if he was English born!

[tetsujin1979]

Balls.ie reporting Shiels has grandparents from Donegal. He has expressed his delight on Twitter. Interesting stuff.

unsurprisingly, that comes from the Daily Record: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-striker-matthew-shiels-handed-11476413

Shiels is eligible to play for Republic of Ireland through his grandparents, who are both from Donegal.



also contains this, I had assumed the games were not competitive (i.e. not a UEFA or FIFA competition) and this would see to confirm that

But even if Shiels is capped at U18 level, he will still be able to switch back to Scotland.

[Olé Olé]

His grandmother is from Letterkenny, grandfather from Manorcunningham about 5 miles from Letterkenny towards Derry/Lifford direction.
Thanks Nigel. That on his mother's or father's side?

[nigel-harps1954]

Thanks Nigel. That on his mother's or father's side?

Fathers side.

[Olé Olé]

How well he has the young lad playing with the Gers so... Would have thought Celtic would be the team for Shiels senior?