Players who nearly played for Ireland....but didnt... [Archive]

an_ceannaire

13/10/2009, 2:03 PM

Media speculation.....agents with agenda.....fellas with ambitions abover their stations.....
Over the last 20 years many English/Scottish footballers have been linked with the Green Jersey
Remember many?
The ones who got away..so to speak....
Chris Armstrong anyone.........:D

Wangball

13/10/2009, 2:05 PM

Andy Linighan and Brian Kilcline spring to mind immeadiately!

SuperDave

13/10/2009, 2:14 PM

Franck Queudrue.... turns out one of his great grandparents was Irish, not one of his grandparents.

Pauro 76

13/10/2009, 2:19 PM

Steve Bruce.. Martin Keown...

Colbert Report

13/10/2009, 2:20 PM

Tim Cahill?

noddy102

13/10/2009, 2:21 PM

Barack Obama?

Drumcondra 69er

13/10/2009, 2:23 PM

Noel Whelan, Kevin Gallen, Kevin Nolan, Vinny Jones.

seand

13/10/2009, 2:32 PM

Alfredo di Stefano, George Best, Gazza, Wayne Rooney ... none of them as good as Andy Reid though

Scram

13/10/2009, 2:43 PM

Me, I forgot my boots, and my alarm clock went off, oh, and David Connolly, and Roy Keane at his whim.

Bluebeard

13/10/2009, 3:06 PM

Paul Butler nearly played for Ireland once...

seanfhear

13/10/2009, 4:15 PM

Roy Keane almost played in the 2002 world cup:)

Rovers1

13/10/2009, 4:21 PM

Ian Wexler, Michael Lynott...SO close

rambler14

13/10/2009, 4:42 PM

Phil Bardsley

Scram

13/10/2009, 4:48 PM

Franck Queudrue.... turns out one of his great grandparents was Irish, not one of his grandparents.

And, like Keano, he didn't want to!

soccerboy

13/10/2009, 4:50 PM

stephen ireland

tricky_colour

13/10/2009, 4:58 PM

you beat me to it.

drummerboy

13/10/2009, 6:12 PM

Paul Butler, well nearly
Martin Keown played lots of GAA in London

OwlsFan

13/10/2009, 6:34 PM

Zat Knight and,,,

Marlon King

http://foot.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=421

Razors left peg

13/10/2009, 6:48 PM

think I remember hearing Paul Scholes a few years back, dunno how true it was though

dr_peepee

13/10/2009, 7:01 PM

Ashley Ward, Mark Beeney, Kieran Richardson

Drumcondra 69er

13/10/2009, 7:35 PM

Ashley Ward, Mark Beeney, Kieran Richardson

Jesus yeah! Pretty sure he made the squad in one of the sticker albums as the third keeper in 94 and he couldn't prove his eligibility!

seand

13/10/2009, 10:28 PM

Jesus yeah! Pretty sure he made the squad in one of the sticker albums as the third keeper in 94 and he couldn't prove his eligibility!

Excellent! On a similar note I have a souvenir football from Supervalu for the 1994 World Cup with facsimile autographs of the possible Ireland squad- including Paul Byrne who was never capped, then of Celtic, later Bohs, Dundalk, Kilkenny, St James Gate, Weight Watchers...

SunnySweeney

14/10/2009, 1:49 AM

Lee Trundle (Swansea) and Danny Cadamarteri (Everton).

There were rumours right before the world cup in '94 that Stan Collymore was about 'to declare for Ireland'. He hadn't (i think) been capped by England at underage level. I don't know if he had any Irish connections though.

Wayne Rooney's grandmother famously said that "Wayne is English on the outside but Irish on the inside".

Good on ya Wayne ...

irishfan86

14/10/2009, 5:51 AM

He may be of Irish origins, but he's proud to be English and fair enough...no Irish person is going to get this tattoo though!

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00364/F_200709_September1_364419a.jpg

Royal rover

14/10/2009, 6:40 AM

think I remember hearing Paul Scholes a few years back, dunno how true it was though

His granny was irish - i remember the sunday world running a story on this in 1995 - he was never going to play for us though

dr_peepee

14/10/2009, 8:50 AM

Excellent! On a similar note I have a souvenir football from Supervalu for the 1994 World Cup with facsimile autographs of the possible Ireland squad- including Paul Byrne who was never capped, then of Celtic, later Bohs, Dundalk, Kilkenny, St James Gate, Weight Watchers...

Think Paul Byrne made the squad a couple of times though...

Another nearly man Mark Stein...

Man in the days before the interweb I'd trawl the small little articles at the side of the Herald regarding potentials... Stan Collymore was mentioned too at one stage.

youngirish

14/10/2009, 9:12 AM

Joseph Lapira

dr_peepee

14/10/2009, 9:15 AM

Sean Dundee..

Junior

14/10/2009, 9:21 AM

Darren Fletcher (Achill Links on mothers side) - Not sure if he was ever interested in representing us though.

endabob1

14/10/2009, 9:49 AM

Darren Fletcher (Achill Links on mothers side) - Not sure if he was ever interested in representing us though.

Yeah I think his mother was born in Achill and iirc he used to holiday there as a kid, I seem to recall Keane & Kerr trying to sway him at one point.

seand

14/10/2009, 11:05 AM

Let's not forget Socrates, who almost declared for Ireland during his legendary period at UCD. ;)

pineapple stu

14/10/2009, 11:14 AM

"Legend" being the operative word...

endabob1

14/10/2009, 12:31 PM

Jose Luis Brown, Argentina '86 according to Jimmy Magee his people came from outside Athlone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Luis_Brown

Which according to this this is entirely plausible although somewhat suspect if he would have been inside the granny rule!

http://www.webspawner.com/users/ldwhargentinasoc/

IsMiseSean

14/10/2009, 1:46 PM

Wouldn't there be a few argentine's with Irish descent? Maybe we should look into it.... We could have had Messi!!

as_i_say

14/10/2009, 1:52 PM

Ashley Ward, Mark Beeney, Kieran Richardson

I rememember Mark Beeney being included in the Stars sticker collection just before 1994 WC. :o

SunnySweeney

14/10/2009, 4:00 PM

Jeebus

14/10/2009, 4:19 PM

Shaun Teale

irishultra

14/10/2009, 4:55 PM

Messi has like Italian, Spanish and English ancestry I heard.

Fabio O'Neil-defo

Fernando Cavenagh(i)????????-spanishisation(is that even a word) of cavenagh? i know a few people who spell it this way

Diego Forlan-defo

Scaloni-think he was a full back, definetly irish ancestry

Leeside Swagger

14/10/2009, 5:26 PM

Sean Dundee

seanfhear

14/10/2009, 6:09 PM

Muhamed Ali or is that pushing it too far

Barack O'Bama ! Maybe its not too late for Barry. The next American tour maybe

briancool21

14/10/2009, 7:49 PM

Think trundle is eligible but was just not picked

Paddy Garcia

14/10/2009, 8:44 PM

Noel Whelan, Kevin Gallen, Kevin Nolan, Vinny Jones.

.... managed to take a seat at the Giants Stadium which should have gone to a real Irish fan.

Royal rover

14/10/2009, 8:55 PM

Yeah I think his mother was born in Achill and iirc he used to holiday there as a kid, I seem to recall Keane & Kerr trying to sway him at one point.

i spoke to one of his cousins about this, - although he did spend time there as a kid he would always choose scotland in the end

bennocelt

15/10/2009, 12:07 AM

.... managed to take a seat at the Giants Stadium which should have gone to a real Irish fan.

You do know he is/was very active in he London Gah scene, even doing linesman for hte odd game - but I sense he gets peed off about people going on about the england/ireland choice

Qwerty

15/10/2009, 2:45 AM

I think Charlton was close to calling up Tommy Gaynor at some point, he was playing well for Forest at the time.

SkStu

15/10/2009, 4:13 AM

Man in the days before the interweb I'd trawl the small little articles at the side of the Herald regarding potentials... Stan Collymore was mentioned too at one stage.

class! :D you werent the only one!

Bluebeard

15/10/2009, 6:23 AM

Jacky08

15/10/2009, 7:33 AM

Chris Armstrong and Stan Collymore

tetsujin1979

15/10/2009, 9:05 AM

Think trundle is eligible but was just not pickednot only is he eligible, he applied for, and was awarded, an Irish passport