Last LOI player to win a competitive cap for Ireland.

[pateen]

I know this topic has been asked on here before but I never actually got the answer.
Leaving aside the likes Jason Byrne, Glen Crowe, Joe Gamble etc, who actually was the last LOI player to win a cap for Ireland in a competitive game, as in a Euro or W. Cup qualifier?

Did it happen in the 80’s or would you have to go back to the 70’s?

Can anyone say who the second last player was to win a full competitive cap?

[Sheridan]

Pretty sure it was Pat Byrne under Charlton (c. '86).

[stann]

Would go along with that.
Second last (in a competitive game) I think was another Rovers player, Jacko McDonagh in about 1983, the game they battered Malta.

[TheBoss]

Last LOI Player to play in a competitive match was Pat Byrne as stated above, on the 13th November 1985 against Denmark (4-1 loss) at Landsowne Road. Came on as a sub after 30 mins. I can't think of another country that has almost a 30 year gap since a player from their domestic league last took part in a competitive match.

[gufcfan]

I can't think of another country that has almost a 30 year gap since a player from their domestic league last took part in a competitive match.

A strange statistic on the face of it but not at all surprising considering our proximity to possibly the strongest league in the world and the strength of our national team relative to the League Of Ireland.

Wales would be another one with strange stats in that regard.

[seand]

A strange statistic on the face of it but not at all surprising considering our proximity to possibly the strongest league in the world and the strength of our national team relative to the League Of Ireland.

Wales would be another one with strange stats in that regard.

Going waaay off topic here, but has any League of Wales player ever been capped by Wales?

[pateen]

Last LOI Player to play in a competitive match was Pat Byrne as stated above, on the 13th November 1985 against Denmark (4-1 loss) at Landsowne Road. Came on as a sub after 30 mins. I can't think of another country that has almost a 30 year gap since a player from their domestic league last took part in a competitive match.

I think that’s my earliest memory of an Ireland game and if I remember correctly, I actually thought it was 5-1 with Liam Brady scoring the only goal.

Have to say its disappointing to read, but even a league one player will nearly always get picked ahead of a LOI player. I seem to remember Tony Sheridan making the bench for some competitive game but I could be wrong.

[Dodge]

I seem to remember Tony Sheridan making the bench for some competitive game but I could be wrong.

Defo wrong. Stephen Geoghegan got a late call up once but didn't play. He was the first LOI lad involved since the 1986 early Jack days when the likes of Eccles got a cap.

[Martinho II]

Defo wrong. Stephen Geoghegan got a late call up once but didn't play. He was the first LOI lad involved since the 1986 early Jack days when the likes of Eccles got a cap.

what game was that dodge?

[pateen]

Defo wrong. Stephen Geoghegan got a late call up once but didn't play. He was the first LOI lad involved since the 1986 early Jack days when the likes of Eccles got a cap.

Ah I remember that. Think it was the famous Macedonia loss with the orange jerseys that were never worn on an Irish player again.
I'm open to correction though

[DannyInvincible]

what game was that dodge?

Stephen Geoghegan was called up twice, according to his Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Geoghegan

A 2009 article in the Herald also mentions two call-ups: http://www.herald.ie/sport/soccer/junior-senior/stephen-geoghegan-named-as-new-whitehall-rangers-boss-27916561.html

One of those games was away to Macedonia under McCarthy in 1996/97: http://homepage.tinet.ie/~fintanod/shels/sgeoghegan.html and http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/the-ghosts-of-qualifiers-past-26716332.html

This page claims he was in the 1999 squad to play Macedonia: http://www.geoghegan.org/clan/hall.html

I'm not sure what the second game was, but that 1999 claim is surely a mix-up? It'd be an unusual coincidence to have your only two call-ups against the same team and two years apart. Can anyone shed any light on his mysterious second call-up?

[Dodge]

Ah I remember that. Think it was the famous Macedonia loss with the orange jerseys that were never worn on an Irish player again.
I'm open to correction though
He actually unveiled the jerseys on the Late Late with Pat Kenny (or maybe it was the Saturday night Pat Kenny show?)

[pineapple stu]

Was there a LoI player in the squad when we won 1-0 in Tilburg just before the 1994 World Cup? Had a notion it might have been Geoghegan.

[DannyInvincible]

Was there a LoI player in the squad when we won 1-0 in Tilburg just before the 1994 World Cup? Had a notion it might have been Geoghegan.

Indeed, you're correct. Geoghegan was on the bench in Tilburg: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/cunningham-ko-as-crowe-soars-up-the-pecking-order-26088457.html

[sadloserkid]

Charlton capped three in his first few games afaik. Probably mostly friendlies though. A Bohs centre half anyone? Murphy maybe?

[Dodge]

Pat Byrne (rovers) played against Wales in March 1986 (Charlton's 1st game)

Barry Murphy (Bohs), Liam O'Brien (Rovers) and Peter Eccles (Rovers) played against Uruguay in April

Pat Byrne played in the Icelandic tournament against Iceland and Czechoslovakia in May.

Then nothing until Glen Crowe, then Jason Byrne, then Joe Gamble

That's it for the last 29 years

[nigel-harps1954]

Didn't Alan Bennett get capped at Cork?

[El-Pietro]

Didn't Alan Bennett get capped at Cork?
Friendlies.

[Dodge]

Didn't Alan Bennett get capped at Cork?


Friendlies.

No. He signed for Reading in January 2007 and played for Ireland in June 2007 (at the US Cup, alongside Gamble, Lapira, etc). he had yet to make his debut in England

[The Donie Forde]

Gamble was a City player when he was capped

[gufcfan]

Gamble was a City player when he was capped

Wasn't a competitive international. Ireland legend Joe Lapira played in one of those two games.

[Dodge]

Gamble was a City player when he was capped

Yeah, as above, Crowe, Byrne and Gamble are the only 3 since May 1986. All in friendlies

[ShelsTim]

Yeah, as above, Crowe, Byrne and Gamble are the only 3 since May 1986. All in friendlies

Wes Hoolahan got a cap against Greece (another friendly) as well under Don Givens, I think it was during the transition from Mick McCarthy to Brian Kerr.

[nigel-harps1954]

Wes Hoolahan got a cap against Greece (another friendly) as well under Don Givens, I think it was during the transition from Mick McCarthy to Brian Kerr.

http://www.goal.com/en-ie/match/greece-vs-republic-of-ireland/633522/lineups

He was in the squad but didn't get a cap.

[ShelsTim]

Could've sworn he came on as a sub, but I must've been thinking of Crowe in a different match.

[Charlie Darwin]

Hoolahan's first cap was Colombia in 2009 afaik.