Irish Abroad 2015/16

[tetsujin1979]

Kane Ferdinand scored for Dagenham and Redbridge as well
Full lineups from all Saturday's games on my live blog here: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Live

[tetsujin1979]

seems Kyle McFadden has agreed terms with Orlando, but won't play until next season: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orlando-city-lions/on-the-pitch/os-orlando-city-usl-franchise-set-to-play-in-melbourne-in-2016-20151013-post.html

The club has been aggressively scouting for next year’s team and sources say the club has already agreed to terms with former Norwich City center back Kyle Callan-McFadden, an Irish under-21 international who has been training with the Lions for several weeks.

[Olé Olé]

Can't find a thread on him but it's very interesting to note that Jamie Devitt has 10 assists so far this season from 15 games for 8th placed Morecambe in League Two. That's easily the highest across all the leagues in England.

[tetsujin1979]

Irish player appearance stats for October 2015: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=905396666710173607

[tetsujin1979]

i've noticed the "Green Shoots" weekly player roundup on fai.ie includes Emmanuel Osadebe from Gillingham, but I can't find any other mention of him on the site - not in squads, player profiles, etc - and his soccerway and soccerbase profiles list him as English.
However, Gillingham's wikipedia entry has an Irish flag next to his name. Anyone know if he's Irish qualified?

[Wangball]

i've noticed the "Green Shoots" weekly player roundup on fai.ie includes Emmanuel Osadebe from Gillingham, but I can't find any other mention of him on the site - not in squads, player profiles, etc - and his soccerway and soccerbase profiles list him as English.
However, Gillingham's wikipedia entry has an Irish flag next to his name. Anyone know if he's Irish qualified?

He's from Dundalk - they call him Frank Osadebe up there

[tetsujin1979]

Aviva Stadium ranked at 88th in the world by FourFourTwo: http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwos-100-best-football-stadiums-world-90-81?page=0%2C1#:VJRpblzGxaQTCA

[tetsujin1979]

Marcus Agyebi-Tabi has changed his international allegiance to England, and is included in their U17 squad for a friendly against Germany: http://www.thefa.com/news/england/development/2015/oct/u17s-squad-named-for-germany-double-header

[DeLorean]

I really don't make enough use of this thread. Just saw motd while ago.

Clark had a really tough day for Villa. He's probably the least of Villa's problems but it could be argued that he should have done better for a couple of the goals. He might have got a bit too tight to Lukaku in the build up for the first goal, although it was a lovely little first time flick by the big guy so maybe Clark did his job in not allowing him to get turned. Deulofeu skipped past him way to easily to set up a chance for Kone but Guzan saved well and he probably wasn't close enough to Lukaku when he headed his first, which was nicely assisted by Coleman by the way. Gibson saw some game time after coming on for McCarthy with about ten minutes left.

Robbie Brady seemed heavily involved at the game at Stamford Bridge and probably should have had a penalty in the first half, as Willian kind of ploughed into the back of him when he seemed to have the ball protected, although ploughed is probably too strong a word. He also had a decent strike from outside the box just wide in the second half, after out muscling Matic of all people.

Arter was involved in Bournemouth's second goal at Swansea, which was very well worked and finished by Gosling. Martin Tyler also mentioned him in the live evening game at The Ethiad, when Aguero was substituted with City needing goals. He referred to the whole risk v need factor and brought up how Bournemouth had done the same thing with Harry Arter when he was running the game a couple of weeks ago, he seems to have been seriously impressed with him to bring it up two weeks later again!

McClean did very well for West Brom's winner against Arsenal, a powerful overlapping run before crossing to the near post where Arteta put it into his own net. He had a dodgy moment defending late on when he slipped in the box, allowing Campbell a chance on goal but he put it wide.

Elliot couldn't have done much about the Leicester goals, although he was beaten at his near post for Vardy's record equaling goal, it was hit perfectly along the ground though with power and accuracy. He did look a bit all over the place for the third but don't think he could be blamed, he made a decent save in the build up but his own defender got in his way after that and Okazaki poked home. He made a couple of decent saves as well, including two one-on-ones with Vardy.

Walters and Long seemed peripheral figures if the highlights of the Southampton Stoke game are anything to go by.

[tetsujin1979]

You're just going to have to trust me on this, but the change on this article on the42 - http://www.the42.ie/opinion-oneill-greatest-feat-getting-ireland-euros-2454767-Nov2015/ - was due to a comment I made.
Originally, there was no mention of the win over Slovakia in this paragraph

The Germany match was the first time the Irish team had won a competitive home game against a team ranked above them (with the exception of a forgettable 1-0 victory over Slovakia in 2007) since the memorable 1-0 win over Holland in 2001 — the Bosnia victory was the second.
The comment I added about the Slovakia game was subsequently removed when they made the change!

[samhaydenjr]

You're just going to have to trust me on this, but the change on this article on the42 - http://www.the42.ie/opinion-oneill-greatest-feat-getting-ireland-euros-2454767-Nov2015/ - was due to a comment I made.
Originally, there was no mention of the win over Slovakia in this paragraph

The comment I added about the Slovakia game was subsequently removed when they made the change!

Wow, they were really snarky about acknowledging their error

[tetsujin1979]

Richie Towell expected to sign for Brighton and Hove Albion: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/towell-eyes-euro-place-as-brighton-move-edging-closer-34224634.html

[Stuttgart88]

The Times was waxing lyrical about Callum O'Dowda's performance for Oxford on Saturday.

[tetsujin1979]

Trying something new for the site, a report card with some notable numbers from player appearances over the weekend's/mid week games: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=3615809038912101125

[DeLorean]

Best marked his appearance with the second red of his career

A particularly vicious red card offence (https://youtu.be/zpW2-jMf47Q?t=1m23s) also I might add!

[liamoo11]

kinsella who has been injured nearly all the time since he joined everton played for the 18s at weekend he is a quality player,

James dunne who also has been injured alot since joining utd has played alot for the man utd 18s but not involved with us underage even though his is his last year under 19,

jordan graham seemed to make one of his first starts for wolves at weekend. Wonder would he switch back to us last time he played for us was under 15 with grealish and scored a few goals a more traditional winger and far less talented player than grealish. Wonder if william keane the striker who is gatting some game time at preston would switch to us isnt his dad irish?

[samhaydenjr]

Richie Towell expected to sign for Brighton and Hove Albion: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/towell-eyes-euro-place-as-brighton-move-edging-closer-34224634.html

That's positive news, especially considering that we were talking about interest from Bristol Rovers a couple of weeks ago. And while it definitely means he's closer to the international set-up, I think it might be a bit of a stretch for him to be considered for the Euros, but he could make it into the reckoning for the next qualifying campaign (now watch him break into the first team immediately and score 15 this season and help Brighton walk away with The Championship!) - the Independent seem to be really pushing him, with Richard Sadlier implying that he would be one of the players squeezed out if Robbie Keane gets taken

[Olé Olé]

That's positive news, especially considering that we were talking about interest from Bristol Rovers a couple of weeks ago. And while it definitely means he's closer to the international set-up, I think it might be a bit of a stretch for him to be considered for the Euros, but he could make it into the reckoning for the next qualifying campaign (now watch him break into the first team immediately and score 15 this season and help Brighton walk away with The Championship!) - the Independent seem to be really pushing him, with Richard Sadlier implying that he would be one of the players squeezed out if Robbie Keane gets taken

The Bristol Rovers talk was a bit of a joke. It was like me saying in the papers that I'm interested in Georgia Salpia and the papers linking us as a stick with which to beat the level Georgia Salpia was at. There was no way Towell was ever going there and there were plenty of other sides interest in him. He was holding out for a Championship side and he's got one of the best of them. Now it's up to him to let his football do the talking in an environment where he's not going to be the main man like he was at Dundalk. I think that'll present one of the biggest challenges in seeing how good he is and can be.

[tetsujin1979]

What Irish defender scored the twentieth goal of his career? What player was sent off for the first time in his career?
It's the midweek report card: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=6567615937064368040

[tetsujin1979]

Which Irish player made his first start in over a year and who scored his first goal since October 2014 last weekend: https://t.co/N3N4m9ud6K

[tetsujin1979]

With the draw for the group stages of Euro 2016 coming up, I've thrown a map of the fixtures together, along with local airport data to help decide where would be best to end up, in terms of accessibility: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Flights
Some of the fixtures lists aren't working exactly, so please bear with me while I fix it up. I have to say, the "F4" selection looks tasty!
works best in Firefox at the moment

[tetsujin1979]

With the draw for the group stages of Euro 2016 coming up, I've thrown a map of the fixtures together, along with local airport data to help decide where would be best to end up, in terms of accessibility: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Flights
Some of the fixtures lists aren't working exactly, so please bear with me while I fix it up. I have to say, the "F4" selection looks tasty!
works best in Firefox at the moment

All fixed up, should be fine to use in all browsers now

[tetsujin1979]

Watching the Champions League coverage tonight on TV3, Kerr was in the studio with Souness. Didn't realise it's ten years now since he was sacked as Ireland manager, October 2005.
Here's the thread discussing it: http://foot.ie/threads/30480-Kerr-Gone/

[tetsujin1979]

Latest "Profile of an icon" piece from Football365 profiles Paul McGrath: http://www.football365.com/news/profile-of-an-icon-paul-mcgrath

[tetsujin1979]

one time U19 call up Matty Mainwaring has retired from football, aged only 24: https://twitter.com/Matty_Main/statuses/527195720034832384


He's either going to be a boxer or a drag queen.

Charlie was right, he's gone on to become a boxer and is making his debut in the ring tonight

[Olé Olé]

Damien McCrory and Anthony O'Connor bagged 2 of Burton's 3 goals in their win over John Egan's Gillingham.

[tetsujin1979]

a recent article from the excellent Zonal Marking got me wondering, which are Ireland's golden and lost generations - http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=1627251399110446456

[liamoo11]

a recent article from the excellent Zonal Marking got me wondering, which are Ireland's golden and lost generations - http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=1627251399110446456


The generation of barry quinn stephen mcphail and partidge in midfield were beautiful to watch and so technically gifted. I would have bet anything that they would all have got 50 caps. I dont think i have ever seen a better player underage than mcphail he was so polished and game astute. Honorable mentions to thornton who really looked a player for a while and michael reidy who offered us the possibility of serious pace at a time when we didnt have alot of it. Keith o neill prob needs to go in there too

[tetsujin1979]

Gavin Gunning made his 100th start for his club, Rhys Murphy scored his thirtieth career goal, and more in the round up of last weekend's games: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=873477901074787838

[tetsujin1979]

David Mooney's fifth goal for Southend and more in the weekend report: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=2634695429496763559

[tetsujin1979]

What two players picked up their first bookings of the season? Who made his 100th career appearance?
All this & more in the latest round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=5270393671187470827

[DeLorean]

Not a great day for the Irish players in the PL yesterday.

Coleman had a tough day against Arnautovic by all accounts, hopefully not a sign of things to come for our WC qualifiers. He should have won a penalty though after being fouled by Pieters. James McCarthy's groin injury flared up again so he only lasted 26 minutes, although he did provide an assist for Lukaku in that time. They seem to be missing him big time, the amount of goals they're conceding is ridiculous. Cleverley replaced him, Gibson an unused sub. Whelan played the full ninety, Walters just the last twelve and Wilson didn't make it off the bench.

Clark had another rocky outing at Carrow Road, he gave the ball away in the lead up to the first goal with a weak header. Richards and co were even worse after that though. He had another shaky moment in the second half when he got caught in possession but he did make an excellent, if completely desperate, recovery tackle. Neither himself or, particularly, Richardson covered themselves in glory for the second goal, which was nicely assisted by Hoolahan with an accurate cross. Villa really are a collective shambles, has there been a worse PL team since Derby's record breaking season? Brady played the ninety, didn't feature that heavily in the highlights. Big win for Norwich, twenty points at the half way stage would be bang on target you'd imagine.

Long seemed to play very well in the first half against West Ham, had a lovely assist and Southampton really should have been out of sight by half time.

Arter started and O'Kane came on after an hour at The Emirates.

[tetsujin1979]

Stephen Ward started his first league game of the season, Paddy Madden made his 100th start for Scunthorpe, and Jeff Hendrick scored his 25th goal for Derby in the last round up of 2015: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=8125830929276068943

[tetsujin1979]

One last blog before 2016 - a look back at 2015: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=4363112604259758715
I'll have the December appearance stats and the 2015/16 appearance data to date posted in the next day or two

[tetsujin1979]

Four goals from Alan Judge and Adam Rooney meant they were the top scoring Irish players in December, read more in the compiled appearance stats for December: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=3786841903050944598

[tetsujin1979]

Robbie Keane's 19 goals since July 1st makes him the top scorer so far in 2015/16, but not the top penalty scorer. More in the round up for the season to date: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=8673069906754337113

[tetsujin1979]

Ease the pain of the return to work with our first round up of 2016, including Jay O'Shea's fifth goal of the season in his 150th appearance for Chesterfield, and Darragh Lenihan's first league appearance of 2015/16: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=3998473620797710022

[Closed Account]

The Times was waxing lyrical about Callum O'Dowda's performance for Oxford on Saturday.
Being linked with a move to Derby in the Mail.... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3384225/Oxford-United-want-1million-Derby-20-year-old-winger-Callum-O-Dowda.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Can see some truth in this as he has been a standout for our U21s and for Oxford this season.

[Charlie Darwin]

Been on the bench recently from what I've seen, but did manage a goal at the weekend.

[DeLorean]

Being linked with a move to Derby in the Mail.... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3384225/Oxford-United-want-1million-Derby-20-year-old-winger-Callum-O-Dowda.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Can see some truth in this as he has been a standout for our U21s and for Oxford this season.

A bit more here- (http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/14183388.Callum_O_Dowda_urges_Oxford_United_suppor ters_to_focus_on_football__not_his_transfer_specul ation/)

[Closed Account]

Leeds United have been linked with a move for Aberdeen goalkeeper Danny Rogers by The Sun (http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/6842418/Leeds-line-up-move-for-Falkirk-keeper-Danny-Rogers.html?redirect=true). The 21 year old’s contract with the SPL club expires in the summer, and subsequently the youngster will be available on a free transfer at the end of the season.

[tetsujin1979]

Conor Masterson training with the Liverpool senior team last week: http://gty.im/487534842

Lucan United (who Liverpool signed Masterson from) have posted on facebook that he's in the squad for their FA Cup game tonight against Exeter: https://www.facebook.com/105312276174905/photos/a.119851161387683.8043.105312276174905/1096683027037820/?type=1&theater

Ex Lucan United. Conor Masterson has been included in the Liverpool squad to face Exeter this evening in the FA Cup.
Kick off. 8pm

[tetsujin1979]

James Talbot traveled with the Sunderland squad today, and warmed up with the other goalkeepers

[tetsujin1979]

St Pats' midfielder Darragh Markey scored in a trial game for Celtic against St Johnstone yesterday: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/other-soccer/st-pats-teen-darragh-markey-18-scores-on-celtic-trial-34350418.html

[tetsujin1979]

Conor Masterson's debut in the Liverpool matchday squad, 40 goals in England for Jay O'Shea, Aiden O'Brien's 50th appearance for Millwall & more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=303238074313484242

[tetsujin1979]

Congratulations to Ireland U21 and Falkirk goalkeeper Danny Rogers on winning the Ladbrokes Championship Player of the Month for December: http://spfl.co.uk/news/article/december-awards-double-for-falkirk/

[Paddy Garcia]

Marcus Agyei-Tabi
I find it a bit irritating that this guy is still listed and profiled on the FAI website. How hard can it be to keep it reasonably up to date - one of our Mods would even do a better job!

[DeLorean]

Long, Walters & McClean all on the score sheet in the PL this evening.

[Closed Account]

Long, Walters & McClean all on the score sheet in the PL this evening.
Walters https://streamable.com/xytv
McClean https://streamable.com/0n48
Long http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3m9z2h_gooooal-shane-long-goal-1-0-southampton-vs-watford-13-01-2016_sport

[tetsujin1979]

Darren Potter and Jonathan Walters mark 200 starts for their respective clubs, Shane Long's 15th goal for the Saints and more Irish players in one Premier League game than any other so far this season in the midweek round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=8741166407496577024