Irish Abroad 2021/22

[tetsujin1979]

The new season starts today, with Chris Shields and Conor Pepper lining out for Linfield this evening in their Champions League qualifier against Zalgiris of Lithuania

1412436874061389829

[Olé Olé]

A lot of credit to Linfield in terms of how they seem to have been able to create an environment for Irish people and potentially nationalist people to enjoy their time there. Pat Fenlon is general manager and there's Pepper and Shields. A man called Quinn that was named Niall is surely from a more Irish leaning background, as Daniel Kearns and Paul Smyth before him were.

I'm not sure what has driven this but I'd like to find out.

[tetsujin1979]

Greg Cunningham's 300th career appearance, Callum Robinson's tenth goal for West Brom, Jamie Devitt's first booking since January 2020, and more in the first round up of the season: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=3038903861177717662

[tetsujin1979]

Festy Ebosele named man of the match in his first start for Derby, Lee O'Connor scored his first goal in senior football, Kian Leavy's senior debut, and more in the midweek round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=7247578847445677313

[tetsujin1979]

Live lineup blog live blogging here: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Live

[tetsujin1979]

Ethon Varian scores his first goal in his first senior start, Seamus Coleman's 300th Premier League appearance, Stephen Ward's 450th appearance in English football, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=964872378801307551

[tetsujin1979]

Been looking at comparing player performance stats in England, here's the top ten passers from last night's games.
1427753196286513155

Hopefully I'll be able to include them in the live tweets in future

[tetsujin1979]

Zack Elbouzedi's first goal for AIK, Darragh Lenihan's first goal since February 2020, Carl McHugh's first appearance in the AFC Cup, and more in the midweek round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=7991073623938286295

[tetsujin1979]

Been working on a small update to the live tweets.
Keep an eye on the post match summaries over the weekend: https://twitter.com/irish_abroad

[tetsujin1979]

Seamus Coleman's first yellow card since 2019, Eoin Doyle's 50th appearance for Bolton, Alan Power's first red card for St Mirren, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=7218075538179030440

[tetsujin1979]

In the first episode of the podcast in two months, myself, Mark Kennedy from hawkeyesidekick.con and Philip Flanagan from The Bottomless Pit Of Football discuss what Irish football fans can expect in the 2021/22 season
https://shows.acast.com/irish-football-fans/episodes/episode-31-2021-22-season-preview

Or listen on Spotify here
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6LoIqqdcdCDJcJmGp6Jm60?si=mVAPSNuHSai6T4Bi16ThDQ&utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1

[tetsujin1979]

Two Ireland players score a hat trick on the same day for the first time since 2018, two players make their senior career debut, Nathan Collins' 50th career appearance, and more in the midweek round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=4016341660001675428

[tetsujin1979]

Tyreik Wright's first senior goal, Jake Carroll's 50th appearance for Motherwell, Cillian Sheridan's 100th appearance in the SPL, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=3657899599670946878

[tetsujin1979]

Andrew Omobamidele's first appearance in the Premier League, Shane Duffy's 100th appearance in the PL, Sean McDermott's 150th appearance in Norway's Eliteserien, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=4994638786936721347

[Demesne Lad]

Callum Robinson starts for West Brom tonight, while Jayson Knight starts for visitors Derby, having recovered faster than expected from injury.

[tetsujin1979]

In the new podcast episode, I'm joined by Mark Kennedy of Hawkeye Sidekick, Philip Flanaganf of The Bottomless Pit of Football, and guest Jimmy Carew of Pog Mo Goal to review the Ireland qualifiers against Portugal, Azerbaijan, and Serbia - what went right, what went wrong, and what we want to see in October
Acast: https://shows.acast.com/irish-football-fans/episodes/episode-32-three-games-in-september
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3fYVflRrtSlI8VeolFjy2m?si=CCjVJJ_KQlOW6J_OZJELjQ&dl_branch=1

[tetsujin1979]

Oisin McAtee's first appearance for Morton, Ronan Curtis' 150th appearance for Portsmouth, Aaron Doran's 300th appearance for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and more stats that don't involve landmark appearances in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=5643356637023129673

[Bielsa´s irish]

Very Good podcast

[tetsujin1979]

Very Good podcast
Thank you, needed a few marathon editing sessions to get it finished!

[tetsujin1979]

I've been collecting the various playing statistics and including them in player tweets, now the summaries are added to the day's summary: https://twitter.com/irish_abroad/status/1441902227082207232

[tetsujin1979]

Will Ferry's first senior goal, Sean Maguire's 100th start for Preston, Jonathan Hayes' 300th appearance in the Scottish Premiership, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=1921918701978437955

[tetsujin1979]

Tom O'Connor's first goal in two years, Greg Cunningham's 200th appearance in the Championship, Seamus Conneely's 250th start for Accrington Stanley, and more in the midweek round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=1549538790790811592

[tetsujin1979]

Nathan Collins' Premier League debut, six players score their first goal of the season, eight players are booked for the first time this season, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=6385731094967061665

[tetsujin1979]

In the new episode of the podcast, I'm joined by Mark Kennedy of hawkeyesidekick.com and Reuters journalist Philip O'Connor to discuss Zach Elbouzedi's performances in Sweden, preview the two games against Azerbaijan and Qatar, and pay our respects to Jimmy Greaves
acast.com: https://shows.acast.com/irish-football-fans/episodes/episode-33-the-river-valley-ronaldo
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4pBn7rFPx2E65zNqNlUMIM?si=3oRAJ3nQSQaBZYyY0_FpkQ&dl_branch=1

[tetsujin1979]

Two players reach 50 appearances for their respective clubs, Callum O'Dowda starts a game for the 150th time, Derrick Williams' 300th career appearance, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=4324059427874392630

[tetsujin1979]

In the new episode of the podcast, I'm joined by Mark Kennedy Philip Flanagan to discuss the two recent wins against Azerbaijan and Qatar, and the qualifying results for the U21 and U17 sides
Acast: https://shows.acast.com/irish-football-fans/episodes/episode-34-theres-only-one-cr7
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1MqOyCeemNtB6l9wG5xpri?si=cfb3a3263f004f91

[tetsujin1979]

Michael Obafemi and Jonathan Afolabi score their first goals for their respective clubs, Olamide Shodipo's 100th career appearance, Ryan Manning's 150th appearance in English football, and more in the (delayed, apologies) weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=3514878426770174535

[Demesne Lad]

Zak Delaney (19, West Brom) has joined Vanarama National League South side Bath City on loan until January, 2022. He has been a regular in Albion's PL2 team over the last 18 months, and was named as a substitute for the club's Carabao Cup tie against Arsenal earlier this season. (WBA website 29 Oct)

[tetsujin1979]

Zak Delaney (19, West Brom) has joined Vanarama National League South side Bath City on loan until January, 2022. He has been a regular in Albion's PL2 team over the last 18 months, and was named as a substitute for the club's Carabao Cup tie against Arsenal earlier this season. (WBA website 29 Oct)

You sure? He's playing for West Brom's U23 side tonight

[tetsujin1979]

Andrew Omobamidele becomes the 113th Irish player to score in the Premier League, Eoghan O'Connell's first assist in exactly a year, Anthony O'Connor's 400th career appearance, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=7409770226257687376

[Demesne Lad]

You sure? He's playing for West Brom's U23 side tonight

I was quoting the announcement made on the WBA website. Same announcement made on Bath City website, which explains that the short loan deal owes something to their manager (Jerry Gill) and Robert Beale, 'Senior professional development phase coach' at WBA, being friends. I assume the loan runs from the coming weekend.

[Demesne Lad]

Dylan Connolly was to make only his third EFL 2 start of the season for Northampton v Carlisle Utd on 30 October, but tested positive for Covid-19. So opportunity knocked for another former Dundalk player, Jordan Flores, who took his place.

[tetsujin1979]

I was quoting the announcement made on the WBA website. Same announcement made on Bath City website, which explains that the short loan deal owes something to their manager (Jerry Gill) and Robert Beale, 'Senior professional development phase coach' at WBA, being friends. I assume the loan runs from the coming weekend.
Just noticed Bath's game last weekend was postponed, that might be why he was still with West Brom's U23s last night

[gastric]

Taylor Gardner Hickman played tonight for WBA. Played for us U19 and supposedly was very good tonight according to the folks on ybig!

[tetsujin1979]

Evan Ferguson's first senior goal, Tyreik Wright's first start in seven weeks, James McClean's 100th apperance for Wigan Athletic, and more in the midweek round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=5747935561008667817

[tetsujin1979]

Festy Ebosele's first goal in senior football, Josh Cullen's 200th career appearance, Shaun Williams' 450th appearance in English football, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=5914726949422348002

[tetsujin1979]

Ahead of the final two qualifiers, I'm joined by Mark Kennedy of hawkeyesidekick to discuss the squad picked by Stephen Kenny to face Portugal and Luxembourg, the U21 squad, Ruud Dokter's decision to leave, and the new away jersey
https://shows.acast.com/irish-football-fans/episodes/episode-35-the-proverbial-cup-final

[tetsujin1979]

Dark Matters: a deep dive into claims made on Second Captains about Giovanni Trapattoni's time in charge: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=913796039860266728

[Demesne Lad]

Given our bumper crop of decent defenders, Sean McLoughlin's progress at Hull City has perhaps been under the radar. He makes his fifth start and eighth appearance in the Championship today, in a back three against Bristol City.

[Demesne Lad]

Taylor Gardner Hickman played tonight for WBA. Played for us U19 and supposedly was very good tonight according to the folks on ybig!
According to Punditarena.com (4 Dec) T G-H "has previously been a part of Ireland U19 squads in the past, and is understood to be in the process of acquiring an Irish passport". Has he actually played for the U-19s? Anyway, he starts again for WBA today (11th).

[tetsujin1979]

In the penultimate podcast episode of 2021, I'm joined by Mark Kennedy of Hawkeye Sidekick to discuss Ireland's UEFA Nation's League group draw and the fixtures for 2022, as well as Stephen Kenny's contract
acast: https://shows.acast.com/irish-football-fans/episodes/episode-36-group-b1
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5dFefXW0aiCtCCu9qaOA93?si=5f6550f131c048da

[tetsujin1979]

Will Keane's tenth goal of the season, Anthony Forde's first assist of the season, Jeff Hendrick's first appearance since Saturday, 2nd October, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=7800548442408939204

[tetsujin1979]

In the final podcast of the year I'm joined by Mark Kennedy of Hawkeye Sidekick and Philip Flanagan of The Bottomless Pit of Football to review the lows and highs of Irish international football in 2021, including the worst home result of our lifetimes, the worst moment of Stephen Kenny's reign, and how, in the final seven games of the year, the manager has gotten the team to play the football he wants them to play, and we want to see.
acast.com: https://shows.acast.com/irish-football-fans/episodes/episode-37-2021-a-year-in-football
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/30VHicBCVtEKWBoXk7bXn0?si=WNvGFmjRQWOZpq1tN0eHSQ

[Demesne Lad]

Prompted by the discussions on other threads about the MNT young forwards, and when I should have been doing something else, I looked at the Transfermarkt.com data on goal-scorers under 21 years of age in the 2020/21 season in the PL, Championship and League One.

Premier League: 21 scorers u-21, including P Foden (9), M Greenwood (7), P Neto (5) and B Saka (5)
A Connolly (2)

Championship: 34 scorers u-21, including J Pedro (9), D Dike (9), T Campbell (6), H Elliott (6), M Olise (6)
N Collins (2), J Knight (2)

League One: 50 scorers u-21, including L Jephcott (13), K Lewis-Potter (13), B Johnson (10), T Richards (10)
R Cassidy (2), Troy Parrott (2), C Grant (1), M McGuinness (1)

[pineapple stu]

Are you missing Adam Idah from that list? 3 goals in the Championship last season.

No-one really jumps out though from that list, do they? Albeit that there's a difference between, say, an 18-year-old and a 21-year-old which that listing doesn't really show.

[Demesne Lad]

Are you missing Adam Idah from that list? 3 goals in the Championship last season.

No-one really jumps out though from that list, do they? Albeit that there's a difference between, say, an 18-tear-old and a 21-year-old which that listing doesn't really show.


You are quite correct on both points. I knew there was someone missing....

[tetsujin1979]

After 11 years of live updates on twitter (http://twitter.com/irish_abroad), facebook (https://www.facebook.com/irishfootballstatistics), and the live blog (http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Live), it looks like it's all going to end this week. The free service I had been using to power them is shutting down on Thursday, and, unless a replacement can be found, all three will grind to a halt. There's a few other paid services online that offer the same updates, but since the Irish Abroad site itself has no ads, and generates no income, I can't afford to pay for any of these.
I'm open to suggestions on how to keep things going, but otherwise it's all going to go really quiet from Friday.

[passinginterest]

It would be a shame to see it go. Would you consider using some advertising to pay for it? I'm sure people wouldn't mind a few ads here and there? I've no idea of the potential costs involved, or how much a few google ads could generate though. Would some of the Irish sports websites be interested in taking it on board?

[Demesne Lad]

Kilkenny man Ciaran Brennan (21, Sheffield Wed) has been given a two-year contract extension. He was on loan at National League Notts County earlier this season, and has impressed since his return to the Owls, stepping in to cover injuries in the Wednesday defence.

[Demesne Lad]

Peter Kioso (22, Swords lad) has been recalled from MK Dons to parent club Luton after 18 appearances, 4 goals and 3 assists for the League One club. MK Dons were sorry to see him go, and Luton boss Nathan Jones is undecided about Kioso's long term future at the Hatters, but they have several injured defenders at the moment. (MK Citizen, 18 Jan).