Who is the best irishman never capped at full international level?

[livehead1]

Who is the best Irish footballer to never receive a full International cap? I propose we see what the general consensus is and then create a poll of the 3 post popular names mentioned and then see who really is the best never to be capped.

[Irish_Praha]

Anthony Stokes :p

Or you mean someone who is retired?

[Dodge]

Good question. Don O'Riordan and Tommy Gaynor had succesful careers at a decent level in England without getting a cap

[Irish_Praha]

All jokes aside with such a small pool of players to choose from and our (much talked about on here) reliance on the English league, it's unlikely that any top-class talent playing in England was overlooked. It would more than likely be an EL player that was happy to stay at home eventhough he probably had the talent to make it in England. Unfortunately I'm not well up on the EL.

2 players we could have called up but didnt were Martin Keown and Kiran Richardson. I know Richardson would have accepted a call-up to one of our youth teams but I'm not sure if Keown declared for England because he was being constantly ovelooked by Ireland or because with the strenght of Irelands defence at the time he feared he wouldn't get his game.

What about Tony Sheridan who had fits and bursts of sublime skill but no consistency (or was he just lazy?).

[Armando]

Did Steve Bruce qualify for Ireland? His son was in the B team last week, so I presume his 'oul fella qualified too somehow.

[SuperDave]

Did Steve Bruce qualify for Ireland? His son was in the B team last week, so I presume his 'oul fella qualified too somehow.


urban myth

steve's stepson i think, or somesuch malarkey. maybe his wife had a bit of irish in her. :risqué smiley:

[DeNiro]

Tony Sheridan (ex-Coventry, Shels, Dublin City) never got a full cap.

Did Brian Mooney get a full cap? Have a feeling he got one v Tunisia in 1988!

[Superhoops]

Tony Sheridan (ex-Coventry, Shels, Dublin City) never got a full cap.

Did Brian Mooney get a full cap? Have a feeling he got one v Tunisia in 1988!
Brian Mooney did not play in that game. The team was:
G.Peyton, M.Morris, M.McCarthy, J.Anderson, S.Staunton, R.Houghton, L.O'Brien, K.Sheedy, M.Kelly, T.Cascarino, J.Aldridge. Subs; P.Scully, D.Kelly, N.Quinn, K.DeMange.

[tricky_colour]

Are Irishmen capped for England included?

[livehead1]

urban myth

steve's stepson i think, or somesuch malarkey. maybe his wife had a bit of irish in her. :risqué smiley:

jaysus, your like a journalist from the sunday world. Why post an answer when you clearly don't have a clue. Steve Bruce was asked by Charlton to play in the world cup in 1994. At the time the English Prem. had a rule whereby a country could not have more than 3 foreigners in the side at a time. His club career was at risk, so he said no, at much the same time kev, gallen did. but dont let the truth fool you...:rolleyes:

[pineapple stu]

Did Brian Mooney get a full cap? Have a feeling he got one v Tunisia in 1988!
Was Brian Mooney in contention for an Ireland cap? :eek: Great player; big help in getting us into Europe in 2000.

[sligoman]

Keith Foy:p

or is yer serious, Lee Trundle.

[dr_peepee]

Mark Beeney, Ashley Ward & Shawn McCarthy:)

[bennocelt]

the Gallen brothers with QPR?

[Dodge]

Was Brian Mooney in contention for an Ireland cap? :eek: Great player; big help in getting us into Europe in 2000.

He's an absolute hero for Preston and was with Sunderland when they reached the FA Cup final (got injured and didn't play)

Can we stick to players born in ireland to avoid confusion and speculation?

Best LOI players not capped were John McDonnell, Eddie Gormley. and Stephen Geoghegan

[Block G Raptor]

Dave Henderson was capped at all levels up to B international and Packie Bonner was his understudy at each of those levels.I know he was pretty disgruntled when packie was picked ahead of him for the senior side purely because Dave wanted to stay at home play for Bohs and be a fireman in his spare time
even though Bordeaux tried to sign him a couple of times

[Bluebeard]

AFAIK Steve Bruce eventually played a B international for England, adn often turns up on lists of best players in the last 20 years never to play for England (though surely Maradona or Platini would top that poll)

Back on topic, Kev Gallen would be one of the best 2nd Gens not to play international - Gerry Francis' fault telling him to declare for England - played an U21 match for England against Ireland in Dalymount about 10 or so years ago - didn't look too happy about it. Declaring for England certainly halted his career, I reckon.

Of retired eL players, recently, Stephen Geoghan comes to mind. Strangely enough, Martin Lawlor from the few games I saw him play also sticks out in my mind. Pat Morley too.

**EDIT** And when I think of it, how can I forget Ronnie O'Brien!

[DeNiro]

[QUOTE=Dodge;578624]He's an absolute hero for Preston and was with Sunderland when they reached the FA Cup final (got injured and didn't play)

He was excellent. Didn't he get voted 2nd best Preston player of all time after Stanley Matthews? I saw he had an authobiography as well. Don't know how long it is published though!

[mr.brightside]

what about wayne rooney.... he cuda also played for ireland

[Dublin12]

Jacko McDonagh,Gino Lawless or Jackie Jameson.

[Dodge]

Dave Henderson was capped at all levels up to B international and Packie Bonner was his understudy at each of those levels.I know he was pretty disgruntled when packie was picked ahead of him for the senior side purely because Dave wanted to stay at home play for Bohs and be a fireman in his spare time
even though Bordeaux tried to sign him a couple of times
How old are you? Henderson didn't join Bohs until well into his 30s after a very succesful career with Pats (and others). He started off with Rovers and never won a B cap (Olympic and U21 honours though) Played in the NASL too. In Paul McGrath's recent book, he claims Henderson is the best keeper he's EVER played with. Pats legend...

[gustavo]

Brendan Bradley , Tony Fagan.

[Noelys Guitar]

Donal Murphy ex Rovers, Coventry, Torquay. Scored one of the best goals in the 70's for Coventry against Leeds. Might have been in the squad against England in 76

[RiffRaff]

Not much point in discussing people who never actually declared for us, or you could mention people like Kevin Keegan and Steve McMahon. In fact Argentina have a few internationals over the years with Irish surnames. Someone mentioned Tommy Gaynor who's probably the one player i remember to be a regular at a top flight english team without getting a cap. In fact i think he also won a league cup with Notts Forest. Other ex league of ireland players to make their mark in the top flight around that time were John Coady (Chelsea) and Paul McGee (Wimbledon) and neither got caps. Although he doesnt fit onto the category of this thread, Alan Campbell only got 2 caps despite being one of the top scorers in the Spanish top flight for a couple of years.

[Jerry The Saint]

Eddie Gormley

I remember Eddie being described as "Ireland's greatest uncapped player" when he played in the Paul McGrath testemonial.

On a related note (maybe needs a new thread), I would like to propose Paul Osam as the best Irish player never to play for a foreign club...

(Sad that we have to define ourselves in that way)

[Dodge]

Agree on both counts. Obviously

[NeilMcD]

Yeah from what I know I would say Tommy Gaynor and Paul Osam are both up there. I think people who are not born here and played for other countries dont count. Once you play for another country you are no longer Irish in my view.

[Sheridan]

Jacko McDonagh,Gino Lawless or Jackie Jameson.
Jacko McDonagh won several caps.

[youngirish]

Ronnie O'Brien defo. And he's not going to get a cap before his career finishes so you might aswell include him with the others now.

[pineapple stu]

He was excellent. Didn't he get voted 2nd best Preston player of all time after Stanley Matthews? I saw he had an authobiography as well. Don't know how long it is published though!
He was actually voted Preston's greatest ever player by, I think, the fanzine. Beat Tom Finney, although that was partly because Finney always won and they wanted someone different!

Don't think Matthews ever played for Preston. Stoke and Blackpool (?) were his two main clubs.

[monutdfc]

In terms of ability Tony Sheridan would have to be right up there on the list. The fact that he didn't make it was more down to his personality and attitude than ability.

I heard Liverpool nearly signed him after he bossed Rangers at Tolka but Phil Neal who had been his boss at Coventry put them off.

[Metrostars]

Ronnie O'Brien defo. And he's not going to get a cap before his career finishes so you might aswell include him with the others now.

My choice too. Never looked at by Kerr or now Staunton because he doesnt play in Ingerland. BTW, selected to the MLS Best 11 for the third year in a row.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Kevin Gallen was a disgrace. They're from a fine London Irish family too and he didn't have the balls to play for us.

But we won't rush to judge or anything. :rolleyes:

Lots of 2gen players come under pressure from their English clubs for a mix of reasons -not least because an English International will transfer for more bucks than an Irish international due to the attention they'll get from the red tops.

We haven't a clue what leverage Francis and QPR had over him at the time.

Oh btw ...Willie Boland.

[tetsujin1979]

My choice too. Never looked at by Kerr or now Staunton because he doesnt play in Ingerland. BTW, selected to the MLS Best 11 for the third year in a row.

According to Devlin, he would have been in the B game, but he's injured at the moment so they didn't call him up.

[NY Hoop]

Mick Byrne and Mick Neville.

KOH

[the 12 th man]

Jackie Jameson.

Brilliant player (R.I.P.)

[Dodge]

Mick Byrne and Mick Neville.

Agree totally with these two, and Jameson of course

[EalingGreen]

jaysus, your like a journalist from the sunday world. Why post an answer when you clearly don't have a clue. Steve Bruce was asked by Charlton to play in the world cup in 1994. At the time the English Prem. had a rule whereby a country could not have more than 3 foreigners in the side at a time. His club career was at risk, so he said no, at much the same time kev, gallen did. but dont let the truth fool you...:rolleyes:

Steve Bruce's mammy is from Bangor, Co.Down. NI were apparently interested, but he wasn't. I hadn't heard about Charlton's approach (or had forgotten), but I'm sure it's correct that MU were blocking their players from declaring for countries other than England because of the UEFA "foreigners" rule.
In any case, Bruce clearly stated his England aspirations, which were reasonable even if never realised. (The "B" Cap wouldn't have disqualified him from representing NI or ROI, AFAIK)

As for his son, Alex, NI pursued him strongly, but he kept putting us off. It looks like he was still hankering after England. It soon became obvious that this would never happen (he's not half the player his da was, imo).
So then he was faced with a choice of NI or ROI, and he chose the latter, because they're a "better team", thereby demonstrating that he's stupid as well as useless...;)

[soccerc]

Jackie Jameson, Eddie Gormley and Liam Buckley.

[Dodge]

Jackie Jameson, Eddie Gormley and Liam Buckley.

Buckley got 2 caps. deserved more but at least he got a couple

[youngirish]

So then he was faced with a choice of NI or ROI, and he chose the latter, because they're a "better team", thereby demonstrating that he's stupid as well as useless...;)
He sounds like a plank alright as if he had any sense as you correctly suggest he would have declared for your team the North where he was quite likely to get a regular game.

He hasn't a hope playing for us when he's up against the likes of J O'Brien, Ireland, Garvan, McCann, Gibson (all far more talented) for a spot.

[Superhoops]

Jackie Jameson, Eddie Gormley and Liam Buckley.
Are you serious about Eddie Gormley? I have a lot of time for Eddie, but never saw him as being international class. Although capped at U-21, he never really progressed through to senior international standard. I don't think he ever played for Spurs first team and he was loaned out several times before going to Doncaster Rovers for a few seasons.

When he came back and signed for Pat's he was probably one of the most consistent players in the league for several seasons. I'd say Eddie would think he played his best football at Doncaster, not what you would call international standard, especially when you consider the players Ireland had available in Eddie's positions at the time.

[soccerc]

Buckley got 2 caps. deserved more but at least he got a couple


I'd forgotten about Bucko's two games, still he deserved more at the time in the mid to late 80's.

[Superhoops]

I'd forgotten about Bucko's two games, still he deserved more at the time in the mid to late 80's.
Didn't even get 2 full games, the first only lasted 11 mins when he replaced Frank Stapleton. Got the full 90 minutes in the second game.

[Dodge]

Are you serious about Eddie Gormley? I have a lot of time for Eddie, but never saw him as being international class. Although capped at U-21, he never really progressed through to senior international standard. I don't think he ever played for Spurs first team and he was loaned out several times before going to Doncaster Rovers for a few seasons.

When he came back and signed for Pat's he was probably one of the most consistent players in the league for several seasons. I'd say Eddie would think he played his best football at Doncaster, not what you would call international standard, especially when you consider the players Ireland had available in Eddie's positions at the time.

Just before coming home Chelsea offered £300k for him. Doncastor turned it foen and months later the situation changed and Eddie decided to come home. When he was playing for Pats and EASILY the best player here the likes of McGoldrick, Kernaghan and others nowhere near this level got capped. There's no doubt that loads of players of lesser ability gained caps.

[pete]

Pat Morley as eventhough he was lightweight & not a lot of pace was ace goal poacher. eL clubs were not so successful in europe in those days so hard to know how he would have fared. I think did score against ranger though when with Shels.

Would be interesting to place thread next to one on the the most useless players to get capped for Ireland.

[Paddy Garcia]

He hasn't a hope playing for us when he's up against the likes of J O'Brien, Ireland, Garvan, McCann, Gibson (all far more talented) for a spot.

He is not up against any of these for a spot. :confused:

He is up against the likes of O'Shea, O'Brien, McShane, Dunne and co. The first two don't have many fans on this site & the third can't currently get a game in the Championship. So I suggest he may have a hope.

[johnnyc]

Best surely has to be Gazza. I remember Jack saying on the Late Late that Gazza told him (genuinely) that he had an Irish granny.

[dr_peepee]

How old are you? Henderson didn't join Bohs until well into his 30s after a very succesful career with Pats (and others). He started off with Rovers and never won a B cap (Olympic and U21 honours though) Played in the NASL too. In Paul McGrath's recent book, he claims Henderson is the best keeper he's EVER played with. Pats legend...

He's either the Da or uncle to Wayne Henderson. They're a bit of a goalkeeping dynasty. Daves has a brother, Stphen I think, played LOI and up the north. Dave's Da Paddy is friend of my bro. There's another one in the underage set up at Villa too. Stephen jr.

[Den Perry]

Neville Steedman