Dolan fury at Crowe omission
St Patrick's Athletic manager Pat Dolan has again attacked Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy for ignoring the international claims of home-based stars like Glen Crowe in favour of players such as Clinton Morrison and Andy O'Brien.
His outburst comes only days after McCarthy promised to check on the progress and eligibility of Bolton Wanderers' rising star Kevin Nolan.
This despite the fact that Nolan has already played for England's Under-18 and Under-21 sides, and dropped out of an Irish Under-18 squad for a friendly against Switzerland last year to play for England, claiming he did not want to play for the Republic.
In his column for the Star newspaper, Dolan said: "Fair play to Clinton Morrison. He played reasonably well against Croatia and tried hard, but when I looked at the Irish fans' acceptance of him I was saddened.
"For me, an Irish player is not someone who takes eight or nine months to make up his mind about his nationality, an Irishman is someone who feels Irish in his heart and soul.
"Morrison is a short-term answer to a long-term problem. That problem is that Ireland have a lack of forwards. Why is that? It's because we have a lack of investment in our game and because the international team manager doesn't attend our own professional league.
"And there's something culturally wrong with the attitude that exists in Ireland, when a man who scored 35 goals last season isn't included in an Irish squad, but a guy who says he wants to play for England gets in.
"We also saw Andy O'Brien play [against Croatia]. The same Andy who featured for the England Under-21s in a friendly against France. Is it just me or is it other people who find this wrong?
"Our league isn't given due respect even though the best player of this generation, Roy Keane, started his career in it, so did Paul McGrath.
"But now the league is ignored and the Clinton concept is accepted by the crowd, the FAI and the international manager. When they put Clinton Morrison's name on an Irish team-sheet, they may as well have engraved RIP on Irish soccer's gravestone."
Bohemians striker Crowe was part of the Republic squad for the World Cup qualifier against Estonia. He received a vote fo confidence from Leeds' Robbie Keane, who played with him at Wolves: "Glen is a good player who has lots of experience and knows how to score goals."
