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Still no news as to why AOB retired.
Kevin Kilbane referred to it slightly.
'although he seemed less shocked at Andy O'Brien's similar intentions'.
"They're big blows for us. Stephen is only 31 and Andy is only 28 and they've still got a lot of legs left in them. It was a shock to me when Stephen announced his retirement because I speak to him quite a bit and he never mentioned it when we spoke. Andy has his reasons but it's a big blow"
Curiouser and Curiouser!!!
Good riddence to Andy O'Brien, you can count the good games he had for Ireland with one finger.
Finann retiring on the other hand is a massive blow.
I think Andy O'Brien was very underrated for us. One howler (along with Finnan) out in Cyprus but lots of steady games alongside Cunningham. He's playing the best football of his life at the moment and I'd only have confidence in Dunne & O'Shea at CB at the moment, the younger CBs still have a lot to do in my opinion.
Theres an opportunity for a nose joke there....Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
That's harsh. When he was in tandem with Kenny Cunningham under Kerr, we only conceded a handful of goalsQuote:
Originally Posted by RivaldoBabb
Surely now of all times with a new manager he would be right back in the running. it doesnt help when you have a useless tool like givens temporarily in charge of the situation. having read that article about playing for england u21s, you would seriously wonder why he would want to play for us.
Anyone remember the look on his face when the final whistle blew when we beat the dutch 1-0. the camera caught him and he just couldnt have cared less by the looks of it.
He certainly cared at home against Israel when he did Dudu Awat one.
Stop laying into him for being half-English, it's not on.
Why can't these players wait until we have a new manager before retiring? Finnan and AOB retiring slightly decreases our chances of landing a decent manager but I guess if they gave a ****e about that they wouldn't be retiring in the first place
Why retire now with a new manager in the offing and McShane found out. Sure the game in Cyprus is best forgotten, but there was plenty of blame to go around.
At 28 he is reaching his peak at CH and should have been in the squad for the next 4 years. There always seems to be a shortage of players somewhere. I never thought that we Ireland would be short of defenders after all that were available in the past.
I have no time for Givens and he must rate as the worst U21 manager in Europe but he is not to blame for O'Brien deciding to retire, Gvens included him in the squad for the previous game.
'Speaking at today's press conference Givens also revealed that Andy O'Brien, who has announced his retirement from international football, had been in touch with the caretaker boss but was reluctant to rethink his decision for the time being at least.'
Curious that there's nothing about it on Bolton's website at all
Has anything been clarified regarding O Brien's playing career, or this this another example of Givens' anti-midas P.R. touch?
Another one gone, O'Callaghan announced his retirement from international football at today's press conference. With Givens in charge, who'd blame him :(
I would be amazed if O'Brien never plays for Ireland again.
If not my abiding memories of O'Briens international career will be that he was twice assaulted by opposition keepers and neither time did we get a peno:D
First Barthez elbowed him in the head at a corner and then the infamous Israeli keeper incident when O'Brien was punched in the head from behind and increduosly the ref sent O'Brien off when he saw the keeper rolling around clutching his face. Perhaps the most farcical thing about the whole lunacy was that he also had to serve a 1 match ban and FIFA thought they were doing us a favour by downgrading it from the usual 3 matches:confused:
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http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer...997-qqqx=1.asp
Meanwhile, Delaney confirmed that the FAI have finally received Bolton defender Andy O’ Brien’s retirement letter in the post and revealed that its arrival had been delayed because it had been addressed to the Association’s old headquarters in Merrion Square
Quote:
Originally Posted by ruben_sosa
He let the FAI know of his retirement through the post?!...this has got to be a joke:confused:
He's a footballer, I'm surprised he can write
Quote:
Good riddence to Andy O'Brien, you can count the good games he had for Ireland with one finger.
Im sorry, there isnt much that angers me on this forum, but a statement such as this uninformed piece of crap really angers me. He was excellent throughout Kerrs only full campaign where we ony conceded about 5 goals. Dont just the guy just on the Cyprus debacle, that was a **** team performance, not just by him. Kerr has said that Kilbane and O'Brien were the two players who gave the most while he was Irish manager. Im disapointed by it but i dont think anyone say something as stupid as that post i just quoted. Obviously being left out if so many squads after Cyprus really ****ed off the guy but thats still no reason to retire. Morrison hasnt been in a squad since and he played in that Cyprus game ut he hasnt retired. I wish players would show a little bit more love for the jersey
O'Brien and Cunningham had a fantastic partnership. I used to keep track of these kind of stats. Here's a bit I have in a file:
Cunningham - O’brien:
Clean sheet - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Conceded - 1
I don't know when I stopped keeping track and they would have played a few times together since then but that is a fantastic record up there. 1 goal conceded in 8 games.
Seperate:
O’Brien:
Clean - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Conceded - 2 1
Cunningham:
Clean - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Conceded - 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1