Anybody up for a bit of summer fun? Ireland Draft idea

**Fixer82** · 23/06/2011, 2:37 PM

ok Gary Breen and Jason McAteer

**Metrostars** · 23/06/2011, 3:33 PM

After 6 and a bit Rounds:

Fixer82: Shay Given, John Sheridan, Niall Quinn, Stephen Ireland, David Connolly, Gary Breen, Jason McAteer
Murfinator: Roy Keane, Richard Dunne, Packie Bonner, John O'Shea, Steve Finnan, Ian Harte
tetsujin1979: Liam Brady, Denis Irwin, John Aldridge, Steve Heighway, Shay Brennan, Michael Robinson
Metrostars: Paul McGrath, Ray Houghton, Tony Cascarino, Johnny Carey, Kevin Sheedy, Tony Dunne
SwanVsDalton: Robbie Keane, David O'Leary, Aidan McGeady, Alan Kelly Sr, Kenny Cunningham, Mick Martin
BonnieShels: Johnny Giles, Andy Townsend, Alan Kelly Jr, Steve Staunton, Noel Cantwell, Shane Long
Sullivinho: Damien Duff, Kevin Moran, Kevin Doyle, Mick McCarthy, Gary Kelly, Steven Reid
EAFC_rdfl: Frank Stapleton, Ronnie Whelan, Mark Lawrenson, Don Givens, Gerry Peyton, Con Martin

**Fixer82** · 23/06/2011, 3:36 PM

Have to say I think Metrostars has the best team so far

**Metrostars** · 23/06/2011, 3:48 PM

Originally Posted by Fixer82

Have to say I think Metrostars has the best team so far

It's ok so far but I have a bit hole in the middle of the pitch I need to figure out....

**Fixer82** · 23/06/2011, 3:50 PM

Paul Green all the way.

Paul Butler can also do a job in CM if needs be

**Sullivinho** · 23/06/2011, 4:03 PM

Central midfield is bothersome. Slim enough pickings outside of the usual suspects. Ditto for goalkeepers.

Originally Posted by Fixer82

Have to say I think Metrostars has the best team so far

Aye. I like the look of Murfinator's too. No doubt Keano's inclusion was to offset Harte's defensive wanderings via a process of distilled fear. Tactically astute to say the least.

Originally Posted by Fixer82

Paul Green all the way.

Paul Butler can also do a job in CM if needs be

Showing your hand early there Fixer, everyone will want them two now.

**Metrostars** · 23/06/2011, 4:10 PM

Originally Posted by Fixer82

Paul Green all the way.

Paul Butler can also do a job in CM if needs be

Not to mention Joey Lapire up top with Cas and I'll be all set.

**SwanVsDalton** · 23/06/2011, 4:14 PM

Jon Goodman. Mike Milligan. Eddie McGoldrick. Please.

**Fixer82** · 23/06/2011, 4:29 PM

Bernie Slaven will complete my dream team

**Sullivinho** · 23/06/2011, 4:44 PM

Would my team be rendered void if I select Alex Bruce and he declares for the North of Ireland before the draft is over??

**Murfinator** · 23/06/2011, 5:46 PM

Bah stole McAteer from me. I better think about this.

**Murfinator** · 23/06/2011, 6:03 PM

Problems with injury, fitness and erm guitars? stopped him from ever really fulfilling his potential as of yet but theres no doubt when on song this guy was incredible and one of the greatest ever technical players we've seen in the green. His single handed domination of a gifted German side in Croke Park was a teaser of what might have been with better fortune. Between himself, Steven Reid and Stephen Ireland its slightly depressing how some of our most gifted players in recent times would never get their chance to really shine.

It's Andy Reid

**tetsujin1979** · 23/06/2011, 8:29 PM

scorer of the winning goal in the 1971 Cup Winner's Cup final John Dempsey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dempsey_(footballer)

**Metrostars** · 23/06/2011, 9:36 PM

I select...

Charlie Hurley

40 Caps, 2 goals

When the book about your life is called The Greatest Centre-Half the World Has Ever Seen you are either a fictional character or a once-in-a-lifetime footballer. Charlie Hurley was the latter.

A living saint in Sunderland, the Cork-born Irish international is rarely mentioned these days when people talk about Ireland’s greatest ever player but in the eyes of Sunderland fans, and older Irish fans, he has few equals.

Hurley was only a baby when his family moved from Cork to London and after catching the eye of scouts he signed for Millwall in 1953 aged 17. He quickly was thrown into the first team and was an almost instant regular in the side that was battling in the lower reaches of English football.

Life at Millwall is tough now. Back then it was even tougher and Hurley was perfectly suited to it as he was big, tall, tough and fearless, ideal characteristics for a centre-half at that time.

By 1955, word of his performances reached the FAI selection committee and Hurley was called up for a game against Spain. However Hurley was injured while playing in the army as he performed his National Service and he had to withdraw from the squad. It would be almost two years before he got called up again.

In the interim he continued to perform heroics for Millwall in the lower divisions and he got another chance for Ireland in May 1957, when he made his debut for Ireland in a crucial World Cup qualifier against England at Dalymount Park. England only needed a draw to qualify and after they beat the Irish 5-1 in Wembley 11 days before, an easy victory for the visitors was expected.

Instead, Ireland, inspired by an incredibly composed debut by Hurley, produced one of their best ever performances of the era, leading the game 1-0 from the third minute thanks to Alf Ringstead. A late John Atyeo goal secured England the point they needed but Ireland had dominated a team full of the some of the best players in the world including Billy Wright and Tom Finney and the marked improvement from the Wembley game could be largely credited to the Millwall man.

The Irish Independent report of the game notes that “Newcomer Hurley looks at the world from a height and this six-footer did a great job of work against England’s best forward Tommy Taylor”.Taylor was the Wayne Rooney of his day, a truly phenomenal player who scored 16 goals in 19 games for England. Less than a year later he would be killed in the Munich air disaster, aged just 26.

Shortly after this game Hurley would make the move that would define his career, when he signed for Sunderland for �20,000. His signing-on fee was �10. However his start was less than auspicious. Sunderland lost 7-0 to Blackpool and their new centre-half weighed in with an own goal to cap off a miserable debut. Sunderland lost his second game 6-0 to Burnley and the club would be relegated from the top division for the first time in their history at the end of that season.

It would take them six years to regain their status in the top flight, finally achieving it after finishing second in Division 2 in the 1963-64 season. As an indicator of how good Hurley was in that promotion push, he finished second in the Football Writer’s Player of the Year awards behind Bobby Moore that season.

By this point he was a fixture in the Irish team, sharing the captaincy and a role on the selection committee with Noel Cantwell. Hurley would win 40 caps for Ireland, and he scored twice in one game against Norway in 1964 when he was given a shot at centre-forward. He claimed later that if he had his time again he would have been a striker.

Hurley retired from playing for Ireland in 1969, the same year he was given a free transfer by Sunderland, thus enabling him to earn whatever fee he could as a thank you for his years of service. Hurley played 401 games for Sunderland, scoring 26 goals. Most of those goals came from corners that were powered into the net with his trademark bullet headers, and Hurley is often credited as one of the first central defenders to lumber forward to provide an aerial threat from set plays.

The free transfer took him to Bolton for a few seasons and he went onto manage Reading for five years until 1977. Two years later, on the 100th anniversary of the founding of Sunderland FC, Hurley was voted their player of the century. The fact he was chosen ahead of players like Jim Montgomery (who played a record 627 games for the club) and all time top scorer Bobby Gurney (who scored 227 goals in 390 games) confirms the impact the Irishman made.

Another former teammate was Brian Clough, who told the press when he signed for Sunderland in 1961 “Joining Sunderland means two things to me - I'm now at the best club in the North-East and I won't have to play against Charlie Hurley again.”

‘King Charlie’, as he is known around Sunderland, is still revered whenever he visits the Stadium of Light. He was a fan of Roy Keane, noting in 2008 "Roy is a Corkman and I'm a Corkman. He's a hard ******* and I was a hard *******. We don't suffer fools at all.”

Tough, skilful, powerful and brave, Hurley was an ideal centre-half. For a dozen years he rarely missed a game for Ireland, despite the difficulties in travelling at the time and he it is impossible to find anybody who has anything but huge respect for Hurley.

In modern times we have had great central defenders in the Republic of Ireland team, from Paul McGrath to Richard Dunne, but the archetype for them all was Charlie Hurley.