Niall told me he isn't eligible for Ireland.
His father got away....http://pogmogoal.com/the-blog-reel/i...-father/17861/
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist thinks it will change; the realist adjusts the sails.
Niall told me he isn't eligible for Ireland.
I don't remember. I private messaged him on Twitter about it; this would have been a good while ago.
Last edited by TheOneWhoKnocks; 05/09/2014 at 1:35 PM.
Wait a minute. He might be eligible. I think it was Julian Kelly or Liam Irwin who I was talking to.
Kelly isn't eligible for us alright, Irwin played competitively with us until U19 level (see http://www.fai.ie/ireland/match/24/2011/2001643 and http://www.fai.ie/ireland/match/24/2011/2001695 ) - so he's definitely eligible
How could Liam Irwin, the son of Denis Irwin, ever not be eligible for us????
Julian Kelly was called up for friendlies but then I think it transpired that his ancestral link was a generation too late.
Niall Keown is surely eligible by virtue of his Irish grandparents yeah??
You show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser - Vince Lombardi
Yeah, Martin's parents were both Irish. It's interesting that Niall Keown is claiming for Ireland. Is it that he isn't getting the England caps so he's claiming for Ireland? Or does he feel inherently Irish like his dad does? Bearing in mind that his father played for England on the basis that his father wanted him to give something back to the country, or something along those lines.
Liam Irwin, irrespective of where he was born, would be an Irish national from birth by virtue of having been born to Denis, an Irish national who was born in Ireland.
Niall Keown would have had to have his birth registered on the Foreign Births Register before acquiring Irish citizenship, because Martin - even though an automatic Irish citizen from birth - was born outside of Ireland, but Niall would, of course, be eligible to play for us on account of his Ireland-born grandparents. His citizenship would be effective from the date of registration.
More info here: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en...r_descent.html
...and a painstaking process it is too I can tell you. I finally got around to FBR for my kids earlier this year.
The Irish community in English football is something Jacko is very much part of: he lists off the Irish players at the Hawthorns: James McClean and Marc Wilson, along with Northern Ireland internationals Gareth McCauley, Jonny Evans and Chris Brunt here, along with Darren Fletcher, who Jacko says is half Irish:
He was over at the All-Ireland last year with his dad Robert, but he missed the replay. He's a big Mayo fan, his mother is from Achill. He does absolutely [share the despair of Mayo fans over here]. Even James McClean, we'd have a laugh. I played with Finn Harps in the 90s, and obviously James is a big Derry City fan.
Keane tried to convince Fletcher to declare for Ireland at underage level at United but he rightly had his heart set on Scotland. I'll have a root and see if I can find the articles that reference it. Brady wanted him at Arsenal too and has spoken about it too, if I recall.
Just mentioning Chris Coleman in this thread as he said he once turned down a call to play for Ireland in spite of his father being a Dublin man: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017...-boss-coleman/
Was Coleman ever good enough to play for us? His peers were Kenny Cunningham, Steve Staunton, Gary Breen, Andy O'Brien etc....was he any better than any of them??
Last edited by Wangball; 22/03/2017 at 12:32 PM.
You show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser - Vince Lombardi
I would have thought he wasn't far off Cunningham's level and better than Breen & O'Brien. A solid Premier League regular - that's my memory anyway but obviously I wasn't too concerned about how good or bad he was. We should beware of those green tinted glasses!
with respect to the likes of Coleman and Keown, who had immediate strong links to Ireland, would it be fair to say that a fair few of the Irish folks who left for England in those decades (I am assuming the 50's and 60's) would have harboured some ill-will towards the country of their birth and thus severed ties with Ireland from an emotional standpoint? I recall a lot of bitterness amongst emigrants in the 80's when we lost a lot of people due to the absolute lack of opportunity across multiple industries/sectors but I do not know what the climate and feelings would have been like a generation earlier. In Coleman's case, his dad seemed proud to be Irish but always pushed Coleman to represent Wales - interesting dichotomy at play there.
That said, I agree with the comment on another thread that being brought up in a city like Swansea would not have helped expose Coleman to his Irish roots, unless it was done intentionally by the parents.
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
For many who left Ireland during those days, I'm sure there would have been a desire to be assimilated into their host society as quickly as possible. Thus, I'm sure many suppressed the characteristics they felt "exposed" them as being "definitively Irish" (by anglicising names or dropping the "Ó"/"Mac/Mc", for example) rather than emphasising their differences, especially if prejudice or discrimination might have been experienced as a result.
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