Players who nearly played for Ireland....but didnt...

**Drumcondra 69er** · 13/10/2009, 7:35 PM

Originally Posted by dr_peepee

Ashley Ward, Mark Beeney, Kieran Richardson

Jesus yeah! Pretty sure he made the squad in one of the sticker albums as the third keeper in 94 and he couldn't prove his eligibility!

**seand** · 13/10/2009, 10:28 PM

Originally Posted by Drumcondra 69er

Jesus yeah! Pretty sure he made the squad in one of the sticker albums as the third keeper in 94 and he couldn't prove his eligibility!

Excellent! On a similar note I have a souvenir football from Supervalu for the 1994 World Cup with facsimile autographs of the possible Ireland squad- including Paul Byrne who was never capped, then of Celtic, later Bohs, Dundalk, Kilkenny, St James Gate, Weight Watchers...

**SunnySweeney** · 14/10/2009, 1:49 AM

Lee Trundle (Swansea) and Danny Cadamarteri (Everton).

There were rumours right before the world cup in '94 that Stan Collymore was about 'to declare for Ireland'. He hadn't (i think) been capped by England at underage level. I don't know if he had any Irish connections though.

Wayne Rooney's grandmother famously said that "Wayne is English on the outside but Irish on the inside".

Good on ya Wayne ...

**irishfan86** · 14/10/2009, 5:51 AM

He may be of Irish origins, but he's proud to be English and fair enough...no Irish person is going to get this tattoo though!

**Royal rover** · 14/10/2009, 6:40 AM

Originally Posted by Razors left peg

think I remember hearing Paul Scholes a few years back, dunno how true it was though

His granny was irish - i remember the sunday world running a story on this in 1995 - he was never going to play for us though

**dr_peepee** · 14/10/2009, 8:50 AM

Originally Posted by seand

Excellent! On a similar note I have a souvenir football from Supervalu for the 1994 World Cup with facsimile autographs of the possible Ireland squad- including Paul Byrne who was never capped, then of Celtic, later Bohs, Dundalk, Kilkenny, St James Gate, Weight Watchers...

Think Paul Byrne made the squad a couple of times though...

Another nearly man Mark Stein...

Man in the days before the interweb I'd trawl the small little articles at the side of the Herald regarding potentials... Stan Collymore was mentioned too at one stage.

**youngirish** · 14/10/2009, 9:12 AM

Joseph Lapira

**dr_peepee** · 14/10/2009, 9:15 AM

Sean Dundee..

**Junior** · 14/10/2009, 9:21 AM

Darren Fletcher (Achill Links on mothers side) - Not sure if he was ever interested in representing us though.

**endabob1** · 14/10/2009, 9:49 AM

Originally Posted by Junior

Darren Fletcher (Achill Links on mothers side) - Not sure if he was ever interested in representing us though.

Yeah I think his mother was born in Achill and iirc he used to holiday there as a kid, I seem to recall Keane & Kerr trying to sway him at one point.

**seand** · 14/10/2009, 11:05 AM

Let's not forget Socrates, who almost declared for Ireland during his legendary period at UCD.

**pineapple stu** · 14/10/2009, 11:14 AM

"Legend" being the operative word...

**endabob1** · 14/10/2009, 12:31 PM

Jose Luis Brown, Argentina '86 according to Jimmy Magee his people came from outside Athlone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Luis_Brown

Which according to this this is entirely plausible although somewhat suspect if he would have been inside the granny rule!

http://www.webspawner.com/users/ldwhargentinasoc/

**IsMiseSean** · 14/10/2009, 1:46 PM

Wouldn't there be a few argentine's with Irish descent? Maybe we should look into it.... We could have had Messi!!

**as_i_say** · 14/10/2009, 1:52 PM

Originally Posted by dr_peepee

Ashley Ward, Mark Beeney, Kieran Richardson

I rememember Mark Beeney being included in the Stars sticker collection just before 1994 WC.

**SunnySweeney** · 14/10/2009, 4:00 PM

Originally Posted by irishfan86

He may be of Irish origins, but he's proud to be English and fair enough...no Irish person is going to get this tattoo though!

Top football players are really under the microscope these days

**Jeebus** · 14/10/2009, 4:19 PM

Shaun Teale

**irishultra** · 14/10/2009, 4:55 PM

Messi has like Italian, Spanish and English ancestry I heard.

Fabio O'Neil-defo

Fernando Cavenagh(i)????????-spanishisation(is that even a word) of cavenagh? i know a few people who spell it this way

Diego Forlan-defo

Scaloni-think he was a full back, definetly irish ancestry