Irish Abroad 2017/18

[tetsujin1979]

First appearance by an Irish player in the 2017/18 season goes to Tom Holland, named on the bench for new club The New Saints in their Champions League qualifier against Europa FC of Gibraltar

Graeme Cummins and Joe Shaughnessy's St Johnstone playing Trakai of Lithuania while Cillian Sheridan's Jagiellonia Bialystok travel to Georgia to take on Dinamo Batumi on Thursday night

<EDIT>

Sorry, wrote this late last night, meant to thank Danny for the post on Jagiellonia Bialystok starting their Europa League campaign on Thursday

[liamoo11]

First appearance by an Irish player in the 2017/18 season goes to Tom Holland, named on the bench for new club The New Saints in their Champions League qualifier against Europa FC of Gibraltar

Graeme Cummins and Joe Shaughnessy's St Johnstone playing Trakai of Lithuania while Cillian Sheridan's Jagiellonia Bialystok travel to Georgia to take on Dinamo Batumi on Thursday night

That polish season only finished the day of the Austria match have they had any holidays?

[DannyInvincible]

It was the 4th of June they finished up; the day of our Uruguay friendly. Still a fairly short break, mind.

[liamoo11]

It was the 4th of June they finished up; the day of our Uruguay friendly. Still a fairly short break, mind.

True my mistake I have no sympathy for them!

[OwlsFan]

O'Grady has been rewarded with another year's contract at Wednesday https://www.swfc.co.uk/news/2017/june/ogrady-extends/

[Olé Olé]

http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/40442228

Graham Carey has signed a deal at Plymouth. A year at League One level at 28 committed to amidst speculation that he was on his way to Sheffield United of the Championship.

[mark12345]

http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/40442228

Graham Carey has signed a deal at Plymouth. A year at League One level at 28 committed to amidst speculation that he was on his way to Sheffield United of the Championship.

Stupid, unambitious move from a guy I had really high hopes for. He has the ability - showed it in flashed against Liverpool. End of a promising career or what's left of it

[CraftyToePoke]

You ever been to Sheffield ?
Plymouth is a very nice place to live.
Its all well and good to move to a northern England red brick dump town if its ManU on the phone but these places are proper sh*tholes.

[Olé Olé]

The Championship is becoming a very illustrious league. The man played for St Mirren and Ross County for 4 years. I could be open to correction but neither of them are situated in picturesque seaside towns. I'm all for players factoring in personal lifestyle choices to their decisions as it is their career after all. I just think this could have been worth the sacrifice given that he will be 29 by season's end.

[CraftyToePoke]

Are Sheffield Utd going to build their midfield round a guy like this though ? Or would he be more of a squad signing with a contract to match that, every chance Plymouth are paying him as much, or close, to be one of their main guys. And as you rightly say, after suffering living in some real outposts in his career, why not be the big fish in the smaller pond by the sea in a nice place, and in the team also every week.

[tetsujin1979]

Lee O'Connor was mentioned in this interview with Man United's U18 coach here; http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Fe...18s-coach.aspx

Lee O’Connor said in his interview you helped him overcome homesickness – does it help being able to relate to players in that way?
Yes, that’s the benefit of having been there yourself, in terms of coming to a big Academy and moving over from Ireland. It’s only natural at some stage he would feel a little bit homesick and would go through that process but he had a terrific season and made a really good impact.The big challenge for him, the other two players I nominated for the award [Angel Gomes and Callum Whelan] and the rest of the squad, is what they do next and what level they can go to next season after being a very dominant player last season.

[tetsujin1979]

After one of the followers of the site's facebook page noticed Andy O'Brien had won 21 Ireland caps before his first loss at from his international record, I investigated whether or not this was a record: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...09640539890702

[Closed Account]

Not a great number in Fantasy PL this season:

[samhaydenjr]

Not a great number in Fantasy PL this season:

Doesn't include Wilson, Towell, Hoban and Rice, who are still senior players on the books of Premier League clubs, although we'll have to wait and see if they have an impact next season (but then we'll have to do the same for Elliot, Scannell and Murphy). So after we remove Delaney, that's still 21 players - nearly a full squad, so not too bad, with a few experienced internationals in the Championship

[OwlsFan]

O'Grady was on the bench for Owls pre-season game against Alfreton and came on to score his first senior goal in a 0-5 win.

[DeLorean]

Some club friendlies yesterday:

Hull 2-1 Bristol Rovers - Rory Gaffney gave Rovers the lead. Brian Lenihan started for Hull.

Ipswich 3-1 Peterborough - David McGoldrick equalised as Ipswich came from one down to win.

Hartlepool 1-2 Sunderland - Gibson & Amond played 90 mins, O'Shea played last half hour.

Morecambe 0-2 Preston - Boyle, Cunningham & Horgan all played the first hour. Browne & Doyle played last half hour.

Doncaster 1-1 Derby - Keogh gave Derby the lead (pics below) and Pearce also started.

[OMTY]

Randolph and Rice played the first half yesterday of West Ham's 2-1 victory over Fulham. Josh Cullen played 77 mins.

Rice was replaced at half time by Reece Burke who you would imagine will be his competition for minutes in the Hammer's defence. Reece Oxford is gone out on loan for the season to Moenchengladbach and although he has played most of his time centre midfield he still might have been in competition for defensive places. With Nordtveit gone I'd put Rice at about joint 5th in West Ham's centre back depth. Reid, Ogbonna, Fonte, Collins, Rice/Burke. Collins and Fonte will both be 34 this year so hopefully Rice will get some chances this year.

[CraftyToePoke]

The money they are spending, I will be surprised if a defender or two don't come in. Delightedly surprised though.

[samhaydenjr]

Randolph and Rice played the first half yesterday of West Ham's 2-1 victory over Fulham. Josh Cullen played 77 mins.

Rice was replaced at half time by Reece Burke who you would imagine will be his competition for minutes in the Hammer's defence. Reece Oxford is gone out on loan for the season to Moenchengladbach and although he has played most of his time centre midfield he still might have been in competition for defensive places. With Nordtveit gone I'd put Rice at about joint 5th in West Ham's centre back depth. Reid, Ogbonna, Fonte, Collins, Rice/Burke. Collins and Fonte will both be 34 this year so hopefully Rice will get some chances this year.

That's an interesting tidbit - I think we were all assuming that Cullen would just be going out on loan again (I think QPR was mentioned, which wouldn't be bad). And while this might still happen, it appears that Bilic thinks it's worth his while giving him a second look, so here's hoping he was impressed

[Closed Account]

Not a great number in Fantasy PL this season:

Randolph, Whelan and Murphy all gone from this. 1/3 now at Burnley.