After Conor Hourihane's first Premier League goal at the weekend, he's now scored in all four divisions in England, but who are the other players to manage the feat in recent years? http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...99656506916893
Roy O'Donovan's 40th goal in the A-League, Eddie Nolan's 100th appearance for Crewe Alexandra, Sean Scannell's first booking since 2016(!!), and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...39618622907570
After Aaron Connolly's start last night, a brief look at the fifteen other players to have started a competitive international before their twentieth birthday: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...66904206808752
Paddy Madden's first hat trick in English football, Jeff Hendrick's 100th start for Burnley, Shaun Williams's 350th start in English football, and much more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...90881334447551
Rory Gaffney's first goal for Walsall, Callum O'Dowda's 100th appearance in the Championship, Aaron Doran's 200th start for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...58361800902861
Some analysis of Sheffield United with an Irish interest: https://www.football365.com/news/she...icant-weakness
The wing-backs are Enda Stevens left and George Baldock right. Stevens is the more spectacular, and the eye test suggests he’s the more naturally talented, in attack at least. He gets the ball significantly more than Baldock (12.1 more passes/90), and the numbers give him a clear edge in key passes (11 to 4) and expected assists/90 (0.11 to 0.02). But Baldock is fairly steady, a reliable short passer, and I was surprised to see he has a much better cross completion percentage (24.3% to 9.4%).And so to the strikers, those sometime recipients of Henderson’s long balls. For the early part of the season, Sheffield’s best forward man was David McGoldrick. He’s an intelligent player who can do a little bit of everything: dribble, pass, win balls in the air, make good runs, go by defenders with pace, defend from the front too. But only once, against Southampton, did he look like a reliable scoring threat, and even then he failed to convert several presentable chances. There’s some question whether he can lead the line at this level.
But hopefully that won’t matter. With the advent of Mousset, McGoldrick has been shifted into a deeper role, kind of a 9½, or what we used to call a support striker. It’s the perfect place for him: he can use all his skills without worrying about getting into prime scoring positions. Against Burnley he was flat-out brilliant as an advanced fulcrum for attacks. He played a crucial role in the build-up to the first two goals, and should have had an assist when sub Billy Sharp passed up an excellent chance McGoldrick created in leading a counter.
You can't spell failure without FAI
The part about McGoldrick makes me even more keen to see him and Connolly in a front two.
To mark Aertel's closure, the live blog is going to be rendered in the classic pg 221 format for the weekend's fixtures: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Live
Joe Mason's first goal for MK Dons, James Collins' first goal in two months, Daryl Horgan's tenth goal for Hibs, and more as the round up returns after the international break: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...69736698400790
Ronan Curtis scores again for Portsmouth, after 33 seconds (v Rotherham, 26 November).
Connor Sammon scores two away to Linlithgow Rose (23 November).
Shaun Williams' first goal of the season, Matt Doherty's 25th goal for Wolves, Paddy Madden's 40th goal for Fleetwood, and more in the weekend round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...53230757842794
True, but he didn't start the game.
Depends on how he's performing really. He was in the last U21 squad, so needs to get back in the senior squad first. I'd say Mick has settled on McGoldrick, Connolly, Collins, and one space free for the four strikers in his squad
As we come to the end of the 2010s, I sat down with Mark Kennedy of Hawkeye Sidekick to discuss the last ten years of Irish international football.
First up - 2010-2013: The Trapattoni Years
https://soundcloud.com/irish-abroad/...apattoni-years
Robbie Brady's first goal in two years, Michael Harriman's first goal for Northampton Town, Jon Gallagher's first career goal, and more in the midweek round up: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...62522361995683
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