Yeah, there's definitely a point there, although they did go more or less straight into their English sides' first teams, which a player from Kevin's or Rockmount wouldn't have done. Though I'm not suggesting the LoI in the 2000s was a strong league; just stronger than now.
But my point is that what we thought was great - and the 8 LoI players was trumpeted at the time - was really poor, despite it being the best contribution the LoI had made in decades, and even if you want to say it was really only 5 players (which would be a reasonable argument), that point still holds.
With a properly supported and funded league, more players would be coming through to the national team.
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