QuoteStan..Pick up the phone and call the man if his mum is Irish, god knows he need him.
I must disagree on Doyle. Unlike Clinton, I watched Doyle win every ball that came his way. Four high balls came in, I think, in the first half and he won every one of them, flicking them on for Robbie. He'll be playing at a higher level than Clinton, is scoring more than Clinton at the moment and has had a much better season. I think he deserves his place at this stage. But, like you say, it's early days.Originally Posted by 4tothefloor
Stan..Pick up the phone and call the man if his mum is Irish, god knows he need him.
I know a few people who work at Vicarage Road, apparently he is interested in playing for us but hasn't heard anything as yet from the coaching staff.
He thinks he would qualify for us as his gandparents were from around the West Meath area but had to leave due to economic conditions. Of course this would all have to be ratified with the proper documentation by FIFA.
In my opinion he would be a good asset. He's a lot like Kav, likes to put the foot in, a hard worker, passionate player with good pace, stamina and ability in the air. He might not be over-blessed with skill, but he does have a good shot from range. The key point is he could play and would be a calm head, and would give 110% - thats just his nature. Another thing is he has played in defensive midfield and as a center back and is good at either.
I certainly think he merits a place in the squad and hope Stan has a look at him...
Right now I think Clinton is still ahead of him, but not by much. Doyle & Robbie still haven't had enough pitch time together to form an understanding & I don't think there's enough time for them to get that time together before Stuttgart. Doyle from the bench for now, in my opinion. At least we now have somebody to come from the bench that might make an impact. In the last campaign almost every substitution made was an inferior player coming on for a better one.
While we're on the topic of midfielders with Irish sounding names, what about Shaun Derry of Leeds? Tall, mobile and physical. Not sure he's got any talent though.
If he were English at heart his name would be Shaun Londonderry.
OK, that was crap, I know.
Keeping the Leeds theme, Jonathon Douglas has been better than Miller from what I've seen. Far more bite.
I liked your joke stutts dont feel bad
Stan in the star today said he never heard of him but will look in to it
God, when you think back to Colin Healy's fantastic debut four and a quarter years ago and see what's happened to him since. What he should have become is exactly what we need.
jesus christ, even i had heard of gavin mahon maybe 5 years ago when he wasn't even a regular at watford, if he actually said that i would be worried about that actual pool of talent that he is aware of
I don't think you can blame Staunton for that. He was very out spoken about checking out any one that was eligible. Obviously no one contacted him about this guy. If anything it's an FAI problem if they haven't kept tabs/records of players that are elligible.
Bring it on. I first mentioned Mahon in connection with Ireland on this site two years ago. I'd say that his time has come.
Exactly Livehead. That said, if Stan does look him up now, at least we know that we in this thread played our part in bringing Mahon to his attention.
(Via The Star? Who's the lurker journo?)
PP
Last edited by Plastic Paddy; 31/05/2006 at 5:49 PM.
Semper in faecibus sole profundum variat
What age is Mahon though 29 ? Is he really worth bringing into the squad at this stage? Have seen him play against sunderland a couple of times and looked a decent enough championship player but liam miller has had a cracking season for leeds in the championship. nuff said
That's what I love about this forum.People give out about lazy journalists getting their stories from forum like this but I think it's great. bwagner opens a thread about a player and few days later Stan is made aware of him.
Sheringham was 29 when he made his debut for England and he was/is some player. At 29 he still has up to 4 good years left in him.
i think u were watching a different game. doyle/mcgeady/dunne possible duff were the plus points against chile. jason byrne won a couple of balls but did not look up to it. not sayin doyle is the answer but he looks promising.
I agree.
We are very short in CM with S. Reid a starter and Kavanagh, O'Shea, Quinn and Miller the only realistic options as his partner. Kavanagh would get my vote out of those four but he too has a lot to prove. IMO the Kilbane experiment didnt work out in the last campaign. So if Mahon is anyway decent he would have a good chance of starting or a least be an option from the bench or backup if Kav/Reid get injured.
Gibson, J. O'Brien, Whelan, Garvan and Ireland have all been suggested but IMO they all need a season or two yet. So the fact that Mahon is 29 doesn't worry me as we need someone right now to fill in for the next 2 years. Then hopefully one or two of the youngsters mentioned above should be ready. Of course they could all end up being very average players at international level too. I really hope that O'Brien gets a few games for Bolton at CMF from the start of the season. Then that would put him into the frame.
I think the one last experiment Staunton should try in the Holland game, is to give A. Reid 20 to 30 mins with S. Reid and see if it works out.
Of course if Carsley is back and playing well for Everton he should also come into contention, but that really shows how poor we are in that area
I fear if we don't get the right combination we could easily be overrun in MF (ie if O'Shea or Miller play there) by any of the more physical sides in our group. So, getting back on thread, even if Mahon is not the most skillfull of players and is 29 at least he will get stuck in and should be at the peak of his game for at least the next 2 years and that would IMO merit a call-up.
We already have a bunch of players of the same standing as Mahon - so why do we need another? Better to focus on building the O'Shea and S. Reid partnership for the Euro qualifiers and bringing players like O'Brien, Ireland and Garvan into the picture over the coming years.
I normally wouldnt get into slagging players but it is obvious that O'Shea is not the answer in midfield and we have to look to another answer. Kavanagh is a good option and we may as well have andy reid in there because he offers about the same defensive presence that O'Shea has (none) but at least can do more than pass a ball sideways or to the opposition.
No disrespect to the previous poster I just dont think O'Shea is the answer as Giles would say he lacks moral courage!
I mentioned at the start of the season that I was really impressed with Andy Reid's defensive work. He wasn't doing much for Spurs in an attacking sense but he was working as hard as any player and at one stage in the season only Tainio had put in more tackles than him. He was putting in more tackles than most players in the premiership. He then got injured and has been out of favour ever since. He's an excellent central midfielder in the making and will have no problem doing the dirty work.
Well - I'm no great fan of O'Shea either but he's still one of our better players. I thought that the O'Shea/ Reid partnership complemented each other against Sweden and, judging from the quotes that our coming from Robson in particular, Reid and O'Shea are first choice in central midfield.
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