Is there any eircom League player good enough

**DonegalDub** · 11/10/2006, 10:30 AM

Darren Kelly. He IS eligible as Norhtern born players can play for the Republic. Remember Alan Kerneghan?

**Hibs4Ever** · 11/10/2006, 10:41 AM

Barry Ryan at St Pats, best keeper in the league

also Dave Mulcahey at St Pats

**Dassa** · 11/10/2006, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by DonegalDub

Darren Kelly. He IS eligible as Norhtern born players can play for the Republic. Remember Alan Kerneghan?

Yes I know, but he was in the ROI u21 squad never played and changed his allegiance to NI and has been talking himself up for an NI call up.

Alan Kernaghan wasnt NI born hence the reason he couldnt play for us.

**galwayhoop** · 11/10/2006, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by Dassa

Alan Kernaghan wasnt NI born hence the reason he couldnt play for us.

i thought kernaghan was born in the 6 counties... anyway didn't he play for NI at underage - hence the reception he used to get in windsor

i'd say kelly would probably play for RoI if he got the call. probable play for whoever gives first callup

**Pablo** · 11/10/2006, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by sligoman

Their are plenty of EL players good enough. Mainly this guy though

.

Yeah Right! i'd certainly put him in goal it'd be impossible to get around the tub of lard!

**Schumi** · 11/10/2006, 12:35 PM

Barry Ryan, Joe Gamble and maybe Owen Heary or Ciaran Martyn. Can't see anyone else really.

**cavan_fan** · 11/10/2006, 12:44 PM

I'm beginning to come around to this.

I'll use Stepehn Kelly as an example. Why is he in the team. Admittedly he has played for Tottenham but then he didnt set the world alight there.

There must be a better left/right back in the EL than Kelly.

Someone once said about Tit*k Bramble at Newcastle that the only reason he remained in the Premiership is that he is there now. He'd never make it into the league on his performances. Kelly seems a bit like that, in his career he has done absolutely nothing to deserve an international place.

**Dassa** · 11/10/2006, 1:08 PM

Originally Posted by galwayhoop

i thought kernaghan was born in the 6 counties... anyway didn't he play for NI at underage - hence the reception he used to get in windsor

i'd say kelly would probably play for RoI if he got the call. probable play for whoever gives first callup

born in england brought up in bangor supported NI as a boy but due to the IFA stricter rules than FAI couldnt be called up. I think the abuse was harsh but many fans asked why if he was such a big NI fan why he wanted to play for their biggest rivals. Im only taking this from what i hear abit before my time as a NI fan

**kingp35** · 11/10/2006, 1:38 PM

Joe Gamble should be in there but thats about it at the moment. Other EL players should have been given a chance in friendly matches though.

**Ceirtlis** · 11/10/2006, 1:50 PM

The only one player i would consider in the eircom league would be Michael Devine for one of the goalkeeper spots and this because we have poor cover in the goalkeeping positions. I wouldnt consider any outfield players.

**Soper** · 11/10/2006, 1:51 PM

Despite the fact we have NO holding midfielders except oap carsley?

**BOF** · 11/10/2006, 2:02 PM

Under the current circumstances I would like to see

1. Mick Devine
2. Alan Bennett
3. Owen Heary
4. Joe Gamble

All better than a lot of the squad we have right now aand all with good european experience.

**GuisaSaigon** · 11/10/2006, 2:24 PM

Fran Carter, Pa Dunne, Donal Murray,Ollie Cuningam??????

**First** · 11/10/2006, 3:31 PM

No No

**Soper** · 11/10/2006, 3:33 PM

Wrong

**joema** · 11/10/2006, 3:39 PM

Originally Posted by brine3

i agree at this moment in time that andy o'brien shouldn't be playing, due to a lack of first team fitness. o'brien has always given 100% for ireland, and you suggesting that he is somehow not irish enough is an insult to the millions of irish diaspora all over the world
i'd have paddy mccarthy of leicester insead

No it is not, I have absaloutly no problem with second or third generation players playing for us as long as they consider themselves Irish and give 100%, but IMO in the case of O'Brien I find the fact that he played for England dissapointing and to be honest insulting to the jersey, thats my opinion, simple as that. I honestly am not insulting the Irish diaspora

Originally Posted by Dallasirish

Dont know enough about EL but ronnie o brien should be called up. one of the top midfielders in MLS

Agree, he is definitly deserves a chance in a friendly at least

Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Well personally I thought he was ultra-consistant when playing with Cunningham and they had an excellent partnership. I always had doubts about him when playing without an organisor in defence so Dunne will have to start improving in that department.

On the England thing:

None of our players try any less for Ireland than they do for their clubs (although maybe Matt Holland would be one) so I certainly don't believe it. Why would he play for us if he was only going to give 90%? Surely he's not getting more than a few grand for playing for us.

On O'Briens ability (off topic, Ill keep it short - can be brilliant - like he was against Ronaldo of Brazil or can be completley useless, at the moment he is a massive liability)

I believe that when he goes out on the pitch he gives 100% of course but I just dont think wearing the jersey means as much to him as it would to me or you to be totally honest

To be honest that article proves nothing, of course hes going to say he loves and is proud of his Irish backround, that proves nothing. The fact is he played for England, IMO the only reason he didnt play for England is because he knew he had a better chance of playing for Ireland, in short he is not good enough for England so he chose us, again thats my opinion and Im entitled to believe that

Originally Posted by livehead1

You are one of the reasons why people stop posting on this forum. We are discussing the merits of Eircom League players. A discussion which is based around whether we believe any of them would be more capable than some of the players in our squad. Instead you use this oppurtunity to begin a vitriolic attack on an English born member of our squad. Besides this, you have now been proven by Eirebhoy to be inaccurate in your assessment of the 'Englishman' O'Brien.

Mod Edit: Attack the post, not the poster...

One of the reasons people stop posting here?? Look who's talking ffs!! Have a look at the rest of my posts and see if you still feel that way. This is just how I feel on a certain subject, simple as that.

Proved wrong? Tbh that article proves nothing only that O'Brien is so proud of his Irish roots that he played for England, the only reason he is with us is because he is not good enough for the English.

I understand why you feel so strongly about this but I honestly have no problem atall with English (or any other country for that matter) born players representing Ireland.

Look at Kilbane - born in England, but when told he was going to be picked for England at underage level said no because he wanted to play for us, he didnt care if the club thought it was better for him to play for England unlike O'Briren, Kilbane played for us becasue he is Irish, now maybe you can understand whee I am coming from and what I am trying to say

**RoversInn** · 11/10/2006, 3:41 PM

Originally Posted by sligoman

Their are plenty of EL players good enough. Mainly this guy though

.

took the words out of my mouth

**czarner** · 11/10/2006, 4:09 PM

Originally Posted by joema

Proved wrong? Tbh that article proves nothing only that O'Brien is so proud of his Irish roots that he played for England, the only reason he is with us is because he is not good enough for the English.

I understand why you feel so strongly about this but I honestly have no problem atall with English (or any other country for that matter) born players representing Ireland.

So that's why you put the word 'Irishman' in bold when comparing Bennett to O'Brien. Livehead1 was spot on in identifying the little islander mindset typified by your posts in this thread as being the major turn-off of this forum. Why do you and others like you have so much difficulty in understanding the concept of having an attachment to more than one country? Just because you only have roots in one nation doesn't mean that those who don't have to conform to your all-or-nothing mentality. Not to mention the fact that footballers have to choose the country they play for at a relatively young age; I think if someone in a situation like this has difficulty choosing which side of their cultural and genetic inheritence to plump for it's more an indication of thoughtfulness than a mercenary nature.

**eirebhoy** · 11/10/2006, 4:57 PM

Originally Posted by joema

in short he is not good enough for England so he chose us, again thats my opinion and Im entitled to believe that

O'Brien was really highly rated as a youngster and was a regular in the Bradford team at the age of 17. After a couple of seasons in the premiership with Bradford Newcastle paid £2m for him. If he cared that much about England he would have accepted the 2nd call up to the U21s. If he was good enough to be 1st choice centre half for the England U21s at the age of 20 it's impossible to predict that he'd be a poor player now.

**superfrank** · 11/10/2006, 6:01 PM

Darren Kelly is ineligible. He has played for Northern Ireland at ALL underage levels and is apparently harbouring ambitions of being in their senior squad.

And Sligo, Keith Foy is not that good. Cop on will yis.