Quotehm what about the big center half from derry? name escapes me, he scored the equalizer against gretna away. not sure of his eligibility
well is there. there has to be.
candidites to consider for exclusion from the squad in favour of eL players:
1. colgan
2. mcshane (never saw him play so i don't know)
3. st ledger (never saw him play so i don't know)
hm what about the big center half from derry? name escapes me, he scored the equalizer against gretna away. not sure of his eligibility
zombie/thread killer..
i have a sneaking feeling this thread will open a can of worms
Mick Devine ahead of Colgan
Joe Gamble in the squad
Of course im biased but honestly think they'd do a better job
Clive Delaney?Originally Posted by ken foree
No I think he means Darren Kelly, cracking player, hes from the North though afaik
IMO MIck Devine and/or Barry Murphy should definitly be in the squad ahead of Colgan.
Gamble should be in ahead of Kilbane - seriously, would Gamble have been any worse than Kilbane has been for us recently?
Jason Byrne would definitly play with more heart than Fintin O'Morrison.
Danny Murphy of Cork City (Born in England but represented us at underage level) should be in the squad ahead of the likes of Ian Harte.
Owen Heary is more experienced and IMO a better player than Stephen Kelly who IMO is simply not good enough
Alan Bennett is a cracking player who always gives 100% and has been brilliant in Europe and attracted interest from England. IMO there is no doubt that he would do a better job than Andy O'Brien - Bennet is fitter, plays at just as high a standard, if not a better standard than the Portsmouth reserves and is comfortable on the ball, unlike O'Brien.
Btw Andy O'Brien represented England at u21 level, FACT. He is not Irish and this can be seen in how he plays for us, he is only with us because hes not good enough for the English.
Sorry, went off on a bit of a rant there because I hate Andy O'Brien so much, but to answer the question of this thread, all of the above players are good enough for our squad, the only reason they are not in the squad is because they play here
you shouldn't drive the knife into andy o'brien like that. he has over 180 premiership appearances, but is currently going through a bad patch (not his fault he got picked). it happens. when o'brien was at his best he was very comfortable on the ball, one of the better ball playing centre-backs we've had. he's given 100% for ireland and done a great job for us in the past, and will do so again in the future.
once when i was visiting a friend in newcastle i went to nufc - juventus champions league match at st. james park. nufc won 1-0 and andy o'brien was running the show in defence. just to put this into perspective, kenny cunningham or richard dunne never played in the champions league group stage. o'brien is not great at the moment, but he'll be back - mark my words. unless our own supporters drive him into the ground of course...
I think that at this present moment we would be better served by playing the Irishman Alan Bennett ahead of O'Brien
Their are plenty of EL players good enough. Mainly this guy though.
Life without Rovers, it makes no sense...it's a heartache...nothing but a fools game. S.R.F.C.
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
Yea he has said he is looking for a call up by NI and said he hoped lawrie was watching. I think delaney however is a very handy player like kelly. It is a big step up from our leagues and are there many examples of players having made a huge success when given a chance lately?
Dont know enough about EL but ronnie o brien should be called up. one of the top midfielders in MLS
Why do you think Kerr didn't select the best EL players? (except for Byrne's couple of minutes in a crappy friendly). In fact haven't Stan and even Given presented more playing time to EL players than all of Kerr's 2 seasons? Agreed about Devine,Gamble and Bennet at least.
There are somethings more important than blooding in youngsters from the championship and selecting footballers from reserve teams.
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.In February 1999, O'Brien played in a friendly against France at Pride Park but when Taylor offered him the chance in England's next competitive outing, O'Brien demurred and took time out to ponder his international future. He was flattered by the English attention but he was aware of his Irish roots - his grandparents Danny and Kathleen O'Brien had moved from Kilfinnane in south-west Limerick to look for work in the mills of Yorkshire - and two months after his English debut, he played for Ireland in an under-21 friendly against Sweden in Birr.
People approach him now and wonder, what with his upwardly mobile status, if he regrets the decision. "I say no. It wasn't really close. I only played against France because it was a friendly and there was pressure from the club's point of view because they think it's more prestigious to play for England than for Ireland." He has no doubts. He travelled to Kilfinnane with his father last summer and the experience overwhelmed him. "Just picking up a few pieces of my past," he said.
Andy O'Brien has rarely put a foot wrong for us. He played out of his skin in Basle (1-1) when only Given & he played well for us. I also thought he did really well in Stuttgart. Central defence was one of the positives on the night.
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...
Last edited by eirebhoy; 10/10/2006 at 11:35 PM.
Stephen o'Brien of Bohs-has plenty of experience in a big game
I will leave Paul mc Shane in the squad
Jason Gavin of the drogs in for St Leger
But also, he's ****!
Life without Rovers, it makes no sense...it's a heartache...nothing but a fools game. S.R.F.C.
Doyle is good enough, all it takes is for him to take a chance on a couple more.
Owen Heary, a brilliant player. I would put Alan Bennett and Darren Kelly (if eligible) ahead of an Andy OBrien who isn't playing regular enough football. Christy Brown ahead of Kevin Kilbane and John O Shea. Gamble would do a good job of a defensive midfielder. That's about it though. As I've stated before, the National League needs to be supported by all and invested in to help develop players who can step into the breach once needed. At present it is improving and will continue to improve, however most of the players now IMHO aren't good enough to step up to the level and play well on a consistent basis. Against Cyprus they could do it, but against the likes of Germany and the Czechs it would be too much of an ask.
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