Most Underrated Ireland XI

[Stuttgart88]

I'd add Gary Breen to the list of players whose perfmances for Ireland were underrated.

[monutdfc]

...and Nigel Worthington at the back. Yes, yes it was.:

Okay I was a little harsh. I do recall thinking at the time (early 90's) though that it was only a matter of time before Sheridan moved up a rung. Not neccessarily to a top 3 club but maybe to ...Villa, back to Leeds, Everton, Spurs maybe. When he eventually did go ...Oldham I think wasn't it.

George Graham came close to signing him for Arsenal, had him watched loads of times. I think his off-the-field reputation cost him the move, as Graham was a notorious stickler for discipline.

I agree with Lionel Hutz about Ronnie Whelan. Desparately unlucky that he got injured prior to Italia 1990 and Charlton wouldn't play him due to 'muscle wastage' (did Mick Byrne tell him that?). He really was one of the best ever.

Another seriously under-rated is Stephen Carr before his knee injury. Never the same player since, but his performances in the green shirt before that serious injury were top, top class.

[republicofwhite]

No I am from Dublin. I'd pick their entire defence, as I said on current form, NI have beaten decent opposition far more often in the past three years than we have. They beat England, who played at the 2006 World Cup, last year. The Spain result was a good one.
But they were also well organised and did what was necessary away to Denmark.
Northern Ireland did not get totally tonked by the likes of Cyprus case closed.
That young 18 year old lad at the back from Man United( on loan to Royal Antwerp) would walk into our team. And I would pick him ahead of Finnan who has been absolute muck in an Irish shirt this season.

And David Healy.... he scores at international level... CONSISTENTLY he has scored almost as many goals as Robbie Keane, despite playing for a country that didn't score at all for nearly two years. That's five for a start, and at least one of their midfielders is worth a try.

Damien Duff hasn't played well for his country for almost three years. When did RObbie Keane last score a goal in a green shirt? Get real yourself.

Was Dying to restart this. For starters NI are just going through a phase thats gonna peter out.Definitely. The only player they have of real class is Steven Davis, I'd take him any day of the week.There's also better strength in depth with keepers with Taylor and Carroll. But apart from that, no one. Healy's never started a game in the Premiership. Don't know where he pulls that stuff out of his a*se for the Internationals. The Spain thing was nuts, flash in the pan. I'll give you one thing, Sanchez is clearly miles better than Staunton,and that probably explains an awful lot. They're bigging up this Jonny Evans fella an awful lot. He'll probably go to Plymouth on a free to join up with Capaldi in a season or two. Darron Gibson is the same generation at United(also at Antwerp now) and is supposed to be excellent, but you don't see us talking him up so much. As for underrated, I would have said Jon Goodman, one cap against Wales in a friendly... Joke, Joke. Couldn't resist.

[youngirish]

republicofwhite that's an ancient post. I originally had a go at it. But while we are on the topic I reckon Cyprus would hammer NI in Nicosia anyway after their German performance.

[republicofwhite]

republicofwhite that's an ancient post. I originally had a go at it. But while we are on the topic I reckon Cyprus would hammer NI in Nicosia anyway after their German performance.

I know yeah, thats why I was dying to restart it! Passionate subject. Your spot on, Cyprus would easily win that one. Just wait for NI to brought back down to earth... all that talk will go away with a whimper. I'd also like to say I never regarded the rankings much! (Certainly not at the moment!)

[EalingGreen]

Was Dying to restart this. For starters NI are just going through a phase thats gonna peter out.Definitely. The only player they have of real class is Steven Davis, I'd take him any day of the week.There's also better strength in depth with keepers with Taylor and Carroll. But apart from that, no one. Healy's never started a game in the Premiership. Don't know where he pulls that stuff out of his a*se for the Internationals. The Spain thing was nuts, flash in the pan. I'll give you one thing, Sanchez is clearly miles better than Staunton,and that probably explains an awful lot. They're bigging up this Jonny Evans fella an awful lot. He'll probably go to Plymouth on a free to join up with Capaldi in a season or two. Darron Gibson is the same generation at United(also at Antwerp now) and is supposed to be excellent, but you don't see us talking him up so much.

I agree with you that Sanchez is the main influence in the better form which NI are currently showing over ROI. However, I think you're being harsh on some of the players. Aaron Hughes is a very sound and versatile Premiership defender, as well as being our captain. Keith Gillespie has been outstanding for us over the last couple of years, and is showing touches of it in the Premiership. Taylor, whilst not being quite so good as Given, still plays wonderfully for NI. And as for Healy, you can't dismiss a hattrick v Spain as a "flash in the pan" when you consider he has scored 21 goals in his other 54 games, inc. against England, Germany, Denmark etc, for an NI team which was often dreadful.

Regarding Jonny Evans, of course we are talking him up, but that's only because we've seen him play! In his three caps so far (all out of position at Left Back, btw), we've beaten Spain 3-2, drawn 0-0 in Denmark and beaten Latvia 1-0 and he has been uniformly excellent. In the Spain and Denmark games, the wingers he was marking were both substituted.
Of course, there is a long way to go, with many things that can go wrong, and your (our ) man Gibson may be equally good.
However, Evans may be the best young NI prospect I can remember since a certain Norman Whiteside. Here's hoping!

[republicofwhite]

Apologise profusely...I forgot all about Aaron Hughes...and agree with you that he is a very handy player. Gillespie is decent enough. The Healy thing is one of football's great mysteries!