Heimir Hallgrímsson, the coach of Ireland’s football squad, is preparing to welcome a 23-player line-up to their Dublin training camp on Monday. The team is concerning low on match experience, ahead of their first match in the Nations League against the recent Euro finalists, England, which is slated to take place at the Aviva Stadium on the following Saturday.
Modern Irish players are perceived to be of lesser value compared to their English counterparts, a fact that won’t raise many eyebrows. Many of Ireland’s footballers who earn their livelihood in England face a constant struggle to penetrate and maintain themselves in the Premier League each season.
This condition is not new, however, it has been deteriorating. Rewinding to February 15th, 1995, an incident of violence forced an international friendly to be abandoned after 26 minutes at Lansdowne Road. Prompted by English supporters at the West Upper stand, the strife followed after a goal by David Kelly, putting Ireland in the lead 1-0.
Amongst Terry Venables’ starting line-up that night, only David Platt was not a regular Premier League player, as he was in his final season with Sampdoria in Italy. The Irish side consisted of eight top-flight players, out of which three – Alan Kelly, Alan Kernaghan and David Kelly – belonged to the old First Division teams Sheffield United, Bolton Wanderers and Wolverhampton Wanderers respectively.
Currently, the Irish squad comprises 13 players from Premier League sides. However, only six of them – Nathan Collins, Matt Doherty, Séamus Coleman, Will Smallbone, Sammie Szmodics and Chiedozie Ogbene – have made significant contributions during the initial three matches.
A week ago, this figure was four, but Coleman returned to a struggling Everton side just in time, and Ogbene moved to Ipswich from Luton before the transfer window closed. Ogbene showed promise in his Saturday match with Szmodics, providing solid assistance for goal-scorer Liam Delap in a 1-1 draw with Fulham.
Similar to Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, along with Irish passport bearers Jude Bellingham and Conor Gallagher, Rory Delap’s boy faces the prospect of no longer representing Ireland if he plays for England’s Under-21 squad this week.
This is a common scenario in the current decade.
Players who are genuinely Irish, including Evan Ferguson from Brighton, Andrew Omobamidele at Nottingham Forest, Everton’s recent recruit Jake O’Brien, and backup keepers at Liverpool and Bournemouth, Caoimhín Kelleher and Mark Travers, have yet to play a single minute in the Premier League this season.
Despite returning to Wolves, Doherty has been struggling to secure a regular spot in the starting lineup, while Kasey McAteer has yet to make a breakthrough at Leicester City.
However, not everything is negative. Smallbone has made his name in the midfield of Southampton, Collins is off to a solid start with Brentford this season, and Dara O’Shea seems set to excel under Kieran McKenna at Ipswich.
Paddy McCarthy, the assistant coach for Ireland, can offer valuable insights about English players he trains at Crystal Palace.
Six English talents – Noni Madueke, Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guéhi, and Dean Henderson – were in the starting lineup when Chelsea faced McCarthy’s squad at Stamford Bridge and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
Despite any insider knowledge, interim England manager Lee Carsley has incorporated star players into his squad, which has an estimated value of €1.5 billion, a stark contrast to the Irish squad valued at around €180 million.
Apart from Celtic pair Liam Scales and Adam Idah and ex-Tottenham forward Troy Parrott, who is now at Dutch club AZ Alkmaar (no goals in his initial four games), the rest of the squad are primarily with Championship clubs in England’s second tier.
With its demanding 46-game season, the Championship is increasingly becoming the main attraction for Irish talent. Jayson Molumby, a West Bromwich Albion midfielder likely to pair up with Smallbone against Kobbie Mainoo and Rice, scored his first goal of the season this weekend against Swansea City.
The situation remains unvaried with West Brom and Southampton experts clashing with those from Manchester United and Arsenal, akin to circumstances nearly three decades ago. Reflecting back 29 years, Aston Villa’s personnel Andy Townsend and John Sheridan from Sheffield Wednesday took on top notches like Paul Ince and Platt. The tussle was so fierce it resulted in the disruption of the wooden seating, leading to fragments scattered onto the Lansdowne pitch.