Irish players to look out for .

Big Ears

This is basically a thread naming and talking about future Irish talent .

I'll start with Anthony Stokes , Arsenal striker , 16 years of age , has a very good scoring record and has trained with the first team .Excelled at the 2002 Kennedy Cup .

With so much competitions for strikers places at Arsenal , im not sure he'll ever make it there , but im sure he'll be Premiership standard , and most certainmly will become an Irish International .

So name any others .

Big Nelly

Joey O'Brien:

At Shef Wed on loan at the moment from Bolton! class midfield player. Just signed another months on loan.......played 13 so far scored 2....also played in Carling Cup for Bolton earlier this season.....midfield player who is up and down the park all game....could he replace Keane??? very aggresive as well!! as Shef Wed site says "relishing the physical side of the game"

Allardyce has high hopes for him already!!

Glenn Whelan(Shef Wed):

You might have guessed a Wed supporter. Creative midfield player, can pass the ball with very good accracy(sp)....playing at U21 level at the moment....

eirebhoy

Arsenal have quite a few Irish in the reserves. Stokes, Patrick Cregg and Steven O'Donnel are all regulars while Sean Kelly gets in every now and again. Stokes has been playing midfield for the reserves lately but is still their second highest scorer and has only started 9 or 10 matches. O'Donnell has more appearances than anyone else in the reserves and Cregg is up there too.

Man City have there fair share too. Willo Flood, Paddy McCarthy, Karl Birmingham and Stephen Ireland are also regulars in the reserves (Flood, less so since he's now a first teamer). Elliott and Whelan have left and gone on to be lower league first teamers. McCarthy is 3rd or 4th choice at centre half now and shouldn't be too long before he gets his chance. Birmingham scored 4 goals against a decent Man U reserve team (including Howard, Bellion, Spector) as City beat them 5-1 in the semi final's of some cup. It was also Birmingham's deflected shot that got the other City goal. He's now on loan at Lincoln and came on for his first appearance on Saturday.

Chelsea's James Simmonds recently declared for us after playing a few times for the England underage groups and scored on his Irish debut for the U-19's last week. He's a left winger so has our very own Duffer as mentor.

Everton have Stephen Gerrard's cousin in their reserves. Anthony Gerrard, centre half, playing for the Irish underages too.

Celtic's Diarmuid O'Carrol scored a brace for the reserves last week. There's also defender Darren O'Dea at Celtic, he went on tour with the first team to the US in the summer. Off topic but Celtic's U-17's got to the semi's of an U-20 tournament in Italy. They went through the group stages without conceding a goal.

Alan Quinn's two younger brothers, Stephen and Keith, also play at Sheffield United and both play in the same positions as Alan.

Leon Best took the Soton reserves by storm scoring two consecutive hattricks for the reserves but doesn't seem to be up to much on loan at QPR.

edit: Just to add to what Big Nelly said. Whelan (21) and O'Brien (18) have started 13 or 14 consective games in central midfield for Wednesday and Saturday was their first defeat in 11 games. Whelan is the holding midfield player but O'Brien is rating higher. If I had to choose I'd want Whelan to go on and do the better as you very rarely see a holder at such a young age. He has started over 50 domestic games in his short career and has started every one of Ireland U-21's games since his debut in 2003.

cournioni

James Hand from Huddersfield Town. He used to play football with me at our old club Manor Farm... I taught him all he knows so he'll be a world class footballer, sooner or later.

MrJoeSoap

PORNAPSTER wrote:

James Hand from Huddersfield Town. He used to play football with me at our old club Manor Farm... I taught him all he knows so he'll be a world class footballer, sooner or later.

eirebhoy

PORNAPSTER wrote:

James Hand from Huddersfield Town. He used to play football with me at our old club Manor Farm... I taught him all he knows so he'll be a world class footballer, sooner or later.

I was actually in a 5-a side team with David Cassidy a few years back. He plays for Derby and made the bench for the Irish U-21's last week. From Ringsend.

cournioni

Yeah, I think James is actually doing pretty well at HT, he's in the Ireland U-19 set up at the moment and assisted a goal against Italy there about two weeks back. It's amazing to think that we thought he was only a decent player back when he was playing with us.

Big Nelly

I heard of this up and coming young midfielder who is playing for Celtic.....Aidan McGeady or something like that.....think he has got a few games already for them......looks good but still only 18 or so?.......hahahaha

Forgot about Mark Yeates who plays for Spurs.....Martin Jol loves him....think he is on loan or was on loan.....was on the bench for a few games around Xmas but with Mido now he will be pushed back in queue.....not sure was he on bench for FA Cup game on Sat??? Mido couldnt play!

Cianan2

Wasnt there someone who played for liverpool u19 or something, from Crumlin but he left coz he was homesick? John Paul Kelly,i think his name was. I have heard good things....

eirebhoy

Cianan2 wrote:

Wasnt there someone who played for liverpool u19 or something, from Crumlin but he left coz he was homesick? John Paul Kelly,i think his name was. I have heard good things....

He's training with Bohs now.

MrJoeSoap

JP Kelly is still u17 as far as I know. Has plenty of time ahead of him.

Headshot

what about william flood for man city [hope i have name and club right] hes very good player

wynters

Manchester United have a lad called Paul McShane. He's 18, from Wicklow, 6ft 4" worth of red haired centre-half.

Ferguson rates him as one of the best young players he's ever seen. That's coming from the man who graduated the likes of Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, Butt, The Nevilles and Lee Sharpe to the United the first team. He's been on the bench twice this season in Carling Cup games, and was part of the squad who travelled to Fenerbache for the Champions League game earlier this season.

Of all the young players I've heard about, this guy seems to be the one who'll definately make the grade.

He might be arriving just in time with Cunningham getting on....

Big Ears

snoopdog wrote:

what about william flood for man city [hope i have name and club right] hes very good player

already mentioned and I think we all know about him , he definetly should be starting ahead of Kiki Musampa .

d22ontour

Big Nelly wrote:

I heard of this up and coming young midfielder who is playing for Celtic.....Aidan McGeady or something like that.....think he has got a few games already for them......looks good but still only 18 or so?.......hahahaha

Is he irish

We have enough established and up and coming irish players to keep recruiting players with guinness drinking grannies

Would it be much to ask for an irish team who were all born in ireland

bizmark

why the hell should we turn down class players ?

d22ontour

bizmark wrote:

why the hell should we turn down class players ?

Class players

Like for instance............?

eirebhoy

wynters wrote:

Manchester United have a lad called Paul McShane. He's 18, from Wicklow, 6ft 4" worth of red haired centre-half.

Ferguson rates him as one of the best young players he's ever seen. That's coming from the man who graduated the likes of Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, Butt, The Nevilles and Lee Sharpe to the United the first team. He's been on the bench twice this season in Carling Cup games, and was part of the squad who travelled to Fenerbache for the Champions League game earlier this season.

Of all the young players I've heard about, this guy seems to be the one who'll definately make the grade.

He might be arriving just in time with Cunningham getting on....

Aye, he's currently on loan at Walsall. It'll be a while before he gets his chance at United though.

Davey Devil

bizmark wrote:

why the hell should we turn down class players ?

What's the point in having an "Irish" team if we have Scotish players. If by some miricale Henry or Ronaldinho were allowed to play for Ireland would you want them in the team? I wouldn't no matter how good they make us. It's the Irish team for Irish players.

Personally I think Fifa should change the rules so you have to be born in the country to play for your country or have a parent from the country. I think the should scrap the grandparent qualification.

bizmark

d22ontour wrote:

Class players

Like for instance............?

Well potentially class players like Aidan McGeady.

All we are doing is takeing advanage of a rule i have no problems with this as long as the player in question wants to play for ireland.

The Muppet

eirebhoy wrote:

Aye, he's currently on loan at Walsall. It'll be a while before he gets his chance at United though.

He's a tough cookie I havn't seen him play in a while but the season before last I saw quite a bot of him in the reserves and he impressed me then.

Guy:Incognito

PORNAPSTER wrote:

Yeah, I think James is actually doing pretty well at HT, he's in the Ireland U-19 set up at the moment and assisted a goal against Italy there about two weeks back. It's amazing to think that we thought he was only a decent player back when he was playing with us.

Aaah but ypu see it's not all about being the best, a lot of it is right place at the right time. There are a lot of players around that would have made it but never got a break.

Guy:Incognito

d22ontour wrote:

Class players

Like for instance............?

Well there were a few in the starting line up last week with no knowledge of the national anthem, so we do have a couple floating around which people higher than ourselves rate as good enough to play for Ireland. It's hardly a "they're coming over here and taking our women and our jobs" situation. If we had enough players that were fully irish that were good enough then the "foreigners" woldnt get a look in. But obviously we dont.


I definately wouldnt be turning down Ronaldinho. tbh I think we should send over a container load of female "missionaries" to Brazil to marry some up and coming players fathers/grandfathers.

Headshot

Stekelly wrote:

lol ah that lenney what a laugh what next

get back to the subject i never seen Paul McShane playing is he good passer or what

the next Rio

Big Ears

Doesn't McGeady have two Irish parents anyway . He's declared himself very early aswell so theres no doubt he has as much passion for this country as anyone in the squad .

MrJoeSoap

The discussion of whether we would allow Ronaldinho to play for Ireland is so ridiculous its funny!

People should definitely only be allowed play for the country in which they are born, and I personally despise the recent systems of players being capped young in order to claim them for a country. Hopefully it will all be sorted out in the future, and Ireland could definitely do well with a team born here who have real passion for the country and know the words to the national anthem.

Big Nelly

MrJoeSoap wrote:

The discussion of whether we would allow Ronaldinho to play for Ireland is so ridiculous its funny!

People should definitely only be allowed play for the country in which they are born, and I personally despise the recent systems of players being capped young in order to claim them for a country. Hopefully it will all be sorted out in the future, and Ireland could definitely do well with a team born here who have real passion for the country and know the words to the national anthem.

Sorry off topic

So McGeady doesn't have a passion for the country?? neither did Andy Townsend??? I could go on and name more!! sure I cant even sign the bloody anthem.....neither can Duff......so are you saying because Duff cant sign the anthem he shouldnt be allowed play for Ireland???

Get back on topic anyway!!

Anyone know how Yeates is doing for Spurs?

eirebhoy

MrJoeSoap wrote:

People should definitely only be allowed play for the country in which they are born, and I personally despise the recent systems of players being capped young in order to claim them for a country. Hopefully it will all be sorted out in the future, and Ireland could definitely do well with a team born here who have real passion for the country and know the words to the national anthem.

That rule was only allowed for the calender year 2004 AFAIK.

Big Nelly - Yeates wasn't playing for the reserves the last couple of games as he was in the first team squad but with Spurs new signings he'll probably be back in the reserves.

Big Nelly

eirebhoy wrote:

Big Nelly - Yeates wasn't playing for the reserves the last couple of games as he was in the first team squad but with Spurs new signings he'll probably be back in the reserves.

Yeah knew that but any ideas if they will let him go on loan now? think this is our best up and coming striker after Eliott....

The Rooster

John Paul "Joxer" Kelly is 17. It was a bit strange the way he left Liverpool and had his scholarship cancelled. Maybe there was more to it than being homesick.

As eirebhoy mentioned, he's training with Bohs, but hasnt signed with them. He's due to go over to Ipswich, Aston Villa and Celtic for trials/discussions early in 2005. Ipswich apparently are very keen, but he's keeping his options open.

Paul McShane was expected to have a big year this year, but for whatever reasons things havent gone well so far. Maybe the loan spell will get him back on track. As a central defender he has plenty of time, and huge potential.

Darren Potter has had a very good year for Liverpool and is genuinely knocking on the door of the first team. Unfortunately though, useless hoors like Antonio O'Nonio and Vladi Useless always seem to get a run in preference to him.

MrJoeSoap

Big Nelly wrote:

So McGeady doesn't have a passion for the country?? neither did Andy Townsend??? I could go on and name more!! sure I cant even sign the bloody anthem.....neither can Duff......so are you saying because Duff cant sign the anthem he shouldnt be allowed play for Ireland???

Thats a lot of words you're putting in my mouth there.

What I said was that Ireland would do well with a team who were passionate and knew the anthem. How does that imply that McGeady isnt passionate about Ireland? (Still don't think he should be allowed play for us) Or how do you think I wouldnt let Duff in for not knowing the anthem?

All I stated was that players should have to play for their country of birth and it would be nice if they knew the anthem.

Big Nelly

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Thats a lot of words you're putting in my mouth there.

What I said was that Ireland would do well with a team who were passionate and knew the anthem. How does that imply that McGeady isnt passionate about Ireland? (Still don't think he should be allowed play for us) Or how do you think I wouldnt let Duff in for not knowing the anthem?

All I stated was that players should have to play for their country of birth and it would be nice if they knew the anthem.

Stay on topic!

In regards Potter is Benitez going to let him go on loan? maybe for one of the Championship sides and he could show then what he could do in first team...sitting in reserves waiting for the chance to get maybe into first team isnt the best!

The Rooster

Big Nelly wrote:

In regards Potter is Benitez going to let him go on loan? maybe for one of the Championship sides and he could show then what he could do in first team...sitting in reserves waiting for the chance to get maybe into first team isnt the best!

Because he's so close to the first team, I'd guess Benitez would be reluctant to let him go. He was on the bench for 2 of the last 3 league games, and got at least one run, maybe 2. However, with the likes of Nunez, Smicer and Kewell coming back from suspension/injury he's less likely to get on the bench from now on.

eirebhoy

Bit of a coincedence that I only mentioned him but it will really test if you're not happy to see 3G players play for us:

Gerrard hit with paperwork problems

The budding Irish international career of Everton youth team star Anthony Gerrard looks to be dead in the water after he failed to unearth the necessary paperwork to prove his eligibility for Sean McCaffrey’s under-19 set-up.

Gerrard, the cousin of Liverpool and England star Steven, had appeared for Ireland in an invitational tournament last summer.

However, frantic efforts to prove his eligibility to attain an Irish passport have been in vain, with red tape surrounding the nationality of his grandmother preventing him from continuing to represent Ireland.

The 19-year-old, an adept central defender who was named in Everton’s Premiership squad for last Saturday’s clash with Chelsea, will not now be eligible to take his place in the Irish under-19 squad for the Uefa qualifiers against Serbia & Montenegro, Poland and Albania in April.

He told the Irish Sun: “It is very disappointing. I’ve been told I’m not eligible to play for Ireland because the documentation to do with my Nan can’t be found. I was under the impression that she was born in Ireland but we can’t get the paperwork and it means I won’t be able to play for the Irish now.”

The Muppet

snoopdog wrote:

Stekelly wrote:

lol ah that lenney what a laugh what next

get back to the subject i never seen Paul McShane playing is he good passer or what

the next Rio

The last time I saw him I was impressed. His strongest attribute was his tackling he kept his passing simple. Overall he looked like a decent player but that was last season in the united reserves. I'm sure he played center midfiled in the games I saw him

Headshot

The Muppet wrote:

snoopdog wrote:

The last time I saw him I was impressed. His strongest attribute was his tackling he kept his passing simple. Overall he looked like a decent player but that was last season in the united reserves. I'm sure he played center midfiled in the games I saw him

nice one

could he be the next keano after a few yrs

eirebhoy

I actually seen him partner Keane at centre half against Bayern in pre-season. He had a nervy start but did quite well.

The Muppet

snoopdog wrote:

The Muppet wrote:

nice one

could he be the next keano after a few yrs

I,m not one that believes in comparing Players. At the time I saw him he was playing a similar style game to keane nad he looked comfortable. I,m not sure anyone can replace keane.

Headshot

The Muppet wrote:

snoopdog wrote:

I,m not one that believes in comparing Players. At the time I saw him he was playing a similar style game to keane nad he looked comfortable. I,m not sure anyone can replace keane.

no one will ever replace keano he spurs on utd so well what a player and he takes no **** from that 6ft4inchs brute patrick vieri