Premier League clubs have not reached the point of 1850s classified ads in The New York Times* – ‘Help Wanted, no Irish need apply’ – but they’re getting there.
Charting 30 years of Republic of Ireland players in the English top flight, a downward spiral appears to have hit rock bottom. It would help if those who do get a chance in future are ready for basic demands. Like running.
“Now I’m in a better headspace, you look back at games and you think ‘Jesus, was I really walking around for that long?’” Aaron Connolly told Irish Football Fan TV, after Brighton & Hove Albion loaned him to Venezia in Serie B.
“Did I really have my head down for this long? Do I really walk around like that?’”
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At least Ireland manager Stephen Kenny and his assistant Keith Andrews intervened last year, highlighting Connolly’s lack of work rate against Azerbaijan before producing clips of the Galway native’s ravenous attitude as an under-21.
“At the time, because of my head space, I didn’t want to listen.”
The inaugural Premier League season in 1992/93 featured 29 Irish men. Six were at Middlesbrough, with three each at Aston Villa and Chelsea, who had Gerry Peyton, Andy Townsend and Tony Cascarino on their books.
Nowadays, pick a club, any club, and it is apparent that the Irish are an endangered species in the world’s most lucrative football environment.
Take Chelsea, now owned by Los Angeles Dodgers majority shareholder Todd Boehly, with a squad that includes players from Senegal, Spain, Italy, Sierra Leone, France, Brazil, the USA, Ghana, Croatia, Germany, Morocco, Albania and Belgium via the Democratic Republic of Congo. Add a sprinkle of English, Welsh, Scots and Brexit-blocked teenagers from across the Irish Sea are forced to bide their time.
To put the historically low numbers at Premier League clubs in stark context, Italian football is making better use of Irish talent.
Ideally, Connolly’s flat-lining career will be revived in Venice; Ireland under-21 winger Liam Kerrigan completed his commerce degree at UCD before signing a three-year deal with Como; Serie A also-rans Udinese snapped up teenagers James Abankwah, from St Patrick’s Athletic, and Festy Ebosele, from Derby County; Kevin Zefi and Cathal Heffernan are toiling away in the Inter and AC Milan academies respectively.
It is conceivable that all six players will feature in the Scudetto race over the coming years, with that number expected to grow significantly if either Ebosele or Zefi catch fire.
“A lot of people know why I haven’t kicked on and I know myself,” said Connolly, now 22, after three seasons at Brighton that yielded 45 Premier League appearances and just five goals.
“That’s why this move to Italy was vital, just to get away from the circle I was in in England. I needed a fresh start.
“I had to make my mind up; either I keep going in the phase I was going in and eventually I’ll just be completely forgotten. At the minute I’m probably the forgotten man in Irish football and if I kept associating with people I’d been associated with before, I would have completely gone off the scale.
“I think I have turned that around. And hopefully people will be able to see that with performances, work rate and hopefully, goals.”
Venezia travel to Como on November 5th.
Paradise is not yet lost as Nathan Collins and Gavin Bazunu were signed this summer by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton respectively, with Mark Travers expected to be Bournemouth’s starting goalkeeper at home to Aston Villa, as all three clubs seek mid-table safety.
That could be the height of it. There are no guarantees Matt Doherty will fend off Emerson Royal to start at wing back for Tottenham under Antonio Conte. Spurs even shelled out £13 million to bring in England under-21 right back Djed Spence from Middlesbrough.
Séamus Coleman remains club captain at Goodison Park but at 33, and with his contract ending next June, Everton boss Frank Lampard has turned to Scottish international Nathan Patterson (20) in preseason.
Last season 14 Irish players accumulated 9,940 minutes in the Premier League, a collapse from 22,244 minutes in 2020/21. Coleman accounted for a quarter of this total, Collins played 19 games for relegated Burnley, and in third place came Shane Duffy’s brief revival at Brighton, as he clocked 1,436 minutes in 18 appearances.
Graham Potter will probably bench the big Derry centre-half come next Sunday’s league opener at Old Trafford.
Despite Duffy’s uncertain situation and Connolly’s departure, Brighton are worth tracking from an Irish perspective.
Evan Ferguson must cope with four centre forwards arriving at the Amex, along with Danny Welbeck and Neal Maupay already in situ, but the 17-year-old has displayed exponential growth since Bohemians blooded him in a friendly against Chelsea at age 14.
A negative loop this past decade, when playing for Ireland did little to enhance club careers, has turned 180 degrees with players forcing their way out of Premier League squads, mainly on loan to the Championship, like Jeff Hendrick leaving Newcastle United for Reading in order to stay relevant come the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
But, in a sign of the times, the Saints, the Cherries and Wolves will fly the Irish tricolour at the Etihad and the Emirates.
Manchester City sold Bazunu to Southampton for £12 million, with a buy-back option, while Collins’s wonder strike against Ukraine in June helped secure a £20.5 million switch to Molineux. All the pair need to do now, to keep Irish football relevant in the Premier League, is contain the most prolific, devastatingly ruthless goalscorers in the world.
At least there’s a nice winter break from November 12th to December 26th.
Bournemouth
Last season: Promoted
Mark Travers
Goalkeeper
Age: 23
Caps: 3
Value to Ireland: Third choice. The gifted golfer recovered from a tough night against Serbia in March 2021 to prove essential to Bournemouth’s promotion campaign with 20 clean sheets. Unlikely to usurp Gavin Bazunu although Caoimhín Kelleher’s situation at Anfield puts the Cork stopper firmly in his sights.
Brighton & Hove Albion
Last season: 9th
Shane Duffy
Centre back
Age: 30
Caps: 55 (7 goals)
Value to Ireland: An exception that proves Kenny’s selection rule, Duffy has scored too many valuable goals to be discarded, even if his Brighton struggles continue, but Nathan Collins, Andrew Omobamidele and Dara O’Shea will push hard for inclusion ahead of him.
Evan Ferguson
Centre forward
Age: 17
Caps: 0
Value to Ireland: Growing into that big frame before our eyes as the lone Irish under-21 striker, even showing nimble feet in possession. If the goals start to flow his promotion will prove irresistible.
Crystal Palace
Last season: 12th
Tayo Adaramola
Left back
Age: 18
Caps: 0
Value to Ireland: Palace loaned the teenager to Coventry City following his debut for Ireland under-21s in a 3-1 defeat of Montenegro this summer when he showed pace and defensive smarts.
Everton
Last season: 16th
Séamus Coleman
Right back
Age: 33
Caps: 65 (1 goal)
Value to Ireland: So long as the skipper’s hamstrings remain intact, Kenny will find a role for him, with right centre half probably his final position, although Omobamidele might disagree.
Liverpool
Last season: Runners-up
Caoimhín Kelleher
Goalkeeper
Age: 23
Caps: 8
Value to Ireland: Wretched luck to be injured at the same time as Allison, another season starting the Carabao Cup beckons. Technically Ireland’s number one, having started the previous six internationals, Bazunu is expected to return for the trip to Hampden Park on September 24th.
Nottingham Forest
Last season: Promoted
Harry Arter
Midfield
Age: 32
Caps: 19
Value to Ireland: Forest are expected to move him on, following recent loans to Charlton Athletic and Notts County, with little evidence there to suggest an international recall.
Southampton
Last season: 15th
Gavin Bazunu
Age: 20
Caps: 10
Value to Ireland: Jaw-dropping at home to Serbia, miraculous in Luxembourg, the Ronaldo penalty save; all precursors for the next two decades guarding Irish nets.
Tottenham Hotspur
Last season: 4th
Matt Doherty
Age: 30
Caps: 29 (1 goal)
Value to Ireland: Arguably the best Irish performer in 2021 as a creative wing back, left and right, until his return to the Spurs XI was disrupted by an untimely knee injury.
West Ham United
Last season: 7th
Conor Coventry
Midfield
Age: 22
Caps: 0
Value to Ireland: Most capped and current under-21 captain had an impressive spell at MK Dons last season, but with Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek on deck for the Hammers another loan move seems sensible.
Darren Randolph
Goalkeeper
Age: 35
Caps: 50
Value to Ireland: With the arrival of French international Alphonse Areola pushing him further down the club pecking order, hard to see a return to the international fold.
Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Last season: 10th
Connor Ronan
Midfield
Age: 24
Caps: 0
Value to Ireland: Seemingly Aberdeen-bound, but showed well for Wolves in preseason. Kenny rated him enough to include him in squad for friendlie last March.
Joe Hodge
Midfield
Age: 19
Caps: 0
Value to Ireland: Visionary passer, Hodge was snatched away from a League of Ireland cameo with Derry City by the latest in a long list of injuries. Still young, still gifted far beyond the norm, hopefully Wolves proves the right fit.
Nathan Collins
Centre back
Age: 21
Caps: 6 (1 goal)
Value to Ireland: According to La Marca, the Spanish football daily, Collins recently invented “a defensive dribble with the back of his neck!” So, yeah, he’s settling in nicely after the £20.5 million move from Burnley.
*No Irish Need Apply: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/insider/1854-no-irish-need-apply.html
