Round up - Week of 17th May 2016

Tuesday, 17 May 2016
Championship Play Off Semi Final
Hull City 0-2 Derby County
Jeff Hendrick returned to the Derby County starting XI for the first time since 19th March, and was booked for the fifth time this season

Wednesday, 18 May 2016
League 2 Play Off Semi Final
Accrington Stanley 2-2 AFC Wimbledon
Seamus Conneely made his 50th start of the season

Friday, 20 May 2016
League 1 Play Off Semi Final
Millwall 1-1 Bradford City
Billy Clarke made his 25th start of the season

Saturday, 21 May 2016
English FA Cup
Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester United
Damien Delaney was booked for the first time since 6th February

Scottish FA Cup
Rangers 2-3 Hibernian
Both braces scored by Anthony Stokes this season have come in the Scottish Cup
A summary of Conrad Logan's season:

• Released by Leicester City in the summer
• Signs a short term deal with Hibs in March
• Saves two penalties in the Scottish Cup semi final in his first game for Hibs in April
• Wins the Scottish Cup with Hibs for the first time in 114 years in May!

Irish Player Appearances in the Premier League 2015/16

Following the final whistle at the postponed game between Manchester United and Bournemouth at Old Trafford, and with it the completion of the Premier League 2015/16 season, we've started to compile the end of season appearance statistics for Irish players for the season, starting with the number of appearances for Irish players in the top division in England.

Player	Starts	Intro	Total
Glenn Whelan	37	0	37
Robbie Brady	34	2	36
James McClean	27	7	34
Damien Delaney	32	0	32
Wes Hoolahan	25	5	30
James McCarthy	29	0	29
John O'Shea	23	5	28
Shane Long	23	5	28
Seamus Coleman	27	1	28
Jonathan Walters	18	9	27
Robert Elliot	21	0	21
Harry Arter	21	0	21
Ciaran Clark	16	2	18
Eunan O'Kane	6	10	16
Stephen Ireland	0	13	13
Darron Gibson	2	5	7
Darren Randolph	6	0	6
Marc Wilson	1	3	4
Kevin Toner	3	1	4
Shay Given	3	0	3
Josh Cullen	0	1	1
Total	354	69	423

Unfortunately, it's bad news for fans of the boys in green, with five less players appearing in Premier League games, and the total appearances down almost 15% from 497 in the 2014/15 season to 423.

Between relegation, transfers, retirements, and Jack Grealish, 12 Irish players from the previous season did not appear in 2015/16, and were replaced by 7 players who didn't appear in the Premier League last season - James McClean, Wes Hoolahan, Harry Arter, Eunan O'Kane, Darren Randolph, Kevin Toner, and Josh Cullen.

Of the players that remained in the Premier League, five had more appearances than in 2014/15 - Robert Elliot, Glenn Whelan, Robbie Brady, Damien Delaney, and James McCarthy - with Newcastle's Player of the Season Robert Elliot taking advantage of the injury crisis at St James' Park  to play 18 more games, before unfortunately getting injured himself on international duty. Eight players played less games - Darron Gibson, Shane Long, Stephen Ireland, Jonathan Walters, Seamus Coleman, Ciaran Clark, John O'Shea, and Marc Wilson - with Wilson's injury hit season meaning he played 23 times less than in 2014/15

Following the relegation of Aston Villa, Newcastle and Norwich, their Irish players Ciaran Clark, Kevin Toner, Robert Elliot, Wes Hoolahan, and Robbie Brady (relegated for the second season in a row!) will all be plying their trade outside the top division next season, with Burnley's Stephen Ward and Kevin Long replacing them. Fellow promoted side Middlesbrough have no Irish players in their squad, while Play Off Finalists Hull City have David Meyler and Brian Lenihan facing off against Sheffield Wednesday's Keiren Westwood and loanee Aiden McGeady, who will be returning to parent club Everton following the end of the season.

One crumb of comfort is that the players who did appear in the Premier League this season played, on average, one game more than those in 2014/15

Round Up - Weekend of 13th May 2016

Friday, 13 May 2016
Championship Play-Off
Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
Richie Towell made his league debut for Brighton, this was his first appearance since starting for the Seagulls in the FA Cup in January

Scottish Championship Play-Off
Falkirk 3-2 Hibernian
Anthony Stokes was booked for the fifth time this season

Saturday, 14 May 2016
League 1 Play Off
Barnsley 3-0 Walsall
Conor Hourihane made his one hundredth start for Barnsley in the first leg of their play off semi final
Anthony Forde made his fiftieth appearance of the season

League 2 Play Off
AFC Wimbledon 1-0 Accrington Stanley
Seamus Conneely came off the bench to make his fiftieth appearance of the season

Scottish Premier League
Inverness CT 4-0 Dundee
In Inverness' last game of the season, Richie Foran scored his first goal since September 2013. After scoring the fourth goal of his career in the previous game, Daniel Devine scored his fifth goal of his career, and scored for two consecutive games for the first time in his career!

Sunday, 15 May 2016
Premier League
Southampton 4-1 Crystal Palace
Shane Long made his twenty-fifth start of the season

West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Liverpool
James McClean was booked for the eleventh time this season, three months after his last booking in February

Everton 3-0 Norwich
James McCarthy's goal this afternoon was his fifth goal for Everton, all five of which have come in the league

Watford 2-2 Sunderland
John O'Shea returned to the Sunderland starting XI to captain the side on the last day of the season, this was the defender's first start since 1st March

Stoke City 2-1 West Ham United
Shay Given and Darren Randolph are the first two Irish keepers to face each other in a Premier League game since Shay Given faced Paddy Kenny for Aston Villa and QPR, respectively, in February 2012 Given was booked for the first time this season, more than a year since his last yellow in May 2015

League 2
Plymouth 1-0 Portsmouth
Michael Doyle made his fiftieth appearance of the season

Scottish Premier League
Hearts 2-2 St Johnstone
Joe Shaughnessy scored the first own goal of his career

MLS
Columbus Crew 1-1 Colorado Rapids
Kevin Doyle marked his 25th appearance for Colorado Rapids with his second goal and second booking of the season

Round Up - Midweek games of 10th May 2016

Wednesday, 11 May 2016
Scottish Premier League
St Johnstone 2-1 Celtic
Graham Cummins scored his seventh goal of the season, his first goal since scoring a brace in October

Hamilton Academical 0-1 Inverness CT
Daniel Devine scored his first goal in the Scottish Premier League, this the defender's second goal of the season after scoring in the League Cup in September

Thursday, 12 May 2016
League 2
Portsmouth 2-2 Plymouth
Adam Barton was booked for the second time this season, more than four months after his first booking of 2015/16 in January
Graham Carey was shown his seventh yellow card of the season

Round Up - Weekend of 7th May 2015

Saturday, 7 May 2016
Premier League
Aston Villa 0-0 Newcastle Utd
Ciaran Clark was booked for the seventh time this season, this was the Villa defender's first booking since 1st March

Crystal Palace 2-1 Stoke City
Stephen Ireland came off the bench for his first appearance since 2nd April, and was booked for the second time in 2015/16 - his first yellow card since 2nd February
Glenn Whelan was booked for the eighth time this season, but only his second time in 2016

Bournemouth 1-1 West Bromwich Albion
Harry Arter was booked for the seventh time this season, his first booking since 13th February

Championship
Blackburn 3-1 Reading
Josh Barrett made the first start of his career for Reading in this loss

Cardiff 1-1 Birmingham City
Anthony Pilkington scored his tenth goal for Cardiff, more than two months after his last goal at the end of February

Derby County 0-1 Ipswich
Adam McDonnell's first league start for Ipswich (he started a League Cup game in August) was marred slightly by his first booking of his career!
David McGoldrick scored his fifth goal of the season, and his second in two games

Huddersfield 1-5 Brentford
Sean Scannell returned to the Huddersfield starting XI for his first start in two months

Hull City 5-1 Rotherham
Lee Frecklington's fifth goal of the season (his first in a month) was the only consolation for Rotherham in this heavy loss to Hull

League 2
AFC Wimbledon 1-0 Newport Co.
Ryan Sweeney's started this afternoon for AFC Wimbledon was his first appearance for the Dons since the end of March

Bristol Rovers 2-1 Dagenham and Redbridge
Jack Connors came off the bench at half time for his first appearance since 9th January

Morecambe 1-1 York City
After scoring last week, Kenneth McEvoy made his first start for York City since 5th March
Jamie Devitt scored his seventh goal of the season, almost two months after his last goal on 12th March

Oxford United 3-0 Wycombe Wanderers
In his fiftieth appearance of the season, Callum O'Dowda scored his tenth goal of the season

Portsmouth 1-2 Northampton
Brian Murphy made his twenty-fifth appearance for Porthsmouth
After signing for Pompey on loan in March, Conor Wilkinson made his first appearance for them, this was also his 25th appearance of the season that's included loan spells at Barnsley and Newport County
James Collins came off the bench late on to score the winner - his 15th goal of the season that includes eight for parent club Shrewsbury

Sunday, 8 May 2016
Premier League
Tottenham 1-2 Southampton
Shane Long was booked for the third time this season, having not been booked before this game since 9th January

League 1
Bury 3-2 Southend United
David Mooney scored his eighth of the season, his first goal since mid February, and also received his first booking this year - his last booking came on 28 December

Gillingham 1-2 Millwall
Aiden O'Brien scored his 15th goal for Millwall (his 10th in the league this season) in his 50th start for the club
John Egan scored his tenth goal in League One

Port Vale 0-5 Walsall
Sam Foley made his fiftieth appearance of the season, all for Port Vale. The second goal of Anthony Forde's brace (the first of his career) was his fifth goal of the season

Sheffield United 0-2 Scunthorpe
Paddy Madden scored his 70th goal since moving to England in his 51st appearance this season!

Wigan 1-4 Barnsley
Conor Hourihane scored his 25th goal for Barnsley in his 50th appearance of the season
Chris McCann was sent off for the second time in his career (both for Wigan), two and a half years after his last red card in December 2013

Scottish Premier League
Celtic 3-2 Aberdeen
Willo Flood made his 100th appearance for Aberdeen

MLS
LA Galaxy 4-2 New England Revolution
Robbie Keane marked his return to the LA Galaxy side with his fourth goal in his last six games for the Galaxy

Further Reading
Roy Keane interview - ESPN Radio
'It's not a decision I can make, I just have to keep scoring' - the42.ie
AFC Bournemouth: Harry Arter promises to be 'more professional' with injuries after rushing March comeback - Bournemouth Daily Echo

April 2016 Appearance Stats

Irish Abroad players appearance statistics for April 2016

Wins
Bradford City midfielder Alan McCormack started five wins for the Bees, as they moved from 18th (on April 1st) to tenth in the table.

Draws
Championship players Matt Doherty, Stephen Kelly, Jonathan Douglas, and Lee Frecklington, as well as Scottish Championship striker Anthony Stokes all started four draws in April 201

Losses
Midfielders Darren Potter and Stephen Quinn both started five losses

Starts/Completed Games
Quinn also started the most games in April, lining out for Reading eight times, the same as Hibs on loan striker Anthony Stokes. However, neither player completed 90 minutes in every game - Quinn completed seven and Stokes six

Substitutions/Introductions
Winger Stephen McLaughlin was substituted four times, while fellow midfield player Sean Scannell came off the bench six times

Stayed On Bench
Goalkeeper Jack Bonham was an unused substitute in each of Brentford's eight games in April, while, of the outfield players, defender Kevin Long was an unused substitute in six of MK Dons' games - two more than any other outfield player

Goals
Only two players scored more than two goal in April - Anthony Stokes notched three on loan at Hibs, while Southampton's Shane Long scored twice in his six starts - with both clubs going on to win every game in which they scored. Rotherham striker Leon Best was the only player to score a penalty

Discipline
Blackburn midfielder Darragh Lenihan was booked three times in his seven games in April - he's now been booked 11 times in 2015/16 with each one coming in 2016!

Round Up - Weekend of 29th April 2016

Friday, 29 April 2016
Championship
Birmingham City 2-2 Middlesbrough
Having not scored in the Championship before this season, Stephen Gleeson scored his fifth goal in the competition (his first goal since 16th January) in 2015/16

Saturday, 30 April 2016
Premier League
Watford 3-2 Aston Villa
After coming off the bench last week to make his professional debut last weekend, Kevin Toner made the first start of his career today, congratulations Kevin!
Ciaran Clark scored his tenth goal for Aston Villa, his second of the season, having not scored more than a single strike in one season since 2011/12

Everton 2-1 Bournemouth
James McCarthy made his landmark 350th career appearance against Bournemouth - congratulations James!
McCarthy and Darron Gibson started their first league game together since March 2015 - but the midfield pair did start a league cup and FA Cup game this season
Harry Arter gave his chances of appearing in Martin O'Neill's squad for Euro 2016 a massive boost by returning from injury for his first start since 20th March

Stoke City 1-1 Sunderland
Similarly, Jonathan Walters returned from injury and came off the bench for Stoke for his first appearance since 19th March

Arsenal 1-0 Norwich
Wes Hoolahan's returned to the Norwich City starting XI for his first start since 12th March

Championship
Bolton 1-0 Hull City
Almost two years after signing for Hull City in August 2014, Brian Lenihan made his first appearance for the club following a recovery from a serious injury that kept the defender out of action since a loan spell with Blackpool in November 2014

Bristol City 4-0 Huddersfield
Alex Pearce made only his second league start of the season, more than two months after his first league start on 23rd February
Having been an unused substitute in each of his last seven appearances in the matchday squad, Derrick Williams made his first start since 19th January

Ipswich 3-2 MK Dons
More than a month after signing for MK Dons on loan at the end of March, Kevin Long made his first appearance for the club
David McGoldrick scored his fourth goal of the season, this was his first goal since August, when he scored three goals in the opening seven games of the season

Nottingham Forest 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Joe Mason scored his ninth goal of the season, his first goal since 13th February

Reading 1-2 Preston North End
Stephen Quinn scored his first goal for Reading since signing for them during the summer 2015 window, and almost a year to the date since his last goal on 4th May 2015!

Rotherham 0-1 Blackburn
Shane Duffy scored his fifth goal for the club. This goal was also his fourth of the season, meaning he's scored more in 2015/16 than in the previous three seasons combined!

League 1
Barnsley 2-2 Colchester
Conor Hourihane was booked for the tenth time this season

Burton Albion 2-1 Gillingham
Anthony O'Connor's late introduction from the bench was first appearance in three months after being substituted with an injury on 30th January
Bradley Garmston made his 25th start of the season

Chesterfield 3-0 Bury
Jay O'Shea made his fiftieth appearance of the season
John O'Sullivan made his twenty-fifth appearance of the season

Coventry 3-1 Sheffield United
Stephen Hunt started for Coventry, a day short of two months since his last appearance on 1st March
Congratulations to Graham Kelly on making his senior career debut as a late substitute for Sheffield United

Millwall 3-0 Oldham
Aiden O'Brien made his fiftieth appearance of the season, and can look forward to at least two more in the play offs with Millwall

Scunthorpe 1-0 Port Vale
Paddy Madden made his fiftieth start of the season, and marked it with his 22nd goal of the season, just over a month since he last found the back of the net on 28th March

Southend United 0-1 Bradford City
After coming off the bench last week for his first appearance since early March, David Mooney made his first start since 1st March. Mooney was substituted for fellow striker Noel Hunt who made his first appearance since 5th March
Stephen McLaughlin was booked for the second time this season, previous to this yellow card the winger had not been cautioned by a referee since 24th October

League 2
Hartlepool 0-2 Portsmouth
After coming off the bench for Portsmouth last week, goalkeeper Brian Murphy mades first start since 19th January, while in the same game Enda Stevens made his fiftieth start for the club

York City 1-4 Bristol Rovers
After coming off the bench as a second half substitute, Kenneth McEvoy scored his first goal since 30 January
James Berrett was booked for the tenth time this season

Scottish Premier League
Aberdeen 4-1 Motherwell
Adam Rooney came off the bench to make his 100th appearance for Aberdeen, then scored his 20th goal of the season, then was injured and had to be substituted - the first Irish player to be introduced and substituted in the same game since Paul Heffernan last May!
After securing the Player of the Season, Players' Player of the Season and Goal of the Season awards midweek (see Further Reading), Jonathan Hayes scored his sixth goal of the season, almost three months after his fifth goal on 3rd February

MLS
Montreal Impact 2-2 Colorado Rapids
Following his goalscoring introduction from the bench last week, Kevin Doyle returned to the Colorado Rapids starting XI for his first start since 20 March

Sunday, 1 May 2016
Premier League
Southampton 4-2 Manchester City
Shane Long scored his twentieth goal for Southampton, also his 100th career goal!

Eredivisie
PSV Eindhoven 6-2 SC Cambuur
Jack Byrne made his twenty-fifth career start, and marked it with his fourth goal of the season and unfortunately his fifth booking of the season

Monday, 2 May 2016
Championship
Burnley 1-0 QPR
After not starting a league game until 28th December, Stephen Ward made his 25th start of the season

Scottish Premier League
Dundee 2-1 Dundee Utd
Sean Dillon made his 250th league start for Dundee United, but will not want to remember the night after the Tangerines were relegated at the home of their city rivals.

Further Reading
Doc's Rollercoaster Ride - wolves.co.uk
Toner: I'm hungry for more - avfc.co.uk
Hat-trick of awards for Hayes - afc.co.uk

On Dan Crowley, independent.ie and fact checking

Recent reports in the Irish Independent (or independent.ie to give it the title on the paper's website masthead) have suggested that Arsenal winger Daniel Crowley may be about to switch his allegiance from England to Ireland following talks with manager Martin O'Neill.
However, today's article "Martin O'Neill to hold a second meeting with highly-rated Danny Crowley" contains a number of factual errors.

"As the Coventry-born midfielder represented England’s Under-19s last year, he wouldn’t be eligible to play in the games [the upcoming friendlies against Holland and Belarus]". His participation in the England U19 qualifiers is irrelevant to the senior international setup, players play for a new international side after switching allegiances all the time, regardless of their most recent appearance at underage level. It does mean, however, that he cannot turn out for the Ireland U19s until the qualifiers for the 2017 U19 Championships to be held in Albania in October.

"At that point [after representing Ireland at U17 level], he was bizarrely cut from their squad for the UEFA elite qualifiers, hastening his switch to the England for their UEFA U-19 campaign last October." While it's true that Crowley did appear for England in their U19 qualifiers last October (starting two of their three games), the article makes no mention that Crowley had not appeared for Ireland in a competitive game at U17 level (which would have tied him to the Republic at that level), only appearing in two friendlies against Croatia in 2013 before going on to represent England's U17s in their qualifiers a month later against Portugal, Russia and Slovenia. I found the mention of "elite qualifiers" here to be slightly misleading. While it does refer to the next qualifiers for the Ireland U17s, the England qualifiers played in October were in the Qualifying round, not the elite level.

"It was around that time [last October] O’Neill picked up the telephone and rang the Crowley family to make clear his interest in possibly fast-tracking him into the Irish fold." According to reports from that time, O'Neill first spoke to Crowley's family before naming the provisional squad for the qualifiers against Germany and Portugal on 17th September. England played their U19 qualifiers on the 8th, 10th, and 13th of October, three weeks later.

While there's no mention of this in the article from the Independent, it might be relevant that Crowley was not named in the England U19 squad for their elite qualifiers in March, despite appearing for Arsenal U21s against his former side Aston Villa earlier in the month.

Finally, and possibly most damning of all, the Independent themselves published an article on Crowley's switch to England at the time in 2013, from the same author John Fallon! Far from being cut from the squad, manager Tom Mohan was reported as saying that "he respected the decision and did not consider Crowley for inclusion in his squad for their forthcoming European Championship qualifiers."

Further Reading
Revealed: Martin O'Neill to hold a second meeting with highly-rated Danny Crowley - independent.ie
U17 head coach Tom Mohan names squad to face Croatia - fai.ie
Ireland U17s defeated by strong Croatian side - fai.ie
Ireland U17s lose out again to Croatia - fai.ie
U-21s: Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal - arsenal.com
Aston Villa star Crowley opts to play for England- independent.ie