Round up for weekend of Friday, 29th December 2017

Friday, 29th December 2017

Championship

Cardiff 0-1 Preston North End

Greg Cunningham's made his first appearance since August after returning from injury
Alan Browne was booked for the first time since Wednesday, 1st November in his 25th appearance of the season

Saturday, 30 December 2017

Premier League

Bournemouth 2-1 Everton

James McCarthy's start against Bournemouth was his first appearance in the Premier League this season

Huddersfield 0-0 Burnley

Jeff Hendrick made his 50th appearance in the Premier League

Newcastle Utd 0-0 Brighton and Hove Albion

Ciaran Clark made his 50th start for Newcastle Utd

Championship

Birmingham City 1-0 Leeds United

Conor Shaughnessy's first start since Tuesday, 24th October was his first appearance for Leeds in a month

Middlesbrough 0-1 Aston Villa

Darren Randolph made his 25th appearance for Middlesbrough
Conor Hourihane was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Nottingham Forest 0-1 Sunderland

Aiden McGeady's winner was his fifth goal for Sunderland

Sheffield United 0-1 Bolton

Josh Cullen made his first appearance since Saturday, 14th October, it was also the midfielder's first start in three months

League 1

Blackpool 2-2 Plymouth

Graham Carey scored his 50th goal in UK football

Bradford City 3-2 Oxford United

Canice Carroll scored his first goal of his career

Bury 0-2 Fleetwood

Stephen Dawson made his 100th start for Bury

Oldham 1-1 Bristol Rovers

Ryan Sweeney made his 50th career appearance

League 2

Cheltenham 1-1 Newport Co.

Padraig Amond scored his first goal since Saturday, 14th October in his first start in a month

Scottish Premier League

Partick Thistle 2-0 Ross County

Conor Sammon scored his 25th SPL goal, and was booked for the first time this season

Australian A-League

Sydney 6-0 Perth Glory

Andy Keogh started his first game for Perth Glory since Friday, 24th November

Sunday, 31st December 2017

Premier League

Crystal Palace 0-0 Manchester City

Unused substitute Damien Delaney was named in the Crystal Palace squad for the first time since Saturday, 28th October

West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Arsenal

James McClean unfortunately scored his first own goal in English football against Arsenal

Round Up for week of Tuesday, 26th December 2017

Tuesday, 26th December 2017

Premier League

Chelsea 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion

Shane Duffy made his 50th appearance for Brighton and Hove Albion, all of which have been starts

Manchester United 2-2 Burnley

Jeff Hendrick made his 50th start for Burnley
Jonathan Walters came off the bench for his first appearance since August

Championship

Millwall 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Shaun Williams started his first game for Millwall in three months, and was shown his first yellow card since Tuesday, 12th September

Barnsley 0-0 Preston North End

Daryl Horgan was named in Preston's starting XI for the first time since early August

Brentford 2-1 Aston Villa

Glenn Whelan start for Villa was the midfielder's 100th appearance in the Championship
Lining out beside Whelan, Scott Hogan had his first start since Saturday, 4th November

League 1

Gillingham 1-1 Oxford United

Conor Wilkinson's strike for Gillingham was his tenth goal in League One

Blackburn 2-0 Rochdale

Keith Keane returned for Rochdale, making his first appearance in four months
Derrick Williams was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Blackpool 2-3 Scunthorpe

Jimmy Ryan was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Bury 0-3 Rotherham

Stephen Dawson was booked for the first time this season in his first start for Bury since Thursday, 10th August
Lee Frecklington's strike was his 15th goal in League One
On his 25th appearance of the season, Anthony Forde was shown his first yellow card since Tuesday, 17th October

Oldham 1-2 Fleetwood

Courtney Duffus came off the bench for Oldham for his first appearance since Tuesday, 21th November

Walsall 0-0 Bristol Rovers

Rory Gaffney made his 100th appearance in English football

League 2

Grimsby 1-1 Mansfield Town

Conrad Logan made his 100th appearance in the League Two

Carlisle United 3-1 Accrington Stanley

Jamie Devitt's opener for Carlisle was his 25th goal in League Two

Cheltenham 0-2 Yeovil

Connor Smith was booked for the first time since Saturday, 23rd September

Swindon Town 0-5 Luton

James Collins scored his 120th goal of his career

Scottish Premier League

Dundee 0-2 Celtic

Darren O'Dea came off the bench for his first appearance in a month

Are birthdays really important - another look

Following on from our recent article investigating the Examiner's claim that your birth month will affect your chances of playing at international level for the Republic of Ireland, one of the issues that we had with the original study seemed to gather importance as the investigation continued, even after publishing the initial rebuttal

it[the initial article] ignores that summer soccer only started in Ireland in 2003, and not all of the players marked as "Irish reared" came through in this system.

With this in mind, we decided to examine the list of player we had included in the study again. As stated, summer soccer was only introduced in Ireland in 2003, therefore it was reasonable to assume that only players born after 1993 (who would be ten years old in 2003, and starting their football education) would have come through the youth setup in that environment. To date, the only players born in Ireland after 1st January 2003 that have made their international debut are Alan Browne (b. 15 April 2003) and Sean Maguire (b. 1st May 2003), and according to poster "Charlie Darwin" on Irish football forum foot.ie, the U19 league was still a winter league when Browne played there, leaving Maguire as the only international to have been "reared" (to use the Examiner's terminology) in the summer setup.

So, bearing these changes to the "development quarter" a player was born in (as opposed to the calendar quarter) how does this affect the study?

As you can see in the table below, there's now a more even spread of players between quarters one, three and four, with players born in quarter two (December, January and February) at a disadvantage when their chances of playing at international level are assessed. However, this quarter does include squad mainstays Shane Duffy, Glenn Whelan, Robbie Brady, Shane Long, Jeff Hendrick and Harry Arter.

Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Sept-Nov	Dec-Feb	March-May	June-Aug
13(25.49%)	11(21.57%)	13(25.49%)	14(27.45%)
Stephen Kelly(September 6) Kevin Doyle(September 18) Jonathan Walters(September 20) Ciaran Clarke(September 26) Cyrus Christie(September 30) Seamus Coleman(October 11) John Egan(October 20) Keiren Westwood(October 23) Darron Gibson(October 25) Alex Pearce(November 9) James McCarthy(November 12) Alan Judge(November 11) David McGoldrick(November 29)	Shane Duffy(January 1) Paul McShane(January 6) Glenn Whelan(January 13) Robbie Brady(January 14) Shane Long(January 22) Jeff Hendrick(January 31) Conor Hourihane(February 2) Sean Maguire*(May 1) David Forde(December 20) Harry Arter(December 28) Sean St Ledger(December 28)	Andy Boyle(March 7) Daryl Murphy(March 15) Aidan McGeady(April 4) Stephen Quinn(April 4) Paul Green(April 10) Alan Browne(April 15) James McClean(April 22) Callum O'Dowda(April 23) John O'Shea(April 30) Robert Elliot(April 30) Darren Randolph(May 12) Wes Hoolahan(May 20) David Meyler(May 29)	Anthony Pilkington(June 6) Shay Given(June 20) Robbie Keane(July 8) Jonathan Hayes(July 9) Eunan O'Kane(July 10) Damien Delaney(July 20) Anthony Stokes(July 25) Andy Reid(July 29) Stephen Gleeson(August 3) Richard Keogh(August 11) Daryl Horgan(August 10) Marc Wilson(August 17) Kevin Long(August 18) Stephen Ward(August 20)

* designates player developed in summer soccer

Armed with a better definition of when the quarter in which a player is born, we can now apply this definition across the history of players capped by the Republic of Ireland

Firstly, lets compare the record of players selected by Martin O'Neill to every player capped. There is a slight difference across the first three quarters, with increases in quarters one and two offset by a decline in the number of players born in Q3 selected for international honours.

Q	Players
1	94(28.14%)
2	75(22.46%)
3	73(21.86%)
4	92(27.54%)

Finally, let's look at players with ten, or more, caps. In our opinion, this gives the clearest indication of how the birth month of a player affects their chances of becoming a squad regular. Those players born in Q1, Q3 and Q4 have approximately the same chance of keeping their place in the squad, but players born in Q2 (December, January and February) do appear to suffer in this regard.

Q	Players
1	43(25.90%)
2	39(23.49%)
3	42(25.30%)
4	42(25.30%)

As we said in the rebuttal, this does need further study. Of particular interest is how the change to summer soccer has affected player development, is there a change in the makeup of underage squads when you compare the squads from before and after the change to summer soccer?

As we noted, there's only one international player who had the entirety of his football education in the summer soccer era, so it may be some time before an accurate study on the effectiveness of the change can be made.

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 22nd December 2017

Friday, 22nd December 2017

League 1

Fleetwood 0-2 Gillingham

Mark Byrne made his 50th appearance in League One

League 2

Coventry 3-2 Wycombe Wanderers

Michael Doyle scored his fifth goal in League Two, his first goal in almost three months, and a memorable strike it was too!

Saturday, 23rd December 2017

Premier League

West Ham United 2-3 Newcastle Utd

Ciaran Clark made his 50th appearance for Newcastle Utd

Championship

Preston North End 1-1 Nottingham Forest

Kevin O'Connor returned to the Preston starting XI for the first time in a month

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Ipswich

Matt Doherty made his 200th career start

Aston Villa 2-2 Sheffield United

Conor Hourihane made his 300th career start
Samir Carruthers came off the bench to make his 50th appearance in the competition

League 1

Northampton 1-1 Blackburn

John-Joe O'Toole was booked for the first time in two months

Peterborough 3-0 Bury

Stephen Dawson's introduction as a second half substitute (his first appearance for Bury since August) was his 100th appearance for the Shakers
Having only been sent off once in his career before 2017/28, Eoghan O'Connell was sent off for the second time this season

Rotherham 2-1 MK Dons

Lee Frecklington was booked for the first time this season

League 2

Luton 2-0 Grimsby

James Collins scored his tenth goal for Luton (also his 80th goal in League Two) in his first start since Saturday, 11th November

Newport Co. 0-0 Lincoln City

Mark O'Brien was sent off for the second time for Newport County

Stevenage 5-1 Chesterfield

Connor Dimaio made his 50th appearance for Chesterfield

Scottish Premier League

Celtic 3-0 Aberdeen

Adam Rooney made his 300th career start
Anthony O'Connor made his 200th career start
Jonathan Hayes scored his first goal for Celtic since moving to the Bhoys in the summer

Partick Thistle 1-0 Hamilton Academical

Niall Keown scored his first goal since August, and was unfortunately booked for the fifth time this season and so is suspended for the next game

Scottish Championship

Greenock Morton 1-0 Inverness CT

Jake Mulraney made his 25th start for Inverness CT

Indian Super League

Atlético de Kolkata 1-0 Delhi Dynamos

Robbie Keane scored his first goal for Atléletico de Kolkata, this was the striker's first goal anywhere since September 2016

Are birthdays really important?

A recent article by the Irish Examiner posited that it was better for a prospective Ireland international footballer to be born in the first three quarters in the year if he was born in Ireland, due to the summer soccer season here, whereas if the player were born in the UK, then they have a better chance of playing at the highest level if they were born outside of June, July and August, with the players born in September, October and November most likely to earn international caps.

However, the focus was only on one squad, the final squad of 2017 in the play off against Denmark, a tiny sample group considering the Irish national side has played more than 500 games, with over 300 players capped.

As well as that, it ignores that summer soccer only started in Ireland in 2003, and not all of the players marked as "Irish reared" came through in this system.

A minor gripe was that players who didn't appear in the play offs were included in the final table, however omitting them to only use players who received caps in the two games would have reduced the sample size even further.

With that in mind, we've compiled the following table using the same criteria, but increased the sample size to include all players who have been capped by Martin O'Neill since taking over in 2013.

Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Ireland: Jan-March	Ireland: April-June	Ireland: July-Sept	Ireland: Oct-Dec
UK: Sept-Nov	UK: Dec-Feb	UK: March-May	UK: June-Aug
16(31.3%)	11(21.5%)	17(33.3%)	7(13.7%)
Shane Duffy(January 1) Paul McShane(January 6) Glenn Whelan(January 13) Robbie Brady(January 14) Shane Long(January 22) Jeff Hendrick(January 31) Conor Hourihane(February 2) Andy Boyle(March 7) Daryl Murphy(March 15) Jonathan Walters*(September 20) Ciaran Clarke*(September 26) Cyrus Christie*(September 30) Keiren Westwood*(October 23) Alex Pearce*(November 9) James McCarthy*(November 12) David McGoldrick*(November 29)	Stephen Quinn(April 4) Alan Browne(April 15) James McClean(April 22) John O'Shea(April 30) Sean Maguire(May 1) Darren Randolph(May 12) Wes Hoolahan(May 20) David Meyler(May 29) Shay Given(June 20) Harry Arter*(December 28) Sean St Ledger*(December 28)	Aidan McGeady*(April 4) Paul Green*(April 10) Callum O'Dowda*(April 23) Robert Elliot*(April 30) Robbie Keane(July 8) Jonathan Hayes(July 9) Eunan O'Kane(July 10) Damien Delaney(July 20) Anthony Stokes(July 25) Andy Reid(July 29) Stephen Gleeson(August 3) Daryl Horgan(August 10) Marc Wilson(August 17) Kevin Long(August 18) Stephen Ward(August 20) Stephen Kelly(September 6) Kevin Doyle(September 18)	Anthony Pilkington*(June 6) Richard Keogh*(August 11) Seamus Coleman(October 11) John Egan(October 20) Darron Gibson(October 25) Alan Judge(November 11) David Forde(December 20)

As you can see, there is a marked difference with the table produced by the Examiner. Players born in Q1 and Q2 drop by 17 and 9 percentage points respectively, with those born in Q3 and Q4 increasing in 11 and 13 percentage points, respectively.

The real question is - what does all of this prove? Not a lot really, other than (as pointed out in the original article) you're less likely to get capped if you were born in the final quarter of the year in Ireland, or the summer months in the UK. 

It's hard to extrapolate anything from the small sample size of one squad, and even the larger size of 46 games under Martin O'Neill has the conclusion of a slightly better chance of playing international football if you were born in Ireland in the first three months of the year, or during late summer, or Spring or early Autumn in the UK

Maybe it needs further study?

Further reading
Why birthdays are one of the big problems affecting Irish soccer

Round up for weekend of Friday, 15th December 2017

Friday, 15th December 2017

League 2

Swindon Town 2-3 Colchester

Donal McDermott's first appearance since Wednesday, 8 November was also his first start for Swindon the previous Sunday

Saturday, 16th December 2017

Premier League

Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle Utd

Robert Elliot's start was his 50th Premier League appearance

Brighton and Hove Albion 0-0 Burnley

Shane Duffy was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Championship

Bolton 0-1 Burton Albion

Sean Scannell made his 300th appearance in the Championship

Derby County 2-0 Aston Villa

Scott Hogan came off the bench for his first appearance since Saturday, 4th November

Ipswich 2-0 Reading

Paul McShane was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Preston North End 1-0 Sheffield United

This was the first time since March 2016 that four Irish players (Kevin O'Connor, Andy Boyle, Daryl Horgan and Alan Browne) started on the subs bench for a single team.
Samir Carruthers's first start since August was his 25th appearance for Sheffield United

Cardiff 1-0 Hull City

In his first appearance for Cardiff since August, Anthony Pilkington assisted the winner against Hull

League 1

Blackburn 2-0 Charlton

Derrick Williams made his 200th career appearance
Leon Best unfortunately scored his first own goal since May 2007

Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Oldham

Eoin Doyle scored his 15th goal of the season

Gillingham 4-1 Bristol Rovers

Bradley Garmston made his first appearance since Saturday, 28th October

Northampton 2-1 Walsall

Brendan Moloney made his 100th appearance for Northampton

Rotherham 1-1 Plymouth

Graham Carey made his 300th career appearance in British football

Southend United 1-2 Bradford City

Stephen McLaughlin scored his 15th goal for Southend

League 2

Carlisle United 1-2 Port Vale

John O'Sullivan's first start of the season was also his 25th appearance for Carlisle United

Exeter 2-1 Stevenage

Pierce Sweeney scored his fifth goal of the season in his 25th start of the season
Liam McAlinden was booked for the first time this season

Forest Green 0-2 Luton

Alan Sheehan made his 100th appearance in League Two
Glen Rea made his 25th appearance of the season
Alan Sheehan's scored his first goal since September

Lincoln City 2-0 Accrington Stanley

Seamus Conneely returned for his first appearance in a month

Scottish Premier League

Aberdeen 4-1 Hibernian

Adam Rooney made his 200th appearance in the SPL
Anthony Stokes' late consolation for Hibernian was his tenth goal of the season, and his 100th goal in the top level of Scottish football

Rangers 1-3 St Johnstone

Graham Cummins' first goal of the season was also his 15th goal for St. Johnstone

Scottish Championship

Inverness CT 1-0 Dumbarton

Jake Mulraney's start against Dumbarton was his 50th appearance for Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Sunday, 17th December 2017

League 1

Fleetwood 2-3 Peterborough

Cian Bolger scored his third goal in two games (the first time the defender has scored in consecutive games) in his 25th start of the season

Indian Super League

Mumbai City 0-1 Atlético de Kolkata

Robbie Keane made his first start for Atlético de Kolkata, this was his first time being named in a starting XI since October 2016, and was voted as Fans Player of the Match

You voted for @WorldATK's Robbie Keane as the Fans' Player of the Match and he has a message of gratitude. #LetsFootball #MUMKOL pic.twitter.com/JtFlogGOWw

— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) December 17, 2017

Round up for week of Tuesday, 12th December 2017

Tuesday, 12 December 2017

Premier League

Burnley 1-0 Stoke City

Jeff Hendrick made his 50th appearance for Burnley

Scottish Premier League

Ross County 2-2 Kilmarnock

Alan Power was booked for the first time since October

English FA Cup

Wigan 3-2 AFC Fylde

Noel Hunt's introduction from the bench was the striker's first appearance since Tuesday, 24 October

Exeter 2-1 Forest Green

Pierce Sweeney scored his first FA Cup goal, and was booked for the first time since August in his 25th appearance of the season

Wednesday, 13 December 2017

Premier League

Liverpool 0-0 West Bromwich Albion

James McClean's first start since Tuesday, 22nd August was also the Derry native's 250th appearance in English football

Scottish Premier League

Partick Thistle 3-2 Motherwell

The six Irish players to start this game was the most since six players also started the Middlesbrough-Sunderland game on Sunday, 5th November
Conor Sammon scored his first goal for Partick in his first start since early November

St Johnstone 0-3 Aberdeen

Anthony O'Connor made his 50th appearance in the SPL
Adam Rooney scored his fifth goal of the season, this was the striker's first goal since Saturday, 30 September

English FA Cup

Crewe Alexandra 0-1 Blackburn

Derrick Williams assisted the only goal of the game in his 25th appearance of the season, all of which were starts

Thursday, 14 December 2017

English FA Cup

Hereford United 0-2 Fleetwood

The first goal of Cian Bolger's brace (his first goals of the season) was the tenth goal of his career

Round up for weekend of Friday, 8th December 2017

Friday, 8th December 2017

Championship

Sheffield United 1-2 Bristol City

Enda Stevens' first booking since October was also his fifth yellow card of the season and he is suspended for the next game

Saturday, 9th December 2017

Premier League

Burnley 1-0 Watford

This was Kevin Long's first appearance in the Premier League this season and his first appearance for Burnley since Tuesday, 19 September

Championship

Aston Villa 0-0 Millwall

Shaun Williams returned from injury as a second half substitute. This was the midfielder's first appearance since Tuesday, 26th September
Glenn Whelan was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Burton Albion 1-2 Preston North End

Daryl Horgan's late winner was his first goal of the season

Hull City 3-2 Brentford

David Meyler unfortunately scored his first own goal of his career in this game
John Egan scored his first goal since Tuesday, 22nd August and was booked for the second time this season

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Sunderland

Darron Gibson's start against Wolves was his 25th appearance for Sunderland

League 1

Bristol Rovers 3-0 Southend United

Rory Gaffney made his 25th appearance of the season

Charlton 0-1 Portsmouth

Billy Clarke started his first game for Charlton in a month

Oldham 5-1 Northampton

The first goal of Jack Byrne's brace (the second time he's scored twice in a game this season) was the tenth goal of his career, and earned him a spot in the EFL team of the week

#EFL Team of the Week! 💫

Our selection of standout performers from the weekend action >> https://t.co/OxkIVUQynQ pic.twitter.com/6ufuKc6PIk

— EFL (@EFL) December 11, 2017

Sam Foley's consolation for Northampton was his first goal in a month and also his 15th goal in League 1

Plymouth 2-1 Gillingham

Graham Carey made his 250th start in British football

League 2

Cheltenham 1-0 Crewe Alexandra

Eddie Nolan made his 25th appearance for Crewe Alexandra

Colchester 3-1 Exeter

Liam McAlinden made his 25th appearance of the season

Grimsby 1-0 Forest Green

James McKeown was booked for the first time this season, before this the goalkeeper hadn't been booked since September 2016

Scottish Premier League

Kilmarnock 5-1 Partick Thistle

Niall Keown scored the first own goal of his career for Partick in this game

Monday, 11th December 2017

Championship

Reading 2-2 Cardiff

Liam Kelly was booked for the first time this season

Round up for week of Tuesday, 5th December 2017

Tuesday, 5th December 2017

Football League Trophy

Gillingham 1-2 Oxford United

Canice Carroll started his first game since Saturday, 21st October, and was also booked for the first time since the last game
Mark Byrne scored his first goal of the season. This was the midfielder's first goal in more than a year, his last strike came on Saturday, 26th November 2016

Bradford City 0-1 Oldham

Paul Green was booked for the first time this season

Port Vale 1-2 Shrewsbury

Gavin Gunning was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Scunthorpe 1-2 Leicester City U21

Paddy Madden's yellow card was his first booking in two months

Wednesday, 6th December 2017

Football League Trophy

Peterborough 2-0 Southend United

Both Simon Cox and Stephen McLaughlin made their 25th appearance of 2017/18
Chris Forrester was booked for the first time since August

Thursday, 7th December 2017

UEFA Cup

Apollon 0-3 Everton

Congratulations to U21 midfielder Harry Charsley on making his senior debut for Everton

📋 | Team sheets are in and there are 2️⃣ debutants for the Blues. Congratulations to Harry Charsley and Fraser Hornby! pic.twitter.com/9YHQSAoOHp

— Everton (@Everton) December 7, 2017

Indian Super League

Chennaiyin FC 3-2 Atlético de Kolkata

Robbie Keane came off the bench to make his first appearance for Atlético de Kolkata, more than a year after his last appearance for LA Galaxy on Sunday, 6th November 2016

November 2017 Appearance Stats

Irish Abroad players appearance statistics for November 2017

Wins
In a month with a reduced number of games due to the international break, no player won more than Matt Doherty, Glenn Whelan and Conor Hourihane's four victories

Draws
Goalkeeper Keiren Westwood was the only player to start more than two draws, the Sheffield Wednesday number one started three games that ended all square

Losses
Newcastle's Rob Elliott started three losses in November, no other player started more than two

Starts/Completed Games
Of the five games defenders Paul McShane, Richard Keogh, John Egan and midfielders Glenn Whelan and Conor Hourihane started in November, only McShane, Egan and Hourihane went on to complete 90 minutes in all five

Substitutions/Introductions
Harry Arter, Jeff Hendrick, Sean Scannell and Aiden O'Brien were all substituted three times in November, one less than the number of times James McClean was introduced from the bench for West Brom

Stayed On Bench
Goalkeepers Stephen Henderson and Brian Murphy were unused substitutes in four games in November, the same as defenders Kevin Long and Alex Pearce

Goals
David McGoldrick was the only player to score more than once, the Ipswich striker scored two goals, while Anthony Stokes was the only player to score a penalty

Discipline
Carl McHugh and Daniel Devine were both booked twice, no other player was booked more than once

Round up for weekend of Friday, 1st December 2017

Friday, 1st December 2017

Championship

Leeds United 1-1 Aston Villa

Conor Hourihane was booked for the first time since Saturday, 14th October

Polish Ekstraklasa

Jagiellonia Białystok 1-0 Pogoń Szczecin

Cillian Sheridan marked his first start since Sunday, 22th October with his first goal since Sunday, 13th August

Saturday, 2nd December 2017

Premier League

Chelsea 3-1 Newcastle Utd

Ciaran Clark was shown his first yellow card since Saturday, 16th September

Championship

Millwall 3-1 Sheffield United

Aiden O'Brien made his 150th appearance for Millwall

Another #Millwall milestone for @AidenObrien22 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/wUvgTBNF4Z

— Millwall FC (@MillwallFC) December 2, 2017

League 1

Southend United 2-0 Oldham

Jack Byrne made his 50th career start

Scottish Premier League

Celtic 5-1 Motherwell

Jonathan Hayes returned to the Celtic starting XI for his first start since Saturday, 30th September

St Johnstone 1-2 Kilmarnock

Gary Dicker was booked for the first time this season in his first start of the season

English FA Cup

Bradford City 3-1 Plymouth

Graham Carey scored his fifth goal of the season

Sunday, 3rd December 2017

Premier League

Manchester City 2-1 West Ham United

Declan Rice was booked for the first time this season in his first start since Tuesday, 31st October

English FA Cup

Gateshead 0-5 Luton

Glen Rea made his 100th career appearance

Blackburn 3-3 Crewe Alexandra

Eddie Nolan scored his first goal of the season, also his first goal in the FA Cup. Before this the defender hadn't scored since September 2015

Coventry 3-0 Boreham Wood

Michael Doyle was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Monday, 4 December 2017

English FA Cup

Slough Town 0-4 Rochdale

Joe Rafferty's start for Rochdale was the defender's 200th career appearance

Round Up for week of Tuesday, 28th November 2017

Tuesday, 28th November 2017

Premier League

West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Newcastle Utd

Ciaran Clark scored his fifth goal for Newcastle, this was also the 15th goal of the defender's career

Championship

Reading 3-0 Barnsley

Liam Kelly made his 50th appearance for Reading

Tonight's line-up also means Academy graduate @L_Kelly95 will notch up senior appearance number 5️⃣0️⃣ in a Reading shirt! 💙 #OneOfOurOwn pic.twitter.com/rORnjsznfv

— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) November 28, 2017

League 1

Blackpool 2-4 Blackburn

Jimmy Ryan was booked for the first time in two months

Charlton 2-2 Peterborough

After signing a two month deal with Charlton, Leon Best made his first start for the Addicks. This was his first appearance since January
Chris Forrester returned to the Peterborough starting XI for the first time since Saturday, 14th October

Wednesday, 29th November 2017

Premier League

Bournemouth 1-2 Burnley

Harry Arter made his 250th appearance for Bournemouth

2️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ and counting...@HarryArter2 makes a landmark club appearance in #BOUBUR tonight! 👏#afcb 🍒 pic.twitter.com/bqXBe6cFMM

— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) November 29, 2017

Robbie Brady scored his 25th goal of his career

Manchester City 2-1 Southampton

Shane Long was booked for the first time since Saturday, 23rd September

Scottish Premier League

Motherwell 1-1 Celtic

Charles Dunne was shown his first yellow card since Sunday, 24th September

Rangers 3-0 Aberdeen

Anthony O'Connor was booked for the first time in a month

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 24th November 2017

Friday, 24th November 2017

Bulgarian Championship

Cherno More 0-1 OFK Pirin

Conor Henderson scored his first goal for the OFK Pirin, this was the former U21 midfielder's first goal since January 2016

Saturday, 25th November 2017

Championship

Barnsley 0-2 Leeds United

Conor Shaughnessy came off the bench in the second to make his first appearance for Leeds in a month

Burton Albion 0-2 Sunderland

Joe Mason introduction in the second half was the striker's first appearance since Friday, 13th October
John O'Shea was booked for the first time this season

League 1

Scunthorpe 2-0 Charlton

Paddy Madden made his 25th appearance of the season

Southend United 1-1 Oxford United

Simon Cox scored his fifth goal of the season
Michael Timlin was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

League 2

Carlisle United 1-1 Morecambe

Jack Bonham made his 25th career start

Exeter 2-0 Accrington Stanley

Pierce Sweeney marked his 50th appearance in League Two with his third goal of the season

Sunday, 26th November 2017

Premier League

Southampton 4-1 Everton

Shane Long's second half introduction was his 250th appearance in the Premier League

Burnley 0-1 Arsenal

Robbie Brady was booked for the first time since Sunday, 10th September

Scottish Premier League

Kilmarnock 1-3 Aberdeen

Gary Dicker came off the bench at half time to make his first appearance of the season

Anthony O'Connor made his 50th start for Aberdeen

Monday, 27 November 2017

Championship

QPR 2-2 Brentford

John Egan made his 50th appearance in the Championship

Round Up for Tuesday, 21st November 2017

Tuesday, 21st November 2017

Championship

Derby County 2-0 QPR

Ryan Manning came off the bench to make his 25th appearance in the Championship

Nottingham Forest 1-0 Norwich

Daryl Murphy's winner was the striker's first goal got his club in almost two months

Sheffield United 4-5 Fulham

Samir Carruthers scored the third of Sheffield United's goals, this was the midfielder's first goal for the club and his first goal since September 2016

League 1

MK Dons 1-1 Southend United

Stephen McLaughlin scored his 15th goal of in England, also his tenth goal in League One

League 2

Cheltenham 0-0 Cambridge United

David Forde was booked for the first time this season

Newport Co. 1-2 Barnet

Padraig Amond was booked for the first time this season

Port Vale 0-4 Mansfield Town

Gavin Gunning made his 50th League Two appearance

Reflections on World Cup 2018 Qualifiers

Positives
Ireland were the lowest seeded team from the group stages to reach the play offs, and the only fourth seed to do so
We went through the qualifying campaign unbeaten away from home
The average age of the squad has dropped from 30.2 at the Euros last year to 28.5 for the play off squad - a minor change, and the retirement of Robbie Keane accounts for a lot of it, but still a positive
The squad is currently ranked 26th in the world
Beating Austria away from home was the first away win against higher ranked opposition in a qualifier since 1997 against Lithuania
Since the ranking system was introduced by FIFA in 1993, no manager had won two away qualifiers against higher ranked opposition until Martin O'Neill's teams beat both Austria and Wales.
O'Neill has almost doubled the number of victories against higher ranked opposition from six to eleven with the wins over Germany, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Austria and Wales.
In three away games against our main group rivals Wales, Austria and Serbia, we took seven points from a possible nine

Negatives
Only two players scored more than once in the qualifiers. Counting Duffy's goal in the play offs brings the list to three.
We were the lowest scoring team to qualify for the play offs with 12 goals in 10 games. Croatia were the second last scorers with 15 goals. A counter point to this is that Slovakia missed out despite finishing second in their group, and scoring 17 times
The effects of Coleman's injury, on the player himself, on the result of the Wales game, and on the rest of the qualifiers cannot be underestimated
In three consecutive home games against our main group rivals Wales, Austria and Serbia, we took two points from a possible nine
Taking off two central midfielders, to bring on two attacking/creative players, when facing one of the best attacking central midfielders in the Premier League, is a criminal change. Whatever about training or tactics, I really want to hear Martin O'Neill's explanation behind that change
While there has been no formal announcements yet, the end of a qualifying campaign brings with it player retirements. At the moment there's no obvious replacements for the expected retirees

And some general observances
Whatever preparation the management team does, or doesn't do, it seems to work better away from home than before a qualifier in Dublin.
I saw several tweets from journalists complaining about players not speaking to them after the game in the mixed zone. Players have Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts to issue statements after games now.
Qualifying Group D itself was poor. None of the top four sides overly impressed. Serbia topped the group with the lowest points total of the UEFA group winners
Despite the "tinkerman" style accusations against the manager, the starting XI is pretty settled IMO - Nine players started seven or more of the ten qualifiers

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 17th November 2017

Friday, 17th November 2017

Championship

Burton Albion 1-3 Sheffield United

Samir Carruthers' late introduction from the bench was his first appearance in two months

Preston North End 0-0 Bolton

Andy Boyle was booked for the first time this season

Saturday, 18th November 2017

Premier League

Bournemouth 4-0 Huddersfield

Harry Arter scored his first goal of the season, this was also the 30th goal of the midfielder's career

Burnley 2-0 Swansea

Stephen Ward was booked for the first time this season

Manchester United 4-1 Newcastle Utd

Ciaran Clark returned to the Newcastle starting XI for the first time since 1st October

Championship

Birmingham City 1-0 Nottingham Forest

Stephen Gleeson made his first appearance since Saturday, 26th August

Cardiff 2-0 Brentford

John Egan made his 50th appearance for Brentford

Reading 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Matt Doherty's first goal of the season was also his tenth goal for Wolves, and the 15th goal of his career

Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Bristol City

Callum O'Dowda made his 50th appearance in the Championship

League 1

Bristol Rovers 1-3 AFC Wimbledon

Rory Gaffney made his 50th appearance in League One

Peterborough 0-1 Blackpool

Conor O'Malley made his first appearance in League One

League 2

Grimsby 0-1 Carlisle United

Jack Bonham made his 25th career appearance

Lincoln City 1-2 Coventry

Sean Long was booked for the first time this season

Scottish Premier League

Dundee 0-0 Kilmarnock

Darren O'Dea was sent off for the second time this season, two months after his last red card on Saturday, 16 September. This was fourth red card of his career

Sunday, 19th November 2017

Scottish Premier League

Hearts 1-1 Partick Thistle

Daniel Devine was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Scottish Championship

Dundee United 3-0 Falkirk

Willo Flood scored his first goal since Saturday, 2 September in his 200th start for Dundee United

Fun with country codes

With tonight's game taking up more real estate in our collective mindspace with every passing minute, we took a break from teams, players, goals and so on to look at something a bit silly.
You might not know this, but the three character codes that appear on the scoreline at the top of your screen while watching a game are defined by FIFA. You can see the list of countries, and each country's code, on wikipedia here: List of FIFA Country Codes
These are also the codes that make up the hashtag for a game, e.g. Republic of Ireland V Denmark tonight is IRLDEN.
With that in mind, we wondered what actual words can be made from the combination of codes?
So, we consulted the list of six letter words on yourdictionary.com and came up with this list, along with links to the dictionary definition of each word

Angola(ANG) v Lesotho(LES) = ANGLES

Bangladesh(BAN) v Germany(GER) = BANGER

Bangladesh(BAN) v Netherlands(NED) = BANNED

Belgium(BEL) v Lesotho(LES) = BELLES

Belgium(BEL) v Uganda(UGA) = BELUGA

Bermuda(BER) v Thailand(THA) = BERTHA

Cambodia(CAM) v Bermuda(BER) = CAMBER

Cambodia(CAM) v Peru(PER) = CAMPER

Canada(CAN) v Chad(CHA) = CANCHA

Canada(CAN) v Netherlands(NED) = CANNED

Chile(CHI) v Australia(AUS) = CHIAUS

Chile(CHI) v Lesotho(LES) = CHILES

Chile(CHI) v Netherlands(NED) = CHINED

Chile(CHI) v Russia(RUS) = CHIRUS

Colombia(COL) v Liechtenstein(LIE) = COLLIE

Comoros(COM) v Bermuda(BER) = COMBER

Comoros(COM) v Ethiopia(ETH) = COMETH

Comoros(COM) v Malaysia(MAS) = COMMAS

Cyprus(CYP) v Russia(RUS) = CYPRUS

Denmark(DEN) v Netherlands(NED) = DENNED

DR Congo(COD) v Germany(GER) = CODGER

Estonia(EST) v Russia(RUS) = ESTRUS

Finland(FIN) v Estonia(EST) = FINEST

Finland(FIN) v Germany(GER) = FINGER

Finland(FIN) v Netherlands(NED) = FINNED

Gabon(GAB) v Bermuda(BER) = GABBER

Gabon(GAB) v Lesotho(LES) = GABLES

Gambia(GAM) v Bolivia(BOL) = GAMBOL

Gambia(GAM) v Estonia(EST) = GAMEST

Gambia(GAM) v Malaysia(MAS) = GAMMAS

Gibraltar(GIB) v Bermuda(BER) = GIBBER

Guam(GUM) v Malaysia(MAS) = GUMMAS

Guinea(GUI) v Lesotho(LES) = GUILES

Honduras(HON) v Estonia(EST) = HONEST

Hungary(HUN) v Germany(GER) = HUNGER

Iceland(ISL) v Andorra(AND) = ISLAND

Kenya(KEN) v Netherlands(NED) = KENNED

Lesotho(LES) v Senegal(SEN) = LESSEN

Macau(MAC) v Lesotho(LES) = MACLES

Madagascar(MAD) v Denmark(DEN) = MADDEN

Panama(PAN) v Netherlands(NED) = PANNED

Paraguay(PAR) v Angola(ANG) = PARANG

Paraguay(PAR) v Lesotho(LES) = PARLES

Paraguay(PAR) v Tanzania(TAN) = PARTAN

Puerto Rico(PUR) v Estonia(EST) = PUREST

Puerto Rico(PUR) v Germany(GER) = PURGER

Puerto Rico(PUR) v Palestine(PLE) = PURPLE

Samoa(SAM) v Palestine(PLE) = SAMPLE

Samoa(SAM) v Panama(PAN) = SAMPAN

Sierra Leone(SLE) v Azerbaijan(AZE) = SLEAZE

Singapore(SIN) v Germany(GER) = SINGER

Singapore(SIN) v Netherlands(NED) = SINNED

Solomon Islands(SOL) v Andorra(AND) = SOLAND

Somalia(SOM) v Bermuda(BER) = SOMBER

South Korea(KOR) v Malaysia(MAS) = KORMAS

Suriname(SUR) v Estonia(EST) = SUREST

Sweden(SWE) v Venezuela(VEN) = SWEVEN

Tanzania(TAN) v Netherlands(NED) = TANNED

Trinidad and Tobago(TRI) v Libya(LBY) = TRILBY

Trinidad and Tobago(TRI) v Palestine(PLE) = TRIPLE

Tunisia(TUN) v Netherlands(NED) = TUNNED

Turkey(TUR) v Bangladesh(BAN) = TURBAN

Turkey(TUR) v Botswana(BOT) = TURBOT

Turkey(TUR) v Netherlands(NED) = TURNED

Vanuatu(VAN) v Netherlands(NED) = VANNED

Wales(WAL) v Russia(RUS) = WALRUS

Round Up for Saturday, 11th November 2017

Saturday, 11 November 2017

League 1

Gillingham 1-1 Bury

Mark Byrne made his 50th appearance for Gillingham
Eoghan O'Connell made his 25th appearance in League One

Oxford United 1-2 Northampton

Sam Foley was booked for the first time this season

League 2

Cambridge United 0-0 Accrington Stanley

Jake Carroll made his 100th appearance in League Two

Cheltenham 2-2 Luton

Alan Sheehan was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Exeter 2-0 Grimsby

Liam McAlinden's return to the Exeter starting XI for the first time in a month was also the striker's 25th start for Exeter

Scottish League Challenge Cup

Inverness CT 1-0 Falkirk

Aaron Doran returned from injury for Inverness Caledonian Thistle to make his first appearance since February

Australian A-League

Adelaide United 1-2 Newcastle Jets

Roy O'Donovan made his 50th appearance in the A-League

FIFA World Cup 2018 European Play Off First Leg

Denmark 0-0 Republic of Ireland

Starting XI
Darren Randolph made his 27th appearance for Ireland
Cyrus Christie made his 16th appearance for Ireland
Shane Duffy made his 16th appearance for Ireland
Ciaran Clark made his 29th appearance for Ireland
Stephen Ward made his 48th appearance for Ireland
James McClean made his 56th appearance for Ireland
Jeff Hendrick made his 36th appearance for Ireland
Callum O'Dowda made his eighth appearance for Ireland
Harry Arter made his tenth appearance for Ireland
Robbie Brady made his 38th appearance for Ireland
Daryl Murphy made his 31st appearance for Ireland

Substitutes
Glenn Whelan made his 84th appearance for Ireland
Conor Hourihane made his fourth appearance for Ireland
Shane Long made his 77th appearance for Ireland

Round Up for week of Tuesday, 7th November 2017

Tuesday, 7th November 2017

Football League Trophy

Oldham 4-1 Newcastle United U21

Courtney Duffus made his first appearance since Saturday, 12th August
Jack Byrne hadn't scored in a month before tonight and ended his mini-drought with his fourth and fifth goals of the season, unfortunately he also picked up his fifth booking of 2017/18 and is suspended for the next game

Bradford City 0-3 Rotherham

Richie Towell scored his first goal in almost two months, and was also booked for the first time this season

Newport Co. 1-2 Cheltenham

Joe Quigley started his first game since August, in what his first appearance since Saturday, 30th September

Rochdale 1-1 Blackburn

Niall Canavan's first appearance since Saturday, 2nd September was his 50th appearance for Rochdale

Southend United 2-0 Colchester

Simon Cox was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Gillingham 7-5 Reading U21

Conor Wilkinson scored his first goal for Gillingham

Northampton 3-3 Southampton U21

Sam Foley scored his first goal for Northampton

Wednesday, 8th November 2017

Football League Trophy

Carlisle United 1-2 Fleetwood

After returning from injury, John O'Sullivan made his first appearance of the season
Jamie Devitt was shown his first yellow card in exactly three months, his last booking was on Tuesday, 8 August

Bury 3-1 Stoke City U21

Callum Reilly scored his first goal for Bury, almost 15 months after his last goal in August 2016

Grimsby 1-1 Sunderland U21

Sam Kelly's appearance in Grimsby's starting XI was his first start in a month

Bristol Rovers 2-4 Swindon Town

Ryan Sweeney's third goal of the season was his first goal in the Football League Trophy
Donal McDermott was booked for the first time this season

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 3rd November 2017

Friday, 3rd November 2017

English FA Cup

Port Vale 2-0 Oxford United

Gavin Gunning marked his first appearance in the FA Cup with his first goal since March 2014

Saturday, 4th November 2017

Premier League

The nine Irish players to appear in the Premier League games today equals the season high for players in one day

Huddersfield 1-0 West Bromwich Albion

James McClean was booked for the first time in a month

Newcastle Utd 0-1 Bournemouth

Ciaran Clark's introduction from the bench was his first appearance since Sunday, 1st October

Championship

Bristol City 2-1 Cardiff

After scoring his first goal for Bristol City recently, Callum O'Dowda's opener against Cardiff was his first goal in the Championship

Aston Villa 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday

Scott Hogan returned to the Aston Villa starting XI for the first time since Tuesday, 19th September

Derby County 2-4 Reading

Alex Pearce's introduction from the bench (his first appearance since Tuesday, 12th September) was his 50th appearance for Derby County

Ipswich 3-0 Preston North End

After coming off the bench in Derby's previous game, Kevin O'Connor started first game since Tuesday, 8th August
David McGoldrick scored his first goal since Tuesday, 26th September

Scottish Premier League

Hibernian 2-1 Dundee

Anthony Stokes was booked for the first time since August

English FA Cup

Bradford City 2-0 Chesterfield

Connor Dimaio's first start in two months was also his 50th career appearance

Peterborough 1-1 Tranmere

Conor O'Malley made his first start for Peterborough in a month

Shrewsbury 5-0 Aldershot

After extending his loan deal at Aldershot by another month, Ipswich Town's Adam McDonnell made his first appearance in the FA Cup

Hereford 1-0 AFC Telford

Dara O'Shea made his first appearance in the FA Cup while on loan at Hereford from West Brom

Gravesend 2-6 Doncaster Rovers

Ian Lawlor was shown his first yellow card of 2017/18

Carlisle United 3-2 Oldham

Paul Green started his first game in almost three months, his last start came on  Wednesday, 9th August 2017

Cheltenham 2-4 Maidstone United

Kevin Dawson scored his fifth goal of the season, also his first goal in the FA Cup, then was sent off for the third time in his career. The midfielder's last red card came almost exactly a year ago on Saturday, 5th November 2016

Newport Co. 2-1 Walsall

Liam Kinsella made his 25th start for Walsall

Australian A-League

Newcastle Jets 3-0 Wellington Phoenix

The first goal of Roy O'Donovan's brace was his 25th goal in the A-League

Perth Glory 1-0 Adelaide United

Andy Keogh was booked for the first time this season

Sunday, 5 November 2017

Championship

Middlesbrough 1-0 Sunderland

The six Irish players to start this game was a season high for the Championship
Cyrus Christie was booked for the fifth time this season and will be suspended for Middlesbrough's next game

English FA Cup

Coventry 2-0 Maidenhead

Michael Doyle made his 50th appearance in the FA Cup

Solihull Moors 0-2 Wycombe Wanderers

After signing a short term deal with Solihull Moors, Sean St Ledger made his first appearance in more than two years

Exeter 3-1 Heybridge Swifts

Liam McAlinden scored his first goal in the FA Cup was also his tenth goal for Exeter

October 2017 Appearance Stats

Irish Abroad players appearance statistics for October 2017

Wins
With the play off for the World Cup in Russia looming on the horizon, Richard Keogh won the most games in October, finishing on the winning side four times

Draws
Sunderland teammates John O'Shea and Aiden McGeady started the most drawn games, finishing all square on three occasions

Losses
Leeds midfielder Eunan O'Kane lost four games in October, more than any other player

Starts/Completed Games
O'Kane also started the most games in October, being named in the Leeds starting XI on five occasions, and completing 90 minutes in each one

Substitutions/Introductions
Jeff Hendrick and new international squad member Aiden O'Brien were both substituted three times. Four players were introduced twice - Wes Hoolahan, James McClean, Scott Hogan and Graham Cummins

Stayed On Bench
Five players were left on the bench four times - goalkeepers Brian Murphy and Stephen Henderson, along with Alex Pearce, Kevin Long, and Samir Carruthers

Goals
Only six players scored in October, and only Hendrick and Sean Maguire scored more than once. Anthony Stokes was the only player to score a penalty

Discipline
Darren O'Dea was shown three yellow cards in October

Round up for week of Tuesday, 31st October 2017

Tuesday, 31st October 2017

Championship

Leeds United 1-2 Derby County

Richard Keogh was shown his first yellow card in a month

QPR 1-0 Sheffield United

Ryan Manning made his 25th appearance for QPR

Sunderland 3-3 Bolton

Sunderland started four Irish players (John O'Shea, Marc Wilson, Darron Gibson and Aiden McGeady) for the first time since April 2008
This was Wilson's first start since Tuesday, 26th September

League 1

Blackburn 2-2 Fleetwood

Derrick Williams was booked for the first time in two months

Football League Trophy

Bristol Rovers 1-3 West Ham U21

Ryan Sweeney made his first appearance in the Football League Trophy

Wednesday, 1 November 2017

Championship

Preston North End 0-2 Aston Villa

This game featured eight Irish players on the pitch in the Championship for the first time since Sunderland V Luton in December 2006, and four ex-League of Ireland players on the pitch at the same time for the second time this season
Andy Boyle returned to the Preston North End team for his first start since Tuesday, 8th August
Daryl Horgan came off the bench to make his 25th appearance in the Championship
Kevin O'Connor made his Championship debut as a second half substitute

Movember 2017

Once again, Irish Abroad is participating in Movember. The Movember Mo' icon has been added to our social media account AVIs. The in game updates will point to the Movember team page instead of the live blog, but the summary when all fixtures are complete will still have the live blog link

Joe is clean shaven after sacrificing the beard last night (see below), and has set a Move target of cycling 200km during the month. Best of luck!

Before and after! It's #Movember time again, and details on how to donate to the team will be posted tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/k0RLCiAZxx

— Irish Abroad (@irish_abroad) November 1, 2017

The site is run on a voluntary, spare time basis. There's no advertising, nor have we ever requested donations to keep things going.

Bearing that in mind, if you enjoy the as-it-happens updates, the round up of appearances after each round of fixtures, or the appearance stats blogs, please donate to the Irish Abroad Movember team here: https://moteam.co/irish-abroad-mo-team?mc=1

Round Up for Weekend of Saturday, 28th October 2017

Saturday, 28 October 2017

Premier League

Today's seven fixtures set a new high for a single day's fixtures without a starting Irish player. The previous high was five games on 6th November 2016

Championship

Preston North End 2-3 Brentford

Sean Maguire marked his 40th start in English football with his fourth goal of the season and his first booking of 2017/18

Sunderland 1-2 Bristol City

Darron Gibson first start in a month was also his 25th appearance in the Championship

League 1

Northampton 1-0 Blackpool

John-Joe O'Toole made his 350th career appearance

Bristol Rovers 2-0 MK Dons

Rory Gaffney scored his 25th goal in English football

Bury 0-1 Doncaster Rovers

Eoghan O'Connell was sent off for the second time in his career, the defender was last shown a red card on 22nd April

Oldham 2-3 Scunthorpe

Jack Byrne made his 50th career appearance

Walsall 0-1 Southend United

Simon Cox scored his 20th goal for Southend

League 2

Chesterfield 2-2 Carlisle United

Jamie Devitt made his 200th appearance in League Two

Grimsby 0-0 Cambridge United

James Berrett was booked for the first time in a month in his landmark 350th career appearance

Luton 0-3 Coventry

Glen Rea was sent off for the second time for Luton, the defender's last red card came in January of this year

Port Vale 0-3 Swindon Town

Donal McDermott made his 25th appearance inLeague 2
Gavin Gunning was booked for the first time in almost three months

Yeovil 3-0 Stevenage

Kevin Toner was sent off for the first time in his career

Scottish Premier League

Aberdeen 2-1 Ross County

Aaron McCarey stated his first game since Saturday, 16th September

Partick Thistle 1-0 St Johnstone

Daniel Devine made his 50th start for Partick Thistle
Niall Keown made his 25th appearance in the Scottish Premier League

Monday, 30th October 2017

Premier League

Burnley 1-0 Newcastle Utd

This game had the most Irish players starting a Monday night fixture since 6th May 2013
Stephen Ward made his 150th Premier League appearance
Jeff Hendrick scored his 30th goal of his career

Round Up for week of Tuesday, 24th October 2017

Tuesday, 24th October 2017

League 1

Oldham 2-1 Bury

Paul Green's introduction from the bench was his 50th appearance for Oldham
Jay O'Shea started his first game since Saturday, 5th August
Eoin Doyle's strike was his tenth goal of the season

Scottish Premier League

Hamilton Academical 0-0 Partick Thistle

Adam Barton made his 50th start for Partick Thistle

St Johnstone 0-0 Ross County

Aaron McCarey was booked for the first time this season, before this the goalkeeper hadn't been shown a yellow card November 2012!

English League Cup

Bournemouth 3-1 Middlesbrough

After his first appearance for Bournemouth in a month at the weekend as a substitute, Harry Arter started his first game for the Cherries since Friday, 15th September

Bristol City 4-1 Crystal Palace

Callum O'Dowda's goal was his first time finding the back of the net for Bristol, this was also the 15th goal of the midfielder's career and his first goal since May 2016

Football League Trophy

Bradford City 2-1 Manchester City U21

Ireland U19 defender Tyreke Wilson made his first appearance at senior level

Wigan 4-1 Middlesbrough U21

Noel Hunt scored his first goal for Wigan in made his first start for the club.  Before this, he hadn't scored since November 2016

Wednesday, 25 October 2017

Scottish Premier League

Aberdeen 0-3 Celtic

Anthony O'Connor was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Rangers 1-1 Kilmarnock

Alan Power was booked for the first time this seasonas a substitute

English League Cup

Chelsea 2-1 Everton

James McCarthy was booked on his first appearance of the season. Before this game, the midfielder hadn't appeared for his club since March, and hadn't started a game since February

Tottenham 2-3 West Ham United

Declan Rice returned to the West Ham starting XI for his first appearance for the Hammers in a month

Round Up for weekend of Saturday, 21st October 2017

Saturday, 21st October 2017

This is the first time since April 2008 where more than 75 Irish players started, but less than five goals were scored.

Premier League

Manchester City 3-0 Burnley

Robbie Brady made his 25th appearance for Burnley

Stoke City 1-2 Bournemouth

Harry Arter made his first appearance for Bournemouth since Friday, 15 September

Championship

Aston Villa 2-1 Fulham

Conor Hourihane made his 25th start for Aston Villa

Sheffield United 2-1 Reading

Enda Stevens made his 25th appearance in the Championship

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 Preston North End

Alan Browne was sent off for the first time in almost exactly a year, the midfielder was last sent off on 25th October 2016

League 1

Blackburn 3-0 Portsmouth

Derrick Williams made his 100th appearance in League One

Blackpool 1-3 Wigan

Noel Hunt was booked for the first time this season in his 25th League One appearance

Gillingham 1-2 Northampton

John-Joe O'Toole started a game for the first time in 2017/18

Oxford United 3-3 Rotherham

Canice Carroll was booked for the first time this season in his first start since Saturday, 9th September

League 2

Exeter 0-1 Port Vale

Pierce Sweeney made his 50th career start

Scottish Premier League

Hearts 1-0 St Johnstone

Joe Shaughnessy made his 100th start for St Johnstone

Partick Thistle 2-1 Dundee

Conor Sammon started a game for the first time in a month
Both Adam Barton and Daniel Devine made their 50th appearance for Partick Thistle, Devine's appearance was also his his 150th career appearance

Scottish League Cup

Hibernian 2-4 Celtic

Anthony Stokes' first goal in a month was his 15th goal in the competition

Sunday, 22 October 2017

Championship

Ipswich 0-1 Norwich

Wes Hoolahan made his 200th appearance in the Championship

MLS

Atlanta United 2-2 FC Toronto

Chris McCann made his 25th appearance for Atlanta United

Australian A-League

Brisbane Roar 1-2 Newcastle Jets

Roy O'Donovan's goal today (his fifth of the season) meant he scored in his third consecutive appearance for the first time since October 2014

Perth Glory 2-1 Central Coast Mariners

Andy Keogh's goal today, his first of the season, was his 40th goal for Perth Glory

World Cup 2018 UEFA Qualification Group D

Following the conclusion of the group stages with the memorable 1-0 win against Wales in Cardiff, we've compiled the appearance data for players across the qualifiers.

Goalkeeper Darren Randolph is the only player to start all ten games, with James McClean and Stephen Ward following him on nine start.

Daryl Murphy and Aiden McGeady were introduced from the bench nine times during the qualifiers, the rest of the squad combined were only introduced 12 times.

While no player was sent off over the course of the qualifiers, Robbie Brady did manager to pick up four bookings, while no other player had more than two

James McClean's four goals (as many as Gareth Bale) made him the top scorer, with Dary Murphy's three goals in second. Combined, their seven goals is more than the combined five goals the rest of the squad scored

Player	Starts	Intros	Bookings	Red Cards	Goals
Darren Randolph	10	0	1	0	0
James McClean	9	0	2	0	4
Stephen Ward	9	0	1	0	0
Jonathan Walters	8	0	1	0	1
Shane Duffy	8	0	1	0	1
Ciaran Clarke	7	1	1	0	0
Jeff Hendrick	7	0	2	0	1
Shane Long	7	0	1	0	1
Robbie Brady	7	0	4	0	0
Glenn Whelan	6	2	1	0	0
Cyrus Christie	5	1	1	0	0
Seamus Coleman	5	0	1	0	1
David Meyler	4	2	2	0	0
Harry Arter	4	1	1	0	0
Wes Hoolahan	4	1	0	0	0
Daryl Murphy	2	4	1	0	3
John O'Shea	2	1	0	0	0
Richard Keogh	2	0	0	0	0
James McCarthy	2	0	0	0	0
Aidan McGeady	0	5	1	0	0
Stephen Quinn	0	1	0	0	0
Eunan O'Kane	0	1	0	0	0
David McGoldrick	0	1	0	0	0

Round Up for Tuesday, 17th October 2017

Tuesday, 17th October 2017

League 1

AFC Wimbledon 3-1 Rotherham

Anthony Forde picked up his first yellow card of 2017/18 in his 50th appearance for Rotherham

Blackburn 1-1 Plymouth

Graham Carey scored his 30th goal for the club. This was the midfielder's second goal in consecutive games, a feat he last achieved in September 2016.

Doncaster Rovers 2-1 Portsmouth

Ian Lawlor made his 25th appearance in the competition

Scunthorpe 1-1 Fleetwood

Cian Bolger was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

League 2

Cambridge United 2-1 Yeovil

Connor Smith reached two milestones against Cambridge. His appearance in the starting line up was his 50th career start, and it was also his 50th appearance in League Two

Carlisle United 3-3 Wycombe Wanderers

After not scoring since May 2016, Jamie Devitt scored two in two games, the first time the midfielder managed the feat since September 2015

Exeter 1-4 Luton

Glen Rea was booked for the first time in more than two months

Swindon Town 0-1 Lincoln City

Sean Long started a game for the first time since early September

Round Up for weekend of Saturday, 14th October 2017

Saturday, 14th October 2017

Championship

Fulham 2-2 Preston North End

On his return from international duty, Sean Maguire scored his first goal in a month

Norwich 1-1 Hull City

David Meyler's red card was his second for Hull (the third of his career), and his first since April 2015

League 1

Bury 3-1 Bradford City

On his return from injury, Jay O'Shea scored his first goal of the season
Callum Reilly was booked for the first time in two months

Northampton 0-1 AFC Wimbledon

John-Joe O'Toole picked up a booking in made his first appearance of the season

Peterborough 0-1 Gillingham

Chris Forrester made his 100th appearance for Peterborough
Bradley Garmston returned from injury to make his first start of the season, this was the defender's first appearance since February

Plymouth 1-1 Shrewsbury

Graham Carey scored his first goal since Saturday, 2nd September

League 2

Chesterfield 0-2 Morecambe

Connor Dimaio's introduction as a second half substitute was his first appearance in League Two

Colchester 0-1 Carlisle United

Sean Murray made his 25th start for Colchester
After 57 appearances, Jamie Devitt scored his first goal for Carlisle, this was the midfielder's first goal since May 2016

Forest Green 0-4 Newport Co.

Padraig Amond scored his fifth goal of the season

Lincoln City 0-0 Cambridge United

Jake Carroll made his 25th start for Cambridge United

Port Vale 3-1 Cheltenham

Gavin Gunning made his 200th career start
Kevin Dawson scored his fifth goal for Cheltenham

Wycombe Wanderers 0-0 Exeter

Liam McAlinden made his 50th appearance in League Two

Scottish Premier League

Celtic 1-0 Dundee

Darren O'Dea was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Hamilton Academical 1-2 Motherwell

Carl McHugh was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Hibernian 0-1 Aberdeen

Anthony Stokes' start for Hibernian was his 200th appearance in SPL

Partick Thistle 0-2 Kilmarnock

Niall Keown made his 25th start for Partick Thistle
Alan Power's start for Kilmarnock was his first appearance since Tuesday, 8 August

Scottish Championship

Falkirk 0-0 Inverness CT

Jake Mulraney's start for Inverness was his first time in the starting XI in two months

Sunday, 15th October 2017

Australian A-League

Newcastle Jets 2-2 Perth Glory

Andy Keogh made his 300th career start
Roy O'Donovan was booked for the first time this season