A recent post on twitter asked which game did this Ireland lineup photo come from?
Your Choice #Eire #Tiger 1978-08-26 pic.twitter.com/MyzdtD8LxQ
— Scottish Footy Cards (@ScotsFootyCards) February 13, 2022
It's from a friendly against Denmark in May 1978 that ended 3-3, with the goals coming from Frank Stapleton, Tony Grealish, and Gerry Daly. This was the only time these eleven players would start together. This is not uncommon for the national side, in the 587 games played by the Republic, there have been 453 unique selections for the the starting XI.
But what of the repeated selections? What collection of starting players has been selected more than any other for the Boys in Green?
On Friday, 2nd September 2011, Giovanni Trapattoni selected Shay Given, John O'Shea, Stephen Ward, Sean St Ledger, Richard Dunne, Glen Whelan, Keith Andrews, Aidan McGeady, Damien Duff, Kevin Doyle, and captain Robbie Keane to face Slovakia at home in a qualifier for Euro 2012 that finished 0-0.
Ireland Team: Given, O'Shea, Dunne, St. Ledger, Ward, Duff, Andrews, Whelan, McGeady, Keane, Doyle #IreSlo
— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) September 2, 2011
The same starting XI would go on to be selected against Hungary the following June in a pre-tournament friendly, then faced Croatia in Euro 2012 six days later, before being named for the fourth, and final, time to face Italy in the final game of the group - the most the same starting XI has played together for Ireland.
The most recent repeat selection came in June 2019, when Mick McCarthy named Darren Randolph, Seamus Coleman, Enda Stevens, Shane Duffy, Conor Hourihane, Richard Keogh, Robert Brady, Jeff Hendrick, Glen Whelan, David McGoldrick, and James McClean in the starting XI to face Denmark, the same team named by the manager to face Georgia the previous March.
