Why John Egan's 30th Birthday Is A Watershed Moment In Irish Football

John Egan is 30 years old today, and not only is it a landmark day for the player, it is also a watershed moment for Irish football as a whole. For the first time since former international midfield player John Sheridan turned 30 in October 1994, there are no active Irish footballers under the age of 30 with 50, or more, appearances in the Premier League*

According to the database that powers the Irish Abroad website, there are 86 Irish players with 50, or more, appearances in the top division in England in total. Of these, 71 had reached the half century before their 30th birthday.

The graph below shows how many of these 71 players had reached 50 appearances on the 30th birthday of each player, starting with Sheridan's 30th birthday in 1994 on the left and ending on Egan's birthday today.

For example, on Kevin Kilbane's 30th birthday, in February 2007, there were 10 Irish players under 30 with 50, or more, Premier League appearances - Ian Harte(29, 213 apps), Andy O'Brien(27, 206), Damien Duff(27, 208), Clinton Morrison(27, 88), Richard Dunne(27, 230), Robbie Keane(26, 227), Gary Doherty(27, 84), Stephen McPhail(27, 78), Steven Reid(25, 81), and John O'Shea(25, 152).

The peak about two thirds across the graph is Daryl Murphy's 30th birthday in March 2013, when there were 17 players under 30 with 50 Premier League appearances. Since then, there has been a constant decline in the number of Irish players who meet the criteria. 

Of the current players, 27 year old Callum Robinson and 22 year old Aaron Connolly are the two Irish players under 30 with the most Premier League appearances, with 48 and 45 appearances respectively, but with Robinson currently in the Championship with Cardiff, and Connolly on loan in Italy with Venezia, both players will have to wait until the 2023/24 season kicks off next August, at the earliest, before they can reach 50 appearances. 

Of the current Irish players in the Premier League, Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Nathan Collins(21) has 27 Premier League appearances, and with 27 games remaining in Wolves' season, he is the player best positioned to be the next Irish player under 30 to reach 50 appearances in the competition.

*Note that there were Irish footballers under the age of 30 with more than 50 combined Premier League and old First Division appearances before Sheridan's 30th birthday, but we do not have appearance data for players before the start of the Premier League in 1992, so we're treating that as the starting point for this research

Thanks to the foot.ie forum member Eirambler for the post that inspired the research behind this article