Irish Abroad: August 2024

Friday, 30 August 2024

Round up for week of Tuesday, 27th August 2024

Tuesday, 27th August 2024

English League Cup

Middlesbrough 0-5 Stoke City

In his first start for Stoke City, Andrew Moran completed a hat trick of assists

Watford 2-0 Plymouth Argyle

Michael Obafemi was named in the Plymouth Argyle starting XI for the first time

Brighton and Hove Albion 4-0 Crawley Town

In his final appearance for Brighton before departing on loan to Portsmouth for the rest of the season, Mark O'Mahony scored the first goal of his career

Everton 3-0 Doncaster Rovers

Both Seamus Coleman and Jake O'Brien made his their first appearance of the season, O'Brien's start was his debut for Everton, which his marked with an assist
Ian Lawlor's start was the goalkeeper's 100th appearance for Doncaster Rovers

Football League Trophy

Crewe Alexandra 5-1 Liverpool U21

Adrien Thibaut marked his first appearance for Crewe Alexandra with a goal
Trent Kone Doherty made his first appearance of the season

Wednesday, 28th August 2024

English League Cup

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 Burnley

Luke McNally started a game for the first time this season

Swansea City 0-1 Wycombe Wanderers

Kieran Sadlier made his 50th appearance for Wycombe Wanderers

AFC Wimbledon 2-2 Ipswich Town

Both Dara O'Shea and Chiedozie Ogbene made their Ipswich Town debuts

Cardiff 3-5 Southampton

Former League of Ireland midfield duo Romeo Akachukwu and Joe O'Brien-Whitmarsh made their first appearance for Southampton

Nottingham Forest 1-1 Newcastle United

Andrew Omobamidele's start, his first since Saturday, 13 April, was his first appearance of the season

Austrian Cup

WSPG Weis 0-1 Blau-Weiss Linz

Conor Noss scored his first goal in the competition

Wednesday, 21 August 2024

Three Premier League Debutants

On the opening day of the 2024/25 Premier League season, Ipswich Town played their first game in the top flight since they were relegated at the end of the 2001/02 season. In the second half, manager Kieran McKenna introduced Marcus Harness, who declared for Ireland in 2019, U21 midfielder Jack Taylor, and newly capped forward Sammie Szmodics from the bench. This was only the fourth time that three, or more, Irish players made their Premier League debut in the same game, and the first in fifteen years.

Wolves 0-2 West Ham, Saturday 15th August 2009
The last time this happened was in August 2009, when Wolves, managed by two-time Ireland manager Mick McCarthy, started defenders Stephen Ward and Kevin Foley, and striker Andy Keogh as the old gold faced West Ham United in their first game in England's top division for five years.

Wimbledon 3-2 Bolton Wanderers, Saturday 19th August 1995
It had been thirteen years since the feat had occurred, when Bolton lost 3-2 to Wimbledon on the opening day of the 1995/96 season. This was Bolton's first game in the Premier League, and their first top level game in 15 years. Keith Branagan and Jason McAteer lined out for the Trotters in Selhurst Park, with future single capped player Owen Coyle coming on for the last six minutes of the game.

Ipswich Town 1-1 Aston Villa, Saturday, 15th August 1992
On the very first day of the Premier League in August 1992, when technically every player made their PL debut, Aston Villa started Paul McGrath and Steve Staunton in defence, with fellow Irish international Ray Houghton playing on the wing.

Coventry 2-1 Middlesbrough, Saturday, 15th August 1992
There's only one game where more than three Irish players made their Premier League debut. On the same day that Villa started three, Coventry faced Middlesbrough at Highfield Road, with defenders Chris Morris and Alan Kernaghan starting for Boro. They were joined in the second half by Bernie Slaven, who would go on to be the first Irish player to score in the Premier League four days later. Phil Babb lined out for Coventry, making this the only time four Irish players made their Premier League debut in the same game.

Further reading
Hammers ruin Wolves' return
Wimbledon 3-2 Bolton
Coventry City 2-1 Middlesbrough

Tuesday, 20 August 2024

Round Up for weekend of Saturday, 17th August 2024

Saturday, 17th August 2024

Premier League

Ipswich Town 0-2 Liverpool

Sammie Szmodics, Marcus Harness, and Jack Taylor made their first appearance in the Premier League, the first time three Irish players made their debuts in the top flight in the same game since Kevin Foley, Andy Keogh, and Stephen Ward made their first PL appearance in August 2009, for Wolves against West Ham

Arsenal 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Matt Doherty's start was his 150th appearance in the Premier League

Championship

Portsmouth 0-0 Luton Town

Chiedozie Ogbene's start was his 200th appearance in English football

Bristol City 4-3 Millwall

Sinclair Armstrong scored his first goal for Bristol City

Burnley 5-0 Cardiff

Callum Robinson's introduction was his 50th appearance for Cardiff

Sheffield United 2-2 QPR

Jimmy Dunne scored his first goal of the season

Watford 3-0 Stoke City

Andrew Moran made his first appearance for loan club Stoke City

League 1

Lincoln City 1-2 Barnsley

Paudie O'Connor assisted a goal for the first time since Saturday, 28th October 2023

League 2

Accrington Stanley 3-3 Harrogate Town

Seamus Conneely made his 350th appearance for Accrington Stanley

Bradford City 0-0 Salford City

Neil Byrne was booked for the first time since Friday, 22 December 2023

Port Vale 0-0 Tranmere Rovers

Ronan Curtis' start was the 200th time the forward was named in a starting XI in English football

Sunday, 18th August 2024

League 2

Notts County 2-2 Fleetwood Town

Mipo Odubeko was booked on his first appearance for Fleetwood Town

Scottish League Cup

Motherwell 1-0 Kilmarnock

Kieran O'Hara made his first start of the season - this was the goalkeeper's first start since Wednesday, 15th May 2024

Wednesday, 14 August 2024

Claire Foy, The Three Manchester Martyrs, and Italia '90

I don't usually watch "Who Do You Think You Are?", the show where celebrities climb their family tree to see where they came from, and who they really are, but recently came across actress Claire Foy's episode while channel hopping (something we did before streaming) and found it quite interesting.

Foy's 3x-Great Grandfather John Henry Martin, and his brother William, were two of many arrests made in Manchester following the murder of Manchester police officer Charles Brett, who was shot while escorting Thomas J. Kelly and Timothy Deasy, two leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, to prison.

Both brothers were released after testimonies from friends and family established that they were not present when the attack took place.

The episode referred to the three men who were convicted of the crime - Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien - which triggered a memory of the folk song "Erin's Lovely Lee", which refers to the three men using their surnames as "the three Manchester Martyrs". Searching the term online led to the wikipedia entry for the trial, and this interesting piece of information - at the end of the trial, while addressing the court, Edward O'Meagher-Condon, another man convicted of the murder, whose sentence was overturned following the intervention of the US government(he was a US citizen), ended his speech with the cry "God Save Ireland!", a slogan echoed by his co-accused in the dock and supporters in the public gallery.

The slogan was used in the following days and weeks by supporters of the men appealing for their release, eventually inspiring the folk song "God Save Ireland", written by future Lord Mayor of Dublin Timothy Daniel Sullivan in December 1867. Many versions of the song have been released in the decades since the lyrics were first published, including the Dubliners

You might wonder what this has to do with Irish football? Well, the song gained popularity across the Irish diaspora, to the point where it was the unofficial anthem of Ireland until Amhrán na bhFiann was officially adopted as the national anthem by the Executive Council of the Irish Free State in July 1926. God Save Ireland's popularity continued to grow, eventually becoming a terrace anthem at Celtic Park. The familiarity of the tune in Scotland was confirmed after its melody was used in Scotland's 1978 World Cup unofficial anthem "Ally's Army"

If any of the lyrics sound familiar to fans of the Irish national side, even those born long after Ally McLeod's men returned from Argentina, it's because when Ireland first qualified for the World Cup, they were reused, along with quotes from manager Jack Charlton, in Ireland team song Put 'Em Under Pressure!