Episode 3 - Average Age and Debuts

In the third in our series of programming tutorials, framed around appearance data for the Republic of Ireland national men's team, I show how to prove that the average age of the starting XI named by Stephen Kenny to face Scotland in September 2022 had the youngest average age of any side in a competitive international since a World Cup qualifier against Cyprus in November 1980, and that, following Mark Sykes' debut against Malta, Kenny has given as many players their debuts in his 30 games in charge as Brian Kerr did in his 33 games managing the national side

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Episode 39: Player Debuts

I'm joined again by Mark Kennedy of Hawkeye Sidekick and Philip Flanagan of The Bottomless Pit of Football to discuss the debuts granted by each international manager since Brian Kerr took over the national side in 2003 - which manager had the best selection of players available to him, what players had the biggest impact, and who will go on to be legends of the game?

Brian Kerr
Player	Caps	Debut	Age	Level	Home	Score	Away
Alan Quinn	8	30-April-2003	23	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-0	Norway
Alan Lee	10	30-April-2003	24	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-0	Norway
Joe Murphy	2	9-September-2003	22	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-2	Turkey
Andy Reid	29	18-November-2003	21	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Canada
John Thompson	1	18-November-2003	22	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Canada
Paddy Kenny	7	31-March-2004	25	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-1	Czech Republic
Liam Miller	21	31-March-2004	23	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-1	Czech Republic
Jonathan Douglas	9	28-April-2004	22	Friendly	Poland	0-0	Republic of Ireland
Jason Byrne	2	28-April-2004	26	Friendly	Poland	0-0	Republic of Ireland
Martin Rowlands	5	27-May-2004	25	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-0	Romania
Clive Clarke	2	29-May-2004	24	Tournament	Nigeria	3-0	Republic of Ireland
Aiden McGeady	93	2-June-2004	18	Tournament	Jamaica	0-1	Republic of Ireland
Michael Doyle	1	5-June-2004	22	Friendly	Netherlands	0-1	Republic of Ireland
Jonathan Macken	1	18-August-2004	26	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Bulgaria
Stephen Elliott	9	16-November-2004	20	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-0	Croatia

Steve Staunton
Player	Caps	Debut	Age	Level	Home	Score	Away
Kevin Doyle	63	1-March-2006	22	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Sweden
Joey O'Brien	5	1-March-2006	20	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Sweden
Wayne Henderson	6	1-March-2006	22	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Sweden
Stephen Ireland	6	1-March-2006	19	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Sweden
Stephen Kelly	39	24-May-2006	22	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	0-1	Chile
Alan O'Brien	5	16-August-2006	21	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	0-4	Netherlands
Paul McShane	33	11-October-2006	20	European Cup Qualifier	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Czech Republic
Shane Long	88	7-February-2007	20	European Cup Qualifier	San Marino	1-2	Republic of Ireland
Stephen Hunt	39	7-February-2007	25	European Cup Qualifier	San Marino	1-2	Republic of Ireland
Anthony Stokes	9	7-February-2007	18	European Cup Qualifier	San Marino	1-2	Republic of Ireland
Joe Gamble	2	23-May-2007	25	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Daryl Murphy	32	23-May-2007	24	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Andy Keogh	30	23-May-2007	21	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Colin Doyle	4	23-May-2007	21	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Alan Bennett	2	23-May-2007	25	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Alex Bruce	2	23-May-2007	22	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Stephen O'Halloran	2	23-May-2007	19	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Darren Potter	5	23-May-2007	22	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Joe O'Cearuill	2	23-May-2007	20	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Stephen Gleeson	4	23-May-2007	18	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Joe Lapira	1	23-May-2007	20	Friendly	Ecuador	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Peter Murphy	1	26-May-2007	26	Friendly	Bolivia	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Darron Gibson	27	22-August-2007	19	Friendly	Denmark	0-4	Republic of Ireland

Giovanni Trapattoni
Player	Caps	Debut	Age	Level	Home	Score	Away
Glenn Whelan	91	24-May-2008	24	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Serbia
Damien Delaney	9	24-May-2008	26	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Serbia
Wes Hoolahan	43	29-May-2008	26	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-0	Colombia
Caleb Folan	7	15-October-2008	25	World Cup Qualifier	Republic of Ireland	1-0	Cyprus
Keith Andrews	35	19-November-2008	28	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-3	Poland
Noel Hunt	3	19-November-2008	25	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-3	Poland
Liam Lawrence	15	29-May-2009	27	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Nigeria
Kevin Foley	8	29-May-2009	24	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Nigeria
Keiren Westwood	21	29-May-2009	24	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Nigeria
Leon Best	7	29-May-2009	22	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Nigeria
Eddie Nolan	3	29-May-2009	20	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Nigeria
Sean St Ledger	37	29-May-2009	24	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Nigeria
Darren O'Dea	20	8-September-2009	22	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-0	South Africa
James McCarthy	43	2-March-2010	19	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	0-2	Brazil
Paul Green	22	25-May-2010	27	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-1	Paraguay
Keith Fahey	15	25-May-2010	27	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-1	Paraguay
Cillian Sheridan	3	25-May-2010	21	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-1	Paraguay
Greg Cunningham	4	28-May-2010	19	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Algeria
Keith Treacy	6	11-August-2010	21	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	0-1	Argentina
Jonathan Walters	54	17-November-2010	27	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-2	Norway
Ciaran Clark	36	8-February-2011	21	Carling Nations Cup	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Wales
Marc Wilson	25	8-February-2011	23	Carling Nations Cup	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Wales
Seamus Coleman	63	8-February-2011	22	Carling Nations Cup	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Wales
David Forde	24	24-May-2011	31	Carling Nations Cup	Republic of Ireland	5-0	Northern Ireland
Simon Cox	30	24-May-2011	24	Carling Nations Cup	Republic of Ireland	5-0	Northern Ireland
Stephen Ward	50	24-May-2011	25	Carling Nations Cup	Republic of Ireland	5-0	Northern Ireland
James McClean	88	29-February-2012	22	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Czech Republic
Darren Randolph	50	11-September-2012	25	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	4-1	Oman
Robbie Brady	57	11-September-2012	20	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	4-1	Oman
David Meyler	26	11-September-2012	23	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	4-1	Oman
Alex Pearce	9	11-September-2012	23	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	4-1	Oman
Conor Sammon	9	6-February-2013	25	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-0	Poland
Jeff Hendrick	68	6-February-2013	21	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-0	Poland
Richard Keogh	26	6-February-2013	26	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-0	Poland
Stephen Quinn	18	2-June-2013	27	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	4-0	Georgia
Paddy Madden	1	14-August-2013	23	Friendly	Wales	0-0	Republic of Ireland
Anthony Pilkington	9	6-September-2013	25	World Cup Qualifier	Republic of Ireland	1-2	Sweden

Martin O'Neill
Player	Caps	Debut	Age	Level	Home	Score	Away
Robert Elliot	4	25-May-2014	28	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-2	Turkey
Shane Duffy	51	7-June-2014	22	Friendly	Costa Rica	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Cyrus Christie	29	18-November-2014	22	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	4-1	USA
David McGoldrick	14	18-November-2014	26	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	4-1	USA
Harry Arter	19	7-June-2015	25	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	0-0	England
Alan Judge	9	25-March-2016	27	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-0	Switzerland
Eunan O'Kane	7	25-March-2016	25	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-0	Switzerland
Jonathan Hayes	4	25-March-2016	28	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-0	Switzerland
Callum O'Dowda	23	31-May-2016	21	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1-2	Belarus
Daryl Horgan	17	28-March-2017	24	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	0-1	Iceland
Andy Boyle	1	28-March-2017	26	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	0-1	Iceland
John Egan	21	28-March-2017	24	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	0-1	Iceland
Conor Hourihane	32	28-March-2017	26	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	0-1	Iceland
Kevin Long	17	2-June-2017	26	Friendly	Mexico	3-1	Republic of Ireland
Alan Browne	17	2-June-2017	22	Friendly	Mexico	3-1	Republic of Ireland
Sean Maguire	11	6-October-2017	23	World Cup Qualifier	Republic of Ireland	2-0	Moldova
Matt Doherty	27	23-March-2018	26	Friendly	Turkey	1-0	Republic of Ireland
Scott Hogan	8	23-March-2018	25	Friendly	Turkey	1-0	Republic of Ireland
Declan Rice	3	23-March-2018	19	Friendly	Turkey	1-0	Republic of Ireland
Derrick Williams	3	28-May-2018	25	Friendly	France	2-0	Republic of Ireland
Graham Burke	3	28-May-2018	24	Friendly	France	2-0	Republic of Ireland
Shaun Williams	3	28-May-2018	31	Friendly	France	2-0	Republic of Ireland
Darragh Lenihan	2	2-June-2018	24	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-1	USA
Enda Stevens	23	2-June-2018	27	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	2-1	USA
Callum Robinson	24	6-September-2018	23	Nations League	Wales	4-1	Republic of Ireland
Aiden O'Brien	5	11-September-2018	24	Friendly	Poland	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Ronan Curtis	7	15-November-2018	22	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	0-0	Northern Ireland
Michael Obafemi	1	19-November-2018	18	Nations League	Denmark	0-0	Republic of Ireland

Mick McCarthy(2nd reign)
Player	Caps	Debut	Age	Level	Home	Score	Away
Kieran O'Hara	2	10-September-2019	23	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-1	Bulgaria
James Collins	14	10-September-2019	28	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-1	Bulgaria
Jack Byrne	4	10-September-2019	23	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-1	Bulgaria
Josh Cullen	15	10-September-2019	23	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-1	Bulgaria
Mark Travers	3	10-September-2019	20	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-1	Bulgaria
Aaron Connolly	8	12-October-2019	19	European Cup Qualifier	Georgia	0-0	Republic of Ireland
Lee O'Connor	1	14-November-2019	19	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-1	New Zealand
Troy Parrott	10	14-November-2019	17	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	3-1	New Zealand

Stephen Kenny
Player	Caps	Debut	Age	Level	Home	Score	Away
Adam Idah	13	3-September-2020	19	Nations League	Bulgaria	1-1	Republic of Ireland
Jay Molumby	12	6-September-2020	21	Nations League	Republic of Ireland	0-1	Finland
Dara O'Shea	10	14-October-2020	21	Nations League	Finland	1-0	Republic of Ireland
Jason Knight	9	14-October-2020	19	Nations League	Finland	1-0	Republic of Ireland
Ryan Manning	4	18-November-2020	24	Nations League	Republic of Ireland	0-0	Bulgaria
Gavin Bazunu	10	27-March-2021	19	World Cup Qualifier	Republic of Ireland	0-1	Luxembourg
Jamie McGrath	6	3-June-2021	24	Friendly	Andorra	1-4	Republic of Ireland
Caoimhin Kelleher	2	8-June-2021	22	Friendly	Hungary	0-0	Republic of Ireland
Chiedozie Ogbene	5	8-June-2021	24	Friendly	Hungary	0-0	Republic of Ireland
Andrew Omobamidele	5	1-September-2021	19	World Cup Qualifier	Portugal	2-1	Republic of Ireland
Nathan Collins	1	12-October-2021	20	Friendly	Republic of Ireland	4-0	Qatar
Will Keane	1	11-November-2021	28	World Cup Qualifier	Republic of Ireland	0-0	Portugal

Brian Kerr - The Right Man At The Wrong Time

In the next podcast in our series on Irish football between 2000 and 2009, I'm joined by Mark Kennedy and Our Man In Stockholm Philip O'Connor to discuss Brian Kerr's reign from January 2003 until October 2005 - while some of his stats are impressive, was he the right man for the job?

Republic of Ireland Premier League Starting XI

While researching yesterday's article on Irish starting XI's of players with Premier League experience, we wondered how many times the Republic of Ireland started a game with eleven players who were under contract at a club in the PL at that time.

As we said in the article, the Boys in Green have played 269 games since the breakaway league was formed in 1992. According to our research, of these, only eight (3% of the total amount) of these were started by eleven players who were all playing Premier League football at the time. As always, we are open to correction on this.

When we investigated this, we realised that, in the early years of the league, squad mainstays like Packie Bonner and John Aldridge never played in England's top division, and in more recent years Robbie Keane's time in MLS as well as Sean St Ledger's time in the Irish starting XI meant that there was a narrow window where regular starters for Ireland were all playing in the PL.

Even though the first game of the league was played in 1992, it took nine years before an Irish manager named a starting XI of players from the league. Mick McCarthy had the honour of being the first Irish manager to name 11 Premier League players to face Portugal in 2001 for a qualifier for the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. A year later, in August, he would repeat the feat in a 3-0 friendly win against Finland following the tournament.

Brian Kerr has named a team of players in the Premier League in five games, more than any of the other managers since the league was formed, four of which were in 2005. The last time an Irish manager named a starting XI of Premier League players was Steve Staunton's first competitive game against Germany in 2006 - 130 games have been played since that 1-0 loss in Stuttgart.

No player started all eight games, but Shay Given, Kevin Kilbane, Damien Duff, and Robbie Keane started seven of the eight, while John O'Shea, Steve Finnan, and Kenny Cunningham started six.

Of the eight games, three finished all square, there are three wins (although only one of these was in a competitive game) and two were losses.

Date	Home	Score	Away	Starting XI
2-June-2001	Republic of Ireland	1-1	Portugal	Shay Given(Newcastle Utd) Ian Harte(Leeds United) Steve Staunton(Aston Villa) Richard Dunne(Manchester City) Stephen Carr(Tottenham) Kevin Kilbane(Sunderland) Roy Keane(Manchester United) Mark Kinsella(Charlton) Gary Kelly(Leeds United) Niall Quinn(Sunderland) Robbie Keane(Leeds United)
21-August-2002	Finland	0-3	Republic of Ireland	Dean Kiely(Charlton) Ian Harte(Leeds United) Gary Breen(West Ham United) Kenny Cunningham(Birmingham City) Gary Kelly(Leeds United) Thomas Butler(Sunderland) Mark Kinsella(Charlton) Lee Carsley(Everton) Jason McAteer(Sunderland) Damien Duff(Blackburn) Robbie Keane(Leeds United)
9-October-2004	France	0-0	Republic of Ireland	Shay Given(Newcastle Utd) Kevin Kilbane(Everton) Kenny Cunningham(Birmingham City) Andy O'Brien(Newcastle Utd) Stephen Carr(Newcastle Utd) Damien Duff(Chelsea) John O'Shea(Manchester United) Roy Keane(Manchester United) Steve Finnan(Liverpool) Clinton Morrison(Birmingham City) Robbie Keane(Tottenham)
9-February-2005	Republic of Ireland	1-0	Portugal	Shay Given(Newcastle Utd) Kevin Kilbane(Everton) Andy O'Brien(Newcastle Utd) Kenny Cunningham(Birmingham City) John O'Shea(Manchester United) Damien Duff(Chelsea) Andy Reid(Tottenham) Matt Holland(Charlton) Steve Finnan(Liverpool) Clinton Morrison(Birmingham City) Robbie Keane(Tottenham)
26-March-2005	Israel	1-1	Republic of Ireland	Shay Given(Newcastle Utd) John O'Shea(Manchester United) Andy O'Brien(Newcastle Utd) Kenny Cunningham(Birmingham City) Stephen Carr(Newcastle Utd) Kevin Kilbane(Everton) Roy Keane(Manchester United) Steve Finnan(Liverpool) Damien Duff(Chelsea) Clinton Morrison(Birmingham City) Robbie Keane(Tottenham)
17-August-2005	Republic of Ireland	1-2	Italy	Shay Given(Newcastle Utd) Kenny Cunningham(Birmingham City) John O'Shea(Manchester United) Richard Dunne(Manchester City) Steve Finnan(Liverpool) Damien Duff(Chelsea) Kevin Kilbane(Everton) Matt Holland(Charlton) Steven Reid(Blackburn) Andy Reid(Tottenham) Clinton Morrison(Birmingham City)
8-October-2005	Cyprus	0-1	Republic of Ireland	Shay Given(Newcastle Utd) John O'Shea(Manchester United) Kenny Cunningham(Birmingham City) Richard Dunne(Manchester City) Stephen Carr(Newcastle Utd) Damien Duff(Chelsea) Kevin Kilbane(Everton) Graham Kavanagh(Wigan) Steve Finnan(Liverpool) Stephen Elliott(Sunderland) Robbie Keane(Tottenham)
2-September-2006	Germany	1-0	Republic of Ireland	Shay Given(Newcastle Utd) John O'Shea(Manchester United) Andy O'Brien(Portsmouth) Richard Dunne(Manchester City) Stephen Carr(Newcastle Utd) Damien Duff(Newcastle Utd) Steven Reid(Blackburn) Kevin Kilbane(Wigan) Steve Finnan(Liverpool) Kevin Doyle(Reading) Robbie Keane(Tottenham)

Managerial record

To end the week of Trapattoni statistic blogs, let's look at the record of the Italian, as compared to his predecessors.

Jack Charlton
Level	P	W	Win%	D	L
Competitive	57	25	44.64%	21	11
Friendly	37	22	59.46%	9	6
Total	74	47	50.00%	30	17

Mick McCarthy
Level	P	W	Win%	D	L
Competitive	40	19	47.50%	13	8
Friendly	28	10	35.71%	7	11
Total	68	29	42.65%	20	19

Brian Kerr
Level	P	W	Win%	D	L
Competitive	16	7	43.75%	7	2
Friendly	17	11	64.71%	4	2
Total	33	18	54.55%	11	4

Steve Staunton
Level	P	W	Win%	D	L
Competitive	11	4	36.36%	4	3
Friendly	6	2	16.67%	2	2
Total	17	5	35.29%	6	5

Giovanni Trapattoni
Level	P	W	Win%	D	L
Competitive	35	14	40.00%	13	8
Friendly	29	12	41.38%	9	8
Total	58	26	44.83%	22	16

Zero substitutions

Ireland's 3-0 loss to Germany last night was unremarkable for the most part, apart from some strange positions on the pitch for various players. However, one statistic stood out - over the course of the game Noel King, the interim manager, made no substitutions at all! Of the named substitutes (St Ledger, McGeady, Long, Keane, McClean, Green, Elliot, Pilkington, Reid, Hoolahan, O'Brien and Henderson) not one saw a minute of play, although Keane and Pilkington were both carrying knocks and it was subsequently announced that Pilkington will return to his club for treatment.
A lack of substitutions is uncommon in international football, but it has been the case for the Republic of Ireland in two games in the recent past. Early in Giovanni Trapattoni's reign, his charges drew 0-0 away to Montenegro in a World Cup qualifier in September 2008 without a single player being withdrawn from the action. Previous to that, under Brian Kerr, Ireland won 2-1 in Georgia in a European Championship qualifier when again no substitutes were used. The match was also remembered for a penknife striking Kevin Kilbane, while various other objects were thrown from the crowd with Lee Carsley, Gary Breen and Damien Duff also being hit.