Players to score in all four divisions in england

After breaking his Premier League duck against Norwich last weekend, Conor Hourihane reached a rare career milestone - scoring in each of the four divisions in England.

We only have comprehensive appearance data going back to the 2005-06 season, but we still managed to compile this list of players who managed the feat since then

1. David Connolly
Beginning his career at Watford, Connolly had scored for the Hornets in what was then known as Division 1 and Division 2, now the Championship and League One, before securing a move to Feyenoord. Following his return from the Netherlands, he scored for Wimbledon, West Ham, and Leicester in the Championship before a move to Wigan was quickly followed by his first Premier League goal in 2005-06 season. Connolly would go on to complete the quadruple by scoring four goals in League Two in his final season as a professional footballer for Portsmouth

2. Clinton Morrison
After scoring in his first appearance for Crystal Palace in the Premier League during the 1997-98 season, Morrison went on to score in the then-First Division for the Eagles. Morrison would also score for Birmingham in the Premier League, before returning to the South London side after four seasons. Following a move to Sheffield Wednesday in 2010, Morrison would collect strikes in League One, before finishing his career in 2015-16 with Exeter in League Two, with a single strike in the division

3. Gary Doherty
After scoring 12 times in three seasons in the Second Division with Luton, Doherty was brought to the Premier League by Tottenham Hotspur, where he scored four times across six seasons before moving to Norwich, for whom he scored three goals in the Championship. Following two seasons with Charlton in League One, the Donegal born player retired after two seasons in League Two with Wycombe, scoring twice in the 2012-13 season

4. Noel Hunt
After two seasons in the League of Ireland, and six in Scotland, Hunt scored his first goal in English football in the Championship with Reading in the 2008-09 season. The Waterford-born striker would also score twice in the Premier League for the Royals. Following moves to Leeds, Ipswich and Southend, where he scored four times in League One, he completed the achievement with a single strike for Portsmouth in League Two in the 2016-17 season

5. Stephen Elliott
After only two appearances for Manchester City in the Premier League, Elliott went on to score 22 league goals (20 in the Championship, 2 in the Premier League) for Sunderland in 81 league appearances on Wearside. Two goals in a loan spell at Norwich in League One in 2009-10 were followed in 2014-15 with a single strike in League Two for Carlisle 

6. Liam Lawrence
Lawrence began his career with Mansfield Town, where he scored in both the old Third and Second Division. A move to Sunderland in the 2004-05 season was followed with goals in the Championship and Premier League for the Black Cats

7. Sean Thornton
Thornton performances in the Second Division with Tranmere Rovers during the 2001-02 season, where he scored once, earned him a move the Premier League with Sunderland. He scored his only goal in the top division against Chelsea in April 2003 before scoring four times in the First Division the following season, following Sunderland's relegation. After three seasons in League One with Doncaster and Leyton Orient, Thornton scored for Shrewsbury in League Two during a loan spell at New Meadow

8. Kevin Kilbane
Beginning his career with local side Preston North End, Kilbane scored in both the third and second divisions for the Lilywhites before moving to West Brom, where his 15 goals in the First Division helped him secure a move to Premier League side Sunderland. Kilbane went on to score eight times for the Black Cats in the PL, before a moves to Everton, Wigan, and Hull, for whom he would score four, two, and one goals in the division, respectively

9. Steve Finnan

Finnan started his career in the youth setup at Wimbledon, and signed for non-league Welling on his release. Birmingham City offered him a professional contract, and he went on to score for the Blues in the First Division. After scoring for Notts County in the Second Division while on loan, he made a permanent move to Meadow Lane where he also scored in the Third Division. A move to Fulham meant more goals in the Second and First Divisions, but he didn't score his only goal in the Premier League until a year after his move to Liverpool in the 2003-04 season

10. Keith Andrews

Andrews had already made his Wolves debut before he scored his first senior goal on loan at Oxford in the Second Division. His second league goal was also on loan, this time with Walsall in the First Division. Andrews notched his first goal in League Two with MK Dons after his move in the 2006-07 season. Three years later, his manager with the Dons, Paul Ince, took him to the Premier League where he would go on to five league goals for the Lancashire side, followed by two more for West Brom

Notes
Each player also scored in both the League Cup and FA Cup, apart from Thornton and Andrews, both of whom never scored in the FA Cup, and Finnan who never scored in the League Cup
All players, except for Thornton and Hunt, have also scored at international level, however Hunt also scored in the Scottish Premier League, and in both Scottish Cups

Dispelling The Mistrust Myths

A recent post by Póg Mo Goal examined the recent claims in Irish media that Wes Hoolahan is not trusted by the international management team. While the creative midfielder has been omitted by Martin O'Neill for some high profile fixtures, most notably Scotland and Poland in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, there has always been an explanation - for Scotland he was injured, and the midfielder himself asked to be excluded from the starting XI in the Poland game after not feeling fit having completed 90 minutes against Germany three days previously. Having witnessed that famous victory first hand, I clearly remember Hoolahan signaling to the bench that he had to come off late in the game. However with all three substitutes already used, the playmaker was forced to remain on the pitch until the final whistle.

After examining the appearance data for players during O'Neill's reign, the stats do back up their discovery. Only Shane Long(31) and James McLean(30) have had more appearances than Hoolahan's 28 caps in the manager's 34 games to date

Player	Caps	Goals
Shane Long	31	8
James McClean	30	7
Wes Hoolahan	28	2
Aiden McGeady	24	3
Glenn Whelan	24	0
Jeff Hendrick	24	1
Robbie Brady	24	6
John O'Shea	23	1
Robbie Brady	23	8

While researching the appearance details for Martin O'Neill, we also compiled the appearances under previous managers. Having given Glenn Whelan his international debut, Giovanni Trapattoni went on to select the midfielder more than any other player. earning 51 caps in the manager's 64 games in charge

Player	Caps	Goals
Glenn Whelan	51	2
Robbie Keane	50	28
John O'Shea	48	0
Aiden McGeady	42	2
Shay Given	39	0
Richard Dunne	39	3

Despite the Italian's reputation for defensive football, his predecessor Brian Kerr favoured defensive players, with Kenny Cunningham(28), Shay Given(27), John O'Shea(26) making up three of the top four most selected players during the former St Patrick's Athletic manager's 33 games. You could arguably add Kevin Kilbane to the list as a defensive player, given that he played at left full under Kerr.

Player	Caps	Goals
Kenny Cunningham	28	0
Kevin Kilbane	28	2
Shay Given	27	0
John O'Shea	26	1
Damien Duff	24	4
Robbie Keane	24	11
Clinton Morrison	24	6
Stephen Carr	23	0

The defensive trend continued with Mick McCarthy. In his 68 games, only Robbie Keane and again Kilbane(both 40 caps) appear in the top five most appearances, with centre half Gary Breen earning the most caps under McCarthy - 50.

Player	Caps	Goals
Gary Breen	50	6
Shay Given	47	0
Ian Harte	47	9
Kenny Cunningham	44	0
Steve Staunton	41	2
Kevin Kilbane	40	3
Robbie Keane	40	14

Further Reading
MythBusters: O'Neill doesn't trust Hoolahan - pogmogoal.com

Round Up - Midweek games of 2nd March 2016

Tuesday, 1 March 2016
Premier League
Aston Villa 1-3 Everton
Ciaran Clark returned to the Aston Villa starting XI for the first time since January, and was shown his sixth yellow card of the season

Championship
Blackburn 2-1 Middlesbrough
Darragh Lenihan was booked for the fifth time in 2015/16

League 1
Bradford City 1-2 Colchester
Owen Garvan was booked for the first time since 9th January, this was the midfielder's sixth booking of the season

Chesterfield 1-1 Blackpool
Jay O'Shea scored his seventh goal of the season, his first goal since 9th January

Oldham 1-1 Port Vale
Sam Foley scored his fifth goal of the season, having not scored since November

Walsall 0-0 Scunthorpe
Anthony Forde made his fiftieth start for Walsall

League 2
Crawley 2-0 Newport Co.
Lanre Oyebanjo made his first appearance of the season for Crawley Town
After signing for Crawley on loan, Frankie Sutherland and Charles Dunne made their first starts for the club, it was the Dunne's first minutes of football since 14th November, while Sutherland had not played since October
Shamir Goodwin scored his second of the season (and second in three games) in his first start since December

Exeter 1-1 Portsmouth
Clinton Morrison made his fiftieth appearance for Exeter as a second half substitute

Northampton 1-1 AFC Wimbledon
John-Joe O'Toole scored his tenth goal for Northampton

Wednesday, 2 March 2016
CONCACAF Champions League
Santos Laguna 4-0 LA Galaxy
Robbie Keane's evening was made even worse with his first booking of the LA Galaxy's season

Thursday, 3 March 2016
Cypriot Premier League
Omonia Nicosia 4-2 AEL
Cillian Sheridan's 25th appearance for Omonia was also his 250th career appearance

Further Reading
Just what the Doc ordered - wolves.co.uk
Team mates - Stephen McLaughlin - www.southendunited.co.uk
The social welfare stars of the League of Ireland - These Football Times

Round up - Midweek games of 19th January 2016

Tuesday, 19 January 2016
FA Cup
MK Dons 3-0 Northampton
John-Joe O'Toole achieved the milestone of his fiftieth start for Northampton Town in their third round replay

Portsmouth 2-1 Ipswich
Jay Tabb was in the starting XI for Ipswich Town for the first time September, all of his appearances for the Tractor Boys in 2015/16 have been in the cup competitions - three in the League Cup and once in the FA Cup. Ireland U18 striker Shane McLoughlin made his first appearance in a matchday squad for Ipswich, the Kerry born player was named on the subs bench

Aston Villa 2-0 Wycombe Wanderers
Ciaran Clark scored his first goal of the season on what his 150th appearance for the Villains

Yeovil 1-1 Carlisle United
After suffering a succession of injury problems, Kevin Dawson made his first appearance for Yeovil in more than a year. The midfielder last played for the Glovers in an FA Cup third round tie against Manchester United in January 2015

Scottish FA Cup 
Inverness CT 2-0 Stirling Albion
Richie Foran introduction from the bench was his first appearance since September 19th

Wednesday, 20 January 2016
English FA Cup
Liverpool 3-0 Exeter
This was the first game since the end of November that Clinton Morrison was in the starting XI for Exeter

Further reading
The Story Of New Star Soccer - [the set pieces]
Republic of Ireland record against Group E opponents - uefa.com 
Chelsea - Accidents Will Happen - Swiss Ramble