Introducing The Magic Number

On Monday night, Southampton named Shane Long, Michael Obafemi, Will Smallbone, and Will Ferry as substitutes against Manchester United, for the third successive game. All but Ferry were introduced in the second half, with Obafemi going on to score a late equaliser in the game. This was the first time since August 2014 that a manager had brought on three Irish players, and Southampton are only the fourth of the 49 clubs in Premier League history to have done so, following Sunderland, Stoke, and Hull.

Sunderland have actually introduced three Irish players on seven occasions - against Arsenal in March 2002, against Manchester United, Reading, Middlesbrough, and Blackburn all in August 2007, Fulham in October 2007, and finally against Aston Villa in September 2008. Both Daryl Murphy and Anthony Stokes were among the trios in five of these games, while Liam Miller was introduced in three of these games.

No player has appeared in an intrudoced trio for more than one team, but Shane Long was also introduced from the bench for Reading in the game against Sunderland in September 2007 that saw the Black Cats bring on Anthony Stokes, Daryl Murphy, and Liam Miller.

Season	Date	Home	Score	Away	Home Introduced Subs	Away Introduced Subs
2001-02	Saturday, 30th March 2002	Arsenal	3-0	Sunderland		Thomas Butler(45) Kevin Kilbane(76) Niall Quinn(21)
2007-08	Saturday, 1st September 2007	Manchester United	1-0	Sunderland	John O'Shea(84)	Liam Miller(82) Daryl Murphy(69) Anthony Stokes(82)
2007-08	Saturday, 15th September 2007	Sunderland	2-1	Reading	Anthony Stokes(64) Daryl Murphy(83) Liam Miller(81)	Shane Long(67)
2007-08	Saturday, 22nd September 2007	Middlesbrough	2-2	Sunderland		Liam Miller(53) Anthony Stokes(67) Roy O'Donovan(76)
2007-08	Saturday, 29th September 2007	Sunderland	1-2	Blackburn	David Connolly(65) Daryl Murphy(66) Roy O'Donovan(66)
2007-08	Saturday, 27th October 2007	Sunderland	1-1	Fulham	Ian Harte(71) Daryl Murphy(61) Anthony Stokes(61)
2008-09	Sunday, 25th September 2008	Aston Villa	2-1	Sunderland		Andy Reid(59) Daryl Murphy(59) Anthony Stokes(79)
2010-11	Tuesday, 9th November 2010	Stoke City	3-2	Birmingham City	Glenn Whelan(73) Jonathan Walters(89) Marc Wilson(89)	Keith Fahey(61)
2014-15	Saturday, 16th August 2014	QPR	0-1	Hull City		Paul McShane(46) Stephen Quinn(40) David Meyler(82)
2019-20	Monday, 13th July 2020	Manchester United	2-2	Southampton		Shane Long(64) Will Smallbone(69) Michael Obafemi(87)

Teenage (Competitive) Kicks

After starting against in the Euro 2020 qualifier against Switzerland, Aaron Connolly joined an elite group of players who made their full competitive debut before their 20th birthday.

Only 16 players (including Connolly) have done this in the 564 game history of the Republic, starting with Kevin O'Flanagan and Jackie Carey in a qualifier for the 1938 World Cup against Norway.

Before Connolly, the last time a teenage player started a competitive game was in September 1998, when Robbie Keane and Damien Duff, aged 18 and 19 respectively, started against Croatia in a 2-0 win for the Boys in Green. Keane is also the youngest player ever to start a competitive game

Player	Level	Date of birth	Date	Home	Score	Away	Age
Kevin O'Flanagan	World Cup Qualifier	10 June 1919	7 November 1937	Republic of Ireland	3-3	Norway	18 years, 150 days
Jackie Carey	World Cup Qualifier	23 February 1919	7 November 1937	Republic of Ireland	3-3	Norway	18 years, 257 days
Arthur Fitzsimons	World Cup Qualifier	16 December 1929	8 September 1949	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Finland	19 years, 266 days
Liam Munroe	World Cup Qualifier	28 November 1933	28 October 1953	Republic of Ireland	4-0	Luxembourg	19 years, 334 days
Don Givens	World Cup Qualifier	9 August 1949	27 May 1969	Denmark	2-0	Republic of Ireland	19 years, 291 days
Jimmy Holmes	World Cup Qualifier	11 November 1953	15 November 1972	Republic of Ireland	2-1	France	19 years, 4 days
Liam Brady	European Cup Qualifier	13 February 1956	30 October 1974	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Soviet Union	18 years, 259 days
David O'Leary	World Cup Qualifier	2 May 1958	17 November 1976	France	2-0	Republic of Ireland	18 years, 199 days
Pierce O'Leary	European Cup Qualifier	5 November 1959	17 October 1979	Republic of Ireland	3-0	Bulgaria	19 years, 346 days
Steve Staunton	World Cup Qualifier	19 January 1969	16 November 1988	Spain	2-0	Republic of Ireland	19 years, 302 days
Mark Kennedy	European Cup Qualifier	15 May 1976	6 September 1995	Austria	3-1	Republic of Ireland	19 years, 114 days
David Connolly	World Cup Qualifier	6 June 1977	30 April 1997	Romania	1-0	Republic of Ireland	19 years, 328 days
Ian Harte	World Cup Qualifier	31 August 1977	31 August 1996	Liechtenstein	0-5	Republic of Ireland	19 years, 0 days
Damien Duff	European Cup Qualifier	2 March 1979	5 September 1998	Republic of Ireland	2-0	Croatia	19 years, 187 days
Robbie Keane	European Cup Qualifier	8 July 1980	5 September 1998	Republic of Ireland	2-0	Croatia	18 years, 59 days
Aaron Connolly	European Cup Qualifier	28 January 2000	15 October 2019	Switzerland	2-0	Republic of Ireland	19 years, 260 days

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