Episode 49 - Gareth Maher, Away Days, and Scoring Goals In The Dark

Myself and Mark Kennedy are joined by Gareth Maher, author of Away Days - Thirty Years of Irish Footballers in the Premier League and Claire Shine's Scoring Goals In the Dark to discuss the history of Irish players in the Premier League, and Claire Shine's recovery from addiction and mental health issues

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

Quiz: 36 Irish Premier League starting teenagers

Andrew Omobamidele is the 36th Irish player to start at least one Premier League game before his 20th birthday, can you name the other 35?

Irish Premier League players in the 2010s

After reviewing the appearance data for Ireland players in the Premier League during the 2010s, we are delighted to announce Seamus Coleman as our player of the decade!

Coleman made more Premier League appearance than any other Irish player in the 2010s, appearing 257 times for Everton Football Club
Shane Long(254), James McCarthy(237), Glenn Whelan(235), Jonathan Walters(229), and John O'Shea(212) were the only other players to make more than 200 appearances during the decade

Coleman also started more games than any other Irish player. He was named in the Everton starting XI 237 times.
James McCarthy(214), Glenn Whelan(204), and John O'Shea(202) are the only other players with more than 200 starts

Shane Long was the top Irish scorer in the Premier League across the 2010s, with 48 goals, including only one penalty

Jonathan Walters scored the most penalties in the last ten years, with eleven goals from 12 yards

Seamus Coleman was the top scorer without a single penalty, with twenty goals

What if Premier League results were aggregated?

A really interesting question was asked recently on the Football365 mailbox - what if Premier League results were decided on aggregate, similar to the knock out stages of the Champions League and Europa League. So, for example, Liverpool's two results against Manchester City last season - a 0-0 draw at Anfield and a 2-1 loss at the Etihad stadium - would result in a 2-1 win, and three points, for Pep Guardiola's side. This reduces the number of results in a season from 38 to 19, and the maximum points a team can earn is reduced from 114 to 57.

Part of the appearance data aggregated here at Irish Abroad is the actual results, so applying this restructured points system to the fixtures of the 2018/19 season results in the following table.

Liverpool are the obvious winners from the new system, finishing one place higher as champions only one pair of fixtures resulting in a loss all season. Manchester City finish in second, despite going the season unbeaten, with a number of draws meaning they slip to second. The big movers on the new table are Arsenal, who climb three places to third in the table. No other team moves by more than two places. While the top half has some movement, nine of the bottom eleven teams are in the same position, with West Ham's drop of two places the only difference to the actual league table.

Team	Points	+/-
Liverpool	54	+1
Manchester City	53	-1
Arsenal	40	+3
Tottenham	37	=
Leicester City	33	-2
Chelsea	32	+1
Manchester United	32	+1
Wolverhampton Wanderers	31	+1
Everton	30	-1
Crystal Palace	27	+2
Watford	26	=
West Ham United	26	-2
Newcastle Utd	25	=
Bournemouth	21	=
Burnley	18	=
Southampton	18	=
Brighton and Hove Albion	17	=
Cardiff	13	=
Fulham	7	=
Huddersfield	5	=

Will the real 100th Irish goalscorer in the Premier League please stand up?

In his first Premier League start at the weekend, Aaron Connolly scored twice against Tottenham Hotspur, and was later announced by the Match of the Day twitter account as the 100th Irish player to score in the league since it launched in 1992

💯🇮🇪

Aaron Connolly is the 100th player from the Republic of Ireland to score a Premier League goal.#MOTD pic.twitter.com/AAIGy6Ukq3

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) October 5, 2019

But is he? MOTD appear to have taken their lead from the statistics available on premierleague.com. If you open the Player Stats link on the website, and change the filter settings to the following:

• Filter By Season: "All Seasons"
• Filter By Nationality: "Ireland"

you'll get a list of 101 Irish players to have scored in the competition, including Connolly, and Conor Hourihane who scored later the same afternoon.

However, here at Irish Abroad, we have a list of 107 players, either born in Ireland, or who have earned FAI caps at senior or underage level, who have scored in England's top division.

So, who are these six players who are not registered as Irish on premierleague.com, and who is the real 100th Irish player to score in the Premier League?

1. Lee Power
The Norwich forward was only 20 when he scored his first goal for Norwich in the Premier League against Crystal Palace in August 1992, and scored five more time for the Canaries in the league in the 1992/93 season. Qualifying to play for the Republic through his Waterford-born grandfather, he played thirteen times for the U21 side, scoring twice, and in a B international against Denmark in 1992, but never earned a senior cap

2. Mike Milligan
Manchester born Milligan appeared for Oldham and Norwich in the Premier League, scoring three times for the Latics in 1992/93, and twice for the Canaries in 1994/95. He represented Ireland at U21, U23, B, and once at senior level when he replaced Denis Irwin against the USA in a friendly in April 1992

3. Andy Turner
Turner set the record as the youngest goalscorer in the Premier League when, at 17 years and 166 days, he scored the first of his three league goals in the 1992/93 season. The record would stand until May 1997 when it was broken by Michael Owen. Turner earned several caps for the Ireland U21 side, but never played at senior international level

4, Jon Goodman
Goodman scored eleven times for Wimbledon in the Premier League across the 1994/95, 1995/96, and 1996/97 seasons. He qualified to play for Ireland after his father, who had been adopted, discovered links to Galway when tracing his heritage. Once it was clarified that this meant Goodman was eligible to play for the Republic, he was called up by Mick McCarthy and made his debut against Wales in 1997. Goodman would go on to earn three more caps for the Boys in Green

5. Liam Daish
Daish made the first of his five appearances for Ireland in February 1992 against Wales while playing for Cambridge in the then-Second Division, now rebranded as the Championship. He appeared in the Premier League for Coventry in 1995/96 and 1996/96, scoring once in both seasons. The move to the Sky Blues resulted in his recall to the Ireland squad, where he earned three caps in 1996

6. Gareth Whalley
Whalley started his career at Crewe, where manager Dario Gradi recommended him to Mick McCarthy during his first tenure as Ireland manager. McCarthy subsequently called the midfielder into several senior squads, but he never earned a senior cap. Following a move to Bradford in 1998, he went on to appear in the Premier League for the Bantams in the 1999/2000 and 2000/01 seasons, scoring once in the former

7. Matthew Rush
Qualifying through his Irish-born mother, Rush was called into the Ireland U21 side in 1991, going on to make four appearances. After returning from a loan during the 1993/94 season, Rush scored his first Premier League goal, and notched two more the following season.

So, taking into account that these Irish players have scored in the Premier League, who was the 100th Irish player to score in the Premier League? It's midfielder Harry Arter, who scored his first Premier League goal in Bournemouth's 3-1 loss to West Ham on Tuesday, 12th January 2016.

Full List of Irish Premier League goalscorers

#	Player
1	Bernie Slaven
2	Eddie McGoldrick
3	Denis Irwin
4	Ronnie Whelan
5	Niall Quinn
6	Mike Milligan
7	Lee Power
8	Alan Kernaghan
9	Steve Staunton
10	Matthew Rush
11	Andy Turner
12	Andy Townsend
13	Chris Morris
14	Kevin Moran
15	Ray Houghton
16	Roy Keane
17	Paul McGrath
18	John Sheridan
19	Jeff Kenna
20	Tony Cascarino
21	Liam O'Brien
22	Phil Babb
23	Terry Phelan
24	Jon Goodman
25	Liam Daish
26	Graham Kavanagh
27	Curtis Fleming
28	Ian Harte
29	Gary Kelly
30	Jason McAteer
31	Michael Evans
32	Lee Carsley
33	Damien Duff
34	Gary Breen
35	Gareth Farrelly
36	Clinton Morrison

#	Player
37	Mark Kinsella
38	Rory Delap
39	Robbie Keane
40	Paul Butler
41	Stephen Carr
42	Michael Reddy
43	Stephen McPhail
44	Gareth Whalley
45	Andy O'Brien
46	Alan Quinn
47	Kevin Kilbane
48	Dominic Foley
49	Matt Holland
50	Gary Doherty
51	Alan Mahon
52	Sean Thornton
53	John O'Shea
54	Mark Kennedy
55	Jonathan Macken
56	Jonathan Douglas
57	Steve Finnan
58	Willo Flood
59	Steven Reid
60	Stephen Kelly
61	Richard Dunne
62	Andy Reid
63	David Connolly
64	Stephen Elliott
65	Liam Lawrence
66	Daryl Murphy
67	Stephen Ireland
68	Stephen Quinn
69	Shane Long
70	Caleb Folan
71	Stephen Hunt
72	Kevin Doyle

#	Player
73	Liam Miller
74	Anthony Stokes
75	Keith Andrews
76	Paul McShane
77	Glenn Whelan
78	Darron Gibson
79	Andy Keogh
80	James McCarthy
81	Jonathan Walters
82	Seamus Coleman
83	Keith Fahey
84	Kevin Foley
85	Ciaran Clark
86	Marc Wilson
87	Stephen Ward
88	Leon Best
89	Simon Cox
90	Conor Sammon
91	Wes Hoolahan
92	Anthony Pilkington
93	James McClean
94	Noel Hunt
95	Joey O'Brien
96	Robbie Brady
97	David Meyler
98	Damien Delaney
99	Aiden McGeady
100	Harry Arter
101	Jeff Hendrick
102	Kevin Long
103	Shane Duffy
104	Matt Doherty
105	Michael Obafemi
106	Callum Robinson
107	Aaron Connolly
108	Conor Hourihane

 

Further reading

Jon Goodman: 'I didn’t have an Irish accent or the heritage the boys had, but I’ve got to say they were very welcoming'

Scoring Streaks Part III: Premier League

In 2017, we wrote about the Irish players who have scored in the most consecutive international games, and the most consecutive appearances, with Jimmy Dunne scoring in five consecutive appearances and Robbie Keane and Fionan Fagan sharing the record of scoring in four consecutive games.

Following Shane Long's second goal in consecutive games against Wolves at the weekend, the first Irish player to manage the feat since Long himself scored against Aston Villa and Manchester City in May 2016, we wondered who holds the record for most goals scored by an Irish player in consecutive Premier League games?

Eddie McGoldrick was the first Irish player to score in two consecutive games in the Premier League. The winger scored in Crystal Palace's second and third games in the newly formed top tier in August 1992 against Oldham and Tottenham Hotspur. Before the end of the season, Ian Power, Paul McGrath, Kevin Moran, Roy Keane, John Sheridan, and Denis Irwin would all match the achievement.

An Irish player would not score in three consecutive Premier League games until 1999, when, as with many Irish goalscoring records, it was achieved by Robbie Keane. Following his move from Wolves to Coventry in August 1999, he went on to score against Arsenal in December 1999, followed by strikes against Chelsea and Wimbledon in January 2000

This record would stand until March 2003 when Damien Duff scored in five consecutive games for Blackburn Rovers, against Birmingham, Arsenal, Newcastle, Fulham, and Charlton. During this run, Duff also scored for Ireland against Georgia.

Keane has matched this achievement on three separate occassions for Tottenham, in 2004 against Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Fulham, and Portsmouth. Three years later, Keane repeated the run by scoring against Bolton, Reading, Wigan, Arsenal and Middlesbrough. He was sent off against Bolton, and missed the following games against West Ham and Watford, before returning to score against Reading. This run also included a strike against Manchester City in a cup replay. The following October, Keane would again scored in five successive league games against Bolton, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Blackburn.

Only one other player has scored in more than three consecutive games - Kevin Doyle scored in four games in a row for Reading during the 2006/07 season against Tottenham, Charlton, Fulham, and Bolton. Doyle also scored for Ireland against San Marino in the final international at the old Lansdowne Road during this run.

Can Shane Long continue his run against Newcastle this weekend?

Further Reading
Scoring Streaks Part I: Consecutive Games
Scoring Streaks Part II: Consecutive Appearances

Irish Player Appearances In English Football

One of our twitter followers contacted us to know if representation of Irish players across the four divisions in England had dropped in recent years - not just in the Premier League. It's taken a little while to collate the data from the last ten years, but we can confirm that this is correct.

Note that one appearances in league football for each season were counted - appearances in FA Cup, League Cup, European, etc were disregarded

The number of Premier League players have steadily declined from 39 in 2009-10 to only 13 this season. There hasn't been an increase in player numbers season-to-season since 2011-12.

Championship numbers were almost double those in the Premier League in 2009-10 with 70 of the Boys in Green appearing in England's second tier. This has declined to 33 this season, with only slight increase in 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2016-17 arresting the slide.

Following the European Championships in 2012, there was a brief improvement in the player numbers in League One and League Two from the 2012-13 season until 2015-16 and declined since then, with the only increase coming in League One in 2017-18.

While there has been improvement in the fortunes at underage level for Ireland, this has not yet had an effect on the numbers playing at senior level in England, and it may be at least another 12 months before we start to see the talent from the underage sides make an impact for their respective club sides.

(mouse over the dots on the graph to see the players from that division that season)

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)

Premier League Appearances In Starting XI

For the penultimate of our articles before the start of the 2018-19 season, we wondered how many times the starting XI of the senior international side was comprised entirely of players with one, or more, appearance in the Premier League.

The Premier League was launched in 1992, but it would take three years before the feat was achieved, in the 3-1 loss to Austria in September 1995. It wasn't repeated until February 2000 when the Czech Republic were beaten 3-2 in a friendly. Fans of the national side would not have to wait as long between games for a starting XI of players with Premier League experience until 2011, when the first team of current and former PL players was named 4 years and eight months after the last. More recently, the last time eleven players with Premier League appearances lined out was the 1-0 win away to Austria in November 2016.

The first game where the Irish starting XI had more than 1000 Premier League appearances between them was held, fittingly enough, at a Premier League ground when Ireland faced Holland at Anfield in December 1995 in the Euro'96 Play Off. The next two combined appearance landmarks were also in qualifiers, the 1-1 draw against Portugal in June 2001 was the first time the starting XI had more than 1500 combined PL appearances, and, almost four years later, in March 2005, eleven players with more than 2000 PL appearances lined out for Ireland for the first time in a qualifier away to Israel.

The current highest combined total in an Irish starting XI is 2284. Giovanni Trapattoni named the same XI in three of the four games played by the Boys in Green in June 2012 - the friendly against Hungary before Euro 2012 and the two group games against Croatia and Italy - and since no Premier League games were played between these the total never changed.

The combined total hasn't been higher than 2000 since the September 2015 1-0 defeat of Georgia, and there were only 234 against Mexico in June 2017, more than half of which were the 128 appearances in the top flight by James McClean.

Only 36 of the 269 games (13.3%) played by the Republic since the breakaway league was formed have had a starting XI of players with Premier League experience. The record for the longest run of consecutive games where a starting XI was named, all of whom had appeared at least once in the new top division in England, was set with the seven games between May and September 2002.

Last Irish Player To Start For Each 2016/17 Premier League Club

With the new Premier League season fast approaching, we've taken a look at the records to see who the last Irish player was to start for each club, and when this happened. Having never played a Premier League game, promoted sides Brighton and Huddersfield are omitted from the final results, leaving Swansea as the only current Premier League team to have never started an Irish player during their stay in the top flight.

Arsenal have gone the longest since starting one of the Boys in Green, Eddie McGoldrick started their final game of the 1993/94 season under George Graham away to Newcastle - none of the Scot's successors has started an Irish player in the Premier League.

Damien Delaney and Robbie Keane hold the distinction of being the last Irish player to start in the top flight for two separate clubs, Delaney for Leicester in March 2002, and also for Crystal Palace this past April, while Robbie Keane is the last Irish player to start for Liverpool in January 2009 against local rivals Everton, and also for Tottenham Hotspur in his second spell at the club in October 2010 against Manchester United.

Club	Date	Home	Score	Away	Starting Players
Arsenal	7 May 1994	Newcastle Utd	2-0	Arsenal	Eddie McGoldrick
Watford	6 May 2000	Middlesbrough	1-1	Watford	Dominic Foley
Leicester City	16 March 2002	Southampton	2-2	Leicester City	Damien Delaney
Chelsea	7 May 2006	Newcastle Utd	1-0	Chelsea	Damien Duff
Liverpool	19 January 2009	Liverpool	1-1	Everton	Robbie Keane
Manchester City	24 April 2010	Arsenal	0-0	Manchester City	Shay Given
Tottenham	30 October 2010	Manchester United	2-0	Tottenham	Robbie Keane
Manchester United	26 December 2011	Manchester United	5-0	Wigan	Darron Gibson
Newcastle Utd	20 March 2016	Newcastle Utd	1-1	Sunderland	Robert Elliot
Everton	18 March 2017	Everton	4-0	Hull City	Seamus Coleman
West Ham United	15 April 2017	Sunderland	2-2	West Ham United	Darren Randolph
Crystal Palace	29 April 2017	Crystal Palace	0-2	Burnley	Damien Delaney
Bournemouth	13 May 2017	Bournemouth	2-1	Burnley	Harry Arter
Southampton	13 May 2017	Middlesbrough	1-2	Southampton	Shane Long
Burnley	21 May 2017	Burnley	1-2	West Ham United	Stephen Ward Jeff Hendrick Kevin Long Robbie Brady
Stoke City	21 May 2017	Southampton	0-1	Stoke City	Glenn Whelan
West Bromwich Albion	21 May 2017	Swansea	2-1	West Bromwich Albion	Marc Wilson

Irish Abroad Premier League 2016/17 review

Following the final whistle of the 2016/17 season, we've begun compiling the appearances statistics for Irish players around the world, and will publish the results after the Championship Play Off Final on Monday, 29th April

Before then, we have the appearance table for the just completed Premier League season, and it's not good news for fans of the Boys in Green

• Total appearances by Irish players dropped from 424 to 400
• Goals scored dropped from 31 to 19, with no player reaching double figures
• Only one player under the age of 25 played during the season, Declan Rice, and that was only a few minutes at the end of West Ham's last game - although both Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick turned 25 during the season

Positives from the season (and we admit to grasping at straws here) include

• Sean Dyche named four Irish players in the Burnley starting XI in their final game of the season against West Ham, the most to start for a team in the Premier League since May 2015

  TEAM NEWS: Here's your Burnley team for today's final @premierleague game of the 2016/17 season v @WestHamUtd pic.twitter.com/Yg7aOnVqbg

  — Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) May 21, 2017

• Five Irish players started for their respective sides when Burnley faced West Brom on May 6th, the most to start a Premier League game since March 2015

  TEAM NEWS: Here's your team for today's game v @WBA. pic.twitter.com/kk4igmvbmD

  — Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) May 6, 2017

  Albion team v Burnley: Foster; Dawson, McAuley, Evans, M Wilson; Field, Livermore; McClean, Fletcher (c), Brunt; Rondon.#BURWBA #WBA pic.twitter.com/fnBQ1M9MAa

  — West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) May 6, 2017

• Jonathan Walters' goals this season took him 62, joint twentieth on the Stoke City all time scorers list with club legends Stanley Matthews and William Smith

Players who appeared in the Premier League in 2015/16, but not 2016/17

• Eunan O'Kane - transferred to Leeds from Bournemouth
• Josh Cullen - season on loan at Bradford, although he was an unused substitute for West Ham in the Europa League third qualifying round fixture against NK Domzale of Slovenia
• Kevin Toner, Ciaran Clark - relegated with Aston Villa
• Robert Elliot - relegated with Newcastle
• Stephen Ireland - injury
• Wes Hoolahan - relegated with Norwich 

Players who appeared in the Premier League in 2016/17, but not 2015/16

• Stephen Ward, Kevin Long - promoted with Burnley
• Jeff Hendrick - signed by Burnley
• Declan Rice - senior debut with West Ham
• David Meyler - promoted with Hull City

Player	Starts	Subs	Total	Goals
Stephen Ward	37	0	37	1
Harry Arter	33	2	35	1
James McClean	13	21	34	1
Shane Long	10	22	32	3
Jeff Hendrick	31	1	32	2
Damien Delaney	21	9	30	0
Glenn Whelan	26	4	30	0
John O'Shea	26	2	28	0
Seamus Coleman	26	0	26	4
Jonathan Walters	13	10	23	4
Darren Randolph	22	0	22	0
David Meyler	9	11	20	1
Robbie Brady	7	7	14	1
James McCarthy	7	5	12	1
Darron Gibson	7	5	12	0
Shay Given	5	0	5	0
Marc Wilson	3	1	4	0
Kevin Long	3	0	3	0
Declan Rice	0	1	1	0
	299	101	400	19

With the relegation of Sunderland, Hull City and Middlesbrough, it will mean a first season outside the Premier League for John O'Shea and Darron Gibson since loans to Royal Antwerp and Bournrmouth(O'Shea) and Wolves(Gibson), as well as David Meyler and Brian Lenihan's return to the Championship. On the other hand it could see the likes of James Talbot and Jean-Yves Poamé getting their chance at senior club level.

On the other hand, the promotion of Newcastle and Brighton will mean a return for Ciaran Clark, Daryl Murphy and Shane Duffy. Hopefully Richie Towell can overcome his injury issues at Brighton, but it has already been indicated by manager Chris Hughton that he will be sent out on loan in the new season

A Reading victory in the play off final on Monday would see a return for Paul McShane (suspended for the final) and Stephen Quinn as well as a Premier League debut for Liam Kelly, whereas a Huddersfield win would see Joe Murphy and Sean Scannell promoted to England's top division - however neither are regular starters for the Terriers

Irish Player Appearances in the Premier League 2015/16

Following the final whistle at the postponed game between Manchester United and Bournemouth at Old Trafford, and with it the completion of the Premier League 2015/16 season, we've started to compile the end of season appearance statistics for Irish players for the season, starting with the number of appearances for Irish players in the top division in England.

Player	Starts	Intro	Total
Glenn Whelan	37	0	37
Robbie Brady	34	2	36
James McClean	27	7	34
Damien Delaney	32	0	32
Wes Hoolahan	25	5	30
James McCarthy	29	0	29
John O'Shea	23	5	28
Shane Long	23	5	28
Seamus Coleman	27	1	28
Jonathan Walters	18	9	27
Robert Elliot	21	0	21
Harry Arter	21	0	21
Ciaran Clark	16	2	18
Eunan O'Kane	6	10	16
Stephen Ireland	0	13	13
Darron Gibson	2	5	7
Darren Randolph	6	0	6
Marc Wilson	1	3	4
Kevin Toner	3	1	4
Shay Given	3	0	3
Josh Cullen	0	1	1
Total	354	69	423

Unfortunately, it's bad news for fans of the boys in green, with five less players appearing in Premier League games, and the total appearances down almost 15% from 497 in the 2014/15 season to 423.

Between relegation, transfers, retirements, and Jack Grealish, 12 Irish players from the previous season did not appear in 2015/16, and were replaced by 7 players who didn't appear in the Premier League last season - James McClean, Wes Hoolahan, Harry Arter, Eunan O'Kane, Darren Randolph, Kevin Toner, and Josh Cullen.

Of the players that remained in the Premier League, five had more appearances than in 2014/15 - Robert Elliot, Glenn Whelan, Robbie Brady, Damien Delaney, and James McCarthy - with Newcastle's Player of the Season Robert Elliot taking advantage of the injury crisis at St James' Park  to play 18 more games, before unfortunately getting injured himself on international duty. Eight players played less games - Darron Gibson, Shane Long, Stephen Ireland, Jonathan Walters, Seamus Coleman, Ciaran Clark, John O'Shea, and Marc Wilson - with Wilson's injury hit season meaning he played 23 times less than in 2014/15

Following the relegation of Aston Villa, Newcastle and Norwich, their Irish players Ciaran Clark, Kevin Toner, Robert Elliot, Wes Hoolahan, and Robbie Brady (relegated for the second season in a row!) will all be plying their trade outside the top division next season, with Burnley's Stephen Ward and Kevin Long replacing them. Fellow promoted side Middlesbrough have no Irish players in their squad, while Play Off Finalists Hull City have David Meyler and Brian Lenihan facing off against Sheffield Wednesday's Keiren Westwood and loanee Aiden McGeady, who will be returning to parent club Everton following the end of the season.

One crumb of comfort is that the players who did appear in the Premier League this season played, on average, one game more than those in 2014/15

Irish Premier League Appearances

In last weekends game between Sunderland and Watford, defender John O'Shea reached the landmark of 400 Premier League appearances, as reported by online statisticans Opta. This led us to wonder which current Irish player is next on the list of appearances?

Unsurprisingly, Robbie Keane is next in line to make the landmark. The Republic of Ireland captain has 343 appearances in the Premier League for Coventry, Leeds, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, West Ham and Aston Villa, but of the Irish players currently in the top division in England, who has the most appearances?

Surprisingly enough, it's Stephen Ireland with 235 appearances for Manchester City, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Stoke City! We had thought it would be Glenn Whelan, but he's a close second on the list behind Ireland with 226 appearances, followed by Jonathan Walters, James McCarthy and Shane Long.

Player	Appearances
Stephen Ireland	235
Glenn Whelan	226
Jonathan Walters	192
James McCarthy	191
Shane Long	186

Further Reading
John O'Shea reaches 400 Premier League Appearances (OptaJoe)

Premier League minutes 2013/14 and 2014/15

Finally, after the list of players who started in the Premier League, we've compiled the total appearances by Irish players over the last two seasons.
Although the total number of starts is down slightly in 2014/15, the number of substitute appearances is up with a slightly higher total number of appearances.

2013/14

Player	Starts	Intro.	Total
Damien Delaney	37	0	37
Seamus Coleman	36	0	36
John O'Shea	32	0	32
James McCarthy	31	3	34
Marc Wilson	29	3	32
Glenn Whelan	28	3	31
David Meyler	27	3	30
Jonathan Walters	26	5	31
Shane Long	26	4	30
Ciaran Clark	23	4	27
Steven Reid	16	0	16
Stephen Ireland	14	10	24
Joey O'Brien	13	4	17
Robbie Brady	11	5	16
Wes Hoolahan	10	6	16
Damien Duff	9	6	15
Anthony Pilkington	9	5	14
Paul McShane	9	1	10
Keiren Westwood	9	0	9
Aiden McGeady	4	12	16
Stephen Quinn	4	11	15
Robert Elliot	2	0	2
Owen Garvan	1	1	2
Darron Gibson	0	1	1
Paddy McCarthy	0	1	1
Jack Grealish	0	1	1
Total	406	89	495

2014/15

Player	Starts	Intro.	Total
John O'Shea	37	0	37
Seamus Coleman	34	1	35
Jonathan Walters	28	4	32
Damien Delaney	28	1	29
James McCarthy	27	1	28
Glenn Whelan	26	2	28
Marc Wilson	25	2	27
Ciaran Clark	22	3	25
Richard Dunne	22	1	23
David Meyler	19	9	28
Paul McShane	19	1	20
Stephen Quinn	17	11	28
Robbie Brady	17	10	27
Shane Long	16	16	32
Stephen Ireland	11	6	17
Aiden McGeady	10	6	16
Jack Grealish	7	10	17
Stephen Ward	7	2	9
Joey O'Brien	6	3	9
Darron Gibson	3	6	9
Shay Given	3	0	3
Robert Elliot	3	0	3
Steven Reid	1	6	7
Reece Grego Cox	1	3	4
Kevin Doyle	0	3	3
Kevin Long	0	1	1
Total	389	108	497

Irish Players in the Premier League 2013/14 and 2014/15

A recent piece on Newstalk's Off The Ball discussed the declining numbers of Irish players in the Premier League. This reminded me of the stats we compiled on players with at least one start in the PL since 2008/09 here: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog?id=7775354499853620436

Following the completion of the 2014/15 season last weekend, we've compiled the names of players with at least one start in 2013/14 and 2014/15. Surprisingly, one more Irish player made at least one start in the just completed season!

2013/14: 23
Robbie Brady, Ciaran Clark, Seamus Coleman, Damien Delaney, Damien Duff, Robert Elliot, Owen Garvan, Wes Hoolahan, Stephen Ireland, Shane Long, James McCarthy, Aiden McGeady, Paul McShane, David Meyler, Joey O'Brien, John O'Shea, Anthony Pilkington, Stephen Quinn, Steven Reid, Jonathan Walters, Keiren Westwood, Glenn Whelan, Marc Wilson

2014/15: 24
Robbie Brady, Ciaran Clark, Seamus Coleman, Damien Delaney, Richard Dunne, Robert Elliot, Darron Gibson, Shay Given, Jack Grealish, Reece Grego Cox, Stephen Ireland, Shane Long, David Meyler, James McCarthy, Aiden McGeady, Paul McShane, Joey O'Brien, John O'Shea, Stephen Quinn, Steven Reid, Jonathan Walters, Stephen Ward, Glenn Whelan, Marc Wilson

What does this mean for 2015/16? Brady, Dunne, Grego-Cox, Meyler, Quinn and Ward have all been relegated and, with Steven Reid's retirement, will mean at least seven less Irish starters. Will any of the promising young players at Manchester City, Liverpool or Everton get promoted to their respective senior sides? From the promoted sides, will Arter continue in Bournemouth's midfield, and can Eunan O'Kane force his way back into the first team picture at Dean Court after a solid start to 2014/15, but only three appearances since the turn of the year? At Watford, Tommie Hoban is a regular in the starting XI, and has been linked with a transfer to the Premier League in the past, but will Sean Murray (three starts in 2014/15, no appearances since early January) or Connor Smith (four unused substitute appearances) make an appearance in England's top division? Finally, Norwich City have returned to the top table, after only a single season in the Championship, defeating Middlesbrough 2-0 in the Play Off Final. Wes Hoolahan is an almost certain starter for the Canaries, but promising central defender Kyle Callan-McFadden, owner of an FA Youth Cup winner's medal was released after making only a single appearance in yellow.

Premier League Debuts

With U19 striker Reece Grego-Cox making his debut last weekend as a late substitute for QPR against Tottenham, we wondered who the last Irish player to make his professional debut in the Premier League was?
With ever reducing numbers of Irish players moving to English clubs, we were not surprised to find out that the last Irish player to make his debut in the top division in England was former U21 defender Derrick Williams, who came on for Aston Villa in a 1-1 draw with Cox's team QPR in April 2012.

We had to go back to August 2009 to find the last current Irish international to make their debut in the Premier League. Ciaran Clark was given his first start by current Ireland manager Martin O'Neill, again for Aston Villa, in a 2-0 home win against Fulham.

Note: we specifically looked for players who made their debuts in the Premier League, not players who made their debuts for Premier League clubs, but in other competitions, e.g. Anthony Forde made his debut for then Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 2011 as a substitute in the League Cup against Northampton, but didn't make his first Premier League appearance until the following November, again as a substitute against Chelsea