Repeat XIs

 A recent post on twitter asked which game did this Ireland lineup photo come from?

Your Choice #Eire #Tiger 1978-08-26 pic.twitter.com/MyzdtD8LxQ

— Scottish Footy Cards (@ScotsFootyCards) February 13, 2022

It's from a friendly against Denmark in May 1978 that ended 3-3, with the goals coming from Frank Stapleton, Tony Grealish, and Gerry Daly. This was the only time these eleven players would start together. This is not uncommon for the national side, in the 587 games played by the Republic, there have been 453 unique selections for the the starting XI. 

But what of the repeated selections? What collection of starting players has been selected more than any other for the Boys in Green?

On Friday, 2nd September 2011, Giovanni Trapattoni selected Shay Given, John O'Shea, Stephen Ward, Sean St Ledger, Richard Dunne, Glen Whelan, Keith Andrews, Aidan McGeady, Damien Duff, Kevin Doyle, and captain Robbie Keane to face Slovakia at home in a qualifier for Euro 2012 that finished 0-0.

Ireland Team: Given, O'Shea, Dunne, St. Ledger, Ward, Duff, Andrews, Whelan, McGeady, Keane, Doyle #IreSlo

— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) September 2, 2011

The same starting XI would go on to be selected against Hungary the following June in a pre-tournament friendly, then faced Croatia in Euro 2012 six days later, before being named for the fourth, and final, time to face Italy in the final game of the group - the most the same starting XI has played together for Ireland.

The most recent repeat selection came in June 2019, when Mick McCarthy named Darren Randolph, Seamus Coleman, Enda Stevens, Shane Duffy, Conor Hourihane, Richard Keogh, Robert Brady, Jeff Hendrick, Glen Whelan, David McGoldrick, and James McClean in the starting XI to face Denmark, the same team named by the manager to face Georgia the previous March.

Most starting Irish players in a Premier League team

Sheffield United started four Irish players in their first Premier League game since 2007 - John Egan, Enda Stevens, David McGoldrick, and Callum Robinson. This was the first time this happened since Burnley named Stephen Ward, Jeff Hendrick, Kevin Long, and Robbie Brady in their starting XI against West Ham on Sunday, 21st May 2017.

While rare, starting four Irish players is not uncommon. Since the Premier League was launched in 1992, clubs have had a quintet of Irish players start a game in the competition for them on 65 occasions.

Stoke City account for almost half of these games - the Potters have named four players in 28 separate games, ahead of Aston Villa who started four players in 19 games. No other club has done it more than 10 times.

Only two clubs have named five players in their starting XI. Middlesbrough named Alan Kernaghan, Graham Kavanagh, Curtis Fleming, Bernie Slaven, and Chris Morris in their team against Sheffield Wedneday on Saturday, 24th October 1992. Almost twenty years later, in February 2012, Aston Villa named Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Ciaran Clark, Stephen Ireland, and Robbie Keane in their starting XI in two consecutive Premier League games.

To date, no Premier League team has started six, or more, Irish players.

Youngest Premier League debutants

When Michael Obafemi came off the bench for Southampton to make his debut, he became the fourth youngest Irish player to appear in the Premier League, and one of only six to make their first appearance in the top division in England before their 18th birthday.

Winger Aaron Doran came off the bench for Blackburn to face Liverpool in April 2009, aged 17 years and 10 months. He would only make two more appearances for the Lancashire side, and (following a series of loan moves) made a permanent move to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2011

Willie Boland was 17 years, 8 months and 25 days when he made the first of his 63 appearances for Coventry (over seven years) as a second half substitute against Chelsea in May 1993. Following moves to Cardiff and Hartlepool, he came out of retirement for one final appearance for Limerick FC in the League of Ireland

Alan Maybury started for Leeds against Aston Villa in February 1995, aged 17 years, five months and 27 days, but was replaced by Mark Tinkler at half time. He played more than 400 games for several clubs before retiring in 2015 after a season with Falkirk

In August 1992, future Ireland U21 (and England C) cap Andy Turner made his debut for Tottenham against Southampton at the age of 17 years, four months and 24 days. His first goal for Spurs a month later made him the the youngest scorer in the competition until Michael Owen broke it in the 1996/97 season

Richard Dunne was the youngest player to appear for Everton since Joe Royle in 1966 when he started an FA Cup third round tie against Swindon in January 1997, before making his first appearance in the Premier League a week later against Sheffield Wednesday three months and 22 days after his seventeeth birthday

Less than a month after his seventeenth birthday, Stephen Carr was named in the Tottenham starting XI against Ipswich in September 1993, still the youngest Irish player to appear in the Premier League

Player	Date of Birth	Debut	Home	Score	Away	Age
Stephen Carr	29th August 1976	29th September 1993	Ipswich Town	2-2	Tottenham	17y 27d
Richard Dunne	21st September 1979	11th January 1997	Sheffield Wednesday	2-1	Everton	17y 3m 22d
Andy Turner	23rd March 1975	15th August 1992	Southampton	0-0	Tottenham	17y 4m 24d
Alan Maybury	8th August 1978	3rd February 1996	Aston Villa	3-0	Leeds	17y 5m 27d
Michael Obafemi	6th July 2000	21st January 2018	Southampton	1-1	Tottenham	17y 6m 15d
Willie Boland	6th August 1975	1st May 1993	Chelsea	2-1	Coventry	17y 8m 25d
Aaron Doran	13th May 1991	11th April 2009	Liverpool	4-0	Blackburn	17y 10m 30d

Goalscorers under Trapattoni

Unsurprisingly, Robbie Keane scored the most goals during Trapattoni's reign. The Tallaght striker notched an incredible 28 goals in five years under the Italian. No other player managed to get into double figures, with Kevin Doyle and Shane Long coming closest with seven and six goals, respectively. In midfield, Keiths Andrews and Fahey both scored three goals for the venerable manager, however Aiden McGeady managed two strikes in competitive games, one more than his fellow midfielders' total in competitive matches.
In defence, mainstays Sean St Ledger and Richard Dunne both scored three times, with all six goals from the duo coming in competitive games, to top the goalscoring charts for defenders. St Ledger possibly has a slight edge, due to his close range header against Croatia in the European Championship finals.

P.S. If you mouseover a player other than Robbie Keane in the goals section in the infographic - http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog - several other players are highlighted - why is that?