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.

Landmark Goals

Recently, Diego Jota scored the 10,000th goal in Liverpool's history. John Aldridge tweeted the list of players who have scored landmark goals for the club, which included the former Ireland striker - who scored the Reds' 7,000th goal in a victory against Spurs.

Scorers of milestone #LFC goals:

1 - Jock Smith
1,000 - Bobby Robinson
2,000 - Harry Chambers
3,000 - Jack Balmer
4,000 - Jimmy Melia
5,000 - Ian St John
6,000 - Terry McDermott
7,000 - John Aldridge
8,000 - Michael Owen
9,000 - Sotirios Kyrgiakos
10,000 - Diogo Jota.

— John Aldridge (@Realaldo474) October 28, 2020

This inspired us to look up the landmark goals scored by Ireland players.

The first goal scored by an Irish player was Bob Fullam's consolation strike in a 2-1 loss to Italy in April 1927 - the second international played by the team.

It would take 27 years before the 100th goal was scored by the Republic of Ireland national side, when Reg Ryan scored the third goal in a 4-0 win over Luxembourg in October 1953 from the penalty spot in a qualifier for the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.

18 years later, in the final group game of the Brazil Independence Cup, held in 1972 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Brazilian Declaration of Independence, Shamrock Rovers' Mick Leech scored the 200th Irish goal in international football - the last goal of a 2-1 loss to Portugal in Ireland's final group game in the tournament. All three goals were scored in quick succession, with Portugal opening the scoring in the 35th minute, before doubling their advantage in the 37th minute, with Leech scoring in the 38th minute.

It would take almost 13 years for the 300th goal to be scored for the Republic in international football, when, on his 45th cap, Frank Stapleton opened the scoring in a 3-0 win against Switzerland in June 1985 in a qualifier for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. This was only the second goal scored by the Republic in the qualifying series, in the team's fifth group game, after being held scoreless since the group opener against the Soviet Union in September 1984.

Eight years later, John Aldridge scored Republic's 400th goal, the opener in a 2-0 win against Latvia in June 1993 in a qualifier for the 1994 World Cup in the United States. This was Aldridge's fourth goal against Latvia in two games against the Balkan state, half the total he would finish on against the Latvians - which is still a record for an Irish player against a single side.

Seven years after Aldridge's strike, Kevin Kilbane scored the 500th international goal for the Boys In Green, when he scored the first of his eight international goals in a 3-0 friendly win against Finland in November 2000.

Another seven years would pass before the 600th goal was scored. Record international goalscorer Robbie Keane scored the first of the Republic's goals in a 4-0 friendly victory against Denmark in August 2007.

Just over six years later, the shortest time between landmark goals, Shane Long scored the national side's 700th international goal, and his tenth international goal, and when he found the back of the net for the final goal in Martin O'Neill's first game in charge - a 3-0 friendly win against Latvia in November 2013.

Since that game, seven years and 68 games ago, 79 goals have been scored - a rate of 1.16 goals per game. If that rate continues, it will take 18 games before the 800th goal will be scored. Given the team plays an average of ten games a year, it could be September of 2022 before that happens, which would be the longest time between landmark goals since the 13 years between the 200th and 300th goals.

But it'll probably be against Latvia in June.

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

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.

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

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)

Last Irish Player To Score For Each 2018/19 Premier League Club

With the new Premier League season only a few days away, we've planned a series of blogs this week based on Irish player appearances in the PL.

Before last season, we published an article with the list of the last Irish player to start a game in the Premier League for each of the teams in the top division.
Following on from that, we've compiled the following list of the last Irish player to score for each of the teams in the upcoming season.

Damien Duff and Robbie Keane hold the distinction of being the last Irish goalscorer for two different clubs - Duff for Chelsea against Newcastle in 2005 and Fulham against Wigan in 2012, and Keane for Liverpool against Bolton in 2008 and Spurs against Sunderland in 2009. Keane actually scored twice for Liverpool against Bolton that day - finding the back of the net on 53 and 58 minutes.

Arsenal, Brighton and Hove Albion, Cardiff, Huddersfield, and Leicester City have had no Irish goalscorers in the Premier League era, and with no Irish players named in the Arsenal, Huddersfield and Leicester squads (at the time of writing) this does not look like changing in the next 12 months.

Of the teams with one, or more, goalscorers, Watford fans have waited the longest to see another goalscorer from the Boys in Green. More than 18 years have passed since Limerick's Dominic Foley scored for the Hornets against Leeds in May 2000, although much is thought of teenage scoring sensation Ryan Cassidy in the current underage setup at Vicarage Road.

Club	Date	Home	Score	Away	Goalscorers
Bournemouth	18th November 2017	Bournemouth	4-0	Huddersfield	Harry Arter
Burnley	19th April 2010	Burnley	1-2	Chelsea	Kevin Long
Crystal Palace	2nd April 2016	West Ham United	2-2	Crystal Palace	Damien Delaney
Chelsea	19th November 2005	Chelsea	3-0	Newcastle Utd	Damien Duff
Everton	4th February 2017	Everton	6-3	Bournemouth	James McCarthy
Fulham	22nd September 2012	Wigan	1-2	Fulham	Damien Duff
Liverpool	26th December 2008	Liverpool	3-0	Bolton	Robbie Keane
Manchester City	21st November 2009	Liverpool	2-2	Manchester City	Stephen Ireland
Manchester United	27th March 2010	Bolton	0-4	Manchester United	Darron Gibson
Newcastle Utd	28th November 2017	West Bromwich Albion	2-2	Newcastle Utd	Ciaran Clark
Southampton	8th April 2010	Arsenal	3-2	Southampton	Shane Long
Tottenham	7th November 2009	Tottenham	2-0	Sunderland	Robbie Keane
Watford	3rd May 2000	Leeds United	3-1	Watford	Dominic Foley
West Ham United	30th January 2013	Fulham	3-1	West Ham United	Joey O'Brien
Wolverhampton Wanderers	25th February 2012	Newcastle Utd	2-2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Kevin Doyle

Round Up for week beginning Tuesday, 27th February 2018

Tuesday, 27th February 2018

Championship

Reading 1-3 Sheffield United

Liam Kelly made his 50th career start

Wednesday, 28th February 2018

Indian Super League

Goa 5-1 Atlético de Kolkata

Robbie Keane's consolation strike was his fifth goal for the club

Saturday, 3rd March 2018

Premier League

Burnley 2-1 Everton

Seamus Coleman's start was his 250th appearance for Everton

2️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ | Another milestone for Seamus! #EFC

👉🏼 https://t.co/WFbrRBVUOD pic.twitter.com/zwsBig7sIe

— Everton (@Everton) March 3, 2018

Championship

Bolton 1-3 Preston North End

Alan Browne made his 100th appearance in the Championship
On his return from injury, Sean Maguire scored his fifth and sixth goals for Preston

Derby County 1-2 Fulham

Richard Keogh made his 350th appearance in the Championship

Nottingham Forest 2-1 Birmingham City

Daryl Murphy made his 25th appearance for Nottingham Forest

League 1

Scunthorpe 0-2 Oldham

In his first appearance since Saturday, 16th December, Eoin Doyle scored his first goal the same game

League 2

Cambridge United 1-1 Luton

James Collins was sent off for the second time in his career

MLS

Houston Dynamo 4-0 Atlanta United

On the first day of the new MLS season, Chris McCann made his 25th appearance in the competition

Australian A-League

Newcastle Jets 2-1 Sydney

Roy O'Donovan was sent off for the first time since January 2017

Sunday, 4th March 2018

Scottish FA Cup

Motherwell 2-1 Hearts

Carl McHugh scored his first goal in the competition, this was the defender's first goal of the season

Indian Super League

Atlético de Kolkata 1-0 Northeast United

Robbie Keane scored the winner in his first game as a manager

Monday, 5th March 2018

Polish Ekstraklasa

Jagiellonia Białystok 2-0 Wisła Kraków

Cillian Sheridan made his 25th appearance of the season

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 23rd February 2018

Friday, 23th February 2018

Scottish Championship

Livingston 2-1 Dundee Utd

Willo Flood made his 50th appearance in the Scottish Championship

Saturday, 24th February 2018

Premier League

Burnley 1-1 Southampton

Stephen Ward returned from injury for Burnley for his first appearance since December

Championship

Burton Albion 0-1 Millwall

Damien McCrory came off the bench for his first appearance since September

Reading 3-3 Derby County

Liam Kelly scored his fifth goal of the season
Richard Keogh scored his first goal of the season, this was his first goal since August 2016

Sheffield Wednesday 2-4 Aston Villa

Glenn Whelan scored his first goal for Aston Villa in his 25th start for the club, this was the midfielder's first goal since November 2011. In the same game, Conor Hourihane scored his tenth goal for the club in his 50th appearance for the Villains

Sunderland 3-3 Middlesbrough

Aiden McGeady was booked for the fifth time this season

League 1

Plymouth 1-0 Bradford City

Graham Carey made his 50th appearance in League One

Portsmouth 0-2 Blackpool

Connor Ronan made his 25th career appearance

League 2

Accrington Stanley 1-0 Cambridge United

Gary Deegan was booked for the first time booking time since September

Lincoln City 1-4 Crewe Alexandra

Sean Long was named in the Lincoln starting XI for first start since Monday, 1st January
Paul Green scored his first goal for Crewe, this was the midfielder's first goal since August

Luton 2-2 Cheltenham

Alan Sheehan's scored his first goal in 2018
Kevin Dawson was booked for the fifth time this season

Scottish Premier League

Hamilton Academical 2-1 Partick Thistle

Conor Sammon scored his ninth goal of the season in his 25th appearance for Partick Thistle

Indian Super League

Delhi Dynamos 4-3 Atlético de Kolkata

Robbie Keane scored his first brace since September 2010 in his first start since Sunday, 7th January

Sunday, 25th February 2018

Premier League

Crystal Palace 0-1 Tottenham

Damien Delaney came off the bench for his first appearance since Monday, 8th January

Bulgarian Championship

Pirin Blagoevgrad 1-0 Vitosha Bistritsa

Conor Henderson scored his first goal since Friday, 24th November

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 22nd December 2017

Friday, 22nd December 2017

League 1

Fleetwood 0-2 Gillingham

Mark Byrne made his 50th appearance in League One

League 2

Coventry 3-2 Wycombe Wanderers

Michael Doyle scored his fifth goal in League Two, his first goal in almost three months, and a memorable strike it was too!

Saturday, 23rd December 2017

Premier League

West Ham United 2-3 Newcastle Utd

Ciaran Clark made his 50th appearance for Newcastle Utd

Championship

Preston North End 1-1 Nottingham Forest

Kevin O'Connor returned to the Preston starting XI for the first time in a month

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Ipswich

Matt Doherty made his 200th career start

Aston Villa 2-2 Sheffield United

Conor Hourihane made his 300th career start
Samir Carruthers came off the bench to make his 50th appearance in the competition

League 1

Northampton 1-1 Blackburn

John-Joe O'Toole was booked for the first time in two months

Peterborough 3-0 Bury

Stephen Dawson's introduction as a second half substitute (his first appearance for Bury since August) was his 100th appearance for the Shakers
Having only been sent off once in his career before 2017/28, Eoghan O'Connell was sent off for the second time this season

Rotherham 2-1 MK Dons

Lee Frecklington was booked for the first time this season

League 2

Luton 2-0 Grimsby

James Collins scored his tenth goal for Luton (also his 80th goal in League Two) in his first start since Saturday, 11th November

Newport Co. 0-0 Lincoln City

Mark O'Brien was sent off for the second time for Newport County

Stevenage 5-1 Chesterfield

Connor Dimaio made his 50th appearance for Chesterfield

Scottish Premier League

Celtic 3-0 Aberdeen

Adam Rooney made his 300th career start
Anthony O'Connor made his 200th career start
Jonathan Hayes scored his first goal for Celtic since moving to the Bhoys in the summer

Partick Thistle 1-0 Hamilton Academical

Niall Keown scored his first goal since August, and was unfortunately booked for the fifth time this season and so is suspended for the next game

Scottish Championship

Greenock Morton 1-0 Inverness CT

Jake Mulraney made his 25th start for Inverness CT

Indian Super League

Atlético de Kolkata 1-0 Delhi Dynamos

Robbie Keane scored his first goal for Atléletico de Kolkata, this was the striker's first goal anywhere since September 2016

Round up for weekend of Friday, 15th December 2017

Friday, 15th December 2017

League 2

Swindon Town 2-3 Colchester

Donal McDermott's first appearance since Wednesday, 8 November was also his first start for Swindon the previous Sunday

Saturday, 16th December 2017

Premier League

Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle Utd

Robert Elliot's start was his 50th Premier League appearance

Brighton and Hove Albion 0-0 Burnley

Shane Duffy was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Championship

Bolton 0-1 Burton Albion

Sean Scannell made his 300th appearance in the Championship

Derby County 2-0 Aston Villa

Scott Hogan came off the bench for his first appearance since Saturday, 4th November

Ipswich 2-0 Reading

Paul McShane was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Preston North End 1-0 Sheffield United

This was the first time since March 2016 that four Irish players (Kevin O'Connor, Andy Boyle, Daryl Horgan and Alan Browne) started on the subs bench for a single team.
Samir Carruthers's first start since August was his 25th appearance for Sheffield United

Cardiff 1-0 Hull City

In his first appearance for Cardiff since August, Anthony Pilkington assisted the winner against Hull

League 1

Blackburn 2-0 Charlton

Derrick Williams made his 200th career appearance
Leon Best unfortunately scored his first own goal since May 2007

Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Oldham

Eoin Doyle scored his 15th goal of the season

Gillingham 4-1 Bristol Rovers

Bradley Garmston made his first appearance since Saturday, 28th October

Northampton 2-1 Walsall

Brendan Moloney made his 100th appearance for Northampton

Rotherham 1-1 Plymouth

Graham Carey made his 300th career appearance in British football

Southend United 1-2 Bradford City

Stephen McLaughlin scored his 15th goal for Southend

League 2

Carlisle United 1-2 Port Vale

John O'Sullivan's first start of the season was also his 25th appearance for Carlisle United

Exeter 2-1 Stevenage

Pierce Sweeney scored his fifth goal of the season in his 25th start of the season
Liam McAlinden was booked for the first time this season

Forest Green 0-2 Luton

Alan Sheehan made his 100th appearance in League Two
Glen Rea made his 25th appearance of the season
Alan Sheehan's scored his first goal since September

Lincoln City 2-0 Accrington Stanley

Seamus Conneely returned for his first appearance in a month

Scottish Premier League

Aberdeen 4-1 Hibernian

Adam Rooney made his 200th appearance in the SPL
Anthony Stokes' late consolation for Hibernian was his tenth goal of the season, and his 100th goal in the top level of Scottish football

Rangers 1-3 St Johnstone

Graham Cummins' first goal of the season was also his 15th goal for St. Johnstone

Scottish Championship

Inverness CT 1-0 Dumbarton

Jake Mulraney's start against Dumbarton was his 50th appearance for Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Sunday, 17th December 2017

League 1

Fleetwood 2-3 Peterborough

Cian Bolger scored his third goal in two games (the first time the defender has scored in consecutive games) in his 25th start of the season

Indian Super League

Mumbai City 0-1 Atlético de Kolkata

Robbie Keane made his first start for Atlético de Kolkata, this was his first time being named in a starting XI since October 2016, and was voted as Fans Player of the Match

You voted for @WorldATK's Robbie Keane as the Fans' Player of the Match and he has a message of gratitude. #LetsFootball #MUMKOL pic.twitter.com/JtFlogGOWw

— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) December 17, 2017

Round up for week of Tuesday, 5th December 2017

Tuesday, 5th December 2017

Football League Trophy

Gillingham 1-2 Oxford United

Canice Carroll started his first game since Saturday, 21st October, and was also booked for the first time since the last game
Mark Byrne scored his first goal of the season. This was the midfielder's first goal in more than a year, his last strike came on Saturday, 26th November 2016

Bradford City 0-1 Oldham

Paul Green was booked for the first time this season

Port Vale 1-2 Shrewsbury

Gavin Gunning was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Scunthorpe 1-2 Leicester City U21

Paddy Madden's yellow card was his first booking in two months

Wednesday, 6th December 2017

Football League Trophy

Peterborough 2-0 Southend United

Both Simon Cox and Stephen McLaughlin made their 25th appearance of 2017/18
Chris Forrester was booked for the first time since August

Thursday, 7th December 2017

UEFA Cup

Apollon 0-3 Everton

Congratulations to U21 midfielder Harry Charsley on making his senior debut for Everton

📋 | Team sheets are in and there are 2️⃣ debutants for the Blues. Congratulations to Harry Charsley and Fraser Hornby! pic.twitter.com/9YHQSAoOHp

— Everton (@Everton) December 7, 2017

Indian Super League

Chennaiyin FC 3-2 Atlético de Kolkata

Robbie Keane came off the bench to make his first appearance for Atlético de Kolkata, more than a year after his last appearance for LA Galaxy on Sunday, 6th November 2016

Scoring Streaks Part II: Consecutive Appearances

In our previous article looking at the scoring streaks of Irish internationals, we looked at the scoring records in consecutive games. While researching this, we found there was another way of looking at the question "who has scored in the most consecutive games", what player scored in the most consecutive appearances?

A player can score and miss a game due to suspension, or injury, or just not picked by the manager, or management committee in the early days of the international side, and then score in their next appearance.

With that in mind, we've examined the playing records of all players with three or more international goals, and from that we've found the following players who scored in three or more consecutive appearances.

For the purposes of the article "consecutive games" refers to consecutive games of the Irish national side, and "consecutive appearances" refers to two or more caps by a players, which may not be in consecutive games. Where a record is the same as in the consecutive games article, we'll refer to it, but won't go into any detail.

Paddy Moore scored against Spain on his debut in April 1931, but missed the return game against the Spanish the following December, and went on to score against the Netherlands in 1932, then scored against Belgium and the Netherlands again in 1934 (there were no international games in 1933) becoming the first international to score in four consecutive appearances in the process.

In 1936 Jimmy Dunne became the second player to score in three consecutive games for Ireland, scoring against Switzerland, Hungary, and Luxembourg. The Dublin born striker had also scored in his previous appearance, his international debut, against Belgium in 1930 and scored again against the Swiss in his next international appearance in 1937. As previously mentioned, the striker also scored in three other consecutive games against Norway twice in late 1937 and Czechoslovakia the following May.

Tom Davis scored on his international debut against Germany in October 1936, and found the back of the net from 12 yards in the following game against Hungary two months later, but had to wait 18 months for his next cap, and goal, against Czechoslovakia, the same game where Jimmy Dunne completed his five appearance scoring streak.

The next player to score in three consecutive appearances was Con Martin, scoring against Spain, Finland and England in 1949.

Six years later, Arthur Fitzsimons scored in the first of his three consecutive international appearances against Yugoslavia, Spain and then the Netherlands in 1956

A year after the final goal of Fitzsimons' triple, Dermot Curtis scored against Denmark before scoring again when the national side faced both Poland and Austria in 1958

Fionan Fagan became the second player to scored in four consecutive appearances for the Republic with his strikes against Germany, Sweden, Wales and Norway in 1960

Two years later, Liam Tuohy scored in three consecutive appearances against Austra in April, and then home and away against Iceland

No player would manage to score in three consecutive appearances again until Frank Stapleton reached double figures for the Republic with a late winner in a Euro 84 qualifier against Malta in 1983, having scored against Iceland and Spain in the two previous qualifiers for the tournament to be held in France.

Tony Cascarino's goals in the last two qualifiers for Euro 1992 against Poland and Turkey were preceded by a strike in his previous appearance for Ireland against the USA in a friendly in June.

As was detailed in Part I, Robbie Keane scored in four consecutive games beginning with his equaliser against Germany in 2002, but Ireland's record striker also scored in four consecutive appearances in 2011 when he scored against Northern Ireland and Scotland in the Nations Cup, bookended by two strikes against Macedonia in home and away qualifiers against the former Yugoslav Republic in March and June.

The research we've conducted into scoring records was inspired by the three consecutive appearances where Stephen Ireland scored, the opener against Cyprus in the 5-2 loss, the last minute winner against San Marino and the first goal scored by and Irish international at Croke Park in the 1-0 win over Wales.

Robbie Brady is the latest player to score in three consecutive games, after scoring against Italy, and France at Euro 2016 and the friendly against Oman which also marked the end of Robbie Keane's international career.

Player	Streak	Games
Jimmy Dunne	5	11th May 1930 Belgium 1-3 Republic of Ireland 17th March 1936 Republic of Ireland 1-0 Switzerland 3rd May 1936 Hungary 3-3 Republic of Ireland 9th May 1936 Luxembourg 1-5 Republic of Ireland 17th May 1937 Switzerland 0-1 Republic of Ireland
Paddy Moore	4	26th April 1931 Spain 1-1 Republic of Ireland 8th May 1932 Holland 0-2 Republic of Ireland 25th February 1934 Republic of Ireland 4-4 Belgium 8th April 1934 Holland 5-2 Republic of Ireland
Fionan Fagan	4	11th May 1960 Germany 0-1 Republic of Ireland 18th May 1960 Sweden 4-1 Republic of Ireland 28th September 1960 Republic of Ireland 2-3 Wales 6th November 1960 Republic of Ireland 3-1 Norway
Robbie Keane	4	5th June 2002 Germany 1-1 Republic of Ireland 11th June 2002 Saudi Arabia 0-3 Republic of Ireland 16th June 2002 Spain 1-1 Republic of Ireland 21st August 2002 Finland 0-3 Republic of Ireland
Robbie Keane	4	26th March 2011 Republic of Ireland 2-1 Macedonia 24th May 2011 Republic of Ireland 5-0 Northern Ireland 29th May 2011 Republic of Ireland 1-0 Scotland 4th June 2011 Macedonia 0-2 Republic of Ireland
Tom Davis	3	17th October 1936 Germany 5-2 Republic of Ireland 6th December 1936 Republic of Ireland 3–2 Hungary 18th May 1938 Czechoslovakia 2–2 Republic of Ireland
Jimmy Dunne	3	10th October 1937 Norway 2–3 Republic of Ireland 7th November 1937 Republic of Ireland 3–3 Norway 18th May 1938 Czechoslovakia 2–2 Republic of Ireland
Con Martin	3	8th September 1949 Republic of Ireland 3-0 Finland 21st September 1949 England 0-2 Republic of Ireland 9th October 1949 Finland 1-1 Republic of Ireland
Arthur Fitzsimons	3	19th October 1955 Republic of Ireland 1-4 Yugoslavia 27th November 1955 Republic of Ireland 2-2 Spain 10th May 1956 Holland 1-4 Republic of Ireland
Dermot Curtis	3	2nd October 1957 Denmark 0-2 Republic of Ireland 11th May 1958 Poland 2-2 Republic of Ireland 14th May 1958 Austria 3-1 Republic of Ireland
Liam Tuohy	3	8th April 1962 Republic of Ireland 2-3 Austria 12th August 1962 Republic of Ireland 4-2 Iceland 2nd September 1962 Iceland 1-1 Republic of Ireland
Frank Stapleton	3	13th October 1982 Republic of Ireland 2-0 Iceland 17th November 1982 Republic of Ireland 3-3 Spain 30th March 1983 Malta 0-1 Republic of Ireland
Tony Cascarino	3	1st July 1991 USA 1-1 Republic of Ireland 16th October 1991 Poland 3-3 Republic of Ireland 13th November 1991 Turkey 1-3 Republic of Ireland
Stephen Ireland	3	7th October 2006 Cyptus 2-5 Republic of Ireland 2nd February 2007 San Marino 1-2 Republic of Ireland 24th March 2007 Turkey 1-3 Republic of Ireland
Robbie Brady	3	22nd June 2016 Italy 0-1 Republic of Ireland 26th June 2016 France 2-1 Republic of Ireland 31st August 2016 Republic of Ireland 4-0 Oman

Scoring Streaks Part I: Consecutive Games

Along with asking if Stephen Ireland had the best goals per game ratio, we've been asked recently who has the longest scoring streak for the Republic.

This is actually two questions:

• Who scored in the most consecutive Republic of Ireland games
• Who scored in the most consecutive appearances

To illustrate the difference, consider that Stephen Ireland scored in three consecutive international appearances:

• The infamous 5-2 loss to Cyprus in October 2006
• The 2-1 win over San Marino in February 2007
• The 1-0 over Wales in Croke Park the following month

But these were not consecutive games, there were two more games between the Cyprus and San Marino games:

• 7th October 2006 Cyprus 5-2 Republic of Ireland
• 11th October 2006 Republic of Ireland 1-1 Czech Republic
• 15th November 2006 Republic of Ireland 5-0 San Marino
• 7th February 2007 San Marino 1-2 Republic of Ireland

So, let's look at who's scored in the most consecutive games first, with consecutive appearances to come in a later article.

Paddy Moore was the first player to score in three consecutive games for the Republic of Ireland, scoring four times against Belgium in 1934 between two games against the Netherlands in 1932 and 1934. Moore had also scored on his previous international appearance against Spain in 1931, but didn't appear in the subsequent return game against the same opposition.

Jimmy Dunne scored in three consecutive games in 1936, against Switzerland, Hungary and Luxembourg in 1936. The following year the player managed it again, scoring against Norway in consecutive games in 1937, followed by a strike against Czechoslovakia in May 1938.

A decade later, in 1949, Con Martin scored three of his six international goals in successive games against Spain, Finland and England (in their first home defeat to a non British side).

In 1955, hall of fame member Arthur Fitzsimons scored in the first of three consecutive games against Yugoslavia and Spain before going on to score against Netherlands in the following May.

A year later, Dermot Curtis scored against Denmark, before following it up with strikes against Poland and Austria in 1958.

In 1960, Fionan Fagan became the first player to score in four straight games for Ireland when he scored against Germany, Sweden, Wales and Norway.

Two years later Liam Tuohy became the seventh player to score in three successive games, with goals against Austria, and then two games against Iceland.

It would take more than two decades before another Irish player managed three goals in three games when Frank Stapleton scored against Iceland, Spain in 1982 and Malta the following March.

In 2002 Robbie Keane became the second of two players to score in four successive games, with goals against Germany, Saudi Arabia, Spain in the World Cup and a friendly against Finland in the same year. Keane also scored in three consecutive games in a week and a half when he scored against Northern Ireland and Scotland in the Nations Cup and in a qualifier against Macedonia a week later.

Finally, Robbie Brady is the most recent player to manage the feat, scoring against Italy and France in Euro 2016 and against Oman in Robbie Keane's final game.

Player	Streak	Games
Fionan Fagan	4	11th May 1960 Germany 0-1 Republic of Ireland 18th May 1960 Sweden 4-1 Republic of Ireland 28th September 1960 Republic of Ireland 2-3 Wales 6th November 1960 Republic of Ireland 3-1 Norway
Robbie Keane	4	5th June 2002 Germany 1-1 Republic of Ireland 11th June 2002 Saudi Arabia 0-3 Republic of Ireland 16th June 2002 Spain 1-1 Republic of Ireland 21st August 2002 Finland 0-3 Republic of Ireland
Paddy Moore	3	8th May 1932 Holland 0-2 Republic of Ireland 25th February 1934 Republic of Ireland 4-4 Belgium 8th April 1934 Holland 5-2 Republic of Ireland
Jimmy Dunne	3	17th March 1936 Republic of Ireland 1-0 Switzerland 3rd May 1936 Hungary 3-3 Republic of Ireland 9th May 1936 Luxembourg 1-5 Republic of Ireland
Jimmy Dunne	3	10th October 1937 Norway 2–3 Republic of Ireland 7th November 1937 Republic of Ireland 3–3 Norway 18th May 1938 Czechoslovakia 2–2 Republic of Ireland
Con Martin	3	8th September 1949 Republic of Ireland 3-0 Finland 21st September 1949 England 0-2 Republic of Ireland 9th October 1949 Finland 1-1 Republic of Ireland
Arthur Fitzsimons	3	19th October 1955 Republic of Ireland 1-4 Yugoslavia 27th November 1955 Republic of Ireland 2-2 Spain 10th May 1956 Holland 1-4 Republic of Ireland
Dermot Curtis	3	2nd October 1957 Denmark 0-2 Republic of Ireland 11th May 1958 Poland 2-2 Republic of Ireland 14th May 1958 Austria 3-1 Republic of Ireland
Liam Tuohy	3	8th April 1962 Republic of Ireland 2-3 Austria 12th August 1962 Republic of Ireland 4-2 Iceland 2nd September 1962 Iceland 1-1 Republic of Ireland
Frank Stapleton	3	13th October 1982 Republic of Ireland 2-0 Iceland 17th November 1982 Republic of Ireland 3-3 Spain 30th March 1983 Malta 0-1 Republic of Ireland
Robbie Keane	3	24th May 2011 Republic of Ireland 5-0 Northern Ireland 29th May 2011 Republic of Ireland 1-0 Scotland 4th June 2011 Macedonia 0-2 Republic of Ireland
Robbie Brady	3	22nd June 2016 Italy 0-1 Republic of Ireland 26th June 2016 France 2-1 Republic of Ireland 31st August 2016 Republic of Ireland 4-0 Oman

Most goals against single opposition

Former Republic of Ireland striker John Aldridge celebrated his 59th birthday recently, and (as we do with many former internationals) we posted the history of his Irish international caps and goals on twitter and facebook

Happy birthday @Realaldo474(69 caps, 19 goals), 59 today! 🎂 #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/8f6iNJPCN4

— Irish Abroad (@irish_abroad) September 18, 2017

One of our facebook followers noticed that he had scored eight goals against Latvia, and wondered was this a record for Irish players - i.e. had any player scored more goals against single opposition over the course of his career?

Usually when there's a question related to Irish goalscoring records, the answer is Robbie Keane, but not so in this case. The Irish record caps holder and goal scorer found the back of the net five times against three different countries - Georgia, Faroe Islands and Gibraltar - and is joined by Don Givens who also notched five goals against Turkey in three games, including four in one game.

This leaves Aldridge's eight goals in four games against Latvia in as the current holder of this record.

Player	Opposition	Home Goals	Away Goals	Total
John Aldridge	Latvia	5	3	8
Don Givens	Turkey	4	1	5
Robbie Keane	Georgia	5	0	5
Robbie Keane	Faroe Islands	5	0	5
Robbie Keane	Gibraltar	3	2	5

50 Cap Club

James McClean's start against Mexico was the Derryman's 50th cap for the Republic of Ireland, the 38th player to pass the milestone for their country.
We've examined the records and come up with some interesting facts about the other members of the list.

First
The first player to earn 50 caps for the Republic of Ireland was John Giles. It took the midfielder more than 17 years to amass the total from his debut against Sweden in 1959, only a few days short of his 19th birthday, until June 1977 away to Bulgaria. Giles also took the longest to earn his caps, although there were fewer international games during his career.

Fastest
Only Glenn Whelan earned his 50 caps in a shorter timespan than McClean. The midfielder's 50th international appearance came 1908 days after being given his debut by Giovanni Trapattoni, narrowly ahead of McClean's half century which came 1920 days after his first appearance by the same manager.

Starts and Introductions
John Giles, Mick Martin, Liam Brady, Packie Bonner, Ray Houghton and Steve Staunton started every one of their first 50 appearances. Shane Long is the only player to have started fewer games than McClean on his way to 50 caps, the striker started 23 and was introduced in 27 games, coincidentally a perfect reflection of McClean's 27 starts and 23 introductions.

Youngest/Oldest
Robbie Keane is the youngest player to reach the landmark. The striker earned his 50th cap against Romania in May 2004, aged 23 years and 10 months. John Giles was the oldest player to earn his caps, at 36 years, 6 months.

Player	First Appearance	50th Appearance	Starts	Intro	Age	Time Taken
John Giles	1 November 1959	1 June 1977	50	0	36 years, 6 months	17 years, 7 months
Paddy Mulligan	4 May 1969	29 October 1979	48	2	34 years, 7 months	10 years, 5 months
Don Givens	27 May 1969	30 April 1980	47	3	30 years, 8 months	10 years, 11 months
Mick Martin	10 October 1971	17 November 1982	50	0	31 years, 4 months	11 years, 1 months
Liam Brady	30 October 1974	26 March 1985	50	0	29 years, 1 months	10 years, 4 months
Frank Stapleton	13 October 1976	25 May 1986	49	1	29 years, 11 months	9 years, 7 months
David O'Leary	8 September 1976	27 May 1990	47	3	32 years, 0 months	13 years, 8 months
Chris Hughton	29 October 1979	2 June 1990	46	4	31 years, 5 months	10 years, 7 months
Kevin Moran	30 April 1980	2 June 1990	48	2	34 years, 1 months	10 years, 1 months
Mick McCarthy	23 May 1984	14 November 1990	49	1	31 years, 9 months	6 years, 5 months
Packie Bonner	24 May 1981	1 June 1991	50	0	31 years, 0 months	10 years, 0 months
Paul McGrath	5 February 1985	25 March 1992	45	5	32 years, 3 months	7 years, 1 months
John Aldridge	26 March 1986	18 November 1992	42	8	34 years, 2 months	6 years, 7 months
Ray Houghton	26 March 1986	28 April 1993	50	0	31 years, 3 months	7 years, 1 months
Ronnie Whelan Jnr	29 April 1981	29 May 1994	38	12	32 years, 8 months	13 years, 1 months
Tony Cascarino	11 September 1985	5 June 1994	28	22	31 years, 9 months	8 years, 8 months
Steve Staunton	19 October 1988	28 June 1994	50	0	25 years, 5 months	5 years, 8 months
Andy Townsend	7 February 1989	7 September 1994	45	5	31 years, 1 months	5 years, 7 months
Niall Quinn	25 May 1986	3 June 1995	37	13	28 years, 7 months	9 years, 0 months
Denis Irwin	12 September 1990	18 November 1998	48	2	33 years, 0 months	8 years, 2 months
Roy Keane	22 May 1991	24 March 2001	49	1	29 years, 6 months	9 years, 10 months
Gary Kelly	23 March 1994	16 June 2002	41	9	28 years, 0 months	8 years, 2 months
Jason McAteer	23 March 1994	21 August 2002	34	16	31 years, 2 months	8 years, 4 months
Gary Breen	29 May 1996	16 October 2002	46	4	28 years, 10 months	6 years, 4 months
Shay Given	27 March 1996	30 April 2003	49	1	26 years, 10 months	7 years, 1 months
Ian Harte	2 June 1996	19 August 2003	44	6	25 years, 11 months	7 years, 2 months
Kenny Cunningham	24 April 1996	6 September 2003	44	6	32 years, 2 months	7 years, 4 months
Kevin Kilbane	6 September 1997	11 October 2003	41	9	26 years, 8 months	6 years, 1 months
Robbie Keane	25 March 1998	27 May 2004	47	3	23 years, 10 months	6 years, 2 months
Damien Duff	25 March 1998	9 February 2005	41	9	25 years, 11 months	6 years, 10 months
Steven Finnan	26 April 2000	17 November 2007	40	10	31 years, 6 months	7 years, 6 months
John O'Shea	15 August 2001	19 November 2008	49	1	27 years, 6 months	7 years, 3 months
Richard Dunne	26 April 2000	1 April 2009	43	7	29 years, 6 months	8 years, 11 months
Aidan McGeady	2 June 2004	10 June 2012	31	19	26 years, 2 months	8 years, 0 months
Kevin Doyle	1 March 2006	18 June 2012	47	3	28 years, 9 months	6 years, 3 months
Glenn Whelan	24 May 2008	14 August 2013	48	2	29 years, 7 months	5 years, 2 months
Shane Long	7 February 2007	14 November 2014	23	27	27 years, 9 months	7 years, 9 months
James McClean	29 February 2012	2 June 2017	27	23	28 years, 1 months	5 years, 3 months

Guinness World Record Application - Appeal Denied

In January of this year, we sent an application to the Guinness World Records(GWR) on behalf of  Robbie Keane to recognise his record of scoring in 19 consecutive years of international football as a World Record with the title "International soccer goals scored in most consecutive years "

Following the submission, we conducted our own research to verify it, and were unable to find any player with a superior record.

Almost two weeks ago, GWR responded that they had rejected the application, but recommended appealing the decision with a different title, we suggested "Most consecutive years of scoring in international soccer"

The record manager handling the application has replied to the appeal with the following

We are not able to change the titles upon request. These titles and records have been set up for everyone to apply to. We have other criteria than the ones mentioned that need to be fulfilled as well and we don't feel like this is a record we should monitor. Kind regards

Needless to say we are very disappointed with this response after the effort put in over the last few months, and would like to thank everyone for the support received since we first launched the application five months ago, especially Joe Leogue of the Examiner who's been covering the story since the beginning.

If Robbie's record is eventually broken,we do hope that his achievement is recognised by the relevant bodies at that time. We suspect Cristiano Ronaldo may do it, but he'll have to continue scoring every year until 2022 in order for a new record to be set!

Guinness World Record Application - Update

In January, we submitted an application to Guinness World Records on behalf of Robbie Keane to recognise his record of scoring at international level in 19 consecutive years as a world record.

Unfortunately, yesterday we received a mail from Guinness to inform us that they would not be accepting the proposal as a World Records title. While we are disappointed with this, it might not be the end of the application, as we can submit an enquiry on the rejection. We felt that the following text from the email was interesting: "Unfortunately, after thoroughly reviewing your application with members of our research team, we are afraid to say that we cannot accept your proposal as a Guinness World Records title." Could it be that the issue is as simple as the title of the record?
If that is the case, we've submitted the following as an alternative title: "Most consecutive years of scoring in international soccer"

The email also included the following guidelines:
Every record verified by Guinness World Records must be measurable by a single superlative, verifiable, standardisable, breakable and also present an element of skill.
Let's examine each point here

• Single superlative: Robbie scored in 19 consecutive years. No other player in international football history has scored in more than 14 years, currently held jointly by Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo
• Verifiable: International goalscoring histories are freely available online, we've done our own research (see below) but are open to correction
• Standardisable: Comparison of two (or more) players' goalscoring records is straightforward
• Breakable: A player would need to scored in 20 consecutive years to break the record. Difficult, but not impossible
• Element of skill: No other international player in the history of the game has come close to accomplishing what Robbie did. We believe this qualifies Robbie's record as an element of skill

During our research, we found four men who have held this record, two jointly.

• Imre Schlosser-Lakatos(Hungary): The Hungarian striker set the record by scoring in 11 consecutive years from 1908 to 1918 (inclusive)
• Ferenc Puskas(Hungary): The Galloping Major broke his compatriot's record in 1954 with a goal against Turkey. This was the twelfth consecutive year in which the striker had scored
• Andres Oper(Estonia):  The Estonian striker equalled Puskas' record in 2008 with a goal against Malta
• Robbie Keane: Puskas and Oper's joint record was broken in 2010 when Robbie scored in a friendly against Algeria, and extended every year in which he scored until he retired in 2016

Finally, here's the table of players and their goalscoring records from our research

Names	Country	Goals	Career Length	Longest Streak
Robbie Keane	Republic of Ireland	68	19	19
Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	71	15	14
Wayne Rooney	England	53	14	14
Hakan Sukur	Turkey	51	16	13
Asamoah Gyan	Ghana	49	15	13
Tim Cahill	Australia	48	14	13
Ferenc Puskas	Hungary	84	12	12
Didier Drogba	Ivory Coast	65	13	12
Samuel Eto'o	Cameroon	56	18	12
Lukas Podolski	Germany	48	13	12
Andres Oper	Estonia	38	20	12

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

September 2016 Appearance Stats

Irish Abroad players appearance statistics for September 2016: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/MonthlyStats?month=9

Wins
Sheffield Wednesday's Keiren Westwood was joined by Leeds' Eunan O'Kane and Norwich City duo Robbie Brady and Wes Hoolahan in winning four games in September

Draws
Defender Daniel Devine, and midfielders Jonathan Douglas, Gary Dicker, and Olamide Shodipo all drew two games in the second month of the 2016/17 season

Losses
Derby County's defensive pairing Richard Keogh and Cyrus Christie both started four of Derby's losses in September

Starts/Completed Games
Keogh, Christie and fellow defender Greg Cunningham all started six games, with the Derby pair completing 90 minutes in each game. Cunningham also managed to collect three bookings in these six games

Substitutions/Introductions
Wes Hoolahan was substituted in all four games he started in September, while fellow midfielders Stephen Quinn and Darragh Lenihan were both introduced four times

Stayed On Bench
Goalkeeper Jack Bonham was an unused substitute five times in September, while of the outfield players, John O'Shea, Anthony Forde, Alan McCormack and Jack Byrne were all left on the bench by their respective managers three times

Goals
Robbie Keane(3) and Anthony Pilkington(2) were the only Irish players to score more than once in September