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.

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)

Dispelling The Mistrust Myths

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Round Up - Weekend of 27th August 2016

Saturday, 27 August 2016
Today was the first time that two Irish players scored an own goal on the same day since January

Premier League

Crystal Palace 1-1 Bournemouth
Damien Delaney was booked for the first time this season

Everton 1-0 Stoke City
Shay Given's own goal this against Everton was the goalkeeper's first OG since October 2007

Hull City 0-1 Manchester United
David Meyler was booked for the first time since October 2015

Championship

Barnsley 4-0 Rotherham
Aidan White made his 25th appearance for Barnsley

Blackburn 0-1 Fulham
After signing for Blackburn on Friday, both Tommie Hoban and Derrick Williams made their first appearances for the Lancashire side

Newcastle Utd 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
Having signed for Brighton on Friday, Shane Duffy went straight into the starting XI for the Seagulls against Newcastle

League 1

Bradford City 1-1 Oldham
Billy Clarke's second half penalty was his 20th goal for Bradford

Chesterfield 1-3 Millwall
Shaun Williams was booked for the first time since February 2016

Coventry 1-1 Northampton
Despite the season only being a month old, John-Joe O'Toole picked up his fifth booking in this game

Port Vale 3-1 Scunthorpe
Paddy Madden came off the bench to make his first appearance for Scunthorpe this season

Rochdale 1-1 AFC Wimbledon
Donal McDermott made his 50th appearance for Rochdale

Walsall 3-3 Bury
After signing a new contract with Aston Villa this week, Kevin Toner went out on loan to Walsall and made his first appearance this season for his new club

League 2

Accrington Stanley 2-3 Morecambe
John O'Sullivan was booked for the first time this season

Crawley 1-3 Notts County
James Collins had the misfortune of scoring the first own goal of his career in this game

Scottish Premier League
Inverness CT 2-1 St Johnstone
Joe Shaughnessy made his 50th start for St Johnstone

Celtic 4-1 Aberdeen
Adam Rooney's goal against Celtic was the Aberdeen striker's first goal in more than a month

Scottish First Division

Falkirk 1-0 Dumbarton
Danny Rogers made his 50th appearance for Falkirk

Round up - May 2016

Friday, 27th May 2016
International Friendly
Republic of Ireland 1-1 Netherlands
After missing the friendlies in March, Jonathan Walters returned to the Ireland starting XI for the first time since the second leg of the play off against Bosnia in November, the same game where Jeff Hendrick made his last appearance before making his 20th appearance for Ireland against the Dutch today.
Darren Randolph made his fifth start for Ireland
David McGoldrick's start was the striker's first appearance for Ireland in almost a year, having not played for the Boys in Green since 7th June 2015
Harry Arter's second cap for Ireland, almost a year after his first, was the Bournemouth midfielder's first start for Ireland, and unfortunately marked it with his first yellow card
Darron Gibson came off the bench to make his first appearance for Ireland since Nov 2014
Wes Hoolahan made his twentieth home appearance for Ireland
Shane Long scored his sixteenth goal for Ireland

Sunday, 29th May 2016
League 1 Play Off Final
Barnsley 3-1 Millwall
Conor Hourihane made his fiftieth start of the season in the play off final and the Barnsley captain led by example, assisting two of the Tykes' goals in their win.

Monday, 30th May 2016
International Friendly
Republic of Ireland 1-1 Belarus
Shay Given returned to the starting XI for Ireland for the first time since the home qualifier against Germany in October 2015
Darron Gibson made his first start since November 2014
Ciaran Clark made his tenth home start for Ireland
Jeff Hendrick and Richard Keogh both returned to the Irish starting XI for the first game since the second leg of the play off against Bosnia in November
Cyrus Christie made his fifth appearance for Ireland, all of which have seen the Derby defender named in the starting XI
Wes Hoolahan made his thirtieth appearance for Ireland
David Forde came off the bench to make his first appearance since November 2014
Congratulations to Callum O'Dowda on making his senior international debut for Ireland! The Oxford United midfielder is the first player born after USA '94 to play senior international football for the Republic
Stephen Ward scored his third goal for Ireland, more than four years after his last international goal in November 2011

Round Up - Weekend of 13th May 2016

Friday, 13 May 2016
Championship Play-Off
Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
Richie Towell made his league debut for Brighton, this was his first appearance since starting for the Seagulls in the FA Cup in January

Scottish Championship Play-Off
Falkirk 3-2 Hibernian
Anthony Stokes was booked for the fifth time this season

Saturday, 14 May 2016
League 1 Play Off
Barnsley 3-0 Walsall
Conor Hourihane made his one hundredth start for Barnsley in the first leg of their play off semi final
Anthony Forde made his fiftieth appearance of the season

League 2 Play Off
AFC Wimbledon 1-0 Accrington Stanley
Seamus Conneely came off the bench to make his fiftieth appearance of the season

Scottish Premier League
Inverness CT 4-0 Dundee
In Inverness' last game of the season, Richie Foran scored his first goal since September 2013. After scoring the fourth goal of his career in the previous game, Daniel Devine scored his fifth goal of his career, and scored for two consecutive games for the first time in his career!

Sunday, 15 May 2016
Premier League
Southampton 4-1 Crystal Palace
Shane Long made his twenty-fifth start of the season

West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Liverpool
James McClean was booked for the eleventh time this season, three months after his last booking in February

Everton 3-0 Norwich
James McCarthy's goal this afternoon was his fifth goal for Everton, all five of which have come in the league

Watford 2-2 Sunderland
John O'Shea returned to the Sunderland starting XI to captain the side on the last day of the season, this was the defender's first start since 1st March

Stoke City 2-1 West Ham United
Shay Given and Darren Randolph are the first two Irish keepers to face each other in a Premier League game since Shay Given faced Paddy Kenny for Aston Villa and QPR, respectively, in February 2012 Given was booked for the first time this season, more than a year since his last yellow in May 2015

League 2
Plymouth 1-0 Portsmouth
Michael Doyle made his fiftieth appearance of the season

Scottish Premier League
Hearts 2-2 St Johnstone
Joe Shaughnessy scored the first own goal of his career

MLS
Columbus Crew 1-1 Colorado Rapids
Kevin Doyle marked his 25th appearance for Colorado Rapids with his second goal and second booking of the season

Round Up - Weekend of 15th April 2016

Friday, 15 April 2016
Championship
Hull City 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
David Meyler returned to the Hull starting XI for the first time since 8th March

Saturday, 16 April 2016
Premier League
Everton 1-1 Southampton
Darron Gibson returned to the starting XI for his first start since 9th January, this was also his first league start of the season. Remarkably, his booking today was the first time he'd been booked since September 2013 - it's been more than 900 days since his last yellow at club level!

Championship
Blackburn 0-2 Huddersfield
Shane Duffy and Darragh Lenihan were both booked for the tenth time this season. All of Lenihan's bookings this season have come in 2016.

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Ipswich
David McGoldrick made his first for Ipswich start since 31st October

League 1
Coventry 2-1 Millwall
Shaun Williams was sent off for the third time for Millwall (fourth in his career), his last red card was in December 2014

Gillingham 0-2 Port Vale
John Egan made his first start since 13th February

League 2 
AFC Wimbledon 1-0 Crawley
Connor Smith was booked for the first time this season, after more than two years since his last booking in February 2014
Charles Dunne was booked for the first time this season, having not been booked since January 2015

Bristol Rovers 2-1 Yeovil
Rory Gaffney scored his tenth goal of the season, more than a month after his last goal

Portsmouth 1-2 Plymouth
Carl McHugh was booked for the tenth time this season

Stevenage 2-1 Newport Co.
Jake Mulraney scored his first goal for Stevenage, which was also the first goal of the season, and the first goal of his career! Congratulations Jake!

Scottish FA Cup
Hibernian 0-0 Dundee Utd
Conrad Logan made his first appearance since December 2014, after recently signing a short term deal with Hibs

Sunday, 17 April 2016
Premier League
Arsenal 1-1 Crystal Palace
Damien Delaney made his 150th appearance for Crystal Palace

Monday, 18 April 2016
Premier League
Stoke City 0-4 Tottenham
Shay Given made his first start since 22nd September, and his first league start since May!

Further Reading
DAVID SHONFIELD: Cesare Maldini: The Italian who turned defending into an art - Irish Examiner
Football clubs trawl social media for gaffes by transfer targets - The Guardian
"The future for the League of Ireland is to have academies" according to Ruud Dokter - Off The Ball

Talking Points

Lamar Neagle of Seattle Sounders has expressed an interest in playing for the Republic of Ireland, but does he have the ability to replace one of the current squad's wingers - McClean, McGeady, Brady, or Pilkington?
Sean St Ledger is currently on trial at new MLS franchise Orlando City SC, after failing to get a contract at DC United, what would playing in Florida do for his international prospects?
Staying the MLS, with Kevin Doyle linked to Colorado Rapids, will a move to Denver affect his position in the Ireland squad?
Another recent exile is Kevin Foley, after moving to FC Kobenhavn of Denmark. Currently lying second in the Superliga, can playing on the continent get the full back into the senior side?
Kevin Walker scored a superb free kick for his new club Djurgårdens IF of Sweden, should the management team be booking a flight to Stockholm to watch the midfielder?
Following Rob Kiernan's loan move to Birmingham, and ironically moving up the Championship table, can he solidify their backline and make a late push for the play offs?
19 year old former Shelbourne winger Dylan Connolly was named on the bench for Ipswich this weekend, after a protracted transfer was finally completed. With the Tractor Boys challenging for a promotion this season, will we see him in the Premier League next season?
Seamus Coleman was linked with a move to German giants Bayern Munich in the weekend's papers, but can he replace Philip Lahm?
With a change in management at Aston Villa, how will this affect the careers of the Irish contingent at Villa Park?
Stephen Henderson returned in goals for Charlton at the weekend, with the keepers in the squad aging, can he make a case for inclusion?