Round Up for weekend of Friday, 22nd February 2019

Friday, 22nd February 2019

Premier League

Cardiff 1-5 Watford

Harry Arter made his 250th career start

Saturday, 23rd February 2019

Championship

Norwich 3-2 Bristol City

Callum O'Dowda scored his fifth goal of the season, this is the first time since 2015/16 that the midfielder has reached this total

Reading 1-1 Rotherham

John O'Shea came off the bench for his first appearance since Tuesday, 1st January

West Bromwich Albion 0-1 Sheffield United

Enda Stevens was booked for the first time in a month

League 1

Bristol Rovers 0-2 Sunderland

Aiden McGeady scored his tenth goal in League One

Burton Albion 0-1 Fleetwood

Paddy Madden was shown his first yellow card since Saturday, 29th December

Plymouth 5-1 Rochdale

Graham Carey completed his first assist in a month

Walsall 3-2 Bradford City

Anthony O'Connor scored his 15th goal of his career

League 2

Bury 3-1 Oldham

Jay O'Shea scored his 20th goal for Bury in what was his 350th appearance in English football

Crawley 1-1 Macclesfield

Reece Grego Cox's second half introduction was his first appearance since Tuesday, 15th January

Stevenage 1-2 Northampton

Sam Foley was booked for the first tme since Tuesday, 8th January in his first appearance since Saturday, 12th January

Yeovil 1-0 Cambridge United

In his first start for Yeovil, Courtney Duffus scored his first goal in English football

Slovakian Super Liga

Spartak Trnava 3-1 DAC

Connor Ronan's second half introduction was the midfielder's 50th career appearance

Sunday, 24th February 2019

Premier League

Arsenal 2-0 Southampton

Michael Obafemi's second half introduction was his first appearance in two months

League 1

Luton 1-1 Coventry

Jordan Shipley scored his first goal of the season

Scottish Premier League

Celtic 4-1 Motherwell

Conor Sammon came off the bench for his first appearance in a month

Australian A-League

Western Sydney Wanderers 1-1 Perth Glory

Andy Keogh was booked for the first time since Saturday, 8th December

A brief history of formerly Irish dual nationalist footballers

It's been a week since Declan Rice announced that he was changing his international allegiance from the Republic of Ireland to England. While Rice had earned three caps at senior level for the Republic against Turkey, France and the USA, none of these were in a competitive international, leaving him open to declaring for another side.

The announcement itself has resulted in waves of comments from those within and without the football family, including thinkpieces on the state of underage football in Ireland, the over-reliance on players born, and developed, outside of the FAI's underage setup, and comparisons with similar defections in other sports.

Only one other senior international has changed his allegiance before this - defender Alex Bruce switched from the Republic, having earned two caps, the last of which came in 2008, to Northern Ireland in 2013, and has matched that total with Michael O'Neill's side.

Three other players have also switched from Ireland to England in recent years. In 2015, then U21 player of the year Jack Grealish notified the national side that he wanted to represent the Three Lions. Previous to this, in 2012 Michael Keane decided to play for England competitively at U19 level having represented Ireland at the same level, but only in friendlies. Of these two, only Keane has earned senior caps for his country, four in 2017 and one in 2018. Ironically enough, his twin brother, Will Keane, is currently in the process of changing his international allegiance from England to Ireland. Having only appeared in friendlies at U16 and U17 for Ireland, playmaker Daniel Crowley decided to play for England competitively at U17 and U19 level. However, in recent years Crowley has spoken of a desire to play for the Republic senior side.

In 2009. former Aston Villa, and Ireland U21, defender Shane Lowry decided to represet Australia (where he was born to Irish parents), although he has yet to make his international debut.

Having appeared for Ireland at U20 and U21 level, Dublin born Eamon Zayed opted to represent Libya at senior international level, qualifying through his Libyan grandparents. Of the players to change allegiance thus far, Zayed has had arguably the most successful international career - playing eight times and scoring once.

What does this mean for Rice? Historically, no player who switched from the FAI has reached double figures in terms of international caps, and Rice himself has said he does not believe the act of switching alone will guarantee him a place in the England squad. His current club mate Mark Noble, once touted as an Ireland callup, has not earned an England cap, and at 31 is unlikely to do so before he retires. Current England squad members Eric Dier(25) and Jordan Henderson(28) have 38 and 48 caps, respectively, as well as playing at higher profile clubs, and have Champions League experience. The process of switching allegiance itself is time consuming, so his is unlikely to be processed before the summer, meaning his second international debut will probably not be until September, at the earliest.

As noted by Daniel McDonnell of independent.ie, the real long term effects of Rice no longer playing for the Republic could be a suspicion of players either born outside Ireland, or who qualify for other countries through parentage.

What could have been.

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 15th February 2019

Friday, 15th February 2019

Australian A-League

Newcastle Jets 3-1 Melbourne City

Roy O'Donovan scored his 15th goal for Newcastle Jets

Saturday, 16th February 2019

Championship

Rotherham 2-2 Sheffield Wednesday

Richie Towell scored his tenth goal for Rotherham

Ipswich 1-1 Stoke City

James McClean scored for the first time since August in his 300th appearance in English football
Alan Judge completed his first assist since signing for Ipswich

Sheffield United 4-0 Reading

In his first appearance for Sheffield United, Scott Hogan made his first assist of the season
John Egan made his 100th appearance in the Championship

League 1

Bradford City 0-0 Plymouth

Billy Clarke started his first game in two months

Charlton 0-0 Blackpool

Josh Cullen made his 100th career appearance

Gillingham 1-0 Scunthorpe

Mark Byrne's winner was his first goal since September
Callum Reilly's first booking since October was his fifth yellow card of the season

Oxford United 0-1 Peterborough

Samir Carruthers made his 100th appearance in the competition

League 2

Exeter 0-1 Bury

Joe Murphy was booked for the fifth time this season

Grimsby 1-0 Cheltenham

Kevin Dawson made his 200th appearance in English football

Lincoln City 2-2 Stevenage

Michael Timlin made his 200th appearance in the competition
Cian Bolger was booked for the first time this season

Scottish Premier League

Hibernian 2-0 Hamilton Academical

Daryl Horgan made his 25th appearance for Hibernian
David McMillan made his first start for Hamilton Academical

English FA Cup

AFC Wimbledon 0-1 Millwall

Shane McLoughlin made his first appearance in the FA Cup

Newport Co. 1-4 Manchester City

Padraig Amond's consolation strike was his tenth goal in the Cup

Australian A-League

Perth Glory 4-0 Brisbane Roar

Andy Keogh made his first assist of the season

Slovakian Super Liga

DAC 0-1 Slovan Bratislava

Connor Ronan came off the bench to make his first appearance for DAC

Sunday, 17th February 2019

Championship

Blackburn 0-1 Middlesbrough

Derrick Williams was sent off for the second time this season

Scottish Premier League

Kilmarnock 0-1 Celtic

Alan Power made his 50th appearance in the SPL