Round Up for week of Tuesday, 25th February 2020

Tuesday, 25th February 2020

Championship

West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Preston North End

Callum Robinson completed his first assist in three months

League 1

Sunderland 1-1 Fleetwood

Paddy Madden assisted a goal for the first time in two months in what was his 40th appearance of the season

Blackpool 2-1 Bolton

Connor Ronan scored his first goal for Blackpool - this was his first goal since July

League 2

Grimsby 4-2 Newport Co.

Bradley Garmston scored his first goal for Grimsby, this was the defender's first goal since January 2018
Padraig Amond scored his 50th goal for Newport Co.

Cheltenham 2-1 Northampton

Jake Doyle-Hayes assisted a goal for the first time in two months

Scottish Premier League

Motherwell 1-2 St Mirren

Sam Foley was booked for the fifth time this season

Scottish Championship

Ayr 1-2 Greenock Morton

Aaron Drinan completed his first assist for Ayr

Dunfermline 1-2 Inverness CT

Aaron Doran scored his 15th goal in the Scottish Championship

Wednesday, 26th February 2020

Championship

Blackburn 0-0 Stoke City

Nathan Collins was named in the Stoke starting XI for the first time in two months

Millwall 0-0 Birmingham City

Alex Pearce's start was his 40th appearance for Millwall

CONCACAF Champions League

Atlanta United 3-0 Unknown Club

Having signed for Atlanta United in January, Jake Mulraney made his debut for the Five Stripes

Thursday, 27th February 2020

Europa League

Espanyol 3-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Matt Doherty's strike was the first goal scored by an Irish player in the knock out stages of the Europa League since Seamus Coleman scored against BSC Young Boys in February 2015

Is a goalkeeping crisis not being discussed?

With the play-off for Euro 2020 a month away, a lot of the recent discussion on the squad Mick McCarthy is set to announce on March 13th has been on the strikers - will Troy Parrott be named, has Shane Long's recent form earned him a recall, will David McGoldrick be recovered in time, can Aaron Connolly get back into the Brighton starting XI, does Scott Hogan's recent good form count, etc.

However, we think another conversation should be happening - who is going to be in goals against Slovakia?

Since the final whistle was blown against Denmark in November, first choice Darren Randolph played once for Middlesbrough before a thigh injury sidelined him. On recovering, he earned a move to Premier League side West Ham during the January transfer window. Unfortunately the Bray native has only appeared three times for the Hammers since the move, with his last appearance coming a month ago against West Brom in the FA Cup.

Mark Travers was named on the bench against Denmark, and has had a similar player record to Randolph since November - appearing three times for Bournemouth, twice in the FA Cup and once in the Premier League. Fellow unused substitute against the Danes Kieran O'Hara has played more games than any other number 1 since then, he's named in the starting XI for loan side Burton Albion, 21 times since that night in Aviva stadium. The Brewers currently sit twelfth in League One.

Looking at the other Irish goalkeepers playing outside Ireland, only five men - James McKeown, Jack Bonham, Max O'Leary, Danny Rogers, and Conrad Logan - have ten or more appearances since November, and none of them at a higher level than mid-table in England's third tier.

Of the other players capped at, or called up to, senior international level, Joe Murphy has appeared six times for Shrewsbury Town, Kristiansund's Sean McDermott's season ended in early December, and the Norwegian 2020 season will not kick off until early April. Caoimhin Kelleher has played twice for Liverpool, but is expected to be on U21 duty, and Kieren Westwood clarified on Twitter recently why he has not appeared for Sheffield Wednesday since the end of November.

So, with all that in mind - do we have a goalkeeping crisis?
Who would you like to see named in the squad?

Round up for weekend of Friday, 21st February 2020

Friday, 21st February 2020

Championship

Derby County 1-1 Fulham

Jason Knight's start was his 20th Championship appearance

Australian A-League

Western Sydney Wanderers 5-2 Adelaide United

Simon Cox scored his fifth goal of the season, and completed his first assist for Western Sydney Wanderers - his first in four months

Saturday, 22 February 2020

Premier League

Burnley 3-0 Bournemouth

Jeff Hendrick's start was his 120th appearance in the Premier League

Sheffield United 1-1 Brighton and Hove Albion

David McGoldrick's introduction was his first appearance in a month
Enda Stevens' goal (his first since December) was his tenth strike in English football
Aaron Connolly came off the bench for his first appearance in a month

Southampton 2-0 Aston Villa

U19 midfielder Will Smallbone's start was his Premier League debut - the 21st Irish player to appear in the Premier League this season, which is the most since the 2015/16 season
Michael Obafemi came off the bench for his 25th appearance for Southampton
Conor Hourihane's introduction was his first appearance in a month

Championship

Birmingham City 3-3 Sheffield Wednesday

Scott Hogan made his first assist of the season, and scored his fifth goal in six games

Bristol City 0-3 West Bromwich Albion

Callum O'Dowda's tenth start of the season (his first since the end of November) was also his 70th for Bristol City
Dara O'Shea made his tenth appearance for West Bromwich Albion
Callum Robinson scored for the second game in succession for the first time since April 2019

Charlton 3-1 Luton

Glen Rea was named in the Luton starting XI for the 130th time

Stoke City 2-0 Cardiff

Nathan Collins' late introduction was his 15th career appearance

Wigan 1-0 Millwall

Jay Molumby made his 30th appearance for Millwall, and was booked for the first time in two months

League 1

Ipswich 0-1 Oxford United

Alan Judge's start was his 50th appearance for Ipswich

Lincoln City 0-0 Gillingham

Cian Bolger's start was his 50th appearance for Lincoln City

Rochdale 1-2 Coventry

Paul McShane was booked for the first time since December 2017

Southend United 2-3 Burton Albion

Joe Shaughnessy started a game for the first time since November

League 2

Crawley 2-0 Stevenage

Canice Carroll was booked for the first time in three months

Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Macclesfield

Fiacre Kelleher was shown a yellow card for the first time in a month

Northampton 2-0 Exeter

Alan McCormack's second half introduction was his first appearance in two months

Plymouth 0-0 Cambridge United

Samir Carruthers's first booking since Saturday, 7 December 2019(78 days)

Salford City 1-2 Colchester

Darron Gibson was booked for the first time this season

Swindon Town 3-1 Grimsby

Eoin Doyle made his fifth assist of the season

Scottish Premier League

Hibernian 1-1 Livingston

Daryl Horgan's substitute appearance was his 60th appearance in the SPL

Scottish Championship

Greenock Morton 4-4 Alloa

Sean McGinty made his 50th appearance in the Scottish Championship

Australian A-League

Newcastle Jets 1-1 Melbourne Victory

Wes Hoolahan returned from injury with his first appearance since September
Roy O'Donovan scored his first goal since Saturday, 7th December

 

Sunday, 23rd February 2020

Scottish Premier League

Celtic 3-1 Kilmarnock

Alan Power's first red card since November 2015

Polish Ekstraklasa

Wisła Płock 1-1 Zagłębie Lubin

Cillian Sheridan was named in the Wisła Płock starting XI for the first time