FAI...June 2024 Friendlies v Hungary and Portugal

[ashman]

Agree about Houghton although don't forget he was playing for Oxford in the mid eighties and the Scottish midfield at the time was full of stars like mcstay, Strahan, souness, mcavennie, aitken. Certainly mcgeady and mccarthy have had it worst. The English lads who declare for Ireland by and large wouldn't get near the England team but both these lads would be regulars for Scotland and then you have the added nasty sectarian dimension which unfortunately both the lads have been subjected to. I know both these guys haven't shown their true potential plying for Ireland but we must not forget the difficult decision they had to make and abuse they suffered to wear the green shirt as opposed to a number of english lads who wont admit that Ireland is their plan b. Just to add though I don't care if Ireland wasn't their preferred choice just as long as they are fully committed now.

Correct : mcgeady and McCarthy have got awful stick . They also got abuse in scotland.

[BennyCake]

Agree about Houghton although don't forget he was playing for Oxford in the mid eighties and the Scottish midfield at the time was full of stars like mcstay, Strahan, souness, mcavennie, aitken. Certainly mcgeady and mccarthy have had it worst. The English lads who declare for Ireland by and large wouldn't get near the England team but both these lads would be regulars for Scotland and then you have the added nasty sectarian dimension which unfortunately both the lads have been subjected to. I know both these guys haven't shown their true potential plying for Ireland but we must not forget the difficult decision they had to make and abuse they suffered to wear the green shirt as opposed to a number of english lads who wont admit that Ireland is their plan b. Just to add though I don't care if Ireland wasn't their preferred choice just as long as they are fully committed now.

Correct : mcgeady and McCarthy have got awful stick . They also got abuse in scotland.

Scotland fans should be over the moon that those 2 opted for Ireland, because they're both shite!

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Agree about Houghton although don't forget he was playing for Oxford in the mid eighties and the Scottish midfield at the time was full of stars like mcstay, Strahan, souness, mcavennie, aitken. Certainly mcgeady and mccarthy have had it worst. The English lads who declare for Ireland by and large wouldn't get near the England team but both these lads would be regulars for Scotland and then you have the added nasty sectarian dimension which unfortunately both the lads have been subjected to. I know both these guys haven't shown their true potential plying for Ireland but we must not forget the difficult decision they had to make and abuse they suffered to wear the green shirt as opposed to a number of english lads who wont admit that Ireland is their plan b. Just to add though I don't care if Ireland wasn't their preferred choice just as long as they are fully committed now.

Correct : mcgeady and McCarthy have got awful stick . They also got abuse in scotland.

Scotland fans should be over the moon that those 2 opted for Ireland, because they're both shite!

They are not shite. McGeady is streaky he is either on fire or just goes missing in action Id say his future with Ireland is on hold though as he hasnt played for Everton in ages. McCarthy is one of the most consistent players in the premiership so his poor form for Ireland is a mystery. The other problem in terms of McCarthy is there is no alternative. Whelan isnt up to much, Im not convinced by Quinn and Gibson isnt playing. As for Scotland the majority of their good football goes through Maloney who fair play to him has done well but he is a championship player and thats his level but he is head and shoulders above the rest of the dross on that team which makes our performances against them all the more embarrassing

[Applesisapples]

Best quote I saw on Joe.ie was "I see Jack Grealish has retired from International Football." His situation though is not like nationalists in NI declaring for the ROI, we are brought up supporting the team as our national team and now have the right under the GFA to choose it's as it should be. Good luck to Grealish but I suspect if he had have been good enough he'd have been in the English schoolboy setup...time will tell.

I'm afraid there are very clear parallels between the 2 situations. i.e. One Association spending time and money to develop a player, only for said player to opt for another international team.

Actually a lot of that money comes from taxes which are paid by all in the north. We in the north are quite entitled to designate as Irish and hold an Irish passport and as such play for the ROI. Grealish is making his decision based on his pocket not his nationality as is his right so good luck to him. Instead of bitching about the one that got away embrace those who want to wear the jersey. Perhaps if Windsor wasn't awash with Ulster banners union flags and GSTQ more nationalists might decide to don the green of NI.

[Zulu]

Best quote I saw on Joe.ie was "I see Jack Grealish has retired from International Football." His situation though is not like nationalists in NI declaring for the ROI, we are brought up supporting the team as our national team and now have the right under the GFA to choose it's as it should be. Good luck to Grealish but I suspect if he had have been good enough he'd have been in the English schoolboy setup...time will tell.

I'm afraid there are very clear parallels between the 2 situations. i.e. One Association spending time and money to develop a player, only for said player to opt for another international team.

Actually a lot of that money comes from taxes which are paid by all in the north. We in the north are quite entitled to designate as Irish and hold an Irish passport and as such play for the ROI. Grealish is making his decision based on his pocket not his nationality as is his right so good luck to him. Instead of bitching about the one that got away embrace those who want to wear the jersey. Perhaps if Windsor wasn't awash with Ulster banners union flags and GSTQ more nationalists might decide to don the green of NI.

No he's not. He clearly feels he is English and the only reason he would have chosen Ireland was if he was certain he had no future with England. I can't understand the mentality of Irish soccer supporters who seem to be happy to take anyone for Ireland irrespective of whether they feel Irish or not. A guy could hang around the England set up like some love struck teenager waiting for the call and when he realises they are out of his league plenty of Irish fans are delighted if he picks us up for a handy feel up at the back of the cinema.

I live in Britain so I could see how kids I might someday raise here could feel more Irish than British but if they had a choice of playing for Ireland or England I'd expect them to go with the country they feel closest to. If they felt more English than Irish then go down that path as international representation should be about just that - representing a nation, not simply a career move supported by fans more interested in boozing it up at a world cup than actually having a national team which represents you.

[Applesisapples]

I don't have a problem with  Grealish declaring for England, I agree if he doesn't want to play for Ireland then that's fine. But if you check out his tweets as published by Joe.ie you would see his change of heart most likely out of loyalty to the half crown as we say in this part of Ireland.

[dec]

For those of you in the US, both games are live on ESPN.

http://www.livesoccertv.com/channels/espn/

   Oct 08    2:45pm    Ireland Republic vs Germany    UEFA Euro Qualifying
   Oct 11    2:45pm    Poland vs Ireland Republic    UEFA Euro Qualifying

[Boycey]

I bought one adult and one child ticket for Thurs night, for various reasons I'm not taking young lad anymore. I was gonna see tomoro about changing it to another adult ticket but does anyone know how closely they look at these things at the Aviva. I mightn't bother paying the extra if I thought they'd not check 

[ashman]

To be fair to Grealish his grandparents are irish born . His parents are English born.

There is a remove. 

[Main Street]

Best quote I saw on Joe.ie was "I see Jack Grealish has retired from International Football." His situation though is not like nationalists in NI declaring for the ROI, we are brought up supporting the team as our national team and now have the right under the GFA to choose it's as it should be. Good luck to Grealish but I suspect if he had have been good enough he'd have been in the English schoolboy setup...time will tell.

I'm afraid there are very clear parallels between the 2 situations. i.e. One Association spending time and money to develop a player, only for said player to opt for another international team.

Actually a lot of that money comes from taxes which are paid by all in the north. We in the north are quite entitled to designate as Irish and hold an Irish passport and as such play for the ROI. Grealish is making his decision based on his pocket not his nationality as is his right so good luck to him. Instead of bitching about the one that got away embrace those who want to wear the jersey. Perhaps if Windsor wasn't awash with Ulster banners union flags and GSTQ more nationalists might decide to don the green of NI.

No he's not. He clearly feels he is English and the only reason he would have chosen Ireland was if he was certain he had no future with England. I can't understand the mentality of Irish soccer supporters who seem to be happy to take anyone for Ireland irrespective of whether they feel Irish or not. A guy could hang around the England set up like some love struck teenager waiting for the call and when he realises they are out of his league plenty of Irish fans are delighted if he picks us up for a handy feel up at the back of the cinema.

I live in Britain so I could see how kids I might someday raise here could feel more Irish than British but if they had a choice of playing for Ireland or England I'd expect them to go with the country they feel closest to. If they felt more English than Irish then go down that path as international representation should be about just that - representing a nation, not simply a career move supported by fans more interested in boozing it up at a world cup than actually having a national team which represents you.

That attitude that you attribute to Grealish with such certainty has no supporting evidence, not even any anecdotal evidence.
It's not a  black and white situation. Grealish mulled over this final football decision for 18 months and England have been after him  and pestering him since he was 14 years old, during all the time he was with the Irish set up. England have always wanted him, therefore the deduction is  that he gave his final decision some serious thought. England finally became his first choice, however it's not difficult to appreciate that he experienced conflict  coming to that decision.

[clarshack]

What's parking like around the aviva?

[ashman]

Is it me but do the vast majority of people in Ireland not give a flying fook about the 26 county soccerball team ??

[laoislad]

Is it me but do the vast majority of people in Ireland not give a flying fook about the 26 county soccerball team ??

Just you.

[ballinaman]

Is it me but do the vast majority of people in Ireland not give a flying fook about the 26 county soccerball team ??

Just you.

Yep, just you.

[JoG2]

Prediction time:

Ireland 1 - 1 Germany
Poland 1 - 2 Ireland

FTLOGCOYBIGTF !