February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Charlie Hurley had soldiered alongside Browne, a 27 year-old newcomer, for 90 minutes and, appraised of the financial situation, decided to take action.
He organized a whip-round among the rest of the squad and the joke was that during one night in Vienna, the Longford-born Browne eventually ended up making more money for one appearance than many professionals made during their entire international careers.
Up until the mid-seventies, successive Irish managers routinely had difficulty fielding a starting XI that consisted of full-time pros.
There were always about a dozen Irish knocking around the top flight of the English game at any one time, but this was an era when Matt Busby and others would regularly inform Irish players they were too ?injured? to report for international duty.
Then with short notice, Liam Tuohy, or whoever else was in charge, would cast around the League of Ireland for replacements.
?Jack Charlton can get a Premier division team out and have five or six Premier division players on the bench,? said Tuohy in 1994. ?The most I had were four First Division (what the Premiership was then known as) players, and often the reason they were available to you was because they were out of the first team.?
The history lesson is instructive because it underlines the current riches enjoyed by Brian Kerr. No Irish manager has ever enjoyed a greater pick of players. This point was emphasized last Monday when he announced a squad of 27 for last night’s friendly with Portugal.
In stark contrast to the old situation faced by Kerr?s good friend and mentor Tuohy, it?s now possible to pick an Irish XI made up of footballers now featuring regularly in either the Premiership or the Championship. That?s not counting Ian Harte, who is out injured in Spain, or Ronnie O?Brien of FC Dallas, in America?s Major League Soccer.
So how would this team of outsiders look? Well, we should qualify the selection by admitting it?s not the most balanced side ever, but we have selected each player in a role he?s figured in at some stage in his career.
Dean Kiely is a fairly obvious choice for goalkeeper. In front of him, Sheffield Wednesday?s Derek Geary at right-full and Derby County?s Jeff Kenna at left-full could flank Coventry?s Steve Staunton and Plymouth Argyle?s Graham Coughlan in the middle.
Geary or Coughlan have ever been capped, and granted, Kenna and Staunton are a bit long in the tooth, but this is in the interest of balance.
There are more options around the middle of the field where we?re opting to string five across in a defensive formation. For example, Lee Carsley has been a revelation for Everton, which is ironic since he absented himself from the international scene.
Alongside him patrolling the center, former Celtic trainee Michael Doyle is one of the few bright lights shining in what are dark days for Coventry, and QPR?s Martin Rowlands is always busy. With those three in the engine room, the other two midfielders will have the task of staying wide and pushing up to support the lone striker.
Twenty-eight year old Mark Kennedy, who will surely be seen in an Irish squad again before his career finishes, can fill any number of roles. Although he?s currently playing in a more central midfield position for Glenn Hoddle at Wolves, where he is vice-captain of the club, we?re going to give him his traditional wide-left location.
With Leeds United?s Gary Kelly perched on the other flank, both will have to get forward at every opportunity to help out our solitary frontman. As it has been with Ireland in the last two decades, the options upfront are limited.
We?ve given that thankless job to Rory Delap. He had a couple of stints in the attack for Derby County a while back, and a cameo upfront against Turkey during the second leg of the Euro 2000 play-off.
Granted, he has had trouble scoring goals lately at club level, but it?s only fitting we find a spot for him. As the only Irish footballer starting regularly in the Premiership and available for selection, Delap is a puzzling case.
Strong, versatile, and possessed of a long throw that can be used as a set-piece tool, the 27 year-old can?t catch a break at international level. Even a recent brilliant display for Southampton against Liverpool?s over-hyped Steven Gerrard wasn?t enough to earn him a place among the 27 selected for a friendly.
He may not have quite developed into the star many at Derby promised he would, but Delap must be wondering why he can?t get into an enlarged squad ahead of Graham Barrett, a bit-part player at Coventry.
In a similar vein, an argument can also be made for Ronnie O?Brien to be seriously considered between now and the end of the year. The 26 year-old from Bray was one of the best players in America last season, something reflected in FC Dallas giving him a lucrative new contract and rumors swirling that the US Soccer Federation were looking into his eligibility to switch allegiance.
The MLS is invariably looked down upon by British and Irish fans, but O?Brien is proving himself every single week in a league full of seasoned internationals. Twenty-six years after Fran O?Brien — once of Bohs, then of the Philadelphia Fury — used to fly across the Atlantic to play for Ireland, it?s time the FAI splurged on a ticket to Dublin for O?Brien for some friendly or other.
Of course, nitpicking about O?Brien and Delap in itself emphasizes how times have changed. Full-time professional Irish footballers were once guaranteed places in every squad. Not any more.