February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Nothing sums this up better than the fact that Chris Armstrong, Paul Furlong, Mark Stein, Stan Collymore and Ashley Ward have been among the bizarre names touted for possible call-ups over the last decade. Which kind of explains why Tony (I was taking steroids at Marseilles, but I can’t be certain they were steroids even though they suddenly made me feel
superhuman) Cascarino got to win so many caps in that era.
It might be Div. III, but Lee Trundle’s 15 goals in 20 starts for Swansea City this season have attracted the attention of several Premiership scouts, and fueled talk that Brian Kerr will be picking him for a proposed B international in February. The last time an Irish manager went so far down the food chain in search of a striker, Mick McCarthy foisted Barnet’s Sean Devine on an unsuspecting public more than five years ago. In a B game against Northern Ireland at Tolka Park where Damien Duff and Robbie Keane were the star attractions, he wore green boots and talked a good game. Never seen at that level again, he remains a prolific goal scorer with Exeter City in the Nationwide Conference — a couple of divisions above where sometime Irish squad member Bohemians’ Glen Crowe earns his crust.
Anyway, Trundle’s emergence as a possible option upfront underlines just how desperate we are for strikers. Recently turned 27, this late bloomer only entered the league in January 2001, albeit in comic-book circumstances. A hat trick for Welsh league team Rhyl against Wrexham persuaded then manager Brian Flynn to pay