Relegation has become an enduring jeopardy for most Irish footballers at Premier League clubs.
Séamus Coleman and Nathan Collins, for example, have turned survival into an annual event but several members of the Republic of Ireland squad continually drop down to the EFL Championship, where 38 of them reside.
“Myself and Séamie [Coleman] have been in the relegation fight for three years in a row,” said Collins. “We joke about that. Football is so hard and it can change in a few games. When we’re here together as a team, we’re Ireland but when go back to our clubs we can be enemies again.”
The Premier League player’s eye-watering salaries and future international caps are both dependent on staying up. But the sight of Irish men at Old Trafford and Anfield year in, year out, are becoming statistical anomalies. From Tom Mohan’s under-19s squad released yesterday, only West Ham United forward Sean Moore is contracted to a top flight English club.
Twelve Irish players have featured in the league this season. Really, that number is inflated as Galway man Alex Murphy got three minutes off the bench for Newcastle United against Chelsea in November. Murphy’s fellow teenager Nathan Fraser just broke into the Wolverhampton Wanderers first team but he rejected an under-21 debut against San Marino tonight as the English-born striker wants to cement his club status.
Only five of this elite crew have hit double-figure appearances: Dara O’Shea and Josh Cullen at 19th-placed Burnley, Chiedozie Ogbene at 17th-placed Luton Town, Collins at 15th-placed Brentford and Evan Ferguson for Brighton and Hove Albion.
John Egan would be manning the barricades at bottom club Sheffield United if not for a season ending Achilles tendon injury. Having recovered from a knee issue, Coleman is available for club and country, but the 35-year-old has clocked just 233 minutes for 16th-placed Everton.
That leaves Liverpool’s Caoimhín Kelleher (seven games), Matt Doherty existing on minimal exposure at Wolves and Andrew Omobamidele, who has yet to secure a starting role at Nottingham Forest since moving from Norwich City last September.
The 21-year-old has made progress of late, with five starts in the last nine games before Forest’s chances of staying up got hit over the head with a sledgehammer. On Monday, the club was docked four points by the Premier League for breaching profit and sustainability rules after they lost £34.5 million (€40.27 million) more than a Premier League side is allowed to lose.
The sanction drops Forest into the relegation zone as Ogbene’s Luton sneak clear by a point while Everton, despite being docked six points for breaching the £105 million (€123 million) spending threshold, and Collins’ Brentford can breathe a little easier during the international break.
Footballers being footballers, Forest’s perilous situation prompted some gallows humour at Ireland training in Abbostown this week.
“Yeah, there’s a bit of banter flying about,” said Collins. “I was giving Andrew some stick about his points deduction but he’s taking it well and giving me stick. That’s natural and normal.”
Omobamidele has struggled at the City Ground, spending 14 of the first 16 matches watching from the stand until Nuno Espírito Santo replaced Steve Cooper as manager in late December.
“I wasn’t playing as much as I wanted to at the start of my Forest career,” said Omobamidele, “but there’s a process to everything and just at that time I was working on myself, working on everything football-wise, I was waiting for my opportunity and I’m grateful for Nuno who has come in and given me that.
“[The points deduction] is tough yeah, especially getting news when we’re not together as a team. To be honest I haven’t had much time to think about it as there’s a big game at the weekend and I’m here with the boys.”
Injuries to Egan, Liam Scales and Shane Duffy should get the centre half into John O’Shea’s starting XI against Belgium tomorrow alongside his Leixlip neighbour.
“Me and Nathan have a lot of conversations, we are from the same area, so I talk to him regularly.
“It’s that experience type of thing and trying to develop your game. We bounce things off each other regarding games and the relegation battle as well. It’s all about experience and how quick you can get it and how fast you can develop and adapt.”
For the record, the toughest opponent Omobamidele has had to handle so far was Liverpool’s Colombian winger Luis Diaz.
“Regardless of what position you’re playing in the Premier League, you’re going to be tested defensively because of the calibre of the league. Each game I play I am gaining more experience and playing against good players every week, you have to get better.”
