The Irish living in England are a special bunch of people. The Irish born in England, who remained Irish to their bones, are my family.
I always thought of both, the people forced to emigrate and the Kilbanes, when pulling the green shirt over my head before an international match.
Playing for my country, despite being raised in the Preston, meant more than I can properly explain.
That is why a team-mate’s mother insisting that I was not Irish, as we sat in the Lansdowne players’ lounge after a game, cut so deep.
“Course I’m Irish.”
“No, you’re not, you were not born here.”
I was floored. Surely my performance that night was proof enough. Some people are the product of their environment. You try to live and let live.
Ironically, an international cap might have passed me by if our family stayed in Mayo. I probably would have played Gaelic football instead.
Growing up near Preston North End football club provided access to a football industry that nurtured my talent. Desire and my upbringing took care of the rest.
This Nations League meeting does not appear to have struck a chord with the English in England, and who could blame them? The Euros pain has not subsided. The regrets go back to losing the European Championship final in 2021 to Italy at Wembley and then Spain beating them in Berlin. It can only cut deep.
I say with absolute certainly that Lee Carsley and the current England squad have moved swiftly on. Carso stated last week, matter-of-factly, that the next goal is winning the 2026 World Cup.
That’s why he brought Jack Grealish back into the fold. To make England world champions.
He knows better than most that the quality rising from his last three under-21 squads should make them a better team. That’s why he has promoted Rico Lewis, Morgan Gibbs-White, Angel Gomes and Noni Madueke. He believes that England are yet to peak. I tend to agree.
Ireland and England meet on Saturday evening in Dublin but nobody is denying that, as football nations, they are worlds apart. The FAI recruits from England – both administratively and players – but they may never catch up on the youth development Carsley and others helped grow across every city and community in England.
What Irish football must never stop doing is recruiting talent from the English system. But what troubles me about the game in Ireland is the lack of midfielders being produced by the system, be that League of Ireland academies or schoolboy clubs.
Not that England are a shining light in this regard. Declan Rice struggled throughout the Euros to take possession off his defenders and build an attack. Everything was lateral. I’ve noted previously that Josh Cullen struggles to do the same for Ireland.
With Cullen injured, a decent Irish squad with excellent goalkeepers, Premier League defenders and four or five good strikers, cannot build towards the 2026 World Cup or a home Euros in 2028 without a decent number six.
That’s why Carsley brought in Gomes.
The six, the holding midfielder, is the modern-day 10. The playmaker. Look where Toni Kroos sat and ran the German machine last summer. See how Rodri drops to control the Manchester City and Spain midfield.
The game has changed since “my day” but Ireland 20 years ago had Roy Keane, who does not fit into this conversation as Roy was a once-in-a-century player, for any country.
Ireland used to have Matt Holland, hardly an expansive passer, but Matty always kept the ball before moving it forward. And he could arrive late and score from distance, like he did against Cameroon at the World Cup.
Ireland also had Mark Kinsella, Carsley, Graham Kavanagh and Rory Delap. Now, Delap – whose son Liam will play for England – should be aggrieved for only winning 11 Ireland caps. A player like Rory, who could do a job at fullback, wide or central midfield, would accumulate 50 caps under Heimir Hallgrímsson and John O’Shea.
Ireland do not have a plug-in Rory Delap adaptor any more. Maybe Jason Knight is growing into a multipurpose, fill-any-role international footballer.
We live in hope while England are turning the page after losing a second successive Euros final.
[ Diarmaid Ferriter: How the Irish became Britain’s oldest, loneliest ethnic groupOpens in new window ]
Incomparable football nations, until 5pm, when anything will seem possible as the tackles start to fly in.
And they better, from the off.
Ireland performances since the Séamus Coleman-inspired showing against France in March 2023 have lacked a vital ingredient.
Grit.
Without grit, no Ireland team ever got anywhere. That was lost last year, especially at home to Greece.
It must be rediscovered before two full houses on Saturday and Tuesday, when Greece follow England into the Aviva Stadium.
That is probably what Heimir Hallgrímsson meant when he said Ireland need a few “bastards” in the team. He said the current players are professional, but a “little bit too nice”.
That would have been a dangerous public comment to make when Roy was captain. It would never have needed saying about Ireland players in the past. They must be seething.
