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The Republic of Ireland has been blessed with some fabulous footballers over the decades, many of whom have gained iconic status with their heroics at the World Cups and European Championships.
But what about talented players who never had a chance to win a grand finale, through bad luck, injury or an unfortunate moment?
We ask that you help us choose a Republic of Ireland XI made up of the best players we have ever had who have never played in a major international tournament.
We have compiled the list of goalkeepers, goalkeepers and center halves, but today we look at the wide men. If you think we have omitted someone, please contact us at [email protected].
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Steve Heighway he won everything at Liverpool. Nicknamed ‘Big Bamber’ by his teammates (Heighway earned a degree in economics and politics and was named after Bamber Gascoigne, the host of the University Challenge), he spent 11 years in Anfield after Bill Shankly signed him in 1970 to cool off his formidable side
He then won two UEFA Cups, two European Cups, the FA Cup and four league titles as a key player in a decade of red dominance.
However, internationally, Heighway was part of a team from the Republic of Ireland that simply couldn’t get past the line.
He won 34 games, though that total would have been higher if Shankly had not been as protective with his cherished winger, often taking Heighway out of Ireland’s squads without informing the player.
Heighway was born in Dublin but her family was English. His father worked as an engineer for Busáras, which means that Steve spent the first ten years of his life on the Emerald Isle.
Heighway was part of good Irish teams under Liam Tuohy and John Giles, who knocked on the door during the 1970s without making a breakthrough. Bad luck and a more difficult qualifying process back then meant that some of the best players in the country never had a chance to shine on the bigger stage. He was one of them.
Years later, in 1995, Heighway was building a reputation as director of the academy in Liverpool when manager Roy Evans broke a teenager’s transfer record by signing Dubliner. Mark Kennedy from Millwall for £ 1.5m.
There was a lot of hype around the 19-year-old left-hander, but the expectation proved too much. Kennedy never took off with Evans, and left three years later to join Wimbledon.
After a season at Manchester City, Kennedy went to Wolves in 2002 and played some of the best football games of his career. However, his international career had begun to sour before that.
He was involved in an infamous incident with Phil Babb in 2000 that resulted in McCarthy expelling both players from the team before the crucial World Cup qualifier to the Netherlands. They were arrested for a garda ban in Dublin in the early hours of the morning after the garda’s private car had been damaged.
Kennedy would still have gone to the World Cup, but a groin injury ruled it out. Later, a fight with Brian Kerr effectively ended his career in a green shirt. In additional symmetry with Heighway, he also won 34 games.
Eddie McGoldrick It was another Irishman who made a great move that never really caught fire. It was signed by George Graham for Arsenal in 1993, after having drawn a lot of attention with Crystal Palace.
Three years later, he went to Manchester City with minimal impact, but McGoldrick was a very capable, hard-working, and confident soccer player.
He played in the 1-1 draw for the Republic of Ireland to seal qualification with Northern Ireland at Windsor and traveled to the United States 94 as part of the Charlton team. Unfortunately, McGoldrick stayed on the bench for all four games.
Keith O’Neill He burst into Norwich City in 1994 when he was 18 years old and was named by McCarthy as one of the young talents with whom he was able to build a new team from Ireland in the wake of the failed Euro 96 qualifying campaign.
O’Neill could be deployed on the left side of midfield or up front, but debilitating injuries would eventually take its toll. He quarreled with McCarthy after the manager blamed him for Macedonia’s latest draw that robbed Ireland of a place in Euro 2000.
If Ireland had held out that night, they would have led the group, but Goran Stravrevski’s header sent them to the playoffs, where they lost to Turkey. O’Neill was tasked with blocking the corridor lane, but slipped at the crucial moment. O’Neill never played for Ireland again.
Chronic bone, foot and back problems saw him retire at age 27 with 13 international games and four goals.
Rory Delap It was used throughout midfield and defense, but we will park it on the wing for this team, if only to allow our team to get them to the touchline faster to launch their famous kick-off.
He became a unique figure in the Premier League after helping Stoke win promotion in 2008. The division had never seen anyone who could throw a ball with such devastating power and precision.
At one point, Delap was forced to deny the rumors he was considering representing Ireland on the javelin at the London Olympics.
Delap was, and is often forgotten, a versatile and intelligent player. He had a great appetite for hard work and a good delivery (with his foot).
Still, that laser launch was hands down the most effective weapon in his arsenal. When Delap’s profile was higher, Ireland never called.
He won his last international cap in 2004, and although there was a clamor in some quarters for Giovanni Trapattoni to bring him back to the fold, the Italian was not interested.
Delap was deployed in a broad role for the two stages of the Euro 2000 tiebreaker with Turkey: if we had passed him, it is likely that McCarthy would have used it somehow in the final.
We didn’t, and Delap’s international career faded. Maybe Trap missed a trick.
Trap was not very interested in Andy Reid either.
Reid won 29 games, retiring from the game at age 34, as a persistent groin problem finally brought him down.
The Dubliner was a truly talented footballer, one of the stars of Brian Kerr’s golden harvest of the late 1990s.
He had a rare vision and speed of thought that led to favorable comparisons with Liam Brady early in his professional career.
However, Reid’s ambitions in Ireland were severely damaged after he fell for Trapattoni. It seemed so trivial: Reid was playing the guitar too late for the boss’s liking after the manager had given the players the license to have a few beers after Georgia’s defeat in the World Cup tie in 2008.
The player maintains that the Italian simply did not qualify him and took the opportunity to exile him from the squad.
He wouldn’t return to setup until 2013, when chief guard Noel King called him in for a match against Kazakhstan.
On the harshest days of the Trapattoni era, his elegance was missed. Martin O’Neill was more demanding with his qualities, but injuries ruined Reid’s chances of making it to Euro 2016 and he hung up his boots that summer, having seen his country do well in France.
Gerry Daly He had a long and distinguished career in green. He was a big favorite at Manchester United, whom he moved from Bohs to in 1973. The Red Devils were at a low point in that period, but Daly was part of a major rebuild.
Although United was relegated in 1974, Daly helped them bounce back to the top of the category a year later when they won the Second Division title.
The aftermath with manager Tommy Docherty led the Dubliner to move to Derby in ’77 and continued playing until 1991, hanging up his boots when he was in Telford Town.
Daly was often used as a central game maker for the club and the country, but he had the drive and the intelligence to play in midfield, allowing us to include him on this particular roster.
He also had excellent ability to score goals.
Daly had ice in his veins, converting many penalties. In fact, he scored from the point in his final game for Ireland: a 1-1 draw with Uruguay at Lansdowne Road in April 1986. When Jack Charlton’s Ireland embarked on his Euro 88 qualifying campaign, Daly’s international days had finished.
After a 13-year international career, he would simply miss his glory days.
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