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Compiled by Anthony Pyne, Ed Leahy, and Raf Diallo
Over the course of the last month, we have asked you to help us select an XI of the best footballers in the Republic of Ireland who have never played in a major tournament (i.e. a World Cup or a European Championship).
Forty-one men were considered for the various positions, with a total of 30,602 votes cast.
Today we bring you the final selection.
GOALKEEPER
Alan Kelly
Comfortably selected with almost 46% of the vote, Kelly’s closest challenger was her father, Alan Senior, who got 17.6% of the vote.
Kelly Junior won 34 games with Ireland and went to two World Cups, remaining on the bench in the United States and South Korea and Japan as a substitute for Packie Bonner and Shay Given, respectively.
He was unlucky. After having had a good performance in the friendly before the USA. 94 against Germany, which Ireland won 2-0, Kelly never had her chance in the United States, although she was destined to replace Bonner who will soon retire.
Kelly played one of the Euro 96 qualifiers in every bar (Bonner’s last game in an Ireland jersey was a 4-0 defeat at Liechtenstein’s home).
He was in goal for the play-off loss to the Netherlands at Anfield and would surely have been the first choice if Jack Charlton’s men had reached the final in England.
However, up the rails was a young Shay Given, the Donegal man who emerged during the France 98 campaign and took over the position for the next 14 years.
Complete results
one Alan Kelly Junior
2 Alan Kelly Senior
3 Dean Kiely
4 4 Gerry Peyton
5 5 Seamus McDonagh
COMPLETE
Stephen Carr and Jim Beglin
These two got the go-ahead in a competitive category.
Carr was one of the top right-handers in the Premier League in the late 1990s and early 2000s during his time at Tottenham Hotspur.
He was also part of the PFA Team of the Year in 2001 and 2003 in an era when Irish internationals (Carr, Gary Kelly and Steve Finnan) notably took that position in the season-ending XI for four consecutive seasons between Gary Neville and the respective Lauren PFA Awards in ’99 and 2004.
He missed the 2002 World Cup with a knee injury.
The injury also prevented Beglin from going to a major tournament, although his was so serious that it would ultimately curtail his playing career.
The left back consolidated his place internationally after Eoin Hand had given him his debut in 1984.
Jack Charlton was still thinking a lot about Beglin upon arrival in 1986, and he won a team retirement for the top Euro 88 qualifiers after missing the Iceland Triangular Tournament.
When he appeared in a friendly in Poland later that year, he had won 15 matches for Ireland.
However, the cruel twist of fate intervened in early 1987 when a challenge from Everton’s Gary Stevens resulted in a badly broken leg. Beglin would never truly recover, and he was deprived of the opportunity to be part of Ireland’s golden period.
Complete results
one Stephen Carr
2 Jim Beglin
3 Tony Dunne
4 4 Noel Cantwell
5 5 Paddy Mulligan
6 6 Shay Brennan
7 7 Stephen Kelly
CENTRAL HALF
Mark Lawrenson and Charlie Hurley
This was a landslide. For the best of a decade, Lawrenson formed the most perfect partnership at the heart of Liverpool’s defense, playing alongside Alan Hansen during the Anfield club’s golden era in the 1980s.
Lawrenson broke into Ireland’s team in the late 1970s, debuting against Poland in a friendly match in 1977 and participated in qualifying campaigns from the 1978 World Cup to Euro ’88 when Ireland finally reached a great tournament.
At that stage, Charlton was in charge and Lawrenson was being used in the middle of the park, where he scored a memorable winner against Scotland at Hampden Park, which proved to be the springboard for the qualification that followed.
Undoubtedly one of the best players to put on the green jersey, Lawrenson’s final cap came in late 1987 against Israel, while an injury would deny him a place on Charlton’s team for the tournament hosted by Germany the following summer.
The immense Hurley was voted Sunderland player of the century by the faithful at Roker Park to celebrate the club’s 100th anniversary in 1979.
His career in Ireland would span the same 12 years he was in the Black Cats from 1957 to 1969 and he would win 40 matches over a period when international games were far less abundant than they are in the modern era.
Recognized for his aerial ability, Hurley was considered one of England’s best central defenders during the first half of the 1960s and was surpassed by Bobby Moore for Soccer Writer’s Player of the Year in 1964-65.
Complete results
one Charlie Hurley
2 Mark Lawrenson
3 Gary Doherty
4 4 Alan Kernaghan
5 5 John Anderson
6 6 Andy O’Brien
Wings
Steve Heighway and Gerry Daly
Heighway won it all in Liverpool: two UEFA Cups, two European Cups, the FA Cup and four league titles.
However, on an international level, he 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 Bill Shankly had not been as protective with his cherished winger, often taking Heighway out of the Irish squads without informing the player.
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 qualification 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.
Daly 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 recover in the top flight a year later when they won the Second Division title.
A dispute 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 creator for the club and the country, but he had the drive and the intelligence to play in midfield.
Complete results
one Steve Heighway
2 Gerry Daly
3 Andy Reid
4 4 Mark Kennedy
5 5 Rory Delap
6 6 Keith O’Neill
7 7 Eddie McGoldrick
CENTER-MIDDLE FIELD
Liam Brady and John Giles
Imagine having these two in the engine room.
Charlton did incredible things with the Republic of Ireland team, but his failure to fully utilize Brady’s talents will always be difficult to understand.
The Dubliner was one of the best midfielders in Europe at its peak. He was the focal point for Arsenal until the second half of the 1970s, heading to Serie A in 1980, where he shone in a brilliant Juventus team that won two Scudettos before moving on to Inter Milan, Sampdoria and Ascoli.
Charlton was never comfortable with a rebel like Brady at the heart of his team, although it was bad luck and a moment of indiscipline that cost him the participation of St Kevin’s Boys graduates in Euro 88.
He had played during the qualifying campaign, but got a two-game ban for kicking out a Bulgarian player in the group’s last game.
Brady, while practicing at West Ham, suffered a serious knee injury just after, which was the final nail in the coffin in terms of his participation in the final.
Giles strongly criticized Charlton for his treatment of Brady. He played with teammate Dubliner and he did it, and he was a well-qualified man to recognize serious talent in midfield. Giles himself was one of the best.
He spent six years at Manchester United under the leadership of Matt Busby, but Giles will always be more associated with Leeds United, where his career took off after moving to Yorkshire in 1963.
Giles was embittered by the way things ended at Old Trafford and promised to “chase” Busby, who had been chilled by the Irishman’s potential. Tough, creative, and blessed with a phenomenal range of passes, Giles was the heart of a golden age for Leeds.
He made his Irish debut against Sweden in 1950, scoring in a 3-2 friendly victory at Dalymount Park. By the time he was named player-manager in ’73, Giles was the best and best-known player in his country. He is remembered as perhaps the most talented midfielder we have ever produced.
Complete results
one Liam Brady
2 John Giles
3 Tony Grealish
4 4 Paddy Coad
5 5 Stephen Ireland
6 6 With Martin
7 7 Mick Martin
8 Keith Fahey
Strikers
Don Givens and Liam Whelan
Givens was the clear favorite among voters here. He was a natural poacher who carried the burden of pursuing targets for his country during a frustrating decade.
Givens, a robust player with good mobility, was at the peak of his powers when he scored a memorable hat-trick in Ireland’s 3-0 defeat of the USSR in 1974. That was the game that Brady made his debut in Ireland.
In the same qualifying campaign for the 1976 European Championship, Givens scored all four in a 4-0 shot at Turkey, but Ireland did not reach the final.
By the time he walked away from the international scene, he was his country’s record scorer at 19. It would hold until 1990, when Stapleton reached 20.
Whelan was one of the Busby girls who tragically lost their lives in the Munich air disaster of 1958. She was only 22 years old when she died, she only played four times for her country.
Born in Goat, Whelan’s immense skill was honed at the Dublin Home Farm nursery. Manchester United took him through the water for a trial and after Whelan excelled in a FA Youth Cup clash against Wolves, he was caught.
Tall, slim and deceptively fast, Whelan won two league titles at Old Trafford.
He would have continued to collect silverware in that brilliant outfit if a tragedy had not occurred. A brilliant career for the club and the country was cruelly interrupted.
Complete results
one Don Givens
2 Liam Whelan
3 Michael Robinson
4 4 Clinton Morrison
5 5 Ray treacy
6 6 Jimmy Dunne
7 7 Liam Tuohy
8 Paddy moore
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