EVERY MONDAY, WE scan the passports, check the family trees and cross-reference with the “granny rule” to keep you informed about the ups and downs of all the Irish (and Irish-eligible) footballers in England and Scotland.
Think of us as the Tardelli to your Trap, if you will…
Premier League
Damien Duff (Fulham 5-0 Norwich) Damien Duff opened the scoring for Fulham in their 5-0 rout of Chris Hughton’s Norwich on Saturday afternoon and in doing so became the second Irish player to score in 13 consecutive Premier League seasons after Robbie Keane.
The winger also set up Mladen Petric for his first while Wes Hoolahan made a substitute appearance for the Canaries late on his recovering from injury.
Shane Long (West Brom 3-0 Liverpool) After missing out on Ireland’s friendly with Serbia despite claiming he was fit to play, Shane Long began up front for West Brom but wasted the perfect opportunity to get his tally for the season off to a start when he missed a first half spot-kick. His blushes were saved, however, as Steve Clarke’s team, who had Steven Reid at full-back, went on to beat the Reds 3-0.
James McClean (Sunderland 0-0 Arsenal) Ireland winger James McClean played 90 minutes of the Mackems’ 0-0 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates and came close to breaking the deadlock in the opening minutes but was denied by Wojciech Szczesny.
Marc Wilson (Reading 1-1 Stoke) Having pulled out of Giovanni Trapattoni’s squad for the Serbia game with a virus, defender Marc Wilson lined out for Stoke while Glenn Whelan, Jon Walters and Rory Delap (substitute) were also involved for the visitors. Noel Hunt was introduced with 13 minutes remaining for the Royals.
Championship
Owen Garvan (Crystal Palace 2-3 Watford) Former Home Farm schoolboy Owen Garvan scored a double for Palace but couldn’t prevent them going down to Watford 3-2 as Gianfranco Zola got his Championship campaign off to a winning start.
Paul Green (Leeds United 1-0 Wolves) Irish pair Paul Green and Paddy Kenny were part of the new-look Leeds side which saw off relegated Wolves 1-0 at Elland Road – although midfielder Green was substituted with an injury just before half-time for El Hadji Diouf. Stephen Ward and Kevin Doyle started for Wolves.
League One
Darren Potter (MK Dons 2-0 Oldham) Ex-Liverpool midfielder Darren Potter bagged MK Dons’ second in their 2-0 victory over Oldham. Jay O’Shea also played on the day.
League Two
Karl Sheppard (Southend 0-1 Accrington Stanley) The former Shamrock Rovers striker on loan with Paul Cooke’s side from Reading and headed home the only goal of the fame on 61 minutes at Southend. Fellow ex-League of Ireland player Padraig Amond came off the bench with 13 minutes remaining.
Watch Sheppard’s post-match interview:
YouTube credit: stanleyofficial
Scottish Premier League
Gavin Gunning (Dundee United 3-0 Dundee) Ireland U21 international Gavin Gunning was on target after 14 minutes in the Dundee derby.
Jonny Hayes (St Johnstone 1-2 Aberdeen) After moving from Inverness in the summer, Dubliner Jonny Hayes scored his first SPL goal for Aberdeen over the weekend as they defeated St Johnstone 2-1.
MLS
Robbie Keane (Columbus Crew 1-1 LA Galaxy) Ireland skipper Robbie Keane notched his 11th league goal since joining LA Galaxy in their 1-1 draw away to Columbus Crew on Thursday.
Darren O’Dea (Toronto 0-1 Sporting Kansas City) Toronto’s new signing Darren O’Dea made his debut for the club in a 1-0 loss at the hands of Sport Kansas City last Friday.
Andy O’Brien (Vancouver Whitecaps 0-2 Dallas) 33-year-old Andy O’Brien was in the Whitecaps team which suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Dallas.
