The Brief and Colorful History of Ireland: Part 1

September 22, 2009

It was only while having a téte-a-téte with an Argentine friend of mine did I realise how ridiculous the whole situation was.

And to someone who has not been following as all the drama unfolded, the storyline would be one that a scriptwriter from most Latin American soap operas would be genuinely proud of.

What was the subject of our discussion? Ireland, Stephen Ireland to be more precise. A player, who at 23 years of age has had his name embedded into Irish football history. Which seems all the more bizarre when you consider he has only ever played 5 times at senior international level.

Ireland was born in Cork in Southern Republic of Ireland, and like some his predecessors from that area, Denis Irwin and most notably Roy Keane, he seemed destined to create magnificent memories in the green jersey.

He had shown promise at a very early age and quickly rose through the ranks of the underage Irish squads. By 15 he had signed for Manchester City, who were at the time living under the very large shadow created by their cross town rivals, Manchester United.

Having gone through the Irish under- 15, 16 and 17 squads with rapid succession, it was when he arrived into the under-18 squad that cracks began to appear.

After an argument with coach Brian Kerr, Ireland was dropped for a game, a game which the team lost 4-0. Kerr initially suggested that Ireland would be back in the squad for following game. He wasn’t. Ireland publicly stated he would not play under Kerr’s management.

Unfortunately for Stephen, it was shortly after this that Brian Kerr became coach of the senior Irish panel. Ireland didn’t change his mind on his decision not to play for him, even though Kerr was willing to select him at the highest possible international level.

Kerr only had a short reign in charge of the Irish team and was replaced by ex-international and Irish football legend Stephen Staunton after two years. Although this was change in fortune for Stephen Ireland, the team suffered greatly due mainly to the fact that Staunton was hopelessly out of his depth.

Ireland got his full international debut for the country; however, what followed was probably the lowest and most embarrassing period for Irish football.

In the qualifying campaign for the 2008 European Championships, the team lost 5-2 to Cyprus in a game where Ireland scored his first international goal. He then scored twice against lowly San Marino, a country ranked as the lowest placed team in Europe by governing body UEFA.

A team that had lost 13-0 to Germany in their previous game, had battled back against the Irish team and looked certain of 1-1 draw until a 90^th minute winner from Stephen Ireland saved the teams blushes.

Well partially anyway. In his next two games in the green, Ireland scored twice more and brought his International goal tally to 4 in 5 games.

A very impressive return from a midfield player. The future looked bright, the future looked green. All until a qualifying game against The Czech Republic in September 2007.

And I will go into that in part 2 tomorrow.

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