In addition to our favourite team, we all support Team Ireland.
That is, the Republic of Ireland players plying their trade at various clubs, wishing them, rather than necessarily their actual teams, well.
But, as the Irish players are scattered amongst the lower half of the Premier League, the promotion chasing positions of the Championship and comparatively low profile leagues like MLS and the SPL, it can be hard to keep track of how they’re all performing.
So we’ve done the hard work for you. With the season just about to end, we’ve given the Ireland players a grade for their performance this season as Ireland face two high profile games against England and Scotland.
Goalkeepers
Shay Given
Club: Aston Villa
Grade: B
This has been Shay Given’s best season for a long time. The Donegal man retired from international football after Euro 2012, and soon after lost his place for Villa. It’s took him almost three years, but he’s now number one for club and country again. The 39 year old may have conceded six goals last weekend, but that probably owed more to Villa’s high line as Given has generally looked solid.
David Forde
Club: Millwall
Grade: F
Losing his Ireland starting spot, relegation to League One and conceding 76 goals, David Forde has had better seasons. The Galway man has always performed well for Ireland, but he’ll likely need to move clubs to have a chance of getting the number one jersey back.
Kieran Westwood
Club: Sheffield Wednesday
Grade: A
He may be, seemingly, Ireland’s third choice keeper, but Keiren Westwood has had an excellent domestic season, topped off by being named in the Championship Team of the Year. He also, apparently, turned down a move to Liverpool in January.
Defenders
Seamus Coleman
Club: Everton
Grade: B
Another impressive campaign for the Everton defender. Although he didn’t, like his club, hit the heights of last season, Coleman still chipped in with three goals and two assists and generally performed well during Everton’s Europa League campaign. Will he get a move to a Champions League side?
John O’Shea
Club: Sunderland
Grade: D
An ever present in a toiling side, it feels like Sunderland, and O’Shea, have had the same season for the past three years. O’Shea is now 34 and may be about to exit the autumn of his career.
Richard Keogh
Club: Derby County
Grade: B
Another Irish international named in the Championship Team of the Year, however Keogh won’t remember this season fondly. Derby were in the automatic promotion spots for the majority of the season, but their form tailed off so badly they ended up missing out a play-off spot.
Marc Wilson
Club: Stoke City
Grade: D
Marc Wilson will be a Premier League player next season, there’s not much else to add really.
Paul McShane
Club: Hull City
Grade: D
The ‘Ginger Maldini’ has had a mixed season. From falling out with manager Steve Bruce, being on the verge of leaving the club, to regaining his spot, performing well in some games, but now looks set to be relegated.
His Instagram game remains strong though.
https://instagram.com/p/0-s3NXD_Ka/
Damien Delaney
Club: Crystal Palace
Grade: B
An near ever-present in a solid Premier League team, Delaney is living every journeyman pro’s dream. He has also survived blaming Roy Keane for receiving a speeding ticket.
Ciaran Clark
Club: Aston Villa
Grade: B
Clark wasn’t in Villa’s starting line-up at the start of the season, but the Birmingham born defender broke into the team and survived the final, miserable days of Paul Lambert into the Tim Sherwood renaissance, only to pick up a knee injury last month. He’s unlikely to make the FA Cup final, or Ireland’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland, but Clark has probably had his best season.
Robbie Brady
Club: Hull City
Grade: D
Two assists seems a poor return for a player of such technical ability, but that’s possibly more an indictment of Hull’s misfiring strikers that Brady. The Dubliner has drifted in and out of the side, and played the majority of his games at wing-back.
Midfielders
James McCarthy
Club: Everton
Grade: B
McCarthy is an automatic starter for Everton and, despite a sub-par performance in Ireland’s game against Poland, has generally played to the same standard as last season.
He may not be the all-round, box to box midfielder Ireland fans hoped him to be, but he’s still arguably Ireland’s best Premier League midfielder.
Stephen Quinn
Club: Hull City
Grade: D
The player Eamon Dunphy wants to replace ‘terrible flop’ McCarthy in Ireland’s midfield, Quinn spent the first half of the season drifting in and out of the team, and the second half not doing particularly well as a starter. The Championship beckons.
James McClean
Club: Wigan
Grade: F
James McClean can look both Premier League and Sunday league standard in games. His first six months in the top flight for Sunderland were sensational, but he’s now being relegated to League 1 and looks to be on the verge of a move to MLS. For a player who got homesick in the north-east of England, it’s difficult to imagine how he’ll settle in New York.
McClean’s next move is crucial to his career, another miscalculation, like signing for Wigan, and the winger could end up playing, with no disrespect intended, back in the League of Ireland.
Jeff Hendrick
Club: Derby County
Grade: B
Seven goals, nine assists but next year will be another season in the Championship for Jeff Hendrick.
Glenn Whelan
Club: Stoke City
Grade: D
He may at times resemble Hans Moleman when playing for Ireland, and he’s not to everyone’s tastes as a player, but Whelan is doing something right.
He’s an experienced Premier League player, signed a new two year deal with Stoke and will, barring injury, start for Ireland against Scotland next month.
Whelan was also impressive recently in games against Spurs and Southampton. He doesn’t score or make goals, but Whelan has just finished his sixth season as a Premier League midfielder.
Darron Gibson
Club: Everton
Grade: F
Another injury hit campaign, Gibson has had terrible luck over the past two seasons.
David Meyler
Club: Hull City
Grade: D
Hull may have a large Irish contingent, but none of them have performed with too much distinction. A generous passing grade for Meyler.
Aiden McGeady
Club: Everton
Grade: F
Having started the season well, McGeady lost his place when Aaron Lennon joined Everton on-loan and his lack of game time was noticeable when Ireland played Poland in March. The winger didn’t play a minute of first-team football in February, March and April and could be looking for a new team this summer.
Wes Hoolahan
Club: Norwich City
Grade: B
A seasoned Championship player, Hoolahan has had a very productive season, registering ten assists, five goals and is one game away from returning to the Premier League. The Dubliner was also named as part of the division’s team of the decade. No wonder Eamon Dunphy thinks he’s the greatest footballer ever.
Harry Arter
Club: Bournemouth
Grade: A
The newest Ireland midfielder, Arter has had a excellent season, scoring nine goals as part of Championship winning Bournemouth. From non-league to Premier League and international football in five years, Arter’s had an incredible rise and can definitely strike a ball. Woof.
Jack Grealish
Club: Aston Villa
Grade: B
Until he definitively states otherwise, and because he’s still an Irish under-age international, we’re including Grealish in our list of Irish players. He would’ve received a NG a few months ago, but now Grealish is a Premier League starter, has two countries vying for his services and will be playing in an FA Cup final.
Forwards
Shane Long
Club: Southampton
Grade: C
Shane Long seems to have reached something of a career ceiling. He’s a squad member in a top eight side, but doesn’t start regularly at centre-forward. He can score fantastic goals, at an irregular rate, but manages to miss comparatively easy chances. If Long had have stayed at Hull, he probably would’ve scored the goals to keep them up.
It seems Long is too good for Premier League struggler’s, not quite good enough to lead the line regularly for a team challenging for a European spot, but he is at least among esteemed company in one regard.
2 – Shane Long is the first player since Luis Suarez in December 2013 to register 2+ goals and 2+ assists in a single PL game. Mayhem.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 16, 2015
Jonathan Walters
Club: Stoke City
Grade: B
31 appearances and seven goals (three of those in one game) for Walters this season. He does lead the division in shot conversion rate, although the fact he hardly ever shoots might have something to do with that.
Daryl Murphy
Club: Ipswich Town
Grade: A
Championship top scorer and named in the division’s team of the year, Daryl Murphy couldn’t have done much more to help his side get promoted.
Adam Rooney
Club: Aberdeen
Grade: A
When Martin O’Neill named his squad for Ireland’s games against England and Scotland, the focus was overwhelmingly on the absence of Jack Grealish, while Adam Rooney, on his first call-up to the squad, barely got a mention.
The 27-year-old Aberdeen striker has had a excellent season for Aberdeen in the SPL, scoring 27 goals and was nominated for Scottish Player of the Year. Scottish football might not peak people’s interests as it once did, but Rooney’s record is still impressive and he’s deserving of his inclusion in the Ireland squad.
Robbie Keane
Club: LA Galaxy
Grade: C
The Ireland captain won the MLS in November, and the league’s MVP award, but looked increasingly immobile against Poland and has been suffering with niggling injuries recently. However, LA Galaxy are a lesser team without the Dubliner. When new team mate Steven Gerrard joins the side in the summer, and Keane gets back playing, expect a weekly dose of Keane scoring spectacular goals against not-so spectacular opponents.
