The Irish Football Team Thread

And he made his return today. Great to see the big man back involved.

He's going to be huge for us this summer. Our most important player, IMO.

 

I agree, I can see us being under the cosh in all three games so his performances will be vital to how we do I think. Really cant wait for the tournament to start now, I'm feeling confident.

 

Single handily got us out of Moscow with a point, * defending masterclass from him!

 

Rocky road to Poland!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q_I0-ZPSFWo

 

For some reason it won't come up for me...

This one works though....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5aZjE15Ye0"]The Rocky Road To Poland - Official Republic Of Ireland Song for Euro 2012 - YouTube[/ame]

 

Squad has been named: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17982691

Republic of Ireland squad for Euro 2012: Shay Given (Aston Villa), Keiren Westwood (Sunderland), David Forde (Millwall); John O'Shea (Sunderland), Stephen Kelly (Fulham), Stephen Ward (Wolves), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa), Sean St Ledger (Leicester), Darren O'Dea (Leeds), Kevin Foley (Wolves); Glenn Whelan (Stoke), Keith Andrews (West Brom), Keith Fahey (Birmingham), Darron Gibson (Everton), Damien Duff (Fulham), Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Stephen Hunt (Wolves), James McClean (Sunderland); Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy), Kevin Doyle (Wolves), Shane Long, Simon * (both West Brom), Jon Walters (Stoke).
Stand-by: Darren Randolph (Motherwell), Paul McShane (Crystal Palace), Paul Green (Unattached), Seamus Coleman (Everton), Andy Keogh (Millwall).

 

James McCarthy statement-" I have made the difficult decision to withdraw my name from selection for Euro 2012 squad following the diagnosis of my father with cancer and on-going requirement for treatment."

 

Lets hope the treatment is a success and he makes a full recovery.

 

Not really any surprises in there. Glad to see McClean made the squad. My biggest quibble would be naming McShane ahead of say Marc Wilson as stand by in defence. You could argue Coleman maybe should be in ahead of Hunt and I would easily have had Anthony Stokes ahead of Andy Keogh as stand by up front.

 

Coleman has done nothing to deserve to go to the Euros this year. He is lucky to be a stand in.

 

Marc Wilson should be in the squad nevermind the standby list. Has made nearly 50 appearances in the EPL this year and can play in loads of positions. Instead we get McShane.

 

http://www.todayfm.com/Sport/boysingreen.aspx

My daughters in this version of the video at 2:06.

 

Ah, but he can't be better than Darren O'Dea or Green...

*, I am going to be having heart palpitations watching this side in the summer. Should be class too, though.

 

IrelAnd will finsh last

 

Great to see 6 players who moved from LOI football included in squad, this really means a lot football fans in Ireland.

 

Ireland Abú

 

gutted for McCarthy, hope his dad recovers

 

Pfft. You on the wind up or something? Only team we'll be worried about is Spain and their slow pace will suit our boys. We've faced Italy before and didn't have much difficult. They might not even take Balotelli, as well.

Then you've the Croatians in our first match. Not sure how that'll go as I've not really seen them lately, but if we win that one, we'll qualify, I reckon.

We're very good at not conceding goals, and our style suits us for these kind of games, which is why is why I'd say we'll have a good tournament.

We've got a shrew management team and an experienced squad.

 

This comment about sums up our manager:

 

Aiden McGeady I think will be fully ready for Euro 2012, he is now in really good form and he is improving. Good luck to Irish team!