Stephen Ireland has revealed he never enjoyed playing for the Republic of Ireland and is adamant he will feel no sense of regret should they qualify for the World Cup without him.
Giovanni Trapattoni’s side take on France in the first leg of a World Cup qualifying play-off at Croke Park tomorrow but they will do so without Manchester City midfielder Ireland.
He has not played for his country for two years since lying about the death of two grandmothers in order to return home from international duty to be with his girlfriend, who had suffered a miscarriage.
“I never enjoyed my time playing for Ireland,” Ireland told the Daily Mail.
“I will watch the game but I don’t feel guilty ever. No manager would sway my decision now.
“Even if they get to the World Cup, there’s not a part of me that will think ’that could have been me’.
“They haven’t tried properly to get me back. It’s just lip service. Trapattoni rang me during the summer but it was more about him covering his back and having a press conference where he could say: ’I’ve made the effort, I’ve spoken to Stephen, blah-blah’.”
Ireland also argued players from Dublin were favoured in the national team set-up over players from Cork.
He told The Times: “Even now, I know for a fact the whole Irish set-up is exactly the same – they pick all the Dublin lads, one or two Cork lads, and the Cork lads are thrown on the back seat and that’s basically it.
“It’s just wrong. It’s not fair because a lot of great players go other ways because of it.
“Even when I was younger, I didn’t want to go training there. I was looking for excuses but I had to go because I wasn’t cross-channel at the time so I thought it was important for my career to go.”
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