John Fallon: How the Irish players fared this season across Europe's top leagues
Troy Parrott (left) and goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher after an Ireland friendly against North Macedonia in April. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire.
Statistics can be interpreted to suit contrasting angles but the cold truth at the end of another season is that Ireland had only four regular players in the English Premier League.
Two of those, Caoimhín Kelleher and Nathan Collins, are part of Keith Andrews’ Brentford feelgood story while another Corkman, Jake O’Brien, has taken over the mantle of late developer at Everton from compatriot Séamus Coleman. Cruelly, the fourth first-choice, Burnley’s Josh Cullen, had his run of matches curtailed during the festive period by suffering a season-ending knee injury.
Beyond that quartet, most of Matt Doherty’s 791 minutes at Wolves were miserable in a campaign they looked condemned to relegation by the turn of the year.
Coleman collected a mere 20 minutes of exposure in the last of his 17 seasons at the Toffees.
Alex Murphy is the only member of the coterie to consider himself in his formative years but the frustration of just seven minutes over two substitute appearances will likely convince the 21-year-old Galwegian to leave Newcastle United behind for next season.
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Declining gametime for Irish players has been a concern for the FAI, exacerbated by the Brexit change in 2021 empowering an under-resourced domestic system to fill the developmental function between the ages of 16 and 18.
Annual reports by academy manager Will Clarke have portrayed the contracting landscape, outlining how the Ireland men’s team will only realistically compete for major tournament qualification when 35 players are operating across the top five leagues in Europe, on average playing 1,400 minutes per season.
Our chart illustrates that the relevant number has shrunk to 10, based on the seasons completed in May.
Those five leagues are England, Spain, Germany, Italy and either France or Portugal depending on fluctuating coefficients.
Added to the seven Premier League representatives over the 2025/26 season were two in Italy, Evan Ferguson and Corrie Ndaba, along with France-based Andrew Omobamidele.
Here we provide a breakdown of the various top-flights across Europe that held an Irish presence.
Between Caoimhín Kelleher (3330), Jake O’Brien (3124) and Nathan Collins (2972), those 9426 minutes account for the vast bulk of the 11,763 attributed to Irish players.
One would presume the picture brightens by the promotion of Ipswich Town and Hull City but pre-season strengthening will squeeze some Championship performers out.
Expectation and goodwill accompanied Evan Ferguson’s loan move to Roma and his immediate status as first-choice striker bode well until his injury problems resurfaced.
Over 16 league appearances, the striker amassed 776 minutes and three goals before the recurrent ankle problems aborted any permanent transfer and sent him onto the surgical bed for his latest operation.
Corrie Ndaba flew lower under the radar at relegation-threatened Lecce but his 539 minutes at left-back deservedly earned a maiden Ireland call-up for tomorrow’s friendly against Qatar.
Andrew Omobamidele spoke highly of Liam Rosenior before losing his Strasbourg manager to another component of the BlueCo multi-club stable, Chelsea, but under his replacement Gary O’Neill went on to reach the Conference League semi-final against Rayo Vallecano.
The defender from Leixlip clocked up 1,352 minutes of league games.
Joe Hodge sampled the English top-flight with Wolves before opting for the continent last summer, aware his new club CD Tondela would face a struggle to remain in the Portuguese top-flight.
Across his 26 outings, he played 1423 minutes in a variety of positions, principally the holding midfield area Ireland are deficient in but also further advanced in support of attackers.
Seven Irish players in total finished out the Scottish season, with Adam Idah also starting Celtic’s opening pair of games before being sold to Swansea City on deadline day.
Liam Scales was the standout by sustaining his status as a regular under Martin O’Neill. He was to the fore as the Bhoys lifted the double.
Despite being outside the elite leagues, the Lowlands provided the highest harvest for the Irish on tour.
Troy Parrott’s stock at the age of 24 continued to ascend by following up last season’s heroics with another 16 league goals over his 2206 minutes in 28 games.
Anselmo Garcia MacNulty, the Spanish-born former Ireland U21 captain at PEC Zwolle, plotted his own path, by featuring in 32 games, spanning 2845 minutes.
Festy Ebosele, 23, has been scrambling to settle in recent years, illustrated by his 689 of gametime over 14 games at Basaksehir FK.
He’s the first Irish player to figure in that league and the summer will determine whether he fulfils his long-term contract.
Callum O’Dowda reunited with Robbie Keane at Ferencváros last July representing an interesting Irish angle but the limit on foreign players who can play simultaneously in the league restricted his presence to 15 games and 701 minutes.
Armstrong Okoflex, outside of Scales, is the only league winner having lifted the title with Levski Sofia, whom he joined in January. He racked up 30 appearances and 2115 minutes with two clubs over the campaign.
Derry teen winger Trent Kone-Doherty began the season by lining out for Liverpool in the EFL Cup but was sold in January to Molde with a buyback clause included.
He’s swelled his minutes to 242 minutes over seven games, a figure that will continue to rise as Norway’s season runs through the summer.
US-based Trivela Group have made their presence felt in the Irish game since taking full control of Drogheda United in late 2023, not always to everyone's liking.
The group that also owns English club Walsall and Silkeborg in Denmark enjoyed immediate success with the FAI Cup triumph of 2024 but were expelled from their European qualification due to multiclub regulations.
Furthermore, their removal of co-chair Joanna Byrne caused another bout of controversy, albeit the mooted backlash floated by scaremongers didn’t ensue.
Their plans to build a new stadium on the Drogheda outskirts remains on track but they’ve also taken an interest in the broader landscape.
They recently hosted a lunch meeting at the Castleknock Hotel for all Premier Division clubs. A range of issues were discussed, including the standard players contract, but debates around refereeing levels are never far from the epicentre.
Drogs were victims of an officiating blunder last Monday week in Waterford, a late penalty decision that deprived them of a precious point.
We can’t say for sure whether it was consequential or part of rotation under new refereeing lead Paul Brady but the referee at the RSC, Neil Doyle, went from top billing on Monday to being fourth official in a First Division game on Monday. The Americans will be glad accountability is rife in the League of Ireland.
Yesterday’s announcement of the FAI underage coaching roster confirmed the theory of a veritable Shamrock Rovers takeover.
John Martin (director of football), Shane Robinson (technical director), Aidan Price (head of talent ID) and now Graham Gartland, as one of the four full-time international coaches, all worked together previously at Rovers.
Significantly, they were all perceived as being aligned in one camp when fractures emerged with the underage section at first-team led by Stephen Bradley.
Initially, the FAI flagged 10 staff to oversee the structure from U15 to U19 but only nine in total have been recruited.
The ‘innovative’ idea is designed to create flexibility across the age-groups and genders. Having only one female, Chelsea Noonan, to cater for three women’s and girls squads won’t sit well with those seeking gender balance.
Noel Hunt is the standout newcomer of the ‘lead’ colony and it seems likely he’ll take charge of the U19s in succession to Tom Mohan, one of the several incumbents to reject reapplying for their position on precarious two-year contracts.
They may suit some recruits. Hunt began the season in charge of his former club Reading in League One and is sure to be linked with vacancies, both managerial and assistants, throughout his tenure.
john.fallon@examiner.ie.
