Embarrassed star Ireland insists he really does love Cork

STEPHEN IRELAND last night insisted he was misquoted and his comments misinterpreted in an interview in which he slated Cork, Birmingham and most points in between.

Ireland allegedly told French magazine So Foot he would rather shoot himself than live in Cork but last night he insisted he loved Leeside and said he is “frustrated and very angry’’ about the manner his comments were interpreted.

“I love Cork, I’ve Cork tattooed on my body,’’ the Newcastle midfielder declared. “It’s somewhere I go, I’ve family there, my best friends are still there, my kids go back there once every two months. If it was that bad to me I wouldn’t have my kids going back there. Cork is really, really close to me and it (the way his comments were portrayed) just really makes me frustrated and very angry.’’

Ireland added that he felt “picked on’’ and his comments had been “blown out of context’’.

He said: “There’s things that happened before in the press that you say, ‘that’s not what I said but I’ll leave it go and it will die off’, but this is different.

“It’s actually embarrassing how bad it’s got. I just feel really frustrated with it. It’s been blown out of context so far, it’s just not fair. I feel really picked on. It’s just not nice what’s going around the country about me and it couldn’t be any further from the truth as well.’’

Ireland added: “It is really important to me that I try to rebuild some bridges. This might do nothing for me, this might do nothing for my cause, people might say they’ve heard the story this morning. That’s people’s opinions, that’s people’s choices but at least let people see I’ve tried to state my case and I’m taking this seriously.”

Asked by Newstalk’s Ger Gilroy the context of his remarks, Ireland said: “It was like quick-fire questions. Where will I retire and I just said, ‘hopefully LA’.’’ [So Foot interviewer: ‘Not Cork or Ireland?’]

“No, hopefully LA, and the girl basically recorded the whole three or four hours of us just chatting generally and she strayed from the interview, re-listened to it and obviously thought, ‘I can make something from this’, and that’s exactly what she’s got. This strayed so far from the topic it’s just ridiculous.’’

Ireland had earlier issued a statement in which he claimed his words had been twisted.

He said: “I’m upset with what has been printed this morning because I feel like I’ve been portrayed in the wrong way. I was misquoted and things have been blown way out of proportion. That is the reason why I feel like I needed to say something because the quotes are very unfair.

“What I said during the interview has been twisted to sound particularly blunt, and a lot of what was written about my home town of Cork – which me and my family visit regularly – was just plain ridiculous.’’

In the same interview Ireland allegedly described Birmingham as a “crap” city but he said that he doesn’t know the place well enough to pass judgement.

“The comments regarding Birmingham were also taken way out of context as I had only been at Villa a few months and didn’t even live there, so I have no idea what Birmingham is like to live in,’’ the former Manchester City midfielder said.

“Everyone I have met from Birmingham have been nice – my girlfriend’s father is from Birmingham, so why would I say that? It’s just crazy. I can only apologise if anyone was offended, but the way the interview was written made me sound very harsh, and I am not that kind of person.”

However, despite Ireland’s claims yesterday, So Foot says it stands over its article.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Euro 2012 plans have been hit by another injury blow with the news that Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne is now a major doubt for the game against Macedonia in Dublin on March 26.

The central defender suffered the shoulder problem during Villa’s 3-0 defeat against Manchester City in the FA Cup on Wednesday, with manager Gerard Houllier predicting the player would be out of action for “three to four weeks”.

His loss is not so acute for Villa, with the manager going on to observe: “The good thing is, we haven’t got many games during that period.”

However, the only game that counts for Giovanni Trapattoni falls close to the end of Dunne’s scheduled recovery period, with Macedonia visiting the Aviva Stadium.

Already, goalkeeper Shay Given has been ruled out of that game with a dislocated shoulder which will require surgery while captain Robbie Keane is in a race against time to be fit. Portsmouth’s Liam Lawrence is also a major concern after suffering a recurrence of a calf injury on Tuesday.

Wolves’ Stephen Hunt (calf) is another struggling to make the cut.

All of which means that Trapattoni will have much to ponder as he prepares to unveil his squad for the game against Macedonia – and the friendly against Uruguay on the 29th – on March 14.