Hopes high for the shamrock Rovers as Williams and Lenihan join Ireland squad

Team-mates at Blackburn Rovers, and now in with a shout of getting their first senior Irish caps, Derrick Williams and Darragh Lenihan have taken wildly contrasting routes to Turkey.

The son of an American father and Irish mother, Williams is eligible to play for three countries as a result of well-travelled childhood.

“I was born in Germany, my dad was in the (US) army, and we moved to South Carolina when I was a baby,” the 25-year-old explains.