English Football League Preview: 10 potential Irish storylines to track this season

The action begins on Friday night with Conor Hourihane's Barnsley and taking on Ben Quinn's Mansfield Town.

NEW ROLE: Now 33 and his Ireland career behind, the classy midfielder is gradually migrating into coaching, confirmed by the hybrid role cited in his unveiling, but he’s capable of influencing Barnsley’s promotion bid.

In this ultra-competitive era for Premier League minutes, the lower divisions remain a harvest for Irish players to thrive.

Championship clubs regularly splash out eight-figure sums on recruits in a bid to reach the Holy Grail of the Premier League and the Irish colony have found themselves annually in the cluster of clubs yo-yoing between the divisions.