Declan Rice says celebrating goal would have been ‘disrespectful’ to Cork grandparents

The Arsenal midfielder opened the scoring against his former international side.

England's Declan Rice refuses to celebrate scoring his side's first goal at Aviva Stadium. 

Declan Rice says celebrating  his goal for England against the Republic of Ireland would have been ‘disrespectful’ to his grandparents, who come from Douglas in Cork.

The midfielder opened the scoring in Dublin and he added to that by setting up Jack Grealish to make it 2-0 in the 26th minute.

The two former Ireland internationals had been jeered from the second they set-out on the pitch, and supporters were left confused by Rice’s actions.

“Obviously, my Nan and Granddad on my Dad’s side of the family are Irish and they’ve passed away so I think to have celebrated would have been really disrespectful,” he said.

“With them not being here anymore and them being my dad’s parents. I obviously had such an amazing time playing for Ireland. I was in the first team and around the U21s. I have great memories. I don’t have a bad word to say to be honest with you. I have great memories.” 

That was one moment in an afternoon for the midfielder that played under a microscope due to his history with the green jersey.

“I enjoyed that environment – I really, really enjoyed it and to score and get an assist for Jack as well,” he said.

“I was really happy to be honest with you – to come back to Arsenal late and I’ve not been feeling 100% fit so far so I’ve been [having] my preseason in the Premier League,” Rice explained.

“Today I felt like a step up for myself and being back to myself. I’ve been feeling springy, like I can run around the pitch. I’ve been feeling more powerful. On a personal level, it was really good to get that game in today because I feel like I took another step that is going to help me at Arsenal. I feel happy today and I feel really good.

“I knew I needed a big performance so far this season because I was sent off during my last game and for the first two games I was a little bit rusty. I feel like I needed that.”

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