The Soccernostalgia Interview-Part 13 (Interview with Irish Freelance writer, Historian and Broadcaster Mr. John O’Carroll, on Republic of Ireland National Team‘s One-Cap Wonders in the 1980s)

 

For this interview, I start a new project as I look back at the history of the Republic of Ireland National Team players who made a solitary appearance for the National Team in the 1980s.

 

The Interviewee is:

Irish Freelance writer, Historian and Broadcaster Mr. John O’Carroll

 

Mr. O’Carroll’s contact info:

e-mail: johnocarroll0@gmail.com

or on facebook under John O’Carroll

 

 

The aim is to look upon the reason, background and circumstances why a certain player was selected for a match but never again.

 

Soccernostalgia Question: John Walsh of Limerick made his only appearance vs. Trinidad and Tobago on May 30th, 1982 at Port of Spain (1-2 loss). What can you tell of the background to his selection?

 

Mr. John O’Carroll Response: Firstly the background. Having narrowly failed to qualify for the World Cup finals in Spain, as a consolation the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) organised a tour of South America at the end of May in 1982. The intention was to play four games, against Chile, Peru, Argentina and Brazil who had all qualified for the World Cup finals. An added bonus was that the game v Brazil was to be played in the Maracana Stadium. Shortly after the announcement of the tour, the Falklands War began and Argentina quickly became outcasts in the eyes of the English. This impacted on the Republic of Ireland team because with the exception of Liam Brady, all the Irish players were playing in the English League at this time. The FAI took the view that Ireland was neutral in the Falklands dispute and as such should be able to call on their English based players to tour without English interference. The Irish manager, Eoin Hand, unsuccessfully attempted to get the English clubs to release their players. The English clubs had no issue with the Republic players going on the tour provided the Republic did not play Argentina. Some in the FAI wanted the Argentina game to go ahead and even suggested calling up players from the League of Ireland (the amateur part time Irish domestic league) to make up numbers for the squad. Eventually the pressure over the Argentina game wore the FAI down and Argentina were taken off the itinerary. A game was hastily arranged v Trinidad and Tobago instead.

By the time the Argentina game was cancelled however it was just two weeks before the tour. Peru had also withdrawn from playing Ireland for unknown reasons. As a result, Arsenal and Manchester United had already embarked on post season tours and their Irish players had gone with them. In 1982 it wasn't possible to hop between destinations at short notice! Tottenham were featuring in a replayed FA Cup Final so their players - Chris Hughton and Tony Galvin - were also unavailable.
With so many players unavailable, Eoin Hand resorted to picking the best League of Ireland players and some lower league English players with Irish ancestry. Eoin was also managing Limerick United at this time and they had just won the FAI Cup (the domestic cup competition of the Republic of Ireland). John Walsh was a prominent member of the Limerick team and Eoin Hand rated him highly as Eoin was John's manager at club level. As a result, John Walsh made one appearance against Trinidad and Tobago.

The Trinidad and Tobago game has always been shrouded in controversy. Even today several players who played in this game and also the manager Eoin Hand are still adamant that this game was not a full international. No press or media were present for this game so the only information we have on the game was from the Trinidad FA. The Irish maintain that on arrival in Trinidad they played two games - one against a club side and the other v Trinidad and Tobago. The Irish say that they beat Trinidad and Tobago but lost the game to the club team and that the Trinidad and Tobago authorities switched the match results!

John Walsh was a carpet salesman in Limerick and said that when the caps for this Trinidad and Tobago game were awarded afterward, he received a cap with the number 2 on it. He maintains that the FAI thought that Trinidad and Tobago were two separate football teams and as such, one game was against Trinidad and the other was against Tobago!

Mick Fairclough of Dundalk and Sean O'Driscoll were also capped twice each on this South American tour. Neither player was capped previously or capped afterwards.

 

Photo From: Republic of Ireland, Gifted in Green, Author Adam Ward,1999

(John Walsh)

Soccernostalgia Question: Two years later, on June 3rd, 1984, Gary Howlett of Brighton, would make a second half appearance (coming in the 55th minute for Patrick Byrne) in a Kirin Cup match vs. China. What can you say about him?

 

Mr. John O’Carroll Response: Gary Howlett came to prominence in 1983 when he played in the FA Cup final for Brighton. He wasn't a very regular player with Brighton however. Like John Walsh - who incidentally was also in the squad for this Kirin Cup but wasn't capped - Gary Howlett was called up primarily due to several established Irish internationals unavailable. In this season Liverpool played in the European Cup final, Tottenham played a two-leg UEFA Cup final and Everton had won the FA Cup - meaning several Irish players at these clubs had longer seasons than other players. Ireland played four matches in this Kirin Cup but the only game which caps were awarded for was the game v China which was a semifinal. Gary and indeed John Walsh may have played in other games on this tour but because they were non-cap games against club sides team lineups are not to hand. Gary Howlett slipped off the radar after this and ended his career in the 1990s playing with Shelbourne in the League of Ireland.

 

Photo From: Republic of Ireland, Gifted in Green, Author Adam Ward,1999

(Garry Howlett)

Soccernostalgia Question: In the beginning of his tenure, Jackie Charlton gave debuts to two League of Ireland players in the same match vs. Uruguay on April 23rd, 1986 (1-1 tie at Dublin). Peter Eccles (Shamrock Rovers) replaced Chris Hughton for the last ten minutes, while Barry Murphy (Bohemians Dublin) started the match. What can you tell about this duo?

 

Mr. John O’Carroll Response: In 1986 Shamrock Rovers were the leading team in the League of Ireland and Jack Charlton had only been appointed manager of the Republic in February. Jack was evidently giving some leading League of Ireland players a run as at this point Jack would have known little or nothing about the domestic league in Ireland. In many ways Jack was running the rule over several home based players to see were they good enough to play senior international soccer. Of course, it soon became evident that the League of Ireland was not of a particularly high standard and you also have to bear in mind that it was for the most part an amateur league. Many leading players in the League also had other full time jobs. Peter Eccles and Barry Murphy would have been two stand out domestic players at this time.

 

 

Photo From: Republic of Ireland, Gifted in Green, Author Adam Ward,1999

(Barry Murphy)

Photo From: Republic of Ireland, Gifted in Green, Author Adam Ward,1999

(Barry Murphy)

Soccernostalgia Question: In a match that will be remembered for David Kelly’s hat-trick (November 10, 1987, (5-0) win over Israel in Dublin), Rotherham United goalkeeper Kelham O’Hanlon made his only appearance. What can you say about him?

 

Mr. John O’Carroll Response:  Kelham was English born of Irish parentage and was Rotherham's regular goalkeeper at this time. He never got to play at the top level in England which resulted in him being very much the third choice goalkeeper for Ireland for some years - behind Pat Bonner and Gerry Peyton. Kelham may have gone to the 1988 Euros and the 1990 World Cup as a squad member but in 1988 only two goalkeepers tended to be included in team squads and in 1990 Jack Charlton chose to take two goalkeepers rather than three - in order to include an extra outfield player instead. The Republic and Colombia were the only teams who took just two goalkeepers to the 1990 World Cup. As a footnote - this 1987 game v Israel was one of the last internationals to be played in Dalymount Park.

 

Photo From: Republic of Ireland, Gifted in Green, Author Adam Ward,1999

(Kelham O‘Hanlon)

Soccernostalgia Question: In a friendly on October 19, 1988 vs. Tunisia (4-0) win, perhaps more remembered as the match where John Aldridge scored his first goal at International level. Arsenal’s Patrick Scully made a second half appearance (replacing Chris Morris). What is the background to this selection?

 

Mr. John O’Carroll Response: This was quite a controversial selection. Pat Scully was an Arsenal youth team player who never made the breakthrough in the English game. For this game, Kevin Moran was injured and the expectancy was that David O'Leary would have been called up to conclude his long international exile. Whether at this time Jack Charlton saw Pat Scully as a possible long term prospect or whether he was still deliberately omitting David O'Leary is unclear. In the aftermath of this game several Irish soccer journalists who had been unflinchingly supporting Jack began to question the omission of David O'Leary and this may have led to David's recall for the following month's World Cup qualifier v Spain in Seville. For the Spain game Ireland were missing several key players through injury and as a result David was recalled.

Another player who featured in the Tunisia game was Ken De Mange. A Liverpool youth team player at this time, his one previous cap was against Brazil in 1987. Like Pat Scully, he never made a significant impression in England and in the 1990s played for a number of teams in the League of Ireland.

 

  

Photo From: Republic of Ireland, Gifted in Green, Author Adam Ward,1999

(Patrick Scully)

Soccernostalgia Question: What is the common thread between these players and what differentiates them in terms of circumstances for their lone appearance?

 

Mr. John O’Carroll Response: In all the instances all these one cap players were called up because of more established players being unavailable through injury or club commitments. John Walsh and Gary Howlett were called up due to player unavailability, Peter Eccles and Barry Murphy were called because Jack Charlton wanted to assess the standard of the League of Ireland, Kelham O'Hanlon was selected just to give him a cap and the Pat Scully situation is unclear as already stated.

 

Soccernostalgia Question: Can you describe why being a League of Ireland was generally a hindrance to a player’s chances and how some of these One-Cap players benefitted despite this disadvantage?

 

Mr. John O’Carroll Response: The League of Ireland was to all intents and purposes a part time league consisting of amateur players. And for a long number of years the overall standard of the league was not good - as can be seen from the results of Irish clubs in UEFA competitions before, during and after the 1980s. Apart from the occasional good performance against superior opposition (Limerick v Real Madrid in 1980 and Limerick again v AZ Alkmaar in 1982 for example) results were quite poor and Irish clubs were often beaten by other clubs from Europe's minnow soccer nations. Even with good performances, the Irish clubs were still being eliminated very early in the season. In fact, from 1982 until the late 1990s League of Ireland clubs did not win one single away game in European competitions. Of course, gaining an international cap while playing in the League of Ireland sometimes opened doors for these players to gain some experience of English league football - albeit in most of these cases at lower league clubs.

 

 

Soccernostalgia Question: Compared to other Nations, perhaps the Republic of Ireland did not have too many one-cap players in the span of a decade, what do you attribute this to?

 

Mr. John O’Carroll Response: When the team started achieving results under Jack Charlton the need to recruit Irish domestic players was not there. Jack tended to be loyal to players and at times it appeared to be harder to get off the Irish team than onto it. As well, the spine of the Irish team for much of the 1980s wasn't ageing and many first team players were still relatively young enough. In the mid-1980s when the Republic were not a serious international unit, some English players with Irish ancestry did not commit to the Republic due to our low international ranking. So players who did commit were for the most part those who were serious about playing international soccer. And also the fact that traditionally the Republic has always had a small pool of players to choose from means that we usually don't have a lot of players to discard unnecessarily.