ROVERS DUO NOW BONDED BY CLUB AND COUNTRY
IT SEEMS improbable that Meath has never been represented on the Republic of Ireland football team. Nor has Germany, for that matter, which is understandable. Yet a Hamburg-born footballer will tog out alongside a son of Dunboyne in the Irish dressing room tomorrow night. Both Darragh Lenihan and Derrick Williams are eager to make their Irish senior debuts and pen a wee chapter in the Irish football storybook. By chance, the uncapped duo are also defensive colleagues at Blackburn Rovers, the current leaders of League One. If the third tier of English football is not a regular port of call for Ireland manager Martin O’Neil, a wide net has been cast this week and Lenihan (24) and Williams (25) are part of the catch. Lenihan is a brother of Meath footballer Donal Lenihan and his presence in the squad extends the GAA connection to Meathmen who have preceeded him in the Irish squad. Brendan Murphy was on the bench for Paul McGrath’s final international against Wales in Cardiff in 1997, while Dundalk ’keeper Gary Rogers has twice been named by O’Neill as cover. Lenihan could have chosen a GAA route and was asked a few years back to play for Meath against Dublin in the Leinster minor final, but he had made the move to Blackburn and politely declined. Like Lenihan, Williams has payed under-age for Ireland, having moved to Waterford at six after living in Germany and South Carolina (his father was in the US military). With 43 appearances for Blackburn this season, and a Player of the Year award from last term, Williams may be better placed than Lenihan tomorow, but much will depend on what O’Neill has made of them in training. ‘I want to play so it would be a bit disappointing if I didn’t,’ said Williams. ‘I would still look on the experience as a positive. I don’t feel out of place.’