THE PATHS TO CHOOSE
Declan Rice’s conundrum is a familiar one with no guarantees
THE England football team roll of honour, past and present, is decorated with household names of Irish ancestry.
Wayne Rooney (120 caps), Paul Scholes (66 caps), Jimmy Greaves and Paul Gascoigne (57 caps each), Martin Keown (43 caps), could all have played for the Republic of Ireland.
Recently retired Gary Cahill (61 caps) and current captain Harry Kane (35 caps), have Irish-born grandparents.
None of them, it could be argued, chose the wrong international path, for they all represented England at World Cups and European Championships.
Yet, not everyone with Irish blood may have made the right call, in terms of carving out a successful international career with England.
Aaron Lennon would probably be close to 100 caps by now, rather than 21, while Michael Keane, a former Ireland underage international, will be eager to add to his haul of five caps under Gareth Southgate.
There were others who simply felt ambivalence towards Ireland despite qualifying through lineage, such as Mark Noble, Curtis Davies, Kyle Naughton and Callum Wilson.
As a nation holds its breath for Declan Rice to end the suspense, Sportsmail looks at six Englishborn players with Irish bloodlines who might have benefited by declaring for Ireland. When it comes to reflective career moments, regrets, there may be a few.
MARK NOBLE
Even now, at 31, Noble yearns for that elusive England call.
Pulling on the white shirt, as he did so often at under-age level, including 20 times for the U21s, would make him a very happy Hammer.
But when the Londoner reaches for his pipe and slippers down the road, he might consider how his international career path could have taken a different tack.
Through his Cork-born grandparents, Noble could have declared for Ireland, at any point in the past decade.
He was aware of his options but kept chipping away at the West Ham coal-face, waiting for England recognition that never came.
His energy, combativeness and eye for goal would not have gone amiss under Martin O’Neill and would also be most useful to Mick McCarthy too.
Without doubt, the presence of Noble in a green shirt would have resolved the riddle of Declan Rice’s international future as the duo are akin to favourite uncle and nephew.
With the England ship having sailed, is it too late for Noble to get on board with Ireland? Almost certainly.
DAVE KITSON
THIS curious case took a twist when it was claimed the striker was the player behind ‘The Secret Footballer’ series of books, who also penned a column for The Guardian.
Kitson, then with Reading, firmly rebuffed Steve Staunton’s interest. ‘My family are not Irish. I’ve only ever had English family around me,’ he said.
‘My parents were born in north London, so was I, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m English.
‘That in no way means I’m holding out to play for England. I’m not naive to think I’m good enough. This is purely my principles. I don’t agree you should be eligible because of your grandparents,’ he added.
Kitson later reconsidered his position but nothing came of the Staunton overtures.
As for England, they never called either.
STEVE BRUCE
At 33, the former Manchester United defender had given up on playing for England. Bobby Robson ignored him, so too had Graham Taylor. And then Jack Charlton, a fellow Geordie, came calling.
Charlton wanted Bruce to be part of the Irish set-up at the 1994 World Cup finals. He told Bruce he’d be playing and not to worry about the paperwork; it would be pushed through quickly – Bruce’s mother was from Bangor.
Bruce was intrigued but Alex Ferguson, his boss at Manchester United, had other ideas. Fergie was already up in arms over the UEFA ‘threeforeigner’ rule, which was impacting on his team selection in Euro competition, and there was no way he was losing Bruce as one of his ‘homegrown’ players.
Ironically, the ‘three-foreigner’ rule was deemed to be illegal by the European Union at the end of 1995 and was soon scrapped.
By then, it was too late for Bruce whose son Alex played twice at senior level for the Republic, in friendlies, before switching to Northern Ireland.
JACK GREALISH
Jack the lad didn’t make things easy for Martin O’Neill as he ducked and dived despite the then manager’s entreaties. Known as ‘The Ghost’ at Villa, the creative midfielder pulled on the Irish jersey at all levels from U15s to the U21s. With three of his four grandparents born in Ireland, he appeared tethered to the green shirt. In May 2015, O’Neill was set to name Grealish (left) for the senior friendly with England and Euro qualifier with Scotland but a phone conversation on the day the squad was being announced changed everything. Grealish had had a change of heart and wanted out. That summer he met Roy Hodgson and soon set about switching allegiance to the Three Lions, which ruled him out of playing for Ireland again. Scroll forward to today, Grealish is still a Championship player at Villa and has yet to win a senior cap for England. Had he signed up under O’Neill, he’d have gone to the Euro 2016 finals and his creativity might have made all the difference against Denmark in the World Cup play-offs.
JON FLANAGAN
THERE are Irish names on every second street in Liverpool and John Patrick Flanagan is one of many Scousers eligible through his grandparents. At 26, the Rangers full-back could still choose to declare and it remains to be seen if Mick McCarthy picks up the phone for a chat.
O’Neill was reported to have enquired about Flanagan soon after he became manager in 2013 but the trail went cold.
That season, Flanagan was on fire for Liverpool, chalking up 23 appearances in the Premier League and catching the eye of Roy Hodgson who awarded him an England cap in a friendly against Ecuador in June 2014. He was also put on stand-by for the World Cup finals.
Thereafter, Flanagan’s form dipped and he was shipped out of Liverpool a year ago on loan after being found guilty of assaulting his girlfriend.
Steven Gerrard, a former teammate, has given Flanagan a chance to rebuild his career but an England recall is remote.