Any opportunistic players keen on bigging up their Irish connections to get a place in the Irish squad for Euro 2012 will not be welcome.
That was the message resonating from some of the current members of the Irish squad, who have done all the spade work to get Ireland into the position they are currently in and aren’t keen to see their places in the squad taken away from them by a few Johnny come-latelys.
Plenty of so-called plastic paddies have conveniently discovered Irish connections over the years, but considering that Giovanni Trapattoni’s current squad were such a united bunch throughout the qualifying campaign, Richard Dunne, for one, is keen that it will be those players that head to Poland and Ukraine next summer.
When asked about the potential return of Stephen Ireland, the crazy but once talented midfielder who has ostracised himself from the Irish set-up for years, the Honey Monster replied: “He probably doesn’t even know he’s qualified.”
“The manager is smart enough,” Dunne added.
“He knows the people who he can trust and rely on, who turn up, and I can’t imagine there’s going to be too many people entering the squad who haven’t been part of it through the last two years.”
Fresh from a magnificent individual display in Tallinn on Friday night, Keith Andrews echoed Dunne’s sentiments.
“I don’t think the lads would relish anything like that happening,” Andrews said.
“The lads have bonded, we are united and, as a group, we wouldn’t be keen on that.”
The message is clear, then. If the likes of Jamie O’Hara, Mark Noble and Jermaine Pennant suddenly think they can rediscover their tenuous connections for a seat on the plane next summer, they can think again.
They ain’t welcome around here.
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