Northern Exposure

Brian Kerr was critical yesterday of the influx to the Republic of Ireland of Northern-born players such as Darron Gibson, Marc Wilson and Shane Duffy – despite a couple of factors.

One – Kerr admitted in the same article that he kicked-off talks with Derry native Gibson about shifting his allegiances south of the border.

And two – he revealed that he was hoping to get a Faroe Islands passport for Brazilian player Alex de Santos, who had spent the last six years playing his club football in the North Atlantic outpost.

Kerr conceded early on in the piece that his view on the ‘seedy and predatory’ policy towards the North may come across as hypocritical but that admission did not legitimize his argument.

The three Northern Ireland-born players in question were Gibson, Marc Wilson and Shane Duffy.

Gibson was rared an Irishman in Derry, as was Duffy (whose Donegal dad qualifies him for the Republic without the need for the Good Friday Agreement). And having just turned 18 Duffy was well within his rights to switch – even though he had been fast-tracked to the seniors by Nigel Worthington.

And Wilson was another who only ever dreamed of playing for Ireland.

Why should they have been denied an opportunity to pull on the green jersey (the Republic one, that is) when, in the past, we have capped players with dubious feelings of Irishness?

On the issue of fast-tracking a passport application I’m sure another island nation boss, Malta’s John Buttigieg would love to get all the documentation in order to bring Irishman Declan O’Brien into the fold.

O’Brien has scored eight goals in his last three games – and nine in six matches since his arrival at Valletta from St Patrick’s Athletic.

The Irishman had always been considered one of the top strikers in League of Ireland football but even he could not have expected such a prolific start to his career in the Mediterranean.

Incredibly, his latest two goals came despite his late arrival into the game – he replaced former Holland, Manchester United and Barcelona ace Jordi Cruyff with just 15 minutes to go in last weekend’s 6-2 win over Tarxien.

Of O’Brien’s teammates at Valletta, four will be involved this evening in Malta’s friendly against Finland – a game that is well down the billing today.

There are two genuine heavyweight clashes – Germany host Argentina, while Fr**ce (it’s still a bad word around these parts) take on Spain.

Irish eyes will be on Russia’s performance in Hungary, England host Egypt and the Irish Under-21s attempt to avenge last year’s 4-1 defeat away to Armenia when the two sides meet in Tallaght Stadium (7.30pm).

Today’s bet is a treble of wins for Spain (7/5), England (2/5) and Finland (4/7).

Categories: Soccer