LDB Football isnt even the third biggest sport in Ireland, Gaelic Football, Hurling and Rugby are all much bigger and played sports over in Eire.
Reb is rite, for a country with the population of Ireland with football being the 4th sport, Ireland do pretty well for themselves. The league in Ireland is pretty much semi-pro, so the search for talent is a hard one.
I actually think we punch above out weight and because of the success of 90, 94 and 2002 expectation are quite high, and so they should be for a proud country.
Now as I've posted Im all for 2nd even 3rd generation player, as long as they have the talent, want to play and put the correct effort in, I couldnt give a shit if they were born in timbuktu.
The likes of Cascarino, Townsend, Aldridge, Houghton and many more were brilliant for their country, they chose to play for Ireland and showed real pride in the shirt and made the country proud. Good Irishmen....IRISH LEGENDS.
They are more Irish than Irish born Stephen Ireland thats for sure!!!!!
I do think rebs point is fairly valid though compared to England you could argue Ireland have been more successful, as for us qualifying for a tournament is as good as winning the bloody thing
