MARTIN O’Neill – former Northern Ireland captain and Republic of Ireland manager – says he can’t see an all-Ireland soccer team taking the field in “the foreseeable future”.
O’Neill, who played for the all-island ‘Shamrock Rovers XI’ that went up against Brazil at the height of the Troubles in 1973, recalls George Best mentioning that an all-Ireland international side would be “a good thing”.
However, 50 years’ on from the 4-3 loss to a star-studded Brazil side in Dublin, former Derry GAA player and Celtic manager O’Neill doesn’t see Northern Ireland and the Republic joining forces any time soon.
“It’s been talked about now for years,” he said
“I remember even George Best saying it would be a good thing.
“It’s not going to happen in the foreseeable future and when I say ‘foreseeable future’, I’ve been in the game 50 years and it hasn’t happened in that time. People say: ‘Why can the rugby team be all-Ireland?’ Well, there’s lots of political machinations about the whole thing.
“In 1982 when we (Northern Ireland) had a really good team and we did great and got to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Spain, can you imagine having the likes of (Frank) Stapleton and Liam Brady to come in?
“A few players from down south might have made a big difference. We (Northern Ireland) had a great camaraderie, a great spirit but if we’d had a couple of players like Brady and Stapleton then you never know.”
Even if the North and the Republic were to amalgamate under one banner, O’Neill doubts whether Ireland’s current soccer fortunes would radically improve. The Republic are currently ranked 58th in the Fifa standings. Northern Ireland are 74th.
“At this minute I think the two teams are really much-of-a-muchness,” he added.
“So in terms of really superior footballing progress, I’m not so sure it would make a massive difference to the playing side of it.”
The last time either team made it to a major finals tournament was the European Championships in 2016. Both progressed from the group stage to the round of 16 but Martin O’Neill’s Republic were beaten 2-1 by hosts France in Lyon the day after Wales beat Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland 1-0 in Paris.
“In the opening game (1-1 at Stade de France) the atmosphere was fantastic against Sweden,” recalled (Martin) O’Neill.
“Honestly, I could imagine everything that Jack Charlton must have felt… 25,000 Irish fans in the stadium… It was brilliant. We played brilliantly that day, we didn’t play well against Belgium (4-0 loss) there’s no doubt about it – Belgium were very strong and were too good for us.
“But when we had to get the result against Italy (1-0 win) I thought we were terrific and Robbie Brady’s goal was just magnificent.
“We only had two days’ preparation for France and they had a complete week so all that goes in the mix but we played some really good stuff.”
