With the 25th season of the Premier League about to get underway, what better time to take a look back on some of the most memorable Irish moments in the league? Today we take you through the top 10 moments,while you can look back on numbers 25-11 here.
10 Coleman's mustard for Everton
As Everton fans love reminding everyone, the Toffees got a bit of a bargain when they signed Seamus Coleman for just £60,000 from Sligo Rovers and the Irish defender made an immediate impact on his home Premier League debut.
After being introduced as a first-half substitute for the injured Joseph Yobo against Tottenham, Coleman produced the kind of swash-buckling display he has become known for and played a vital role in both of his side’s goals as they drew 2-2 and he was named man-of-the-match.
9 Carr drives Tottenham to victory
One of the most consistent full-backs of his generation, Stephen Carr was originally signed by Ossie Ardiles for Tottenham as a 15-year-old and went on to spend 11 years at White Hart Lane. Carr only scored seven goals in that time and the most memorable came in October of 1999 against Manchester United as Spurs beat United for the first time in four years.
Leading 2-1 but with the game still in the balance, Carr collected the ball on the right, but instead of looking for the easy cross, he carried the ball forward and riffled in a magnificent shot across the goal and from 25 yards out, which shot into the top left corner.
8 Hendrick stunner
Republic of Ireland supporters have always known that Jeff Hendrick has a good touch and an eye for goal but he’s unlikely to ever again score as good a goal as his effort for Burnley against Bournemoth last year.
Finding himself as the furthest man forward for Burnley, Hendrick deftly took down a hopeful ball forward with a flick of his right foot, let the ball bounce off his knee and then from outside the box unleashed an unstoppable effort which arrowed into the top right corner.
WINNER | Goal of the Season is awarded to Jeff Hendrick for his outstanding strike against Bournemouth at Turf Moor. Congratulations Jeff! pic.twitter.com/q3vMQKPoVV
— Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) May 14, 2017
7 Quinn's Sunderland swan-song
Niall Quinn was a veteran 33-year-old striker when Sunderland were promoted back to the Premier League in 1999. The Dubliner had forged a fine partnership with Kevin Phillips in their promotion season but few expected him to be able to take that form into the Premier League.
Quinn confounded all expectations with one of the best seasons of his career, scoring 15 goals and helping striking partner Phillips with the European Golden Shoe awarded as he netted 30 times, with the team finishing seventh in the league.
In true Roy of the Rovers fashion, the former Irish international would go on to head an Irish consortium that bought the club, briefly managed Sunderland and served as chairman, before vacating the dugout for Roy Keane. He's also the inspiration for one of the truly great soccer chants.
6 Meyler keeps his head, just about
David Meyler was more of an unwilling participant in this incident but few people will forget when the Irish international was head-butted by then Newcastle manager Alan Pardew in 2014.
With his side trailing 3-1, Pardew stood in front of Meyler who went to collect the ball by the halfway line. With Pardew in his way, Meyler brushed him aside before collecting the ball - an act the Newcastle boss took umbrage with and went to head-butt the Hull player.
Pardew would later claim he was ‘trying to push him away with his head’ but the FA banned him still for seven games and fined him £160,000.
5 Farrelly saves Everton
Gareth Farrelly only ever scored one goal for Everton during his two years at Goodison Park but it’s no exaggeration to say that’s it’s one of the most important in the club’s history. At the end of a disastrous season, Everton were on the verge of relegation and needed at least a draw in their final game against Coventry.
Up stepped Farrelly who launched a hopeful ball in towards Duncan Ferguson. The Scottish striker headed it back to Farrelly on the edge of the box and with his weaker right food, he took the ball on his chest and hit an unstoppable shot which went in off the right post and helped preserve his side’s Premier League record with a 1-1 draw.
4 Keane and Vieira's tunnel bust-up
Such was the rivalry between Manchester United and Arsenal in the mid-2000s that the match didn’t even have to be underway for the two teams to be going at each other.
When United visited Highbury in 2005, Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira had to be pulled apart in the tunnel while they waited to go out onto the pitch, with Keane stepping in to defend Gary Neville who had come in for some harsh words from Vieira as they waited for the referee.
With eyes wide and nostrils flaring, Keane told his opposite number to pick on someone else and ominously warned him "I’ll see you out there". It was the United skipper who would have the final say too as his side went on to win 4-2.
3 Irwin helps United to first Premier League title
With seven league titles, three FA Cup and a Champions League winner’s medal for Manchester United, the contribution that Denis Irwin made to the club’s most successful period sometimes gets overlooked due to his often understated but consistently solid performances.
Manager Alex Ferguson recently revealed that Irwin would be the first name on his teamsheet in an All-Time United XI, but with 22 goals in 368 games he could hardly be called prolific.
The most significant of them came in April of 1992 when, desperate for points in their battle for a first league title in 26 years and with games running out, Irwin popped up to fire home a long-range effort in a narrow 1-0 win over Coventry. United would go on from there to each of their remaining league games and edge out Aston Villa to the claim the first Premier League title.
2 Robbie announces himself on the big stage
Robbie Keane is now Ireland’s most prolific striker and a player who has scored goals all over the globe but when he became Coventry City’s most expensive signing in 1999, in a £6million move from Wolves, manager Gordon Strachan was taking a gamble.
Strachan’s faith in the 19-year-old frontman was quickly repaid however as Keane made the perfect debut, scoring both goals in his new side’s 2-0 victory Derby County. The first was a suberb solo effort, as he embarked on surging run before blasting home from a tight angle, while the second was the more kind of tap-in that Keane would make his hallmark throughout his career.
The striker would go on to forge a hugely successful career but it was that day at Highfield Road that he first announced himself on the big stage.
1 "I'd waited long enough. I f****** hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you....."
Revenge is a dish best served cold and Roy Keane certainly bided his time to get his revenge on Alf-Inge Haaland.
It’s a well-known story now, how Keane admitted he set out to hurt Haaland in 2001 as a way of getting back at the former Leeds player who had accused him of faking an injury when he’d really ruptured his cruciate ligament in 1997.
Keane was happy to wait for his moment and four years later in the dying minutes of a Manchester Derby he saw his chance, going in studs-up into the side of Haaland’s knee and leaving him in a heap on the ground. Keane was sent off but scarcely look bothered by that stage, he’d achieved what he wanted to by then.
