All Time World Cup!
The Republic of Ireland looked at first glance like the outsiders for the group, if not the whole tournament. But that would be to underestimate some of the individual talent available. At club level at least, there were trophies galore for the Irish players. For many many years most top-flight English teams had at least one Irishman on board.
Add to that the ‘Irish grandchildren’ drafted in during the 1980s and 90s such as John Aldridge (English), Ray Houghton (Scottish) and Kevin Sheedy (Welsh), and things didn’t look too bad. The question was how well they could gel together, and would they prove sufficiently adept tactically to cope with the opposition? The man with the task would be the charismatic Jack Charlton, a World Cup winner with his native England as a player [who only narrowly missed out on their squad here]. He tended to opt for long-ball, pressing tactics, but a potential midfield of Giles, Brady, Whelan and Keane looked too good to by-pass.
| Number | Position | Player | Era |
| 1 | GK | Bonner | 1980's-90's |
| 2 | RB | Carey | 1930's-50's |
| 3 | LB/RB | Irwin | 1980's-90's |
| 4 | CB | Lawrenson | 1980's |
| 5 | CB/DM | McGrath | 1980's-90's |
| 6 | DM | Roy Keane | 1990's-00's |
| 7 | CM/RM | Giles | 1960's-70's |
| 8 | LW/AM | Brady | 1970's-80's |
| 9 | CF | Aldridge | 1980's-90's |
| 10 | CF | Robbie Keane | 2000's |
| 11 | LW | Sheedy | 1980's |
| 12 | CB | O'Leary | 1980's-90's |
| 13 | GK | Given | 1990's-00's |
| 14 | DM/AM | R.Whelan | 1980's |
| 15 | CF | Givens | 1970's |
| 16 | AM/FM | B.Whelan | 1950's |
| 17 | LB | Cantwell | 1960's |
| 18 | CM | Heighway | 1970's |
| 19 | CF | N.Quinn | 1990's |
| 20 | AM/RM | Houghton | 1980's-90's |
| 21 | LB | Staunton | 1980's-00's |
| 22 | CF | Stapleton | 1980's |
| Coach | J.Charlton |
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