He's not THAT good anyway.
Murphy will be a better player.

I'm glad this issue has finally been sorted out, even if it is to the detriment of Scotland. The uncertainty over his future was always going to be a distraction for everyone involved. I think he'll turn out to be a good player, and I'd have liked him to have played for Scotland, but if his heart wasn't really in it then it's probably just as well he's playing for Ireland.

I think what is lacking in the SFA is a real youth structure at younger ages. The SPL/SFL pro youth set up is a good system, and this is where they should be looking for players. The schoolboys system is practically useless, because some clubs don't allow their players to play for their schools.

However, despite protestations to the contrary, I think that the likes of McGeady, McCarthy, Jackson and O'Brien's minds were made up long before they were promising footballers.

Murphy? Sounds Irish to me,probably has an Irish grandpa.Just wondering how the Tartan army feel about the English players who have been deemed not good enough to represent England but because of some link to a Scottish granny or whatever they have turned out for the dark blues? Is this not the same as when a Scottish player is snubbed by his country and gets asked to play for another nation through his ancestory links?It seems like a few have some short memories.

Can't be arsed reading the lot before me, so I'll just say, he chose Ireland (God's Country) and that is that.

I would rather 11 Scots born players to be honest.Does that answer your question??

I'm glad we've stopped the pointless pursuit of a player who quite clearly didn't want to play for us.

I'm sure most people would prefer not to have these tenuous English types but it's a whole lot different when someone is playing FOR you than being a TRAITOR against you

Anyone who struggles with that is a fool

I would doubt the English really care about the players that defected to us - they were nowhere near good enough for England.

It's a different story if the player defecting to another country is indeed good enough.

Its pish he hasnt chose to play for us but the cases between Mcarthy and Morrison are completely different .

Mcarthy was wanted by his home country so if you are you should always pick them.

Morrison wasnt wanted by England so he wantes to play international football and remembered the last time he saw his gran she had a scottish accent so he thought ill have a look into this, which isnt as bad imo as if i desperately wanted to play for my country but they didnt want me then if i had an English gran me myself would feel atleast a third english.

referring to irish people as spudmunchers amongst other things is just banter is it?tit

Im glad he doesnt want to play for us. How at the age 16 or whatever age he was, can u decide to cry at not been picked by your country. He had years to get in the international sides. By the sounds of it he never wanted to play for Scotland in first place. Anyway im sure we will have much better players than him in the future who want to play for their country.

If he has any sense he will move out of Scotland as soon as possible,cos he now set himself up for a lifetime of "patriotic" abuse. I also recall when the press realised that mcgeady was playing for Ireland, the papers where asking "is it because he's a catholic?" wonder why Mccarthys' religion has not been questioned..oh wait thats right, he doesn't play for Celtic

Only the truly great nations had/have an empire. You never will.

More likely cos he's playing for a small team that the press don't care about.

The difference being McGeady and McCarthy (eventually) would of been senior Scotland Caps.

Matt Elliot, Quashie, Morrision etc would never have been good enough to play for England and wanted to just play International football.

Your argument is therefore completey irrelevant.

They are both utter utter c***s.



You are easily offended if that is the case. Which makes you even more of a c**t.

I thought i would dedicate a whole post to how much of a p***k you are.

In answer to the question your post, no , it isn't because he is catholic.However, it is because McCarthy and McGeady are bigots, much like the majority of OF supporters, that they made the decision to play for Ireland as opposed to Scotland.

If they had went and played for fucking Poland the abuse would of been the same.And rightly so.

Both players will be and are good enough to play at a senior level for Scotland. The fact they are Catholic only comes into it on their part you c**t.

Neither player ever had any intention of playing for Scotland as they are both warped bigots, as are their families. McCarthy said it was his dying Grandad's wish. In that case there is one less bigot in the world now thankfully.

I hope Ireland never play in a major tournament in the span of their careers. After they retire they can play in as many as they want as i don't care for them either way.

He has set himself up for a lifetime of abuse. Rightly so. He deserves it for being a coward and a bigot.

If it's about catholicism, why do Frenchmen, Italians, Slovaks, Belgians and Spanish not get the same level of abuse?


What's that you say - Nacho Novo - oh so he does, but not from Rangers fans?

Chip laden Bigot that you are!

I hope he does move out of Scotland as soon as possible as per your suggestion. The further away the better.

Not sure about Murphy but have to agree that I really don't see what the fuss is about. McCarthy won't be the first 'scottish' player to be lauded at that level only to turn out to be average at best and he certainly won't be the last. I know there is a couple of years difference between them but I would say that McCarthy is unlikely to turn out to be at the same level as Fletcher at Hibs for example

I fail to see why you class him as a Bigot, What because he choose Ireland over Scotland?

Naive, yes! Bigot?

eh...answers on a postcard please

Thats what caused the "problem" in the first place

Yeah, naive for touring Europe bettering himself by playing against the continents top young players when he could have been, erm, doing nothing.

Smith, Burley and Stark have shot up in my estimations because they actually asked him. If their predecessors had shown the same professionalism then this issue would not even exist. Its a real shame they were not in the position to do so 3 years ago.

I would have loved to see him play for Scotland but sadly it's not to be

I must have missed all those 15 and 16 year olds playing in the First Division. Don't you think that was quite a big clue that here was a young player who was a little bit out of the ordinary? Did he need an arrow attached to him to help point him out to the selectors? No Archie, you keep picking Old Firm kids who will plod away in the reserves for years or if they're lucky get a loan move to Morton. Archie fucking Knox is a joke, assistant all his life. He pissed off sharply once another plum second in command job came up, that's how devoted he was to his country.

If you think Brian Easton is a donkey you clearly don't have a fucking clue about football. He has adapted to the SPL with ease.

He was playing every week at the top of the First division while SPL haddies were picked because of who they played for or because their da for example was an ex player.

Brian Easton who has taken to the SPL like a duck to water is a donkey.I bow to your superior knowlewdge Bawsacks.Archie Cocks is responsible for this mess.He told Accies that McCarthy wasn't good enough so fcuk them.

I think your knowledge of players is about the same as Archie Cocks and Ross Mathie.Soon be time for Brian Easton to do the same as he continues to get ignored while playing excellently most weeks.

Nothing wrong with you sticking up for the lad but whats all this fcuk them.Who the fcuk is them?If you are not Scottish then fair do's but Scottish people who talk this way make me sick.

The guys obviously had no belief in himself at that age as had it been me,i would have stuck 2 fingers up to Knox and proved the twat wrong, not f*cking jump ship to any country that was next to offer me international football.The guys a disgrace.

he's a judas cunt, i'll be giving him dogs abuse next week.

right wing filth.and what empire did you have i wonder?you done nothing but what your english masters asked then and its the same today!pathetic

I'm not really bothered who McCarthy wants to play but it appears to me that he's always wanted to play for the Republic despite all the wee stories about not being asked and his Gramps dying.



I don't agree - I think the likes of McGeady and McCarthy tap into what most of us see as the wanky side of supporting Celtic - some devine Oirishness that the rest of us find quite ridiculous.




yep - that's how I see it.

He's been asked now and he said 'naw' so that's it done and dusted.

What on earth are you babbling about?

"devine Oirishness"?

What I find ridiculous is the expectation that no deviation from "Scottish" kultur should be brooked. Even to the extent where an affinity with certain sports teams becomes lese majeste.

For example, Celtic fans are regularly berated for not being suficiently deferential to "the saltire". Its ubiquity is taken to be self evidently desirable - usually by those who sneer at 'the Old Firm' and 'religion' - but it is itself a crucifix of sorts and as such a religious symbol.

St. Andrew, chosen by the Scots as their personification, was of course the first and therefore the most credulous of Jesus' followers. He drew attention upon himself by demanding that he be crucifed sideways, and his remains were allegedly later brought to Fife from the Caucasus region. This mirrored Scottish mythology which suggested themselves or their Pictish predeccesors as a chosen tribe who had arrived from the Caucasus in antiquity. Obviously this would entail more than a whiff of Aryanism - co-opted to align them with the English and assert themselves over other Celtic peoples ie. the Irish.

Not that there's anything wrong with unthinkingly tugging one's forelock to all this guff. Making it compulsorary for people who grew up in Irish families with a totally different heritage is perhaps a bit much though.

Aren't you watching your country play.It's still 0-0 btw.

I'm giving you my take on it - a great number of Celtic fans have no connection with Ireland whatsoever .... other than the fact that they support Celtic,

I find it laughable that lease people latch onto Ireland to the extent that they end up with a tricolour on their arm or above their bed.

The rest of your post was just ostentatious babble.

QUOTE (washsacks @ Oct 9 2008, 17:25) He was 15 or 16 when he "decided" his international future ffs. Maybe at that time there were better players than him, how the f**k would you know otherwise?What is your knowledge of youth football across Scotland?Alot less than Archie Knox i am willing to bet.

SHITE !!! he was 15 when he made his first team debut and didnt represent Ireland till at least 1-1 1/2 yrs later. Does not making your debut at that age at least give the SFA a bit of a clue that the guy has talent and i suppose Liverpool,Chelsea,Barcelona just to name a few of the clubs that have been watching him over the last couple of seasons are all wrong according to some of the posters who say he's not worth the chase !!!!

Bottom line Scotland missed their chance with him so tough luck
Plus there's another 2 players who should be representing Scotland at some kind of level
James McCarthur who only recently got involved in the under 21 set-up only because of the press Accies started to get towards end of last season cause they won the league but he's still not gettin a game and Brian Easton ,IMO is one of the best young full-backs around and betwen these two they have around 130 - 140 first team games experience between them yet cant get game/picked in front of rangers and celtic RESERVE players.
Cant understand the SFA and there selection procedure

Why in your eye's is he a judas c**t ? he has never once said that he would play for Scotland and main reason he chose to play for Ireland is because they WANTED him ( meaning they spotted his talent before Scotland realised they had F**ked Up )

Give him dog's abuse all you want but sounds to me that theres a gers supporter lurking underneath your St Mirren scarf !!!

By the way do you know who Judas was and what he actually did ?

Oh Ireland wanted him!

Thats alright, he was born, educated and lives here.
People fought and died for this country, so he could get the benefits.
A free education and health service etc......

He must really hate Scotland, to give two fingers to us all.

He spits on the graves of generations of Scots, he deserves to be abused at every ground in the land, as does McGeady.

No he isnt. In his opinion at the time he wasnt good enough, which is a fair assesment. Players develop at different rates. What did he do? knuckle down and try to get looked at again maybe at the ripe old age of 16? No he went running off to another country with which he has a limited link. An absolute disgrace.

The original question was - is he that good.


The answer is yes , he is only 17 and I ahve watched his development over the last two seasons, where he has steadily improved month on month.

He has vision and the ability to get into space , as well as a superb passers of the ball.

He is very young to be playing 1st team football, but having progressed from a mid table 1st Division finge player at 15 to almost Accies nest palyer week in wee out in the SPL at 17, shows how good he has become.


He has a long way to go , but has all the attributes to make it to the very top, and I don't mean in Scotland.

He is very brave to stick with ROI , but best of luck to him, disappointed as a Scotland fan , but then at least he won't have to put up with Burley.

So a young guy playing at the top of the First Division isn't nearly as good as diidies in SPL youth sides?No wonder he did what he did.

Thats alot of bollocks , you dont run crying off to another country because you never got picked for your own , hes a bigheaded c**t if thats the way he is , just imagine him greetin to his mammy Scotland arenae pikkin me mammy , Mammy; there there honey ill just give Giovanni Trappatoni a buzz.

Why is everyone falling for the hype over this kid? He's pish.

don't be such a turnip, oh i must be a rangers supporter because i don't accept this wee ginger shitebag's decision to turn his back on his country.

here's why he's a judas as he either:

1. took a strop at the sfa because he didn't get called up, deciding his international future before his balls even dropped rather than fighting his way into the setup. this would make him an arrogant wee piece of shit in my opinion.

2. already decided to play for a different country due to being emotionally blackmailed by his dying grandad, never considered playing for scotland in the first place despite it being the nation of his and his parents birth.

he's made his bed, i hope someone breaks the ginger cunts legs on saturday and that he never kicks a fucking ball again.

I'm sure that such a well informed poster hasn't reached this conclusion without at least seeing the lad play. So in your opinion who amongst his age group is better?




Disgusting.

Showing your in-bred mentality that you wish he end's up with a career-ending injury ( I'd never wish that on any player regardless of how much i hate them ) , so are you hoping the same happens to Boyd and McCulloch after they've decided not to play for Scotland again !!! Dont think so

As for your two points :

Even if SFA didnt rate him when he was 15 they should have at least try to include him in some way so at least it might have stopped the Irish stepping in and stealing him from Scotland , remember he was playing first-team football at that age not stuck playing in the reserves of some SPL team , which some of the players who where getting picked at the time where

How was he emotionally blackmailed ? You dont know how close he was to his grand-father ( none of us do ) How do you know he never considered playing for Scotland , maybe he did and when they never approached him and the Irish did his mind was made up by the lack of interest from the Scottish.

At the end of the day it was his choice to play for Ireland and yes he's got to live with that , but his mind was probably made up by the distinct lack of interest by Scotland. It's not as if he's just burst through into first-team football , he's been playing first team football from the age of 15.

Cant wait for saturday , then you'll see how good a player he is or are you hoping your manager sends your team out to kick him of the park cause it wont work , teams have been trying that and his class still shines through.

BRING IT ON

In his age group? I don't care. He is being touted for a cap though nd he isn't remotely good enough. He will find it hard enough to keep his place in the Accies team this season. He is overhyped. Extremely overhyped.

Easy solution would be to make a rule that you can only go back as far as grandparents when you're over 21. Up until then the only options are your country of birth or that of your parents. This would stop the likes Of Eire poaching Scottish talent before they've even left school. I don't pretend to understand the motives of McGeady and McCarthy but they've made their bed and they need to lie in it.

No they shouldn't. If the boy wanted to play for his own country then he could have knuckled down and tried to prove them wrong. It's hardly the SFA's fault that he has been brought up a bigot just like McGeady is it?

There are far better players than McCarthy that had to wait their turn for international recognition. The boy is a fud. And he has been badly advised by those close to him. And badly let down by his bigoted family.

He's made his bed. f**k him.

That wasnt my point. Of course he is/was a potentially better option than some of those chose from SPL clubs.

My point is he hardly gave it a second chance or tried for selection at a later point. He ran off to another nation as soon as he got his first dissapointment.

Spot on.