We are taking a look at the top five Premier League players from Ireland.
Plenty of talent has crossed the Irish sea to test themselves in England’s top-flight, some might have even earned you a pretty penny on the pitch through the best betting sites in Ireland, but none have quite graced the league with as much as the five listed below.
Top Five Premier League Players From Ireland
(1) Roy Keane
Starting with the most notorious of the lot in former Nottingham Forest and Manchester United hardman Roy Keane, Born in Mayfield, Cork, Keane is the joint most successful Irish footballer having won plenty with Manchester United, including the famous treble in 1999. He is a seven-time Premier league winner and that only ranks him high on our list. Keane, who became captain of Manchester United in 1997, made 480 appearances in total for the club, scoring 51 times and with his seven league titles, also lifting the FA Cup four times and a Champions League.
Nowadays, Keane can be seen as a pundit on Sky Sports. Though, after an earlier attempt at management between 2006 and 2011, he has expressed a desire to give it another go – rejecting former club Sunderland as recently as January 2022.
Keane made 67 appearances for Ireland, scoring nine goals.
(2) Denis Irwin
Keane’s Manchester United teammate and fellow joint most successful Irishman, Denis Irwin also makes the list. At £625,000 from Oldham Athletic, Irwin came much cheaper than Keane, who cost United £3.75million, did.
It’s years since Denis Irwin became a Red
��United legend. Simple as that.< href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/MUFC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#MUFC #OnThisDay pic.twitter.com/VLu5xDQaTR
— Manchester United Updates
(@MUUpdates247) June 8,
2022
Irwin, a full-back, made 529 appearances for Manchester United, scoring 33 goals and lifting seven Premier League titles, three FA Cup’s, one League Cup, a Champions League, Cup Winners Cup, European Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup. His time at United saw him littered with silverware.
He, capped by Ireland 56 times, is widely seen as one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest signings. He left Old Trafford in 2002, spending two years with Wolverhampton Wanderers before retiring.
(3) Robbie Keane
Now, away from Manchester United, Robbie Keane is undoubtedly among the greatest to cross the Irish sea for English football.
Most notably for Tottenham Hotspur, Keane was a certified goalscorer, scoring 125 times in 348 appearances. He has represented Coventry City, Leeds United, Tottenham, Liverpool, West Ham United and Aston Villa in England’s top-flight.
Not limiting himself to England, he also sported the colours of Inter Milan, Celtic, LA Galaxy and ATK.
He scored 68 goals in 146 games for his country, also going on to become assistant manager between 2018 and 2020.
(4) Damien Duff
Former Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Fulham and Newcastle United midfielder Damien Duff comes in at number four.
The 100-capped Ireland international made 392 Premier League appearances across the four clubs and lifted the Premier League title on two occasions – both with Chelsea. He also won the League Cup twice, including one with Blackburn.
The Ballyboden-born wide midfielder scored 54 goals in the Premier League. He is now the manager Shelbourne FC in the League of Ireland Premier.
(5) John O’Shea
We return to Manchester United for the final name on this list with John O’Shea, who just edges out ex-Manchester City and Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given.
O’Shea made 446 Premier League appearances for Manchester United and Sunderland. The versatile defender was an embodiment of Sir Alex Ferguson’s team and enjoyed great success with the Red Devils.
ON THIS DAY: In 2007, Edwin Van der Sar broke his nose five
minutes from time against Spurs and Man Utd had used all three subs…John O’Shea went in goal and kept a
clean sheet in the 4-0 win. �� pic.twitter.com/RWWHdD7I6N&mdash
Squawka (@Squawka) February 4,
2022
A five-time Premier League winner, he has also lifted the FA Cup, League Cup (twice), Champions League and Club World Cup. O’Shea played 118 times for Republic of Ireland, scoring three goals.
He has embarked on a career in coaching, recently leaving his role as coach at Reading and is involved with Ireland’s U21s as assistant manager.
