As international teams get their Euro 2020 preparations underway, Ireland face off against Andorra on Thursday evening in a friendly.
Stephen Kenny’s men won’t be heading to the Euros, but some players who could have donned the green jersey will be. Here are five players who slipped through Ireland’s fingers:
Harry Kane (England)
The wantaway Spurs star will captain Gareth Southgate’s side at this summers’ tournament, but Kane could have declared for Ireland through his father Patrick, who was born in Galway.
In August 2014, Kane ruled out switching allegiances and declared his desire to break into England’s senior team.
By the following March, he had scored 16 Premier League goals and was called up to England's Euro 2016 qualifying squad to face Lithuania, scoring within 80 seconds of his debut.
Kane sits sixth on England’s all-time top scorers’ list with 34 goals.
A prolific goalscorer is something Stephen Kenny’s side misses currently, as the team have managed just 21 goals from their last 30 outings.
Jack Grealish (England)
The 25-year-old playmaker has secured his place in England’s squad after an eye-catching season with Aston Villa.
Grealish represented Ireland at Under-21 level through ancestral connections to Dublin, Gort and Sneem.
He also played GAA and represented Warwickshire GAA in Croke Park during half-time of the All-Ireland football quarter-final between Dublin and Kerry in 2009.
Grealish was undecided for long periods over his international future and had held talks with then-Irish boss Martin O’Neill.
In March 2015, he was awarded the Under-21 player of the year by the FAI, but by May O’Neill confirmed he had turned down an Irish call-up for a friendly and European qualifier against England and Scotland respectively.
In September 2015, Grealish confirmed his intention to represent England at international level. On the 8th of September 2020, almost five years after his ultimate declaration, Grealish got his first senior cap for England, coming on as a sub against Denmark.
Declan Rice (England)
Another on the conveyor belt of English stars who had flirtations with Ireland, Rice qualified for the Boys in Green through his grandparents, who hailed from Cork.
The West Ham midfielder actually represented Ireland three times at senior level throughout 2018, however because none of those appearances were competitive games, he was free to switch allegiances back to his country of birth.
In August 2018, Rice was omitted from the Irish squad to face Wales, with then-manager Martin O’Neill citing the star’s uncertainty after a fresh approach from England.
Just six months later, Rice pledged his future to England.
In March of the same year, FIFA confirmed his change of allegiance and later that month he made his senior England debut against the Czech Republic at Wembley.
Ethan Ampadu (Wales)
The 20-year old Chelsea loanee spent the 2021/21 season on loan at Sheffield United, where he made 25 appearances for the relegated Blades.
Ampadu, who qualifies for Wales through his mother, might have opted instead for England, Ghana or indeed Ireland.
His father Kwame Ampadu grew up in Dublin and had played hurling before he found football as his calling.
He played at youth level for Sherrard United and Belvedere before a move to Arsenal in 1988.
While he never made a senior international appearance for Ireland, he did represent Ireland at Under-21 level on four occasions.
His son, however, made his first competitive start for Wales in September 2018 against Ireland, with Wales running out 4-1 winners and Ampadu turning in an impressive performance.
The game came a week ahead of Ampadu’s 18th birthday, and so the matter was closed far quicker than in the cases of Rice and Grealish.
Daniel O’Shaughnessy (Finland)
Born in Riihimäki, Finland, O’Shaughnessy was an unused sub in Finland’s most recent friendly, a 2-0 loss against Sweden.
The 26-year old central defender holds dual Finnish-Irish citizenship, with his father Robert hailing from Galway.
Playing for HJK in Finland, O’Shaughnessy has twice won the domestic Veikkausliiga, in 2018 and 2020.
In between those two triumphs, he signed a new two-year contract in 2019 while he was conducting national service to the Finnish military.
Thomas Delaney (Denmark)
The Borussia Dortmund midfielder and Danish stalwart has made 53 international appearances to date, but Delaney’s ancestral path to Denmark was via Ireland and the United States.
His great-grandfather moved from Ireland to the U.S in famine times so Delaney could have opted for the United States or Ireland, but chose his native Denmark.
Delaney represented his country at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
