Green Shoots - A History of Irish Football

Now it was by far the biggest story of the year to that point. It caused a huge split in national opinion. Roy Keane was one the biggest footballers in the world. He had become synonymous with a relentless run of trophies at the club.
His manager for the Rep. of Ireland, Mick McCarthy, had been one of our greatest defenders under Jack Charlton. Not blessed pace, but blessed with a great ability to read the game. He was Jack’s captain and now he was manager of the national side.
There had been rumblings for years that Roy was unhappy with the Irish national team setup. It wasn’t good enough. And he saw Mick as enabling it for far too long.
Something was about to give…

Now following on from Part 1 where Gerry finished talking about the great goalkeeper Pat Jennings. In Part 2 he talks to Kehlan about Northern Ireland in the 1982 world cup, his famous goal against Spain, moving to Real Mallorca and then finding his way to La Liga commentary, where he became the voice of La Liga for so many people. We start this podcast as Northern Ireland qualify for the 1982 World Cup...

Gerry Armstrong is a legend of Northern Ireland football playing and scoring in some of their most iconic games of the 70s and eighties. In part one of our interview with Gerry we talk about how Gaelic Games influenced his football career, joining Spurs, and getting his first caps for Northern Ireland.

On this week’s podcast Kehlan talks with Iain McCartney Manchester United author and historian about the great Johnny Carey and his influence in building a team that would become known as the 'Busby Babes'.
Johnny is one of the finest players Ireland has ever produced. Captaining both Ireland and Manchester United. He was captain when Ireland became the first foreign team to beat England on English soil as won 2-0 at Goodison Park in 1949.
As Manchester United Captain he led them to an FA Cup, a League title and was the Football Writers Association player of the season in 1949.
You can find Iain’s books on amazon.co.uk where you'll find a good selection to enjoy!

On this week's GS podcast Kehlan tells the story of the connection between Dermot Keely and Jim McLaughlin. It is a story of how two men turned to each when they needed them and helped to forge footballing history for over decade.