McCarthy's men abroad

Two more Irish debuts in English football this week, the first for Derek Geary who played at right back for Sheffield Wednesday…

Two more Irish debuts in English football this week, the first for Derek Geary who played at right back for Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup in midweek, the second for Keith Foy (he who scored that memorable free-kick for Ireland in their under-16 UEFA Championship final win over Italy back in 1998) at left back for Nottingham Forest in their 2-0 win away to Grimsby on Saturday.

Honourable mentions too to Matt Holland (man of the match for Ipswich against Arsenal), Ian Harte and Gary Kelly (for helping Leeds keep a clean sheet against AC Milan) and Cheltenham's Martin Devaney who scored a hat-trick against Plymouth on Saturday.

We're bending our rules a bit for our Player of the Week award, though. Strictly it goes to an Irish player abroad but seeing as Glen Crowe's goal, the one that gave Bohemians their UEFA Cup win over Kaiserslautern, was scored on foreign soil that'll do for us.

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan is a sports writer with The Irish Times