Eye-catching Irish players in the English Football League Championship

For every Tom Cannon goal glut, there are Irish strikers like Troy Parrott, Michael Obafemi and Adam Idah who struggled to find their feet in the English Football League (EFL) Championship this season.

Cannon (20) and Parrott (21) return to their parent clubs, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur, after contrasting loan stints at Preston North End. Cannon scored eight goals in a 10-game run while Parrott registered another below-average season with four goals and zero assists across 34 appearances.

There is a strong possibility that all four forwards will reappear in the Championship come the 2023/24 campaign although the promotion of Burnley and Sheffield United to the Premier League, coupled with the relegation of Southampton, increases the number of Irish professionals in the top flight.

John Egan leads Sheffield United back to the most lucrative sports league on earth but Southampton’s relegation and Gavin Bazunu’s demotion to the bench behind Alex McCarthy makes this summer particularly interesting for Irish goalkeepers

Burnley will build around Josh Cullen after the 27-year-old’s herculean 50 games at the base of midfield as they finished 10 points clear at the top. Obafemi needs to improve his goal-for-game ratio (one every 265 minutes) if he’s to remain part of Vincent Kompany’s plans; he is on loan from Swansea, but they have the option to buy this summer.

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John Egan leads Sheffield United back to the most lucrative sports league on earth but Southampton’s relegation and Gavin Bazunu’s demotion to the bench behind Alex McCarthy makes this summer particularly interesting for Irish goalkeepers. Bristol City’s Max O’Leary is the only number one playing regularly, with eight clean sheets in 33 EFL Championship starts, when he conceded only 35 of his club’s 56 total goals against.

In fairness to Bazunu, the 21-year-old started 32 consecutive Premier League matches, until Rubén Sellés, Southampton’s third manager in four months, turned to McCarthy.

Will Smallbone is technically a Southampton player again, following a coming-of-age season during which the 23-year-old broke into the Republic of Ireland team while playing 46 games on loan for Stoke City.

“He’s had a fantastic season in terms of minutes on the pitch,” said John O’Shea, Ireland and recently resigned Stoke first-team coach. “From what I saw with the 21s as well, he’s just a kid who wants to get to the highest level possible. He’s dedicated, lives his life well, he’s the kind of player you’d want in your team, in your squad, to be coaching, because he wants to get better. Hopefully, we’ve only seen a glimpse of what he can do for us.”

Ireland manager Stephen Kenny was gushing in praise of Callum O’Dowda’s “rapid” pace before injury denied the winger a run at France right back Benjamin Pavard last March. In 40 appearances for Cardiff City O’Dowda had three goals and three assists.

Unfortunately, a clump of Irish men are bound for League One following the relegation of Reading, where Jeff Hendrick was on loan from Newcastle United; Blackpool, where Andy Lyons impressed since joining from Shamrock Rovers in December and Wigan Athletic, where James McClean made 49 appearances, registering three goals and eight assists alongside Will Keane whose 26 League One goals in 2022 dropped to 12 in the Championship.

Despite scoring seven goals for Blackburn Rovers, attacking midfielder Sammie Szmodics was overlooked for this week’s Ireland training camp in Bristol. This, and the exclusion of Lyons, were selection calls by the Irish management. No such worries about Ryan Manning, as the 26-year-old left back forces his way into contention with five goals and 10 assists for Swansea.

Liam Delap, son of former Ireland international Rory, also went to Preston on loan from Manchester City to push [Troy] Parrott further down the pecking order

Derby County failed to return to the Championship but they did trigger an extension to Jason Knight’s contract. A regular in midfield under Kenny, the 22-year-old is expected to escape the third tier of English football this summer.

Other must-watch Championship sides, from an Irish perspective, have been Norwich City, where Andrew Omobamidele and Idah feature regularly; Rotherham, which is home to Chiedozie Ogbene, Conor Coventry and Georgie Kelly, who scored four goals across 862 cameo minutes; West Brom, where Jayson Molumby and Dara O’Shea are key figures; and QPR, where Jimmy Dunne clocked up 42 appearances at centre back and Dublin teenager Sinclair Armstrong continues to learn his trade under Les Ferdinand.

Tellingly, the latter pair did not make the cut for the Bristol camp as Kenny named Hull City defender Sean McLoughlin and six forwards in Ogbene, Idah, Obafemi, Keane and Preston duo Cannon and Parrott.

Liam Delap, son of former Ireland international Rory, also went to Preston on loan from Manchester City to push Parrott further down the pecking order. Delap is with England at the under-20 World Cup in Argentina, but he remains a potential target for the FAI and Kenny.