WE'RE ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE

THE best place to start is with the airport story because this was the year Irish football took flight.

- GARRY DOYLE

Arsenal had played Manchester United that day, second versus third in the English top flight.

That same afternoon Liverpool retained their position as league leaders and that night, in Liverpool Airport, a collection of players met in the departures lounge.

Liam Brady was there, in his Juventus blazer. On the plane next to him were his former Arsenal colleagues John Devine and David O'Leary.

United’s Kevin Moran and Frank Stapleton were in the next row, followed by Liverpool's Steve Heighway, Ronnie Whelan and Mark Lawrenson.

The year was 1981. All the boys were on their way to Dublin for training prior to a World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands, seven from England's top three clubs, an eighth from the Italian champions.

“We produced so many world-class players then” says Devine. ‘And that night in the airport, as I scanned the Pink (Manchester's evening newspaper), it dawned on me: our Irish team was made up of players from the top three sides in the English league. You don't see that now." You certainly don't. While Liverpool's Caoimhin Kelleher had a busy weekend, playing in the League Cup final, it was just his 18th appearance of the season.

He's on his way out of Anfield and no Irish players are on their way in, either to Liverpool, or any of England's top five clubs.

Kelleher's the first Irishman to play regularly for Liverpool since Robbie Keane's brief spell in 2008/09, and you have to go back 30 years when Arsenal last had an Irish first-teamer.