IT WAS A sobering afternoon for West Ham as Manchester United easily brushed them aside in a 4-0 Premier League thumping.
But, there was a silver lining for one of their squad.
18-year-old Irish underage international Declan Rice was introduced as a second-half substitute and racked up half an hour at Old Trafford after replacing Mark Noble.
Though originally seen as a centre-back, Rice – voted Ireland’s best player at U17 level back in March – can also operate in the middle of the park and seems to be highly-rated by boss Slaven Bilic.
The Croatian handed Rice a debut back in May when the Hammers faced Burnley and the youngster seems set to feature heavily this term, having impressed a great deal when captain of the club’s U23 side.
Speaking at the end of last season, Bilic gave a glowing assessment of Rice’s ability.
“Declan is very good for his age. He is extremely good, he is mature and it’s all based on the training and he plays very well for the U23s. He has a bright future in him and it’s all down to him.
He played a couple of games in the pre-season when we went to the States and we were missing a few players. I can see him being a really good player.”
Rice was born in London but qualifies for Ireland through his grandparents. He’s been with the Republic of Ireland since U16 level and was called up to Martin O’Neill’s senior squad for the friendly with Uruguay and World Cup qualifier against Austria back in May.
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That chance against Spain in the quarter finals in 02- what could have been..
Last 16….? But we should have won that…. A Korea in quarters…. Germany in semi…..
Apologies see your correction now!
Him an Ian Hart never got the ad off Pizza Hut they most definitely deserved. Wish him the best
With Holland and kilbane? Would have been a fairly packed booth!
Very good poacher. Often overlooked and unfairly ridiculed. About 20 of those 41 caps came in the last 5 or 10 minutes of games. Remember his goal v Turkey in a friendly where he ran rings around Alpay
Ya coz a country like ours (without a professional league) should be embarrassed at not reaching the q finals as a minimum.
Better than robbie keane
How does that figure?
He was good… very good imo but not international class
Correction ; The Spain game was in the rounds of 16 – doesn’t have the same ring as the quarter finals does it., still warranted a Joe Duffy welcome in the Phoenix Park which was embarrassing.
He was half decent in fairness, successful spell with feyonord…ah here he was lethal
Only average !
Martin; read my comment properly. I’m referring to the homecoming which was embarrassing- not the teams performance.
Better than Robbie Keane ha ha