THERE’S ANOTHER SEASON of the English Championship put down: all is over bar the anguished shouting of the play-offs, from which one of a quartet of Premier League veterans – Leeds, Norwich, Southampton and West Brom – will bounce back up to the big time.
Leicester went straight back up to the top-flight as champions, while Kieran McKenna’s astonishing rise at Ipswich has seen them return to the league they left in 2002.
Birmingham were made to pay for their dysfunction and hasty, star-blinded sacking of John Eustace and thus were relegated, albeit with 50 points: no side has been relegated with as high a points total since the 2016/17 season. Huddersfield and Rotherham slipped down with them.
Ireland was the second-most-represented nationality in this season’s Championship -England was obviously top of that list – so let’s take a look at how they did.
No prizes for guessing the outstanding Irish performer of the season, as he was the outstanding performer of the season: Sammie Szmodics won the golden boot with 27 goals in 44 games, and he single-handedly kept Blackburn safe from relegation.
Mikey Johnston shone briefly but brightly having landed at West Brom from Celtic in January: seven goals in 18 games – most of them bangers – helped his new side into the play-offs.
Ireland are laden down with goalkeepers to the point that Max O’Leary’s performances went under the radar. He played every minute of the season for Bristol City, and ranked fourth in the end-of-season stats for clean sheets and saves made. Given Gavin Bazunu’s injury misfortune, O’Leary will be back in the Irish mix across the rest of the year.
And we are going to pick one more here: Finn Azaz played in every league game – first for Plymouth and then for Middlesbrough -scoring and assisting 21 goals. 12 of those were for Plymouth in the first half of the season, and they wouldn’t have stayed up without him.
Quietly good
Gavin Bazunu earned an early-season vote of confidence from his Southampton manager Russel Martin and, like his team-mates, overcame a tough start to find his groove mid-season, playing a vital role in Southampton’s 22-match unbeaten run. A horrible achilles injury sustained at season’s end will keep him out until 2025.
Will Smallbone also nailed down his place in the Saints team, playing43 games while chipping in with six goals. Regardless of how the play-offs work out, he has had a good season.
Jason Knight and Alan Browne are integral parts of the Irish midfield and remained just as important for their clubs, playing 46 and 41 games for Bristol City and Preston respectively. (Knight has played a remarkable 246 senior games, and won’t turn 24 until next February.)
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Jimmy Dunne returned from injury to move to right-back at QPR under their new manager, and responded by earning a contract extension and scoring a goal of the season contender.
Solid
Now to the swollen ranks of those who performed adequately and away from the limelight.
Shane Duffy made the drop down to the Championship for regular football with Norwich, and 36 appearances with one goals feels about par in relation to expectation. Everything has now been regrettably overshadowed by the events of Monday night, when he was arrested for drink-driving following a two-vehicle crash in which nobody was injured. He has a 2 July court-date that will hang over him for much of the summer.
Ryan Manning made 37 appearances for Southampton, which showed his continued importance to Russel Martin even if he didn’t do enough to maintain his cause célèbre status among those who rail against his perceived exclusions from the Irish squad.
Jack Taylor and Marcus Harness may not stick around for the Premier League but each clocked more than 30 games to play their part in Ipswich’s stunning promotion.
Will Keane has never convinced at senior international level but a return of 13 goals in 38 games for Preston is a more than passable record. His club-mate Robbie Brady made 32 league appearances and once again forced himself back into the Irish squad.
Mark Sykes - seemingly forever balanced on the edge of inclusion for an Irish matchday squad – made 40 league appearances for Bristol City in their season of mid-table solidity and FA Cup overachievement.
Luke McNally didn’t quite hit the heights of last season’s run with Coventry to the play-off final, but still played 38 games in a Stoke team that badly underachieved and battled relegation.
Cyrus Christie - remember him? - played 27 games for a Hull side that narrowly missed out on the play-offs, and it would have been more had it not been for a mid-season achilles injury. Sean McLoughlin maintained his status as another Hull reliable, making 23 appearances.
Danny McNamara was right on the fringes of Stephen Kenny’s thoughts during his Irish reign, but made 33 appearances at right-back for Millwall. It’s a position in which Ireland are no longer as stacked as they once were, so he is one to watch.
Encouraging
We saw flashes of promise from several young Irish players this season, most notably Sinclair Armstrong. He played in all but seven of QPR’s games, starting 19 of them. A return of three goals will have to be improved from next season, but given he is only 20 years of age, he made a splash.
Aidomo Emakhu made a great start to the season with Millwall: he played in 14 of their first 18 games, scored his first league goal, signed a new contract and was briefly linked to Atletico Madrid. Injury curtailed his season, sadly, and he has only put together 90 minutes of action across three games since New Year’s Day.
Andrew Moran‘s loan spell at Blackburn can be cleaved into two: Before Eustace and After. Under Jon Dahl Tomasson, Moran played in all but one of Blackburn’s league games, starting 19 of them. John Eustace hardly played him, however, and restricted him largely to cameo appearances off the bench, much to Brighton’s annoyance. Overall, though, it was a pretty good debut season, with a senior international debut thrown in there too.
“I’d have bitten your hand off if you’d have told me I’d play as much as I have done and it’s been a great experience for me”, said Moran this week. “I can’t thank the club enough for giving me the opportunity. I’ve learnt so much that I didn’t even realise I’d been learning.”
And another one for our absurdly deep centre-back ranks: Mark McGuinness quietly racked up 30 games for Cardiff, chipping in with two goals.
Frustrating
Jeff Hendrick. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Callum O’Dowda is losing his prime years to injury, and so was restricted to just 11 league appearances all year for Cardiff.
Darragh Lenihan has been a mainstay at Middlesbrough, even under Michael Carrick, but he has undergone ankle surgery and hasn’t played since last September.
A calf problem also knocked out a chunk of Enda Stevens’ debut season at Stoke City, having earlier missed a run of games because of the injury he sustained during Ireland’s chastening night against Ousmane Dembele and France at the Parc des Princes.
Jayson Molumby was doing well for West Brom before his season was derailed in January by a foot injury which will keep him out until pre-season.
Irish U21 captain Joe Hodge left Wolves for QPR on loan in search of much-needed game-time but made just eight appearances, only one of which lasted a full 90 minutes.
And this was the season Jeff Hendrick fell off the map: he was loaned to Sheffield Wednesday but made only 11 appearances in an injury-interrupted season. Incredibly, he remains on Newcastle’s books, having last played for them in December 2021.
Underwhelming
Michael Obafemi’s injury issues returned to stymie his progress at Burnley, and so was loaned to Millwall for the second half of the season. Two goals in 14 games was a slightly disappointing return for a striker with the capacity for much more.
Aaron Connolly was invigorated at the start of the season at Hull, scoring five goals in his first eight games and evidently enjoying life under Liam Rosenior, with whom he worked at Brighton. He didn’t maintain his form, however, and hasn’t managed to play more than 30 minutes in a single game since New Year’s Day. Injury played a part – he was cleaned out Harold Schumacher-style by Angus Gunn in a game with Norwich and struggled with the after-effects – but it was a fairly dispiriting end to a season which promised much. He hinted at an exit from Hull in a post on social media after the season’s end, and Rosenior’s shock sacking may make a stay much less attractive to him.
Callum Robinson made only 23 appearances across a season interrupted by injury but also overshadowed by fallings-out with manager Erol Bulut: he was left out of the squad for a game with Birmingham in April, having had his work-rate criticised by his manager earlier in the season.
Finally, Scott Hogan’s return of a single goal in 26 games was never going to be enough to save Birmingham and Preston stalwart Greg Cunningham was restricted to only 12 league appearances, but that was still four times as many games as Ciaran Clark managed for Stoke.
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Assessing all of the Irish performers in this season's Championship
THERE’S ANOTHER SEASON of the English Championship put down: all is over bar the anguished shouting of the play-offs, from which one of a quartet of Premier League veterans – Leeds, Norwich, Southampton and West Brom – will bounce back up to the big time.
Leicester went straight back up to the top-flight as champions, while Kieran McKenna’s astonishing rise at Ipswich has seen them return to the league they left in 2002.
Birmingham were made to pay for their dysfunction and hasty, star-blinded sacking of John Eustace and thus were relegated, albeit with 50 points: no side has been relegated with as high a points total since the 2016/17 season. Huddersfield and Rotherham slipped down with them.
Ireland was the second-most-represented nationality in this season’s Championship -England was obviously top of that list – so let’s take a look at how they did.
Outstanding
No prizes for guessing the outstanding Irish performer of the season, as he was the outstanding performer of the season: Sammie Szmodics won the golden boot with 27 goals in 44 games, and he single-handedly kept Blackburn safe from relegation.
Mikey Johnston shone briefly but brightly having landed at West Brom from Celtic in January: seven goals in 18 games – most of them bangers – helped his new side into the play-offs.
Ireland are laden down with goalkeepers to the point that Max O’Leary’s performances went under the radar. He played every minute of the season for Bristol City, and ranked fourth in the end-of-season stats for clean sheets and saves made. Given Gavin Bazunu’s injury misfortune, O’Leary will be back in the Irish mix across the rest of the year.
And we are going to pick one more here: Finn Azaz played in every league game – first for Plymouth and then for Middlesbrough - scoring and assisting 21 goals. 12 of those were for Plymouth in the first half of the season, and they wouldn’t have stayed up without him.
Quietly good
Gavin Bazunu earned an early-season vote of confidence from his Southampton manager Russel Martin and, like his team-mates, overcame a tough start to find his groove mid-season, playing a vital role in Southampton’s 22-match unbeaten run. A horrible achilles injury sustained at season’s end will keep him out until 2025.
Will Smallbone also nailed down his place in the Saints team, playing 43 games while chipping in with six goals. Regardless of how the play-offs work out, he has had a good season.
Jason Knight and Alan Browne are integral parts of the Irish midfield and remained just as important for their clubs, playing 46 and 41 games for Bristol City and Preston respectively. (Knight has played a remarkable 246 senior games, and won’t turn 24 until next February.)
Jimmy Dunne returned from injury to move to right-back at QPR under their new manager, and responded by earning a contract extension and scoring a goal of the season contender.
Solid
Now to the swollen ranks of those who performed adequately and away from the limelight.
Shane Duffy made the drop down to the Championship for regular football with Norwich, and 36 appearances with one goals feels about par in relation to expectation. Everything has now been regrettably overshadowed by the events of Monday night, when he was arrested for drink-driving following a two-vehicle crash in which nobody was injured. He has a 2 July court-date that will hang over him for much of the summer.
Ryan Manning made 37 appearances for Southampton, which showed his continued importance to Russel Martin even if he didn’t do enough to maintain his cause célèbre status among those who rail against his perceived exclusions from the Irish squad.
Jack Taylor and Marcus Harness may not stick around for the Premier League but each clocked more than 30 games to play their part in Ipswich’s stunning promotion.
Will Keane has never convinced at senior international level but a return of 13 goals in 38 games for Preston is a more than passable record. His club-mate Robbie Brady made 32 league appearances and once again forced himself back into the Irish squad.
Mark Sykes - seemingly forever balanced on the edge of inclusion for an Irish matchday squad – made 40 league appearances for Bristol City in their season of mid-table solidity and FA Cup overachievement.
Luke McNally didn’t quite hit the heights of last season’s run with Coventry to the play-off final, but still played 38 games in a Stoke team that badly underachieved and battled relegation.
Cyrus Christie - remember him? - played 27 games for a Hull side that narrowly missed out on the play-offs, and it would have been more had it not been for a mid-season achilles injury. Sean McLoughlin maintained his status as another Hull reliable, making 23 appearances.
Danny McNamara was right on the fringes of Stephen Kenny’s thoughts during his Irish reign, but made 33 appearances at right-back for Millwall. It’s a position in which Ireland are no longer as stacked as they once were, so he is one to watch.
Encouraging
We saw flashes of promise from several young Irish players this season, most notably Sinclair Armstrong. He played in all but seven of QPR’s games, starting 19 of them. A return of three goals will have to be improved from next season, but given he is only 20 years of age, he made a splash.
Aidomo Emakhu made a great start to the season with Millwall: he played in 14 of their first 18 games, scored his first league goal, signed a new contract and was briefly linked to Atletico Madrid. Injury curtailed his season, sadly, and he has only put together 90 minutes of action across three games since New Year’s Day.
Andrew Moran‘s loan spell at Blackburn can be cleaved into two: Before Eustace and After. Under Jon Dahl Tomasson, Moran played in all but one of Blackburn’s league games, starting 19 of them. John Eustace hardly played him, however, and restricted him largely to cameo appearances off the bench, much to Brighton’s annoyance. Overall, though, it was a pretty good debut season, with a senior international debut thrown in there too.
“I’d have bitten your hand off if you’d have told me I’d play as much as I have done and it’s been a great experience for me”, said Moran this week. “I can’t thank the club enough for giving me the opportunity. I’ve learnt so much that I didn’t even realise I’d been learning.”
And another one for our absurdly deep centre-back ranks: Mark McGuinness quietly racked up 30 games for Cardiff, chipping in with two goals.
Frustrating
Callum O’Dowda is losing his prime years to injury, and so was restricted to just 11 league appearances all year for Cardiff.
Darragh Lenihan has been a mainstay at Middlesbrough, even under Michael Carrick, but he has undergone ankle surgery and hasn’t played since last September.
A calf problem also knocked out a chunk of Enda Stevens’ debut season at Stoke City, having earlier missed a run of games because of the injury he sustained during Ireland’s chastening night against Ousmane Dembele and France at the Parc des Princes.
Jayson Molumby was doing well for West Brom before his season was derailed in January by a foot injury which will keep him out until pre-season.
Irish U21 captain Joe Hodge left Wolves for QPR on loan in search of much-needed game-time but made just eight appearances, only one of which lasted a full 90 minutes.
And this was the season Jeff Hendrick fell off the map: he was loaned to Sheffield Wednesday but made only 11 appearances in an injury-interrupted season. Incredibly, he remains on Newcastle’s books, having last played for them in December 2021.
Underwhelming
Michael Obafemi’s injury issues returned to stymie his progress at Burnley, and so was loaned to Millwall for the second half of the season. Two goals in 14 games was a slightly disappointing return for a striker with the capacity for much more.
Aaron Connolly was invigorated at the start of the season at Hull, scoring five goals in his first eight games and evidently enjoying life under Liam Rosenior, with whom he worked at Brighton. He didn’t maintain his form, however, and hasn’t managed to play more than 30 minutes in a single game since New Year’s Day. Injury played a part – he was cleaned out Harold Schumacher-style by Angus Gunn in a game with Norwich and struggled with the after-effects – but it was a fairly dispiriting end to a season which promised much. He hinted at an exit from Hull in a post on social media after the season’s end, and Rosenior’s shock sacking may make a stay much less attractive to him.
Callum Robinson made only 23 appearances across a season interrupted by injury but also overshadowed by fallings-out with manager Erol Bulut: he was left out of the squad for a game with Birmingham in April, having had his work-rate criticised by his manager earlier in the season.
Finally, Scott Hogan’s return of a single goal in 26 games was never going to be enough to save Birmingham and Preston stalwart Greg Cunningham was restricted to only 12 league appearances, but that was still four times as many games as Ciaran Clark managed for Stoke.
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Championship Report Card Republic Of Ireland