In my personal opinion, this move is one that not only increases Wolves’ chances of staying up dramatically, but a move that will do wonders for the Republic of Ireland squad. Doyle will be joining an already large cast of Irish players at Wolves and will have the opportunity to create an entirely new level of good chemistry with them. Ireland hopefuls, but by no means locks, Stephen Ward, Kevin Foley, Stephen Gleeson, Darren Potter, and Andrew Keogh are all members of the team, with Ward, Foley, and Keogh most likely to see extensive time for the club.

Quite simply, more Irish players playing in the Premiership and more Irish players on club teams together will both lead to a better Irish side. These guys playing in the Premiership only increases our chances of a good result against Italy at Croke Park on October 10th.

Reports coming from everywhere online suggest that Ireland’s winger Aiden McGeady, who plays in Scotland with Celtic, is being tracked by Bayern Munich’s scouts. Ireland’s Italian manager Giovanni Trapattoni coached Bayern manager Jurgen Klinsmann at both Inter and Bayern in the past and has confirmed the rumours that the Bavarians are looking at the sprightly winger.

Trap, in a recent interview said:

‘I met my old Bayern assistant in Germany recently and he asked me what I think about McGeady because they are are following him.

‘They wanted my opinion and I said McGeady is one of our most important players.

‘With more confidence, he has the possibility to improve even further.’

Hardly earth-shattering quotes from Trap but enough to suggest that the rumours are, in fact, founded. McGeady is a player that Trap clearly rates highly, he’s good but in my opinion if he wants to get even close to reaching that top level of world football he’ll have to leave Celtic. His recent behaviour would suggest that he’s almost angling to be forced out of the club by Gordon Strachan.

But would he do well at Bayern, would he flourish in the Bundesliga? Yes, to both questions I think. He’s got a nice turn of pace and is full of skill which would be appreciated in an already skillful league. He wouldn’t be the only flair player at Bayern either, and playing with the likes of Luca Toni, Ze Roberto and Franck Ribery would help him hugely and as a result it would be a huge plus for our national team.

I hope he moves in the summer, it would be a huge benefit to the three parties; Bayern, McGeady and Ireland.

Oh, in some WC news, Lippi has announced his squad to face us and Montenegro.

Sligo Rovers right back has finally completed his move to Everton after indecision over his future. In December the Donegal-born Ireland U21 defender went over to Birmingham City for a trial. He looked like he was likely to follow St. Pat’s midfielder Keith Fahey to St. Andrews but with interest from Celtic and the blue side of Liverpool, the deal never materialised.

On 4th February David Moyes confirmed the deal:

“He is a young boy who has come in and he will join Andy Holden in the reserves.

“He’s come in from Sligo, he’s someone who has been flagged up by the scouts.

“We’ll give him an opportunity and hopefully he can step up to the first team in time.”

Fairly encouraging words from the Blues boss. Hopefully Coleman can perform well in the reserves and get a chance. And if anyone’s going to give him a chance it’s Moyes.

Aside from his arrival at Everton, Coleman spoke to the Official Sligo Rovers Website with regards to his excitement at joining an EPL club and his gratitude to the Bit O’ Red:

“It is Premier League football. It was kind of hard to believe at first to be honest. The transfer took a lot of time and I was hearing a lot of things before pre-season and when we started back. If the move had not worked out, I was still looking forward to playing with Sligo because there were a lot of things to play for this year.

“I loved my time at Sligo. It started properly for me when Leo Tierney and Dessie Cawley were in charge and they put me in the team and then Paul Cook afterwards. I really enjoyed myself.”

Coleman concluded:

“The deal was great for the club and great for me. I’d like to thank all the fans and hopefully I’ll be over in the summer in The Showgrounds again.”

It’s great to see another Irishman moving over to an English club. It’s possibly a sign of more talent developing in the Eircom League, despite the harrowing times affecting the league. Hopefully this is just the beginning of promising Irish talent joining the EPL.