England-Born Player Would Rather Have One Ireland Cap Than 100 With Three Lions

A footballer born in England once admitted that he would rather make just one appearance for Ireland than a century of caps for the Three Lions.

Despite the fact that footballers spend the majority of their career playing for a club, for many of them there is no greater honour than being selected to represent their country in a major international fixture.

Particularly in England, where football plays such a key part of the culture, many players dream of getting a call up to represent the Three Lions.

Even players that represented another nation at youth level have jumped at the chance to play for England at a senior level once the opportunity came up.

But there is one English-born Premier League player who has admitted that he would rather have one appearance for the Republic of Ireland team than 100 for England.

Grealish controversially moved to play England after representing Ireland earlier in his career. (Image: Sportsfile/Corbis/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Back in September 2015, Everton star Jack Grealish controversially made his debut for England having represented the Republic of Ireland for three years across the youth teams, regularly affirming his desire to play for Ireland despite interest from England.

Four years later, Arsenal's Declan Rice also made his a controversial England debut having also represented the Republic of Ireland for three years across the youth teams and on a senior level, albeit in friendly matches.

Given the success that they have had playing for the Three Lions, it's safe to assume that Rice and Grealish don't regret the decision, but there's another Premier League player who, despite being born and raised in England, made the opposite decision as he valued playing for Ireland more than anything else.

Preston-born Kevin Kilbane turned down the opportunity to play for England at junior levels and instead opted to continue playing for Ireland throughout his career, making 110 appearances between 1997 and 2011.

Shortly after Grealish's move to the England team, Kilbane spoke with The Irish Independent to express his disappointment and explain exactly why just one cap for Ireland meant more to him than anything England could offer him.

“I grew up in an Irish family wanting to play for Ireland,” stated Kilbane in 2015.

“I was called up at youth level for England, but I turned it down, I didn’t want to play for them. I am very different to Jack in that respect.

“It has been a difficult decision for Jack to make because he has been nurtured at youth level and under-21 level by the FAI.

Kilbane is the fourth most capped player in Ireland's history. (Image: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)

“I’m disappointed with his decision because I think he would have been a great addition to the Ireland side.

“It comes down to personal choice. I would rather have had one cap for Ireland than 100 with England. I don’t know if I would have ever played for England, I don’t know how my career would have gone. That is what I felt at 17, 18.

“Both my parents were born in Ireland and that was always my decision. I was supporting Ireland at Euro’88 and Italia’90, that is where I was.”