Irish Abroad: Buzzing Bee Judge flying into radar

By Ed Leahy

Unlike previous regimes, Ireland management team Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane have spent a lot of time going to games in England keeping tabs on the squad and in search of new players.

Championship games appear to be the most visited with such an amount of Irish players competing in England's second tier, most notably at Derby and Ipswich who boast a host of current internationals as both sides push for promotion to the Premier League.

But there are a couple of unlikely candidates going toe to toe in the current top three as both Bournemouth and Brentford are proving to be serious contenders as the season reaches its half-way stage.

The London Bees are being driven by Irish midfield duo Alan Judge and Jonathan Douglas, and following the weekend's 3-2 away win at Cardiff, Brentford have moved to third in the table, just one point off the automatic promotion places.

Judge picked up the name the "Irish Messi" for his ability to create something out of nothing and his eye for goal from distance. The roaming midfielder drives this current Brentford side forward and while he has only scored once this season, he is setting them up, coming deep from midfield with nine assists to his name.

Douglas was capped eight times for Ireland in his days at Blackburn and Leeds but now the former Monaghan United man has firmly established himself in the Brentford side and has been instrumental in their form this season.

Now 32, Douglas is unlikely to be recalled into the Ireland set-up, however, with the amount of Championship action that the Ireland management team have encountered over the past 12 months, you would imagine that 25-year-old Judge must be on the radar at this stage.

Alan McCormack is another who has featured for Brentford this season, however the midfielder didn't play against Cardiff.

Another man who is surely been watched by O'Neill and Keane is Bournemouth midfielder Harry Artur as the Cherries top the Championship, one point clear of Ipswich and two ahead of Brentford.

The south coast side bounced back from their midweek cup defeat by Liverpool to record an emphatic 6-1 victory over Blackpool with Arter adding the final goal with a well-taken left-footed strike.

It proved a difficult day for Ireland international Darren O'Dea who played the last 30 minutes in the heart of Lee Clarke's Tangerine defence; his most notable contribution was to give away a penalty. Ireland forgotten man Kevin Foley also played in a day to forget for the Blackpool defence.

Ipswich's Irish contingent Luke Chambers, Jay Tabb, David McGoldrick and Daryl Murphy helped Mick McCarthy's side get the better of fellow contenders Middlesbrough

Tabb and McGoldrick were both involved in a fine Ipswich move for Murphy's opener before Tabb appeared to defy gravity as he rose majestically to score a superb header, his first goal since the opening day of last season. Chambers and McGoldrick were again involved in the Ipswich strike.

Murphy also had a chance to make it 3-0 but his fine header from Tabb's corner was cleared off the line, as McCarthy's side stayed in the automatic promotion places.

And Derby had a tough week as they twice gave away the lead to draw with Norwich as Cyrus Christie, Richard Keogh and Jeff Hendrick all started for the Rams.

County had to overcome a shaky start to take the lead and were then awarded a penalty to go 2-1 but again Norwich pegged them back due to some poor refereeing.

On Friday night, Ireland keeper David Forde was kept busy all evening as Bolton dominated but the Lions stopper could do little about the only goal of the game as Millwall were beaten 1-0, while fellow keeper Keiren Westwood was beaten four times as Sheffield Wednesday were hammered 4-0 by Fulham.

It was a much better weekend for another Ireland keeper, as Darren Randolph pulled off three top class saves to keep a clean sheet as Birmingham sneaked a 1-0 away win at Huddersfield as the St Andrew's side continue to push clear of trouble at the bottom of the table.

Wigan remain in the relegation zone after another defeat, losing 2-1 to fellow strugglers Rotherham with the only positive being James McClean's assist with an excellent set-piece delivery.

Meanwhile in the Premier League, Paul McShane may have played his last match for Hull City amidst reports of a bust-up with manager Steve Bruce.

The Irish centre-half is Hull's longest serving player and is the only member of the current Tigers squad to have been around in their first Premier League campaign in 2008/09, making exactly 100 first-team appearances.

And the Tigers were beaten again at the weekend as they went down to Swansea 1-0 at home to leave them languishing in the relegation zone.

David Meyler was the only one of the Irish contingent to feature in the defeat to the Swans as Stephen Quinn and Robbie Brady were left on the bench.

Richard Dunne again continues to show what the Irish team are missing as he played the full match at Loftus Road as QPR fought back from a two-goal defecit to beat West Brom 3-2.

Shane Long's Southampton returned to form with an impressive 3-0 win over Everton and while Long failed to get on the scoresheet, his relentless work-rate caused Everton plenty of headaches for the 89 minutes that he was on the pitch.

Long should have been awarded a penalty after getting kicked in the box and the Ireland striker can claim an assist for Saints' second goal as he set up Graziano Pelle to score.

Everton's Irish contingent were all absent apart from Seamus Coleman whose defence will be disappointed with the three goals conceded. Aiden McGeady was on the bench as James McCarthy and Darron Gibson remain out injured.

And perhaps Everton have taken heed of Roy Keane's not-so-blunt appraisal of the Goodison Park set-up as the Toffees' medical team are working hard to get McCarthy back to full fitness.

Manager Roberto Martinez admitted that the team's doctors are also looking at McCarthy's diet and training regime to keep the midfielder in peak condition.

"That type of injury comes from overload, playing too many games," said Martinez. You get to a point as a young man that you need to get the right load in training, the right way of recovering to be able to play three games in a week.

"We are trying to help James play more games, so maybe the nutrition or maybe the way of recovering needs changing.

"Sometimes you have players where too much carbohydrate means they don't recover. Others it is the same with proteins and we can do those examinations in-house."

Ciaran Clark maintained his return to form with a solid showing as Aston Villa stopped Manchester United's winning run with a 1-1 draw at Villa Park.

John O'Shea's Sunderland secured the bragging rights in the Tyne and Wear derby as Gus Poyet's side snatched a last-minute winner in the ferocious north-east derby.

And Joey O'Brien is returning to full fitness as he was named in the matchday squad as high-flying West Ham beat Leicester. The Irish defender was an unused sub, as was Damien Delaney as Crystal Palace were well beaten by Manchester City, while Steven Reid was on the bench for Burnley as they lost to Spurs.

In League One, Doncaster grabbed an important 1-0 away win at Swindon with former Shamrock Rovers defender Enda Stevens helping to secure all three points as he cleared the ball off the line deep into injury time to maintain their 1-0 advantage.

Darren Potter was on target with a fine side-footed effort in a rampant 7-0 victory against Oldham, as MK Dons moved into second place in the table.

John Egan scored his fourth goal in as many games as Gillingham fought back from 2-0 down to level the game against Chesterfield but Paul Cook's side took all three points with a late winner from former Ireland Under-21 international Jimmy Ryan who volleyed home a controlled right-footed effort from the edge of the box.

Conor Hourihane was again on target for Barnsley as he slotted home the first goal in a 2-0 victory over Leyton Orient, while Conor Henderson grabbed a consolation for struggling Crawley who lost 2-1 to Port Vale.

Former Sligo Rovers striker and manager enjoyed a decent weekend in League 2 as Sean Maguire grabbed an equaliser for John Coleman's Accrington Stanley against in-form Wycombe.

The on-loan West Ham striker powered home a header as the game finished 1-1.

In Scotland, Sean Dillon's Dundee United shocked leaders Celtic with a 2-1 home win against the league leaders and move to within four points of the Bhoys at the top of the table.

Adam Rooney's Aberdeen also remain in the hunt as they beat Kilmarnock 1-0 to also sit four points off the table top.

Further afield, Cillian Sheridan played at the weekend in APOEL's defeat before being shipped off to Munich for some surgery on his abdominal adductors.

Andy Keogh was again on target for Perth Glory as they beat Central Coast 4-1and moved six points clear at the top of the 'ladder'. Damien Duff is out injured and missed the Melbourne derby as City beat Victory 1-0, while Liam Miller failed to see any action as he wasn't selected.

And in India, the final of the ISL took place with Colin Falvey's Kerala Blasters taking on Kolkata but despite his side dominating the league decider, it was Atletico who took a 1-0 win to secure the inaugural title.

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