It may fall firmly into the “You Couldn’t Make It Up” category, but last night Stephen Ireland, the Manchester City midfield player, was honoured as the Young International Player of the Year in the FA of Ireland awards. It is the same Stephen Ireland who has refused to play for his country.
Ireland walked out on the national squad in September, citing the death of a grandmother as the team prepared for their European Championship qualifying match against the Czech Republic in Prague. On his return to England he said that it was another grandmother who had passed away, but that also proved to be false.
Having admitted lying - he later said that the real reason was that his girlfriend had suffered a miscarriage – he had psychological counselling, which was organised by his club.
Ireland, who was selected for the prize by the judging panel of the Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland, did not attend the awards ceremony in Dublin last night.