Best Republic of Ireland Strikers Ever
Choosing the ten best Irish strikers in soccer history is trickier than it sounds. If you only consider international contributions, one man reigns far above everyone else. Only one soccer player has scored over 23 goals while representing the Republic of Ireland. To close the divide among international forwards, we are factoring in their club careers.
Looking at Irish strikers over the past 100 years is quite eye-opening. While there has been a lot of talent, dozens of players performed for their club but could not do it on the international stage. In our eyes, the players who scored goals for the Republic of Ireland and consistently found the back of the net during the regular season deserve recognition.
Below, we have listed the ten best Irish strikers in soccer history. While we have tried our best to be objective and thorough, sometimes players slip through the cracks. If there is anybody you can think of who deserves to be on our list, reach out and let us know via the usual social channels. That’s enough of an intro. Let’s get on with the list!
10. Jonathan Walters
Starting off our list of the best Irish strikers is Jonathan Walters. The soccer icon made a name for himself during seven years at Stoke. From 2010 to 2017, Walters had dozens of iconic performances, including scoring the winning goals against Arsenal and Tottenham in the 2014-15 season. This season he became Stoke’s first Premier League hat-trick scorer.
Perhaps his best moment in a Stoke shirt came in the FA Cup against his former club Bolton. Walters carried the ball from his half and got 25 yards out before cutting inside to give himself a yard of space. From there, he unleashes a dipping rocket of a strike that bounces on its way past the goalkeeper. The goal had significant importance as it sealed Stoke’s first appearance in the FA Cup Final.
Walters was not a clinical striker. He had 495 professional appearances but only registered 94 goals in his 18-year playing career. His stats for the Republic of Ireland are impressive, finding the back of the net 14 times in 54 games for his country. Walters is currently in the all-time top ten Irish goal scorers, one of the many reasons he is included in our list of the best Irish strikers.
9. Shane Long
Next on our list of the greatest forwards in Irish soccer history is Shane Long. Long has somewhat of a cult following amongst Irish soccer fans, as there was no doubt about the effort he would put in for his country. Looking at his professional career, he played 234 times for Reading in six years, scoring 56 goals. This secured him a move to West Bromwich Albion, where the striker made a name for himself. He scored 19 goals in 81 league games before a brief move to Hull in 2014. Later that year, Long moved to Southampton, where he played for the Saints for eight years.
During his time with the South Coast club, Long formed many formidable partnerships with other Southampton players. He provided two assists in three minutes to Sadio Mané, setting up the fastest-ever Premier League hat-trick. Even though Mané got a hat-trick inside three minutes, Long stole the Southampton Goal of the Season in the same match on May 16, 2015. He picked the ball up after some fantastic pressing at the halfway line. 35 yards from goal, Long unleashed a powerful strike to lob the keeper for the fifth goal of the first half.
Looking at Shane Long’s international career, he cemented himself amongst the top goal-scorers for Ireland. After playing 88 games for his country, Long netted 17 times in 14 years. His senior career stats hold him back from climbing even higher up our list of the best Irish strikers. Having played in 510 games, mainly across the Premier League and some in the Championship, you might expect Long to have bagged hundreds of goals. However, with 98 league goals to his name, other Irish strikers are more prolific than Shane.
8. Kevin Doyle
The eighth-best Irish striker in soccer history is Kevin Doyle. Doyle came from Wexford and had a short stint with St Patrick’s Athletic and Cork City before getting his break in Reading. Alongside fellow Irish forward Shane Long, Doyle scored 55 times in 157 games for the Royals. After moving to Reading in 2005, Doyle switched to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2009, making 164 appearances for the club. His last act before retirement was a couple of seasons in America with the Colorado Rapids.
Doyle is one of those players that had little expectation but continued to deliver. He looked like the real deal for Cork playing 76 times and scoring 25 goals. Even in his move to Reading, he looked sharp and dangerous. However, the big money transfer to Wolves came at the wrong time, and during that spell, Doyle picked up several injuries while playing for Ireland. The system at Wolves did not suit Doyle either, causing the goals and opportunities to dry up.
Doyle played in 62 games for his country and scored 14 times internationally. Once again, these are not the best stats for the striker, but he is still inside the top ten all-time Irish goal-scorers. Doyle played 11 times in the Republic of Ireland U21 squad, finding the back of the net seven times. That proves, as a youngster, he was right at the top of his game. Injuries and managers not fully utilising Doyle cost him a lot in his career. However, with 490 appearances and 128 goals, Kevin Doyle is one of the best strikers for the Irish international team.
7. Niall Quinn
Next up on the list of best Irish strikers is Niall Quinn. Unlike all the players above, Quinn spent his entire professional career between three teams. As a 6ft 4 inch striker, he was quite the target man and forged a successful senior and international career. He began in 1983 at Arsenal, where he remained for seven years. At that time, he only made 67 league appearances and scored 14 goals. After that came two six-year stints. First with Manchester City and then Sunderland. Quinn summed up his career in his autobiography, he said:
“I learned my trade at Arsenal, and became a footballer at Manchester City, but Sunderland got under my skin. I love Sunderland.” – Niall Quinn
At Manchester City, Quinn played in 204 games and scored 66 times. He had almost identical statistics for Sunderland, registering 203 league apps and 61 goals. That left him with a career total of 475 games played and 141 goals scored. Looking at his international statistics, Niall Quinn is the second-highest goal scorer for Ireland in the country’s history. He has 22 goals for the Republic of Ireland, only trailing Robbie Keane for the top spot.
Quinn played 92 times for Ireland, averaging 0.24 goals per game. He is one of those players many overlook when talking about Irish soccer legends, but that is why we have created this list. Niall Quinn is one of the greatest Irish soccer strikers of all time.
6. Jimmy Dunne
Looking back at the mid-1930s, one Irish striker stands out from the crowd. Jimmy Dunne was a forward who played from 1923 to 1942. During that time, he set multiple records and established himself as the first Irishman to challenge for English Soccer scoring records. The man played across five clubs, but his most successful stint came for Sheffield United.
During his time in Sheffield, Dunne scored 143 goals in 173 appearances. His 41-league goal season in 1930 remains the most league goals scored by an Irish player in an English League campaign. He also scored over 30 goals in three consecutive campaigns, an impressive feat even by today’s standards. Fans and players respected Dunne, describing him as:
“dangerous in the air (with) a short striding run which enabled him to retain his balance in quick moves near the goal” – All the Saints: A Complete Who’s Who of Southampton F.C.
What is more impressive is you need to consider the time when Dunne grew up. In Ireland, two international teams were operating, the IFA XI and FAI XI. Both associations claimed jurisdiction across the country, so Jimmy played for both international teams.
Looking at his appearances for the Football Association of Ireland, Dunne made 15 appearances and scored 13 goals. While that does not sound like an Irish legend, he is the 11th-highest goals scorer in the country’s history, with less than half the appearances of anyone around him. Who knows how far he could have gone if he had not split his international career between two countries. However, we can only judge him based on what he achieved. That being one of the deadliest Irish strikers ever.
5. Don Givens
Next up on our list of the best Irish strikers is Don Givens. His career began in 1969 with Manchester United. But, with no clear path into the first team, Givens moved to Luton Town in 1970. There were signs of a fantastic player picking up 19 goals in 83 games for Luton. He made headlines after joining Queens Park Rangers in 1972, helping them secure promotion to the English First Division in his first season. Not only did he keep QPR in the top flight of English football, but they put on some impressive title chargers.
Irish striker Don Givens started at Man United, made his name at QPR, and became a legend in Switzerland with Neuchâtel Xamax, winning their first-ever league title in 1986-87. pic.twitter.com/fwCiF84I3j
— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) February 8, 2021
In 1978, he transferred to Birmingham City, where he helped the club into the First Division. However, his English career ended on a sour note after missing a penalty for Sheffield United. The miss caused Sheffield to drop into the Fourth Division for the first time. In the 1980s, Givens took his career abroad and played for Neuchâtel Xamax in Switzerland. He made 149 appearances and scored 34 goals before retiring.
We will always remember Givens on the international stage. He is the fourth-highest all-time Irish goal scorer. He played in 54 games for his country, registering 19 goals. Givens only trails Robbie Keane, Niall Quinn, and John Aldridge on the all-time leaderboard. Plus, when you consider he scored 147 career goals in 457 games, there can be no doubt over his credentials.
4. Frank Stapleton
If you are looking for the most prolific Irish goal-scorers, you are in luck. The next four players are the best strikers Ireland has ever seen. Frank Stapleton joined Arsenal in 1974. He wasted no time establishing himself on the team, consistently ranking as Arsenal’s top goal scorer. Stapleton helped Arsenal reach three FA Cup finals, winning one in 1979 against Manchester United. He managed 225 games for Arsenal across seven years, scoring 75 goals.
After impressing at Arsenal, Stapleton joined Manchester United and picked up two additional FA Cup victories. He played 223 times for Man Utd, scoring 60 times. That was the height of his playing career. After Manchester came several failed moves in the Netherlands and France. His return to English soccer was successful with Blackburn Rovers, but not at the levels we had seen before. He retired as a player-manager in 1995.
Stapleton was a member of the Republic of Ireland squad from 1976 to 1990. Few players in our list have 14 years of service under their belt, and only four have scored more goals for their country. He insisted on every contract having an international release clause, showing how much he bled for the green shirt. He was not the type of player to grab headlines with controversy and was quite a reserved figure. Whatever you think of Frank Stapleton, he would certainly help the national team if he was around today.
3. Tony Cascarino
The third-best Irish striker of all time is Tony Cascarino. Interestingly, is absent from our list of the 25 best Irish soccer players of all time, so we might have to update that article. Anyway, his professional career began at Gillingham, where he established himself as a lethal finisher. In 219 appearances, Cascarino racked up 78 goals. Next came a stint at Millwall with 105 apps and 42 goals, before a disastrous transfer to Aston Villa. After a year, he moved to Celtic but was equally unhappy in Scotland.
When he moved back to England, Cascarino joined Chelsea for two years but had several injury setbacks. As a free agent, he moved to Marseille and became the Ligue 2 top goal scorer. Marseille was being investigated for match-fixing and was denied promotion. But after a second 30-goal season, he achieved promotion with the French Club, scoring 61 goals in 84 games. He had a four-year stint with Nancy where he became the oldest player in Ligue 1 to score a hat-trick and helped Nancy achieve promotion back to the French top flight. He recorded 44 goals in 109 games before retiring.
Cascarino was a goal scorer, and he did that wherever he went. He played 89 games for his country, scoring an impressive 19 times. That puts him level with Frank Stapleton, another one of the best Irish strikers of all time. Tony Cascarino might have left English soccer a damp squib, but he left Irish and French soccer as a legend.
2. John Aldridge
Next on our list of the best Irish strikers of all time is John Aldridge. Players like Aldridge often need no introduction, but we will give him one. He was a serial winner, including the Welsh Cup at Newport, the English First, Second, and Third Division with Oxford and Liverpool, plus the FA Cup in 1988-89. He is exactly the type of player Ireland needs more of, as he was an incredible finisher.
His career began in Newport County, making 170 league appearances and scoring 70 goals from 1979 to 1984. After that came Oxford, where he caught headlines for winning the third and second division. He scored 72 goals in 114 appearances for the U’s. Next came Liverpool, where he scored 63 times in two years before moving to Spain. He had a fantastic scoring record for Real Sociedad and was the first non-Basque signing in decades. The last club of his career was Tranmere Rovers, where he played in over 240 games and found the back of the net at least 138 times.
Aldridge was a goal scorer. He had a sensational goal-to-game ratio no matter where he played. His Republic of Ireland career was also successful, finishing one goal behind the previous record scorer Frank Stapleton. Depending on where you get your statistics from, Aldridge is the third or fourth top scorer for his country. Either way, you cannot doubt his scoring ability and a few players on our list have been as successful as John Aldridge.
1. Robbie Keane
Robbie Keane is the best striker the Republic of Ireland has ever seen. He has the record for the most appearances for his country and is almost 40 goals clear of second on the all-time scoring leaderboard for Ireland. He played in 146 games for Ireland between 1998 and 2016, finding the back of the net on 69 occasions. It is unlikely we will ever see this international record beaten.
His professional career began in 1997 with Wolves before a move to Coventry City. Keane then ended up at Inter Milan, where he did not fit in the Italian side. After a move to Leeds, Tottenham Hotspur saw some potential, and he made the big move and flourished at White Hart Lane. His performances got him a dream move to Liverpool, but once again, he couldn’t find a way into the team.
Liverpool sold him back to Tottenham, before several loan moves and a transfer to the LA Galaxy. He was a force to be reckoned with in the United States, scoring 83 goals in 125 appearances. He had one last move to the Indian side ATK before retiring and becoming a soccer coach.
Keane was a superb talent and is the fifth top goal scorer for Tottenham Hotspur with 122 goals in 306 games. He is the record goal scorer for Ireland, and nobody can doubt his commitment to his country. Sure, a couple of his big-money moves did not work out, but in the teams where he fit in, he was a focal point. He scored incredible goals for Spurs and bossed the MLS for five years. The best Irish striker ever is Robbie Keane.
Conclusion
Now you know the best Irish strikers of all time and hopefully some new names to idolise. If you are feeling patriotic still, why not check out our list of the best Irish soccer players of all time? We are also keeping a close eye on the League of Ireland Premier Division plus the action in the First Division. Check back here for weekly soccer predictions!
