Mick McCarthy has broken his silence on this afternoon's decision by Declan Rice to declare his future international allegiance will lie with England.
Rice, who won three caps with the Republic of Ireland under McCarthy's predecessor Martin O'Neill, made the shock announcement at four o'clock today, plunging Irish soccer fans into the depths of despair. It had been mooted over recent weeks that the 20-year-old, who has represented at every level between U16 and senior, would declare himself available for selection by McCarthy for the first of Ireland's 2020 European Championship qualifiers against Gibraltar next month.
Now McCarthy must prepare for that campaign, and all campaigns to come, without the precocious talent.
A statement from the manager, released by the FAI this evening, reads the following.
Declan Rice rang me today and told me he has decided to give it a go with England. Good luck to him, it is his decision and his decision alone and I wish him well with his international career in the future.
When I met Declan and his family, along with Robbie Keane last November, I told Declan that I would be delighted if he opted to stay with Ireland having won three senior caps and represented us so many times at underage level.
That is not to be. I never got the chance to work with Declan so he is not my player and won’t be now that he has made up his mind.
We start the European Championship qualifiers at the end of March and my coaching staff and I have concentrated our efforts on those who want to play for us. They are the important ones and they are the ones who want to play for Ireland against Gibraltar and Georgia.
We know Declan’s decision now and we continue to plan for the games next month.
McCarthy was seemingly quick to commiserate with those who had been instrumental in Rice's international underage development, and in particular, FAI scout Mark O'Toole who discovered Rice as a 15-year-old.
I phoned Mark and he is disappointed with this news. I feel for Mark because he found him for us and nurtured Declan as a player and helped develop his career, something Declan has publicly thanked him for in the recent past.
But this is Declan’s decision. We have availed of the ruling ourselves so we can’t complain about it. We will concentrate on the games in March".
Rice made his senior international debut against Turkey in Antalya last March, before earning his second and third caps in friendlies against France in May and USA in June. The win against the Americans will prove to be Rice's only appearance in an Irish shirt at the Aviva.
