Down through the years, Ireland have brought countless players that were born in the UK into the international setup. The FAI have certainly been astute in their use of the 'granny rule', with some of those footballers going on to become key contributors in green during their international careers.
Whereas now many feel that Ireland are only capable of getting in players that are unlikely to get into the England squad, it was a bit different in decades gone by.
During the 70s and 80s, we managed to recruit a calibre of player that would have been more than good enough to line out for any national team of their choosing.
As it turns out, some in the England camp were not all that pleased by this trend at the time.
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John Giles recalls England manager fury over player's Ireland call-up
Ireland have recruited some top class English-born players in the past, although few of them had the pedigree of Mark Lawrenson.
While he did not quite have the international success of some other players due to the fact that his Irish career was ending as Jack Charlton came on board, his CV at club level is remarkable. He would win five league titles and a European Cup at Liverpool, forming one of the most iconic centre back pairings of all-time alongside Alan Hansen.
He was capped by Ireland in 1977 at a time when he was still a Preston North End player, who were at that time playing in the English third tier.
Speaking on the Eamon Dunphy's The Stand podcast, then Ireland manager John Giles recalled how Lawrenson first came into fold. He also revealed that the England manager at the time was far from pleased.
It was amazing how we got him.
We had a match on the Sunday, we used to play on a Sunday back then. We were short for players, because there wasn't an automatic release. A lot of clubs just wouldn't let the players off.
We were struggling for the Sunday and Alan Kelly was my assistant. He said 'there's a lad at Preston here, he won't let you down, he's only 18 or 19'. That was Mark Lawrenson.
In those days as well, if he played for us as he did he was qualified for us. We lost [Jack] Grealish and [Declan] Rice, times have changed in that particular way.
That's how we got Mark Lawrenson.
Of course, the England manager later on went mad when he found out that we had qualified him. He only played in a friendly match, he was a terrific player. It was much easier to qualify the players then compared to now.
Don Revie was the England manager at the time of Mark Lawrenson's Ireland debut, although he would resign a couple of months later. Ron Greenwood would be the one in charge of the side at a time when the defender came to real prominence at Brighton and then Liverpool.
Lawrenson would go on to earn 39 caps in green, although he would never feature at a major tournament after retiring from international duties in 1987. Still, he is no doubt one of the best players to ever be brought on board under the 'granny rule'.
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