In the '70s, it was Arsenal. In the '80s, it was Manchester United and Liverpool. In the early '90s, Aston Villa picked up the baton.
Nowadays, it is Everton, Norwich City and Stoke City who are doing their bit for Irish football, giving our lads game time whenever possible.
Some of the gilded clubs, whose ears used to perk up when they heard tell (via Billy Behan or some other such sage) of a lad who was ripping it up in the Kennedy Cup or in the Dublin & District Schoolboys League, are now no longer interested in our finest kids.
We go through the Premier League teams in 2015-16 to find out when was the last time they boasted a player who was capped for Ireland while under their employ.
Everton - 17 November 2015 v Bosnia
Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy both started the most recent game against Bosnia, while Aiden McGeady has fallen from grace in the eyes of both his club coach and international coach. In recent years, Everton has been the natural home of some of the most talented Irish players.
Norwich City - 17 November 2015 v Bosnia
Previously the employers of that unfortunate shining light of the Mick McCarthy era, Keith O'Neill, Norwich City has been home to plenty of Ireland and Northern Ireland players over the years.
Robbie Brady and Wes Hoolahan both started in the 2nd leg against the Bosnians.
Stoke City - 17 November 2015 v Bosnia
Two Stoke players, one beloved, the other maligned played for Ireland in the victory over Bosnia. Walters up front and Glenn Whelan in midfield.
Young sprog Shay Given is the latest Irish recruit at Stoke.
Aston Villa - 17 November 2015 v Bosnia
Villa owe their oddly large Irish fanbase to their brief time as the 'Sundireland' of the early 1990s. Currently, they rely less on products of Irish football. Ciaran Clark operated at centre back against Bosnia.
West Ham - 17 November 2015 v Bosnia
The club at which Noel Cantwell got his start in English football and the club at which Liam Brady's career drew to a finish.
Darren Randolph has played infrequently for West Ham since joining but he has made the Ireland jersey his own since coming on for Shay Given during the Ireland-Germany game.
West Brom - 17 September 2015 v Bosnia
Signed by in the summer by manager Tony Pulis - who often seems bemused by his winger - McClean functioned as an impact sub during the Euro 2016 qualification campaign, with the emphasis most definitely being on the word 'impact'.
Southampton - 17 November 2015 v Bosnia
David McGoldrick and Leon Best have progressed through their feted academy while Rory Delap played for Southampton during the early 2000s.
Shane Long is obviously the most recent Southampton player to feature for Ireland.
Sunderland - 17 November 2015 v Bosnia
An Irish enclave in the north-east of England in the noughties thanks to the influence of Big Mick, Quinny and latterly Keano, Sunderland's Irish brigade is a less formidable entity these days.
John O'Shea, a hero at various stages in the campaign, came on for Glenn Whelan late in the game against Bosnia. A victory lap substitution.
Bournemouth - 7 June 2015 v England
Harry Arter made his first appearance for Ireland during the behind closed doors friendly against Northern Ireland. It was hard to judge how he did that day from our vantage point. A few days later, he was a second half substitute for Glenn Whelan as Ireland drew 0-0 with England in the most pointless friendly of all time.
Crystal Palace - 11 October 2014 v Gibraltar
Having signed for Crystal Palace at the start of September, Kevin Doyle played the last half hour in the turkey shoot against Gibraltar in Lansdowne Road.
Newcastle United - 3 September 2014 v Oman
Rob Elliot has two caps for Ireland. That's the same amount of PL appearances he made last season as Newcastle's sub keeper. He was the first international since late 2000s hey-day of Duff, Givens and Carr.
Leicester City - 19 November 2013 v Poland
A supporting actor in Big Ron Manager, Sean St. Ledger made his last appearance for Ireland in one of O'Neill's early friendlies, a 0-0 draw in front of a paltry crowd in late 2013.
Manchester United - 11 September 2012 v Oman
Historically, the most 'Irish' club in English football, the club haven't had a player capped for Ireland since Robbie Brady against Oman in Craven Cottage in the summer of 2012.
Tottenham Hotspur - 4 June 2011 v Macedonia
Spurs was stuffed with Irish players in the late nineties and early 2000s but have none presently. As is the case with Liverpool, Robbie Keane was the last Spurs player to play for Ireland. In the game in question in Macedonia, Keane banged in two goals in a 2-0 away win.
Manchester City - 4 June 2011 v Macedonia
Given was no longer starting for Man City and was on the verge of departing for Aston Villa. He kept a clean sheet - one of many in 2011 - as Ireland competently navigated a tricky game in Macedonia.
Liverpool - 15 October 2008 v Cyprus
Robbie's unhappily brief spell at Liverpool ended in January 2009 when he returned to Spurs. During that time, he scored the only goal in Trapattoni's first competitive home game against Cyprus - an early header from two yards out.
Arsenal - 26 May 2007 v Bolivia
The chief destination for talented Irish players back in the 1970s, Arsenal haven't had an Irish player feature regularly since David O'Leary quit in 1993. Joe O'Cearuill's two caps for Ireland - which arrived in the famously irrelevant US tour of 2007 - match his two appearances for Arsenal.
Chelsea - 25 June 2006 v Chile
Never a club who boasted too many Irish lads, Damien Duff creditable and success laden three year spell at Stamford Bridge in the mid-2000s was the high water-mark for Irish players at Chelsea. Prior to this, Andy Townsend and Tony Cascarino played for the club in the early 1990s.
Watford - 21 May 1997
A couple of months before he became the highest paid player in Dutch football (rather insultingly, this was later used as evidence of his solicitor Michael Kennedy's awesome negotiating skills) David Connolly banged in a hat-trick against Liechtenstein in a France 1998 qualifier. He had been scoring freely for Watford at the time and was quickly to move on to Feyenoord.
Swansea City - 25 October 1964
As John Dodge has written before, Swansea's last Irish international was goalkeeper Noel Dwyer in the early 1960s. He's one of only four Irish internationals following the late 1940s trio of Kevin Clarke, Rory Keane and Jackie O'Driscoll.
Ex-Irish International Thomas Butler was the last Irishman to play for Swansea three years ago. He was not capped while playing for them, however.
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