In honour of St.Patrick's Day, and in anticipation of the annual EA SPORTS FIFA Ultimate Team tournament that always turns up around this time of year, we tried to make an XI of players available in the game who's name is Patrick or Paddy.
Initially, we thought there were a far greater amount of Patricks running around in professional football, but while the number was smaller than we had imagined we still managed to get a team out, and it ranges from League of Ireland players to some of the very best players to ever play the game.
Every player officially listed as 'Paddy' in the game is in the team, so that is Paddy McNair, Paddy McCourt, and Paddy Madden all in, but here is how the rest of the squad looks:
Goalkeeper - Patrick Jennings - St. Pats
A Paddy from St.Pats on St.Patrick's day. This one was meant to be.
Left Back - Patrick Van Aanholt - Sunderland
One of the better players in a poor season for Sunderland, Paddy Van Aanholt will be bombing forward from left-back.
Centre Back - Paddy McNair - Man United
The first true Paddy on the team, after making an impact last season McNair has seen less time this season thanks to the emergence of Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Guillermo Varela.. But he makes this squad.
Centre Back - Patrick McCarthy - Preston
The former Palace defender plays alongside Greg Cunningham for Preston, and adds an incredibly Irish name to this Ultimate Team.
Right Back - Patrick Flynn - Longford Town
Keeping the strong (possibly too strong) Longford-Balls.ie connection alive, Paddy Flynn is in the team much to the delight of Balls writers Conor Neville and Gavin Cooney.
Left Midfield - Paddy McCourt - Luton Town
The man, the myth, the legend. The Derry Pelé will be the creative spark in this side, and will no doubt score many goals after dribbling through the entire team because that is precisely what he does.
Centre Midfield - Patrick Cregg - Shamrock Rovers
It would be rude to have a Paddy's Day XI without a Shamrock Rovers player in it, and thankfully Mr.Cregg is on hand to slot in and form one-half of a formidable midfield pairing.
Centre Midfield - Patrick Vieira - UT Legends
Good man Paddy Vieira. After patching things up with Roy Keane he is the centrepiece of this XI, and will pull the strings from deep with the idea of getting Paddy McCourt on the ball as much as possible, because we all know who the real star is here.
Right Midfield - Patrick Herrmann - Borussia Monchengladbach
Providing the pace in this unit is Herrmann the German, a flying winger from Gladbach who is a very dangerous player on the game.
Striker - Patrick Kluivert - UT Legends
Friend of Balls.ie, Patrick Kluivert was always getting into this team. If it wasn't for his legendary skills as an all-round striker, his love of Richard Dunne was enough to cement his place in this side.
Striker - Paddy Madden - Scunthorpe
A Paddy to round off the team of Paddys, the former Bohs striker will form a true strike partnership with Kluivert and will no doubt be the fans favourite in this XI.
So there you have our selections ahead of the St.Patrick's Day celebrations. Be sure to keep an eye on Balls.ie during the week as we have a number of giveaways planned if you're a FIFA 16 player.
