THE second part of our feature looking back at the impact of West
Ham United's players at international level charts some famous
names who have pulled on the colours of the Republic of Ireland.
Clive Clarke accounts for the only current Republic of Ireland
international at West Ham earning his first cap against Jamaica in
2004. They have been however, in plentiful supply at Upton Park
throughout the clubs history.
None more prominent than the legendary Noel Cantwell, who sadly
passed away this year.
Noel was an attacking full back with immense skill who appeared for the Republic on 36 occasions, 17 whilst with the Hammers. He was signed in 1952 from Cork United and featured prominently for West Ham United over the next eight years, captaining the 1958 promotion charge.
As well as captaining the Hammers, Noel lead out Eire many times, and once an established first division player, transferred to Manchester United for a record fee. At Old Trafford he captained their 1963 Cup winning team, and was also player manager of Ireland towards the end of his career.
He was not the only Republic of Ireland hero to grace the Boleyn. Surely Eire's greatest ever talent, Liam Brady, moved the West Ham after leaving Arsenal for Italy.
Brady was already an established international when he arrived, and his total of 72 caps puts him 7th in the all time list, of which he lead for many years before being beaten by Pat Bonner in 1994.
He won his final 11 whilst with the Hammers, the last coming in his testimonial against Finland in 1990 - he made his debut versus the USSR 16-years earlier.
Unfortunately for Liam he missed Ireland's European and World Cup campaigns in 1988 and 1990 due to injury, but left the Hammers with a stunning goal against Wolves.
A man who did go to Italia 90 was left back Chris Hughton, who was already an experienced international when he arrived at West Ham. He played well for the Hammers, and was an ever present in the 1991 promotion season. Chris won 53 caps in all, only two at West Ham, versus Chile and Turkey. He also spent time recently with the Republic of Ireland coaching staff under Brian Kerr.
The Hammers first Ireland international was centre half Charlie
Turner, who was also an experienced international before coming to
Upton Park in 1937.
He went on to earn five caps at West Ham just before the start of
the Second World War.
Just after the war, West Ham had a considerable contingent of
Irishman.
Tommy Moroney was still an amateur when he was signed by Charlie
Paynter, in 1947. He won 12 Ireland caps, making his debut versus
Spain a year later, and his final came against France in 1953.
Moroney was replaced at Cork by Frank O' Farrell, who later followed him to Upton Park. Frank made 210 appearances for the Hammers over six years, and won seven international caps, making his debut in 1953 against Austria.
Frank later went into football management, and was in charge of Manchester United from 1972 to 1973 - Former Hammer Malcolm Musgrove was appointed as his chief scout.
International goalkeeper, Noel Dwyer had a mixed bag of fortunes during his time with West Ham. He was courageous, but incredibly inconsistent, and a subject to a match fixing scandal during his spell in 1960.
West Ham United lost 5-3 at home to Newcastle and the majority of the blame was aimed at Dwyer. To ignite the rumours, bookmakers had taken a considerable amount of money on the result, but nothing was ever proven - Dwyer never played for the Hammers again.
Despite this, he won four international caps whilst at West Ham United.
Fred Kearns was another post-war Irishman that earned a solitary cap. He was a full back that switched to centre forward before transferring to Norwich.
David Kelly also only won a single Ireland cap at Upton Park, but was a regular international throughout his career. 'Ned' scored a hat-trick on his debut for the Republic against Israel in November 1987, and came on as a substitute versus Norway in the 1994 World Cup.
He had a torrid time at the Boleyn, eventually being replaced by Northern Irishman Jimmy Quinn, but he was capped against Tunisia in 1989.
Gary Breen was another Irish Hammer, whose spell in East London was far from pleasant.
Again established in the Ireland team, Breen arrived in 2002, just after the World Cup in Japan, in which he scored against Saudi Arabia. Hammers were relegated during his only year, and he didn't feature at all towards the more successful back end of the season. Breen is still a regular in a green shirt now at Sunderland with 62 caps and seven goals.
As Breen left, so another Irishman born in England arrived at
West Ham.
David Connolly was rather unknown, but caused a stir immediately
when he was left out of the opening day fixture - he did come on to
score the winner however, and bagged 14 goals in total for the
Hammers. He has 41 caps and has netted nine times for Ireland.
Breen now plays regularly alongside Matt Holland fir the Irish, who was released by West Ham as a young player, but made it in the game with Bournemouth, Ipswich and Charlton.
The final Irishman in the Hammers collection is a rather strange
entrant.
Born in Glasgow, he qualified by family association, and starred
for Ireland in USA 94, scoring a sensational strike against Italy.
He is sixth in the all time Ireland appearances chart with 73 caps,
and made his debut against Wales in 1988, which was also Jack
Charlton's first managerial outing.
Although far better known in the claret and blue of Aston Villa,
Ray Houghton made one appearance as a substitute for West Ham, at
Highbury in May 1982. His half an hour on the pitch stands as a
record for the least amount of playing time ever at West Ham
United.
Click here to view the full International Hammers series so
far.