West Ham United have been represented by dozens of Irishmen down the years, including 16 full internationals. To celebrate St Patrick's Day, we meet four of the best Boys in Green to wear Claret and Blue...
Charlie Turner - West Ham's first Boy in Green
West Ham United’s first-ever senior Ireland international was Charlie Turner, who captained his country in a 2-2 draw in Czechoslovakia in May 1938.
Born in the town of Athlone in County Westmeath in the centre of Ireland in November 1910, Turner had moved to Lancashire as a youngster. There, he represented Eccles Schools, Lancashire Combination, Atherton, Manchester Central and Stalybridge Celtic before joining Leeds United in 1933.
A deputy to England international Ernie Hart, Turner played 13 League matches for Leeds before moving to Essex and Division Three club Southend United in 1935. He featured in 99 League games for the Shrimpers before joining Second Division West Ham midway through the 1937/38 season following the retirement of long-serving defender Jim Barrett.
Turner kept a clean sheet in a winning debut against Sheffield Wednesday in February 1938, but would not taste victory again until his eleventh and final appearance in Claret and Blue, a 5-0 thrashing of Nottingham Forest in February 1939.
The centre-half joined Hartlepool United in summer 1939, but the Second World War put paid to his career in England and he returned home to Ireland, where he played and coached at Waterford before managing Dublin-based Shelbourne.
Noel Cantwell - Captain courageous
No Irishman has played as many matches for West Ham United than the late, great Noel Cantwell. One of the finest full-backs of his generation, Cantwell represented the Hammers on 278 occasions between November 1952 and September 1960.
Born in Cork in the south west of Ireland in February 1932, Cantwell played for local club Cork Athletic, where he was spotted by West Ham scouts and invited to east London.
After crossing the Irish Sea, he became a first-team regular in the 1953/54 season, forming a fruitful partnership with right-back John Bond, and he was an influential captain as West Ham won promotion back to the First Division after a 26-year absence in 1957/58.
The following season, he led the Hammers to their joint-best League finish of sixth in the old First Division, starting all 42 matches.
Off the pitch, Cantwell was a deep thinker about the game and, alongside the likes of Malcolm Allison, Phil Woosnam and Dave Sexton, helped mould the coaching and tactical approaches that would create the Academy of Football.
On departing West Ham, Cantwell joined Manchester United, who he captained to FA Cup glory in 1963, while he was capped 36 times by his country.
Later in life, he managed Coventry City, Peterborough United and in the United States, while he also scouted for England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, before passing away in 2005 at the age of 73.
Liam Brady - The greatest of them all
Arguably the greatest Irish footballer of all-time was Liam Brady. Born in Dublin on 13 February 1956, the precociously talented attacking midfielder excelled for the leading St Kevin’s Boys club as a schoolboy before joining Arsenal at the age of 15 in 1971 – the same year the Gunners won the Double.
Just two years later, aged 17 years and seven months, Brady made his first-team debut for the north London giants, in a 1-0 First Division win over Birmingham City, and a long and outstanding career was off and running.
A left-footed playmaker with outstanding technical ability and vision, Brady spent nine years at Highbury, winning Arsenal’s Player of the Year award three times, lifting the FA Cup in 1979 and signing off with an appearance in the 1980 European Cup Winners’ Cup final.
Brady’s attributes had made him a target for Europe’s biggest clubs and, in 1979, he announced his intention to move to Juventus the following summer. He kicked off his career in Italy with back-to-back Serie A titles before moving on to Sampdoria, Inter Milan and Ascoli.
In March 1987, aged 31, he decided to return to London, as he wanted to bring his children up in England. After a £100,000 deal was agreed, Brady joined West Ham United.
The Hammers were going through a transitional phase during the playmaker’s time in Claret and Blue, but they were unquestionably a better side when Brady was in it, most notably when thrashing Liverpool 4-1 in the League Cup in November 1988.
Relegation meant Brady would spend the final season of his career in the Second Division, where he signed off with a memorable strike in a 4-0 Upton Park victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in his 532nd and last league game as a professional in May 1990.
Darren Randolph - Ireland's number one
Born in Bray in County Wicklow to an American father and Irish mother, Darren Randolph left Ireland at the age of 16 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer in London.
The promising goalkeeper left local club Ardmore Rovers to join Charlton Athletic, debuting at Liverpool in May 2007. After a series of loan spells, Randolph continued his career north of the border in Scotland, helping Motherwell reach the Scottish Cup final and finish second in the Scottish Premier League.
From there, he moved back to England with Birmingham City, impressing during two seasons in the Championship before joining West Ham United in 2015.
By then, Randolph was a full Ireland international, having debuted against Oman in September 2012, and he was the undisputed No1 by the time his country travelled to UEFA Euro 2016 in France. There, the Hammer’s heroics helped the Boys in Green emerge from a group that included Sweden, Belgium and Italy before falling to the host nation in the round of 16.
Randolph departed east London in 2017 and spent two and a half years with Middlesbrough before returning to West Ham in January 2020.
A solid stopper, Randolph kept goal for Ireland again at Euro 2020 before departing London Stadium in January 2023 and moving to AFC Bournemouth.
