The recent retirement from international football of James McClean brought much reminiscing on his time with the Irish national team and his finest moments.
A servant of over a decade to the Ireland MNT, McClean retired with 103 caps and 11 goals for his country - with some standout moments around his peak in the mid-2010s.
Now a star of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's Wrexham team, McClean was tasked by his club side's social media team to pick his favourite goals in the green of Ireland - and the somewhat predictable pick at number one prompted a lighthearted jab at the fans of his own club.
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James McClean had easy choice for favourite ever Ireland goal
The best days James McClean enjoyed in an Ireland jersey undoubtedly came under the stewardship of Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane during the qualifying campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Ireland secured two massive wins on the road against Austria and Wales to reach the play-offs - both 1-0 wins courtesy of McClean goals.
The Irishman picked those two among his favourite goals for his country when tasked to do so by the Wrexham social media team.
Given Wrexham are a Welsh club, McClean couldn't resist a cheeky dig when selecting his 2017 goal in Cardiff as his favourite goal for Ireland.
James McClean picks his favourite international goal 🇮🇪
Turn away now, Cymru fans 🫣
🔴⚪️ #WxmAFC pic.twitter.com/alA90czSWg— Wrexham AFC (@Wrexham_AFC) November 27, 2023
McClean would say:
Yeah, this one's my favourite one by far. It's all about the timing...right foot, ah! I don't think I've hit a ball sweeter in my life.
Who was that against, by the way? Oh...Wales, yeah. World Cup qualifier.
Didn't I knock Wales out after that goal? Sorry...sorry.
The Derryman laughed off his cheeky dig - but it's understandable that it was chosen as his favourite goal, given the stakes that night in Cardiff.
Ireland went into the game knowing a win would secure a play-off for the World Cup finals in Russia at Wales' expense and, after brilliantly industrious work from Jeff Hendrick, the finish from McClean was one of Ireland's finest ever qualifying campaign moments - even if the play-off against Denmark didn't quite go to plan.
Any excuse to watch that magical moment back again.
James McClean does like a game in Cardiff 👀 #WALIRL pic.twitter.com/729l2mHG7z
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) November 15, 2020
We're sure that Wrexham fans mightn't be best impressed with James McClean's choice - but there was never going to be any other option at number one.
Another highlight of the clip posted by the club to Twitter was McClean noting that Cristiano Ronaldo had failed to find the net in the friendly in which he himself scored against Portugal in MetLife Stadium in 2014. We'd imagine Portugal were happy enough with the 5-1 win that night, but it was a banging finish from McClean nonetheless.
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