The Aviva Stadium was packed out with Arsenal supporters for the club’s Dublin friendly on Wednesday night, although few of them would have come away impressed with their performance in the 3-1 loss to Real Betis.

Lansdowne Road was a sea of red jerseys before the game, with Mikel Arteta selecting a strong starting XI for the fixture. The likes of Kai Havertz, Ben White, Viktor Goykeres, and Piero Hincapie all started the contest.

However, they would ultimately lose the match on the back of some questionable goalkeeping from Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Real Betis strike first at the Aviva! 🌴

Riquelme takes advantage of poor Arsenal defending at the corner to open the scoring 👀 pic.twitter.com/1ubVDayElP

— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) August 5, 2026

While this was not the result Irish Arsenal fans would have been hoping for, there was a hint of local flavour to the contest.

Arsenal’s Ireland-eligible star addresses international future

Ceadach O’Neill would come on for Arsenal in the second half of last night’s game, playing the final 15 minutes or so.

The Derry native joined the Premier League champions in 2024, having previously lined out for Linfield. He also featured in the friendly against Girona last week.

Recommended

O’Neill was capped by Northern Ireland in two friendly games earlier this year, although there has been a bit of speculation about his future at international level. The 18-year old comes from a Catholic and GAA background and there have been suggestions that he could switch to the Republic of Ireland.

With that in mind, his comments after his appearance in Dublin were rather interesting.

O’Neill was asked about the ‘outside noise’ regarding his international future and whether the situation had been resolved. His response was hardly a steadfast commitment to Northern Ireland:

Look, at the minute I’m just trying to concentrate on club level.

That’s all I can do, I’m just trying to stick with Arsenal at the minute.

I’ve been speaking to Michael [O’Neill] recently and I’m really just enjoying what I’m doing right now and where I’m at.

That’s all I can say.

That response will certainly lead to further speculation about a switch to the Republic of Ireland.

Ceadach O’Neill linked with Ireland switch

Ceadach O’Neill hails from a Catholic background and was entrenched in the GAA growing up. He is a nephew of former Derry star Eoin Bradley and lined out for club side Kilrea until making the full-time switch to soccer at 14.

He was a talented player and even lined out in Croke Park in an exhibition game for the 2019 All-Ireland final between Kerry and Dublin.

1 September 2019; Ceadach O’Neill, St. Columbas PS, Kilrea, Derry, representing Dublin, and Seán Óg Bergin, The Don NS, Ballaghaderreen, Roscommon, representing Kerry, during the INTO Cumann na mBunscol GAA Respect Exhibition Go Games at the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Dublin and Kerry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Of course, this sort of background does not guarantee that he would want to play for the Republic of Ireland. Current Northern Ireland captain and Liverpool player Conor Bradley comes from similar roots.

Still, all this coupled with his non-comital answer last night will no doubt lead to further speculation that a switch could be in the offing.