<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
In August 2024, shortly after Delap joined Ipswich Town, Given urged Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson to pursue him. Speaking on Premier Sports, he highlighted the forward\u2019s pace, strength and finishing as reasons Ireland should try to recruit him. <\/p>\n
The FAI\u2019s interest stretches back further still. In May 2021, then Ireland under-21 manager Jim Crawford publicly discussed making contact with Delap, who was coming through at Manchester City, and pointed to his family\u2019s Donegal connections. <\/p>\n
Delap continued through England\u2019s underage system, representing them up to under-21 level and winning the European Under-19 Championship in 2022. He remains eligible for Ireland through his family. <\/p>\n
As recently as April, Ireland\u2019s management were still holding out hope of persuading him to declare. John O\u2019Shea had been in contact with Rory to express the FAI\u2019s interest, while Hallgr\u00edmsson stressed that the decision belonged to Liam. Delap had previously expressed a preference for England, but Ireland had not abandoned their pursuit.<\/p>\n
Liam’s father Rory won 11 senior caps for Ireland between 1998 and 2004. He made his debut against the Czech Republic in March 1998 and started both legs of the unsuccessful Euro 2000 play-off against Turkey in November 1999.<\/p>\n
Born in England to Irish parents, the midfielder became particularly well known for his long throws during his time at Stoke City.<\/p>\n
Rory has also addressed his son\u2019s international future directly. Speaking to FourFourTwo in August 2025, he confirmed that Liam had spoken to people representing both countries, while explaining that England had supported him since his early teenage years but said it was entirely up to Liam.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Given\u2019s latest attempt to get an answer brought a smile from Delap. Ireland supporters will have to wait a little longer for anything more definite.<\/p>\n
SEE ALSO: ‘Prime Casillas’ – Bolton Fans Gush Over Gavin Bazunu After Stellar Clean Sheet<\/a>
\nSEE ALSO: How The LOI Title Race Is Shaping Up After Being Blown Wide Open<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shay Given couldn\u2019t resist asking Liam Delap the question plenty of Ireland supporters would like answered during an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,264644,43],"class_list":["post-623245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-liam-delap-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}