Crowe out to raise status of Ireland's home-grown talent

Scanning the list of players selected for the Republic of Ireland's match against Norway tomorrow night and one name next to one club stands out. There, before Robbie Keane: Tottenham Hotspur and Damien Duff: Blackburn Rovers is Glen Crowe: Bohemians.

Few fans will have heard much of Crowe. Fewer still will know that he is the first Irish-based player to have been capped in 17 years. That came in the unwanted autumn friendly in Greece when the Irish, shorn of the Keanes and Duffs of their squad were, frankly, casting around. The selection caused such a fuss that the pundit Eamon Dunphy, never one to be short of a put-down, denounced it as "gesture management" by the then caretaker Don Givens. The Irish were in chaos. No manager, no Roy Keane, of course, and no points from their Euro 2004 qualifying group.

Although Crowe acquitted himself reasonably well during an excruciating 0-0 draw, it was felt and, indeed, hoped by many that he was to be a one-cap wonder. Such is the nervousness that continues to surround those playing for Irish clubs, especially those who have returned from England having failed to establish themselves. And then Brian Kerr was appointed, becoming the first Irish-born manager in charge since Eoin Hand in 1985.

Kerr's pedigree is in Irish football. He talks as readily about "St Pat's" (St Patrick's Athletic) as he does Manchester United or Spurs and, having watched Crowe play, and score, in his first game back from tearing knee ligaments, he has thrust the 25-year-old striker into his squad.

"I didn't expect to get selected as I was not as sharp as I would have wanted to be," says Crowe, who has been top scorer in the Eircom League for three years. The decision has caused a stir. A mixture of pride that a player from the league is once again deemed good enough and trepidation that what it may, in fact, show is that the Irish are about to suffer a dearth of talent.

After all, before Crowe the last Irish-based player to be capped was Pat Byrne in 1986, just four games into Jack Charlton's reign. The outstanding success enjoyed since then has been built solely on English-based and, in many cases, English-born players.

Furthermore Kerr, the former technical director of the Football Association of Ireland, has already voiced his concern that few of his squad are playing for the top six English clubs and even fewer are guaranteed a starting place.

Crowe is aware of the unease. He has been the best player in Ireland for three years – but over the past 12 months only Millwall, Carlisle and Hull City have looked at him. "The way I feel about it is that I must be doing a good job for Bohemians to get the recognition I have," he says. "Before, the League of Ireland has not perhaps had much of a profile but Brian has come in and said that if he thinks you are good enough he will select you."

Crowe was one of the graduates of Kerr's high-achieving youth teams. He played in the Youth World Cup in Malaysia in which the Irish famously finished third. "I knew a lot about him and, to me, he seemed to be the obvious choice for the job," says Crowe.

"After the results in the first two qualifiers it would have been harder for someone to come in and start from scratch. Appointing Brian was the right thing to do."

Another young player groomed by Kerr is Robbie Keane, someone Crowe knows well. The two were at Wolverhampton Wanderers together and Crowe admits that, with such competition, he had little chance. "It just didn't work out for me," he says. "I made my debut when I was in the youth team and unfortunately they were also preparing Robbie and, higher up, players like Steve Bull were also there."

In his four years in England he also had brief spells with Cardiff City, Exeter and Plymouth Argyle with minimal impact. He returned to Dublin. "The league has improved 100 per cent," he says. "Most teams are going full-time now and the pitches are better, which was always a big thing." Indeed, the Irish league has this year switched to summer football because of the high number of postponements usually endured over December and January.

Even though Crowe is full-time, his earnings are modest – a basic of €950 (£680) a week and a €5,000 bonus for finishing the league's top scorer. The standard of football, he says, is difficult to compare. "I was at Wolves and they are a top team," Crowe says. "I also played Third Division and I would say the quality is much higher in the League of Ireland"

Despite the relatively low wages, more young Irish players are returning, partly through the collapse of ITV Digital but also because the Premiership clubs have reduced the number of youth teams. "That can only make our league better," says Crowe. If he can establish himself in the national squad, its reputation will improve further.