England’s Declan Rice and Jack Grealish shrugged off their hostile reception in Dublin by scoring both goals in England’s Nations League win over Republic of Ireland on Saturday and said they have nothing but respect for the opponents they once represented.
Rice played for Ireland at youth level and made three senior appearances for the country before changing his allegiance, a decision which many Irish fans still find hard to accept.
As his every touch was booed by sections of the home support, Rice paid little attention and gave England the lead but chose not to celebrate, and not only because of his time playing for the opposition.
“My nan and granddad on my dad’s side of the family are all Irish, they’ve passed away and are not here anymore so I think to have celebrated would have been disrespectful, I didn’t want to do that,” Rice told Sky Sports.
“I had such an amazing time playing for Ireland, in the first team, under 19s, under 21s, they were great memories that live with me.
“I don’t have a bad word to say and I wish them all the best like I do with anyone.”
Grealish, who scored England’s second goal of the 2-0 win, also represented Ireland at youth level and the atmosphere in the ground came as no surprise.
“It was what me and Declan expected. We have nothing bad to say, we both enjoyed our time [playing for Ireland],” Grealish said to ITV.
“I certainly did, and I have a lot of Irish in my family, so there’s no bad blood whatsoever from my side.”
Grealish was left out of Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad, but made the most of his recall by interim manager Lee Carsley.
“The summer was one of the worst of my life because you can’t not see what is happening in front of you,” Grealish said.
“It was difficult but it has given me more resolve to bounce back.
“It meant everything, just going to the fans at the end and hearing them cheer my name.”
Carsley, himself a former Ireland international, proved that old habits die hard when he went to sit in the home dugout before realising his mistake.
“I did go down the tunnel and turn right,” Carsley said with a smile to RTE.
“As you know, I spent a lot of time on the bench so I know exactly where that is.”