Half century of caps for Jon Walters
Jon Walters missed our trip to Wembley for the Tottenham Hotspur game last week having suffered an injury in the League Cup win against League One Blackburn Rovers, but he was fit yesterday to make a historic appearance for the Republic of Ireland.
Walters was named in Martin O’Neill’s side for their World Cup qualifier against Georgia in Tbilisi which won him his 50th cap for his country, making him the 39th player to reach that landmark for Ireland, a group which includes Glenn Whelan, Shane Long and James McClean who all played in yesterday’s game alongside him.
He was called up by Giovanni Trapattoni and made his international debut in a friendly against Norway on 17th November 2010 just months after signing for Stoke. He was named as a substitute in a game Ireland lost 2-1, but came on at half time for Kevin Doyle, then with Wolves.
Walters has scored 14 international goals. The first came in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Estonia in Tallin a year after his debut. His most recent was a late equaliser against Austria in a 1-1 draw in June in which his now Burnley team mate Kevin Long made is competitive debut for his country.
Another Burnley team mate, Stephen Ward, could be the next to reach the half century. Last night was his 44th appearance for his country.
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