Aston Villa's Jack Grealish rejected a call-up to the Republic of Ireland squad to face Scotland and England...and experienced a fierce social media backlash as a result...
Ireland manager Martin O'Neill explained that he had spoken to both the player and his father, and that they didn't want to declare allegiance at this stage.
Grealish is also eligible to play for England.
“He wanted to complete the season at Aston Villa - there are some important games for them coming up - and he wants to make his decision at some time in the future," clarified O'Neill.
Not that the news went down very well amongst Irish fans, who expressed their (e)ire in a number of different ways:
There was disappointment...
https://twitter.com/stephenoreg/status/598141703204302848
Preemptive resignation...
https://twitter.com/DylanMurphyyy17/status/598135704045154305
Comparisons to vegetables...
https://twitter.com/MeadeyAthy/status/598139494706077697
Recommendations...
https://twitter.com/ShaneCrawford97/status/598130918453284864
Hair abuse...
https://twitter.com/truebluejayo/status/598127595922792448
Gentle persuasion....
https://twitter.com/IbeSeeYou/status/598097217430388736
Less gentle persuasion...
https://twitter.com/dodgehurley/status/598112650191581184
...and fed-up dismissal...
https://twitter.com/MartinPAlan/status/598140293083430913
Imagine if he ends up opting for the Republic of Ireland anyway after all that...
