The Football Association of Ireland has issued an apology after using ‘Londonderry’ instead of ‘Derry’ in the match programme for Ireland’s Euro 2025 playoff defeat to Wales at the Aviva Stadium.
The error appeared in a map of Ireland used to illustrate the origins of players in the women’s national team squad.
Former Ireland international James McClean, a Derry native, reacted furiously to the mistake, branding it “disgusting” and “pathetic” in a strongly-worded social media post.
Taking to Instagram, McClean posted: “The match programme at last night’s Ireland v Wales game at the Aviva Dublin… disgusting, pathetic, insulting, hang your heads in shame you shower of a***holes!”
James McClean raged on social media
PA
The Wrexham captain, who has previously described himself as a “proud Fenian” and has a “Free Derry” tattoo, accompanied his message with a middle finger emoji.
The map had labelled the county as “Doire” in Irish but used only “Londonderry” for the English version.
The FAI swiftly addressed the controversy in a statement, saying: “The wrong graphic was inadvertently used in an Ireland Women’s National Team match programme, this was a genuine mistake and the Football Association of Ireland apologises for any offence caused.”
The graphic appeared to have been lifted from a Wikipedia page on ‘Counties of Ireland’, according to reports.
For the six counties shown in the map, a different colour of shading was used, despite some squad members qualifying via relations from Tyrone and Antrim.
JUST IN: FA make decision on Marc Guehi after defiant religious message on rainbow armband
James McClean received an apology from the FAI
In that case, the programme had to be withdrawn from sale after translation errors saw some Latvian players listed with bizarre names such as “Robert the Liar” and “Dario S***”.
A review of the production process was subsequently launched at Abbotstown.
Ireland suffered heartbreak in the match itself, falling to a 2-1 defeat against Wales at the Aviva Stadium in front of more than 25,000 fans.
LATEST SPORT NEWS:
Ireland’s hopes of reaching next year’s European Championship were snuffed out by Wales
Reuters
The result meant a 3-2 aggregate loss for Eileen Gleeson’s side, ending their hopes of qualifying for next year’s European Championship in Switzerland.
Wales manager Rhian Wilkinson revealed the physical nature of the contest, saying: “We matched them at their game, their game is physical and direct.”