James McClean: Hey Colin Murray, don’t call me Northern Irish

If anyone had doubts about James McClean’s commitment to the Republic of Ireland, he well and truly dispelled them on his Twitter page this morning.

McClean has justifiably been the subject of plenty of attention in recent weeks and added to his burgeoning reputation with a splendidly-taken goal against Stoke on Saturday.

While praising him for his recent form on Match of the Day 2 last night, host Colin Murray – a Norn Iron native himself – made the mistake of saying McClean was from Northern Ireland, comments that didn’t sit too well with the Derryman.

Earlier this morning, he tweeted:

That sure told him and besides, it is not the first battle McClean has had to fight on Twitter of late, with the left winger having to remind everybody that although his name is spelt McClean, it is actually pronounced McClane - just think of John McClane from Die Hard and you'll get the picture.

McClean’s loyalty to the cause will come as further welcome news for Irish supporters, who would no doubt have welcomed the fact that he is set to be called up for the squad to face the Czech Republic at the end of the month.

McLean’s place in the squad is dependent on the FAI sorting out his clearance in time, but once that’s all taken care of, we can hopefully look forward to him doing in a green jersey what he has been doing so well for Sunderland of late.

Yippee-ki-yay indeed.