Villa youngster Ciaran Clark has opened the door for an international career with the Republic of Ireland. The Villa reserve captain has represented England at all youth levels and even skippered the Under 20’s side but has revealed he would encourage a call up from Ireland. Team-mate and fellow centre back, Richard Dunne recommended the young talent to the recruitment team at the FAI after only recently finding out that Clark was eligible for the Emerald Isle. Ciaran qualifies through his Mother and may well look to ensure an international career by opting to play for Ireland over England. In my opinion this would be a big loss to the England national side as the centre back seems to have all the qualities to be a top player. Dunne has waxed lyrical about the 21 and believes that Ireland would manage a real coup in tempting Clark to ditch England.
Clark was in action for Villa Reserves under Kevin MacDonald as the side looked to get back to winning ways after drawing with Sunderland last time out. The centre back was joined by Jonathan Hogg and Shane Lowry from the first team contingent in an extremely young Villa line up. The side faced Newcastle away who fielded a significantly more experienced starting XI including Ryan Taylor, Alan Smith, Danny Guthrie and Xisco. MacDonald’s youngsters played out a stalemate 0-0 draw, representing a decent result against a strong reserve line up from Newcastle. The Villa boys kept much of the possession but the game lacked any real chances of note with a draw extending a run of unbeaten games to 4 for the second string Villans.
