Chiedozie Ogbene declares for the Republic of Ireland

Rotherham United winger Chiedozie Ogbene has committed his international future to the Republic of Ireland.

The FAI have confirmed this morning that they have began the eligibility process for the Nigerian born forward, who recently won promotion to the Skybet Championship with the Millers, after the winger expressed his desire to work under new Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny.

Ogbene, who grew up in Douglas in Cork city, played for local school boy clubs Tramore Athletic, College Corinthians, and Everton before making the move to Cork City FC in 2015. At the Rebel Army he won the u19 National League and was part of the City team which beat HJK Helsinki in the UEFA Youth League.

He transferred to Limerick in 2017, where he made 32 appearances and scored eight goals for the Shannonsiders. That winter he was signed by Brentford in the Skybet Championship and he was loaned out to Exeter in League Two.

Ogbene transferred to Rotherham in the summer of 2019 and made 29 appearances in their promotion winning season.

Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny was speaking to the media, including extratime.com reporter Andrew Dempsey, earlier when he was asked about the news.

“It’s one that won’t happen for September, it could take over four months to be processed. We feel as someone who’ve lived in Ireland that he should qualify but there’s various bureaucratic procedures involved.”

The subject of the young stars international future had always been open to question as he has never represented Ireland at underage level.

Additional reporting from Andrew Dempsey