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Caps: 1 (of 1)
Goals: 0
Something of a late developer, Richard Sadlier had just started to control the Millwall forward line when he picked up the injury that led to his eventual retirement from the game at the tender age of 24. The newspapers were quick to remind their readers that the Republic of Ireland had lost the "next Niall Quinn". However, the loss to Millwall Football Club could never truly be measured.
By his own admission, Sadlier only got into the Lions' first team because of his height. Manager John Docherty liked a big target man up front and the young Irishman was the only striker on the club's books that fitted the bill - even if he was only 16. Those early performances didn't exactly get the pulses races - "Bambi on ice" was a common criticism - but the following season he scored his first goals in Millwall colours, including a screamer against Preston North End and people began to reassess the lad from across the Irish Sea.
Injury curtailed his first full-season with the club but the following year he played an integral part in The Lions' march towards the AutoWindscreen Shield Final and earned a call-up to the Irish Under-21 World Cup squad.
Unfortunately for Sads, he missed much of the next two campaigns - again through injury - and was an onlooker as Mark McGhee's side marched towards the Second Division title. However, it was in that first season back in the First Division where Sadlier really made his name. Fellow forward Neil Harris had been ruled out after contracting cancer and Sads lined-up alongside veteran Steve Claridge to form one of the most feared striking partnerships in the League. Sads form was such that he earned a call-up to the Irish squad and was staking a genuine claim for inclusion in their 2002 World Cup squad. However, the fickle finger of fate was waiting to strike him down and a week after making an impressive debut for Mick McCarthy's side, he picked up the hip injury that would eventually put him out of the game.
After eighteen months, two operations and two abortive comebacks, Sads called it a day. A career that promised so much was over.