No where near 95% of Ireland's population wanted that. Only the Irish & U.K. sports media, clowns like Miggy and ill informed posters think that 95% of Ireland's population follow red teams. No where near 95% of the population have any interest whatsoever in PL football. Of those who do follow PL football, yes red is the favourite colour, amplified by media brain washing like DM .Sky & BT etc. non stop "red is great". Back in my teenage years in the 60's/70's most Division 1 teams had plenty of fans, many supported teams where Irish players were involved and the rabid tribalism we see now was rare. Growing media access especially UK. tv and the short sea crossing from Dublin, the main population area, to Manchester & Liverpool increased the numbers of red fans. The reality is there have always been large pockets of Irish fans of other clubs, equally frustrated with the lop-sided media coverage. Kids and teenagers growing up now support many PL and other European teams. Your "95% of population" cliche, is an example of island mentality, stale, unresearched and a lazy attempt to get "likes" at the expense of "Johnny foreigner".