million. However, he failed to find the same level of form that he had at Swindon, and he was loaned first to Aston Villa and then to Portsmouth. Portsmouth The latter were impressed enough by McLoughlin to make a bid for him, and so in February 1992 he moved to Fratton Park for £400,000 after making only 29 appearances for the Saints. He helped Portsmouth to the 1992 FA Cup semi-final, scoring the winning goal in the quarter-final tie with Nottingham Forest, only for them to lose the semi-final to Liverpool on a penalty shoot-out. He helped Portsmouth to the brink of the Premier League in 1992–93, but they were pipped to automatic promotion by West Ham United and lost to Leicester City in the play-offs. Wigan Athletic In December 1999, he was sold to Wigan Athletic for £260,000. However, injuries prevented him from making a major impact and he made only 22 appearances for Wigan, scoring three goals. He scored once in the league against Gillingham. and also scored a brace in a Football League Trophy tie against Oldham Athletic. Rochdale McLoughlin moved on a free transfer to Rochdale in December 2001 and played his part in Rochdale reaching the play-offs in 2001–02 and scored a twice-taken penalty for them on his last league appearance against Bristol Rovers. Forest Green Rovers With his career winding down McLoughlin joined Forest Green as a player-coach for the 2002–03 season and also featured in Rovers FA Cup first round tie with Exeter City which was broadcast live on the BBC's Match of the Day programme. At the end of the season, McLoughlin retired from playing to concentrate on coaching with the club. International career Republic of Ireland McLoughlin's performances at club level won him international recognition, and he was named by Jack Charlton in the Ireland squad for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He made his International debut on 2 June 1990 in a 3–0 friendly win against Malta. He made two appearances at the 1990 World Cup, coming on as a substitute in the matches with England and Egypt. On 17 November 1993, McLoughlin came on as a substitute and scored a 76th minute equaliser against Northern Ireland in a 1–1 draw at Windsor Park in a critical 1994 World Cup qualifier; the draw, combined with Spain's defeat of Denmark, meant that the Republic of Ireland team qualified for the