Well people take it very seriously here, our international supporters are some of the most passionate around. It's just a shame the national team is terrible.
The league itself is pretty poor standard, ranked 48th out of 53 in Europe, so most people support teams in the Prem like United/Arsenal/Liverpool. Having said that the odd player does find his way into the Prem from the NI League, such as Gareth McAuley, formerly of Linfield, Crusaders and Coleraine, or Rory Donnelly, who used to play for Cliftonville, the team my mum's friend's partner is manager of.
As for Blayney, he starts for Linfield (after a season or two at my local team, Ballymena United). They've won the Carling Premiership for the past three years. So in that sense, he's carved out a decent career here, if in a terrible league.