Dark Thoughts

A player registration controversy is bubbling over, St. Pats don't win the FAI Cup this season and an Irish team fails to qualify from its group. Name the year? The more things change and all that.

Hot on the ankles of the Saints' exit from the FAI Cup came confirmation that Keith Fahey was on his way. Having donned the claret & blue of Aston Villa and Drogheda United, the Pats midfielder has opted to model the West Ham colours in 2009. His departure will diminish the quality of our league but we can only wish him well. Fats' Pats side face a difficult task in attempting to replace the finest central midfielder in the country.

His passing, dribbling and deadball expertise has been a treat to witness this season especially - unfortunately that artistry has failed to yield a trophy for the Inchicore side who have again failed to deliver any silverware to Garret Kelliher's sideboard.

Bohemians march on, looking nigh invincible against domestic opposition. Their restoration to title challenging status is a welcome boon for the league - sustainability is questionable. It is a dirty word in eL circles and to see newspaper adverts courting investors for Drogheda United serves only to underline this.

Possibly the activity provided to the legal profession by our clubs will result in some lucrative sponsorship deals from said bodies. One quantum of solace - did you see what I did there? - lay in the progress of our U23 side.

Pat Fenlon's pet project were impressive in their dismissal of Slovakia about 50 weeks ago; not so against our Northern counterparts, but we collected the points. a draw against Belgium was enough to see us into a final against the winners of the England/Italy game in the competition's other group. The International Challenge Trophy was never going to attract wads of TV cash or hoards of supporters, but it provided a higher stage for homebased players.

Had we progressed to that final, it would have presented supporters with something to point proudly at - a successful Irish international side, comprised entirely of young homebased footballers. We were so close, another hard luck story in a season full of them.

Instead we are forced to further endure the growing pains of a dancing league in disjointed orbit - one step forward, two steps sideways, one step back, one step back.

The atmosphere at Richmond Park last night was a heartmelting sight. Passionate, noisy fans enjoying a top class game of football, played out between two well-prepared sides on a good surface. We have made great strides at the highest level and to regress will be extremely painful for fans and clubs alike.

Never before has the home game enjoyed the TV coverage that it does now. Hardly a week passes during the season when there isn't at least one live game on; and we have a dedicated one-hour highlights programme. It has been a struggle to achieve such status and recent rumours suggest it would not be a struggle for us to lose it.

Is it to be to infinity and beyond for Irish football? No, that will never happen while we simper at the soles of the Premiership behemoth. Is it to be extinction and beyond? Never. There will always be a top level game in this country - the standards it aspires to and achieves may be in question. Those standards may well take it off the radar and off the TV. The best of our current crop of players would return to England or Scotland to earn a crust a la John O'Flynn - we will watch a game that hovers just beyond the level of the top provincial Senior League sides.

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The trajectory of Pat Scully's adolescent managerial career has taken on the curve of a Zimbabwean growth chart within the past week. Relative success during his debut appointment at Kilkenny City in 2005 brought attention onto his abilities in the dugout. That led to his appointment in 2006 at a then downbeat Shamrock Rovers. The illustrious Dublin club were slumming it for the first time, swimming with the minnows in the First Division.

This scribe was a keen observer of the nomads during that particular season when the former Irish cap brought many of his former Kilkenny proteges - imagine the accents are there over the 'e's - with him to Tolka Park. They included the likes of Tadhg Purcell and Aidan Price. In spite of falling victim to the dreaded asterisk - they were docked three points for fielding an ineligible player - rovers squeezed into the top spot courtesy of an enviable defensive record. Across 36 league games they conceded only 13 times. Shamrock Rovers were looking ahead to a return to the Premier Division with a freshfaced young squad and an eager manager.

The newbies took to life in the top flight with the brashness that comes with youth. They showed no respect to opponents as they inflicted their all-action game on the Premier Division. It was paying dividends - Rovers faced down professional opposition with their tireless approach. They were well placed to split the Big 4 of Drogheda United, Derry City, Cork City and St. Patrick's Athletic. The legs of the part-timers began to give during the run-in as their exertions took a toll. 4 defeats were followed by three draws in their final 7 games and the club had to 'settle' for a fifth-placed finish; 4 points behind Cork. Their was smoke - one or two players were rumoured to have fallen foul of the Scully's totalitarianism and were shunted aside.

But fans were prepared to overlook such traits, preferring dreams of success in the new season. 2007 had been a good year for Pat Scully - young, determined and ruthless in search of success - Irish football took a shine to the learner manager and his cubs. That ruthless streak saw the talents of David Cassidy, Paul Shiels and Davie O'Connor ousted in favour of established Premier division footballers. The growing trend towards professionalism was forcing some of the league's elder statesmen into difficult decisions. Players like Darragh Maguire, who chose not to go full-time and had to move away from Richmond Parks were Garret Kelliher was bankrolling a professional set-up. The Hoops were benefactors of this situation; as a Dublin Premier Division club they were in a position to hoover up such players to bolster their squad. Fresh from his spat with Sean Connor at Bohs came Stephen Rice. Joining Pat Flynn, Alan Murphy and the unrelated O'Connors - Danny and Sean - there were continuing signs of growth and progression from the tenants at Tolka.

They opened the 2008 season with a visit to defending champions Drogheda United - Alan Murphy scored a memorable goal to ignite a potential title challenge from Drumcondra. As things stand they won't match last season's total of 51 points - so there has not been progress. All managers can point to absenteeism as a hurdle to success; Rovers' back four has borne a strange look at times this year. Aidan Price's long running flirtations with the physio's table didn't help. Barry Ferguson's penchant for daydreaming led to his exit - Ricer was a revelation.

Then the midfielder fell foul of his manager and was sent to Coventry - it was a horse pill to swallow for the hooped faithful. Their side was struggling in a way they hadn't anticipated - their most effective midfielder was now a spectator. Scully was digging his heels in. Fans were beginning to tire of his dictatorial diatribes. Success papers over a lot of cracks, but not it seems, crackpots.

Rice's fall from grace was symptomatic of what was being perceived as Scully's increasingly demanding and sometimes unreasonable behaviour. There could be no doubting his commitment to the club and the cause. he nurtured the cause from the grassroots up in an attempt to impose a structure for future sustained success ahead of Rovers' impending move to Tallaght Stadium. But in the cutthroat world of management a man, or woman, is measured by their results - PS hadn't achieved enough to make his deficiencies palatable to the Rovers boardrom. The cup runs which often buy time and breathing space didn't materialise.

Legend will have it that the former Shelbourne, Rovers and Drogheda centre-half approached his paymasters in search of a contract extension - disagreement was recorded and Pat was out of a job.

At just 38 he has a long career in management ahead of him. Doubtless a period away from the game will allow him to digest the lessons of the last four seasons and he will return a better manager. The League of Ireland/ eircom League/ Famous Fried whatever you're having league needs motivators of his calibre and intensity. Don't be long, Pat.

Another Fine Mess

Yes, as if the eL hasn't already been victim of enough negative media coverage regarding the financial precariousness of its member clubs. It's wearying and repetitive, unless you're a sports journalist eyeing up a handy story.

Because there are not multi-million sums at play, as in the 'great leagues' of this world, all of our issues can be portrayed as petty. By using such a word a hack doesn't need to work too hard to elicit a sneer from the casual reader - just more internecine squabbling in that downmarket eL - an all too easily held perception and one which we will struggle to shatter in the forthcoming years.

With regards to the financial impurities involving many clubs; recent news reports have shown that we are not on our own when it comes to unsustainable budgets. Three of last season's Champions League semi-finalists are in combined debt to the tune of £1 billion. There are moves afoot to restrict overspending by clubs. Obviously the sums involved on our wee plot are mere fractions of the fortunes borrowed and spent by the elite. An unfortunate side effect of this is that eircom League fans are rarely treated to grisly tales of professional footballers roasting young ladies for the craic.

UEFA's discontent at clubs effectively buying success at any price reflects positively upon the imposition by the FAI of the notorious 65% wage cap. That cap has forced clubs out into open ground and once there, there can be no hiding. It can be accepted as part of a process of growth and maturity. Not so the saga in Wexford last Monday night.

This is exactly the kind of tale which brings all the wrong sort of attention on the league. This is one of the rare cases where the 'no publicity is bad publicity' adage fails to apply. The league was the butt of many a tongue-in-cheek report throughout Tuesday; even the rock of common sense that is Mick Wallace was swept away in the commotion of it all. The Wexford maestro was pretty in pink as he turned up to suggest that Limerick never had any intention of fulfilling the fixture.

Lims have been occupying fifth place of the First Division in splendid isolation for weeks now. Ten points behind Sporting Fingal, they are unlikely to climb further and with Monaghan United trailing them by seven - with a game more played - they are unlikely to be caught. The points on offer were hardly of critical importance to the visitors. Their decision to retreat from the Model County will have done little to endear them to the powers that fine; unless the Youths' facilities really are substandard for the dark nights, 37 can expect to have their particular cough softened by the Disciplinary Committee. We can attribute an element of farce to those events - with about 500 fans on site and members of the media present, it certainly wasn't going to slip under the radar, however unwelcome.

Would that the same could be said of the petty squabbling of Bohemians and Drogheda United. Both clubs have netted spectacular own goals in the week preceding their championship showdown. It was a setting fit for such an esteemed moment. Bohs, one win away from clinching the title, with Drogheda the deposed champions standing in their way. I was expecting a rare tussle, with the hosts pulling out all the stops to prevent Pat Fenlon's side from stealing the trophy away from United Park.

As were many others; the Gypsys were expecting a large travelling support for the televised game. On form, these are two good footballing sides; playing before a throaty crowd, it would have come across really well on flat screens across the land. Then the schoolyard handbags set in. At its root is reputed to be an incident wherein the Bohemian landlords prevented United from warming up on the Dalymount Park pitch ahead of their European tie versus Dinamo Kyiv. Drogs withheld some of the monies due to their hosts for the night. When Bohemians came calling for their ticket allocation ahead of the title showdown things became very shifty as United boxed clever in order to regain the upper hand.

It all smacked of greasy aftertaste and the league could have done without the Bohs board going public on the matter. Understandably, they were under pressure from demanding fans, but the situation should have been sorted out by the FAI without the need for Bohemians to share their frustration with the assembled benibbed ones. Again we are a laughing stock; efforts to sell the importance of the game undermined by the public infighting that for so long has been hand in glove with the League of Ireland. Some clever manoeuvres from our ruling body should put a stop to this in the future. That'll be another fine so.

Pats Pass Out

The good news story for Irish football this week centred on the performance of St. Patrick's Athletic in their UEFA Cup qualifying tie against Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin. Taking the broadest of sweeps, this represented a really good performance by the Inchicore based club.

For much of the tie, Pats' performance was a measured one during which they displayed much of the talent and ability that has endeared their playing style to followers of the domestic game. Normally when faced with 'superior' opposition we are reduced to the Charlton Formula. For the benefit of my younger reader, this constitutes ninety minutes of 'in their faces, constant harrying and hustling to deny them space and hopefully grab a scruffy goal off a long ball or a set piece'.

In Keith Fahey Pats possessed the game's most skilful player last Tuesday. His staccato running style saw him regularly leave the opposition flailing in his slipstream - his passing and movement were a treat to witness. 'Fats'- the nickname bears the annoying hallmark of English football jargon - represents the peak of his profession on this island and must surely be 2008's Player of the Year.

What of the opposition; the commonly held opinion was that they were beatable. Their defending was suspect, even with Friedrich and Simunic within their defensive ranks. Their goalkeeper appeared to be of Scottish descent. Up front Pantelic was a threat - he didn't appear for the second leg; Voronin posseses the striking virility of a windsock at Doldrums Airport. This is a side which finished midtable in their league last season and offer little indication of surpassing that mundanity this term. Their accession to European competition came courtesy of UEFA's Fair Play place, making them one of the 'must have' draws for the third round qualifying ties.

St. Pats greatest achievement in Europe was to see off Elfsborg; their greatest failure was failing to score against a mediocre midtable Bundesliga side. That may have been acceptable in times past, but this Saints side are better than that. There is a deep yearning amongst the 20,000 or sop domestic diehards for one of our European representatives to make it into the group stages of a European competition - this represented a great chance. The UEFA Cup is of a lower standard then its Champions League sibling; progression can be a mite easier; especially if a club can afford to beef up its staff profile in the timespan between qualification and participation.

All through the opening half at the RDS, Berlin meandered around the pitch looking disinterested and lacklustre. Still Pats didn't punish them. Andriy Voronin answered the wishes of every supporter in the stadium when he sent the best chance of the game into a low-flying orbit; I include the Hertha fans in this for they must dearly wish his loan period to end sooner rather than soon.

What we witnessed was progress; an eL side imbued with the confidence to play football against Bundesliga opposition. But let there be no talk of moral victories for we are on the precipice of professionalism here and must learn to rub shinpads with the cream if we are to survive. Congratulations to Pats for taking that a step closer, but let's not deny the reality of their departure from Europe.

Looking ahead, we can allow ourselves a morsel of optimism if Nutsy manages to hold onto, or even improve his squad next season. Bohs' was a disappointing European campaign but they are a squad flush with good qualities; with a benevolent draw they might squeeze in. Was that just a little too optimistic?