Saturday, November 13, 2010
THE climax of the domestic season is almost upon us and, for once, we find ourselves hoping that the storm precedes the calm.
As the battle of the Rovers looms at the Aviva tomorrow, we can only keep fingers crossed that the weather gods, so bellicose in recent days, opt to smile benignly on the occasion and that the pitch stands up to the thunderous workout it’s likely to receive at the feet of the oval ball men today.
Certainly, it’s been an absorbing season of League of Ireland football and one which deserves the reward of a memorable cup final climax.
2009 was a year of living dangerously for Irish football, with us hacks seeming to spend almost as much time in the courts as in the football grounds, and two of the biggest names in the game, Cork City and Derry City, eventually dropping out of the top flight.
Thankfully, the drama of the 2010 campaign was almost entirely contained within the white lines, though Bohemians’ parlous state as the season ends obviously gives serious cause for concern, while Galway United were another club feeling the financial pinch as the year unfolded.
Yet, despite their cash crisis and the early blow of being beaten out of sight by TNS in the Champions League, it’s hugely to the credit of the Bohs players and manager Pat Fenlon that, in a spirited defence of their title, they recovered to push Shamrock Rovers right to the wire, in the process producing one of the great games of the season’s rollercoaster run-in when they beat the Hoops 1-0 in a pulsating derby at Dalymount Park.
Of course, the east coast bias of the Airtricity Premier Division meant that there were far too many Dublin derbies, which is just one of the persuasive reasons for hoping that the top flight will be expanded in 2012.
Yet, the worry at the start of the season that familiarity might breed contempt was eventually eclipsed by the reality of a league which made a virtue of the unpredictable, as both the race for the title and the battle to avoid the drop served up a series of jaw-dropping plot twists.
And while the biggest guns inevitably dominated the headlines, the also rans made sure that they would not be overlooked as Dundalk slammed five past Shamrock Rovers on an extraordinary night in Oriel Park and, when the title seemed to be in Bohemians’ grasp, struggling Galway stunned the defending champions with a late winner in a 3-2 thriller at Terryland Park. And then, before coming out on top in their own death or glory shoot-out with poor Monaghan, Bray almost tore the script up again when threatening to spoil Shamrock Rovers’ party on that nerve-jangling final night in the Carlisle Grounds.
To be at those grounds on those nights, to feel the tension in the air, to see at close quarters the passion and skill on the pitch and to absorb the joy and despair of the supporters, was to be reminded of the incomparable thrill of watching football in the flesh, the great advantage which the League of Ireland, for all its modest dimensions in world terms, still retains over the game as it is experienced through the ubiquitous box in the corner.
And, of course, this was the season when Shamrock Rovers finally completed their journey back from the abyss, a story which, by virtue of the club’s traditional standing in Irish football, was bound to engage and refresh the attentions of even those with only a past or passing interest in the domestic game.
You can’t expect the denizens of Dalymount to agree, at least not in public, but the fact that the best-known club in Ireland is back at the top, based in a splendid new home, making waves in Europe and now about to contest the FAI Cup final, clearly qualifies as the best advertisement for the League of Ireland in years.
For Cork City, another big club which has flirted with extinction, Rovers point the way forward. After the trauma of last year, this season was all about consolidation for Cork in the First Division, and through dint of hard work on the pitch and behind the scenes, that much at least was achieved. Lack of consistency and battle-hardened experience might have seen Tommy Dunne’s team fall some way short of emulating Derry’s immediate — and welcome — return to the top flight but it appears that solid foundations have been laid for the future on Leeside. And, anyway, after what they went through last time, it was probably enough that, not only did the bus run on time, but the players were allowed to get on.
All told then, it was a good year for the league — and, at the outset, who thought we’d be saying that?
Perhaps the full impact on the game of the country’s boom to bust cycle remains to be seen but, in the dark months ahead, we can at least be warmed by looking back on a season in the sun.
- Contact: liammackey@hotmail.com
© Examiner Publications (Cork) Limited, City Quarter, Lapps Quay, Cork. Registered in Ireland: 73385.
