John Fallon: Travers the Irish standout from EFL season

Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers celebrates winning promotion to the Premier League. Photo credit: John Walton/PA Wire.

When the Premier League produces scant joyful Irish storylines, it’s just as well the English Championship is increasingly becoming the country’s football playground.

Slim pickings in the top-flight can make for grim reading. Across last weekend’s full schedule of Premier League matches, only two Irishmen started. Those pair, Séamus Coleman and Nathan Collins, were joined from the bench by Collins’s Burnley teammate Kevin Long.

Given Coleman’s switch over the past year from right-back for club and country, the exalted trio are bona fide centre-backs.

If only Ireland could populate its team with central defenders and goalkeepers, major tournament qualification would be expected rather than hoped.

Perspective is imperative. Irish players aren’t alone in feeling the squeeze and slipping into the second tier still affords them scope to operate in the sixth wealthiest league in Europe. The largesse on offer for promotion ensures budgets swell and the components share in the riches and status. What’s changed in more recent years is the descension of green into League One.

Small but significant stories still emerge from the rat race. Many centre on loan players, those farmed out with the remit of proving they’re more than mere Premier League potential, but redemptive tales still equally feature.

With the lower divisions reaching their twilight of the playoffs, we dig deep to award gongs for contributions since the campaigns kicked off last August. Not all will be welcomed by the protagonists.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Job well done: Mark Travers (Bournemouth):

Rafa Benitez didn’t leave much of a legacy at Everton but his capture of Asmir Begovic as back-up goalkeeper paved the way for Travers to cement his status as Bournemouth’s first choice. How he’s repaid the faith of Scott Parker. Twenty clean sheets kept by the 23-year-old were the backbone to the Cherries sealing automatic promotion with the best defensive record. A lucrative contract extension is the least Travers can be awarded with.

Rising Star: Michael Obafemi (Swansea City):

A player approaching his 22nd birthday doesn’t usually befit the category, yet this was a season Obafemi needed to prove himself. Injuries and attitude had previously restricted him to cameos, like his senior Ireland debut in 2018 and prodding a late equaliser for Southampton at Old Trafford. Consistency was his enemy. Cue a goal-laden streak at new club Swansea City, all but one of his dozen scored since February. Ireland’s in-form striker ahead of the June internationals.

Stuck in a moment:

Too many contenders here. Loanees Jeff Hendrick, Aaron Connolly and Jayson Molumby failed to spark from the change of scene, though the latter should settle after completing a permanent move to West Brom. His Baggies colleague Callum Robinson notched nearly as many goals over the season for Ireland (six) as he did in the Championship (seven). Seán Maguire might have fared better had Preston allowed him leave for Cardiff in the January window but probably the biggest disappointment was Callum O’Dowda’s stagnation at Bristol City.

LEAGUE ONE

Job well done: Chiedozie Ogbene (Rotherham United):

Everything the Corkman touched this season turned to gold. The sight of him clutching his hamstring in the fifth game of the season against Sheffield Wednesday triggered fears of further injury troubles but he didn’t look back after a two-week layoff. Promotion, a goal and trophy at Wembley, burnished by three Ireland strikes in his maiden international year, melded into a season of distinction. Halting his snakes and ladders existence in the divisions his the next aim.

Rising Star: Troy Parrott (MK Dons):

It seems he’s been on the rise, replete with a few falls, for years by now but the 20-year-old checked out on his latest loan stint from Tottenham with reason to be optimistic.

His looping header on Monday wasn’t enough to claw back the two-goal lead Wycombe brought into the playoff second leg but it was momentous for reaching his first double-figure goal haul at senior level. Most tellingly, his words in recent interviews revealed a striker conscious of ironing out imperfections, while accepting some form part of the package..

Stuck in a moment: Jamie McGrath (Wigan Athletic):

He doesn’t need it screaming in bells and whistles that his January move has been a disaster. One minute of league action is a pitiful return for a player catapulted into his Ireland debut against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal earlier in the season. One wonders how a manager would trust a player he hardly used to cut it on an elevated stage next term? McGrath is too talented and at too critical a point in his career to be frozen out.

LEAGUE TWO

Job well done: Pádraig Amond (Exeter City):

Widely considered as one of the game’s good guys, the Carlow native finally achieved promotion to League One at the age of 34. That he did so while on loan from Newport County and is now out of contract questions whether he’ll sample the prize but at least he played his part. Scoring a late winner against Carlisle last month was crucial, helping avoid the playoff route which has twice over the three years prior ended in heartbreak for Newport.

Rising Star: Jake O’Brien (Swindon Town):

The late bloomer from Youghal has blossomed into a fully-fledged member of Ireland’s growing central-defensive cohort, passing his latest examination with gusto. Crystal Palace’s decision to grant a three-year contract extension was vindicated by the strides he made on his first loan. He turns 21 on Sunday and is by no means the finished article.

Stuck in a moment: Kieran O’Hara (Fleetwood):

Once deemed Darren Randolph’s heir when Ireland’s U21 goalkeeper and a product of Manchester United, the 26-year-old has lost ground. His transfer from Burton to Fleetwood in the last window didn’t yield the desired revival and he is now a free agent seeking a fresh challenge.

Duff love working just fine for Shelbourne

A sprinkling of tough love by Damien Duff seems to be extracting the best from his Shelbourne players.

Three months and 14 games into the Irish legend's first senior managerial spell and the predicted rollercoaster has ensued.

From the highs of being the only team to beat Derry City – away to boot – to downers such as drubbings at home to Finn Harps and Bohemians.

Players aboard the Duffer project were made well aware in the off-season of his demands, with early-morning training sessions a cornerstone of his regime.

Booking one of the gatherings for within five hours of returning from an arduous trip to Harps last Friday, particularly following a late defeat, could have tested the resolve of his troops but their buy-in was soon rewarded.

Duff's second order – that the squad assemble a social gathering that night – was warmly embraced, especially when a portion of the fines pot was assigned to fund it. Duff indirectly contributed to the stash, dodging double-standards by imposing a hefty sanction on himself for his recent red card at Dundalk.

For a rookie gaffer, the policy worked a treat. His reinvigorated Reds went out last Friday and ended their winless home record by beating Sligo Rovers 2-1 – crowning a day that began with news of Tolka Park being saved from demolition.

Athlone a beacon for Cork to mirror

Has any manager ever quit over “work and personal commitments” when their team is getting results?

The departure of Paul Farrell as Cork City women’s boss on Monday wasn’t a surprise but the lack of reference to the team’s parlous state in the statement was.

Cork reached two FAI Cup finals in four years, winning the first of them in 2017, but have somehow managed to plummet in the aftermath.

Since losing to Peamount in the 2020 decider, the team’s demise has been stark.

Farrell followed his predecessor Rónán Collins out the Turner’s Cross gates, in between by U17 manager Sarah Healy, all in the space of a year. Jess Lawton now steps up to take caretaker charge.

The side sit second from bottom, kept off it by another Munster side in disarray, Treaty United, which should sound the alarm bells.

City have the profile and catchment area to be developing a side capable of at least residing in mid-table but problems with access to proper training facilities and time-slots naturally proved a distraction to players and staff early in the season.

Proof Athlone Town, a club with limited gate and sponsor revenue, are reaping the benefits of a proper expenses system was evident on Saturday in the latest heavy defeat for the Rebels. All eyes will be on whether an “outside” manager is offered, and accepts, the permanent position.

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