Three main talking points for Irish football in 2017
Since reviewing the football year of 2016 still retains a faintly surreal ‘I-saw-it-with-my-own-eyes-and-I-still-can’t-believe-it’ quality — thanks Iceland, Wales, Dundalk, Robbie Brady and Leicester amongst others — it follows that any attempt to preview and predict the happenings of 2017 must necessarily come with a shrieking health warning of the ‘Reading This Could Seriously Damage Your Betting Prospects’ kind, the obvious exception, of course, being the cast-iron certainty that Leicester City will become the first team in history to be relegated and win the Champions League in the same season. (An irresistible punt you can now have at a generous 500-1, in case you’re interested).
Still, at least we have a fair idea of what some of the main talking points for Irish football will be over the next 12 months...
Wales meet again...
...and we know where and we know when. The second, decisive half of Ireland’s bid to reach the World Cup finals in Russia will be book-ended by games against Wales, in Dublin on March 24 and in Cardiff on October 9.
In between, Martin O’Neill’s team have only one other away game to negotiate, in Georgia on September 2, the remaining fixtures seeing Austria, Serbia and Moldova all having to visit the Aviva between June and September.
Factor in the pleasing aspect of Ireland entering the new year atop Group D on 10 points — ahead of Serbia, Wales and Austria on eight, six and four, respectively — and it means, I’m afraid, that there’s no getting away from the dreaded ‘F’ word. Yes, whisper it, Ireland are currently favourites to qualify for Russia as group winners.
Which presents a novel challenge for O’Neill and his men and, indeed, one with which Irish football teams have not been overly familiar down all the years. Thus far, the manager has received deserved plaudits for getting his collective to add up to more than the sum of its parts; now, the revised challenge is to see if the underdogs can continue to rise to the occasion as top dogs. And ‘occasion’ is certainly the right word for the game with which qualifying resumes at the Aviva on March 2017, a mouth-watering meeting with a Welsh side which has had its own memorable 2016 to inspire even giddier dreams.
On the face of it, there’s little between the two teams, with the notable exception of a proper world-class talent in Welsh talisman Gareth Bale.
And, as we know, he is currently locked into the fabled race against time to be fit for the match in Dublin. So, in the spirit of sportsmanship, can we be the first to wish him all the best in his recovery while urging caution that he doesn’t rush back too soon and do himself further damage in the process? After all, Wales have a big game away to Serbia in June...
The exiles on Main Street...
...or, at least, a side street off Main Street. The gifted Richie Towell was in danger of becoming the forgotten man of Irish football so it was a relief this week to hear Chris Hughton say he is planning to feature the former Dundalk man in today’s FA Cup tie against MK Dons. Even if his selection in this competition merely reinforces the idea that high-flying Brighton have their eyes firmly fixed on a bigger prize, this rare opportunity to strut his stuff will give Towell a welcome break from the bench and the treatment table and, should he deliver in the style of which followers of the League of Ireland devotees know he’s capable, might even belatedly sound the starting pistol gun on a proper career in England.
For two former team-mates of Towell who have more recently followed in his footsteps, the hope must be that both Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle get an earlier opportunity to hit the ground running at Preston, where Arsenal provide the glamour opposition in the cup today. The electrifying Horgan, in particular, is a player who could light up the Championship and, should his progress be fast-tracked, offer another attacking dimension to Martin O’Neill’s World Cup plans.
Different talk of the Town...
...and all the other towns and teams facing into a League of Ireland season in which, with three doing down and just one coming up — and controversy still raging about the change in format — the divide between agony and ecstasy will be sharply, even cruelly, defined.
In 2016, even as Dundalk were racking up their third title on the trot and exceeding all Irish clubs before them in Europe, the question was already being asked if, in 2017, they could make it four-in-a-row and/or become the first Irish side ever to make it to the group stages of the Champions League. Be under no doubt that Stephen Kenny will still have those targets in mind but, first, all eyes will be on the champions to see if and how they cope with the loss of Horgan, Boyle and Ronan Finn.
Dundalk’s dominance will also be tested by FAI Cup-holders Cork City, again, as well as by Shamrock Rovers, a club which, on and off the pitch, seems intent on reasserting its credentials in a big way. Add in two or three more real contenders and the Premier Division title race in 2017 has a distinctly competitive look about it. Assuming dissatisfaction with the new format doesn’t scupper plans for the season at the 11th hour, the battle to avoid the drop will be almost as keen while, for the First Division, the prospect of a re-powered — or should that be Lee Powered? — Waterford doing a Limerick and running away the title, could make it a particularly long and painful season for the also-rans.
Another, more general cause for concern is that, like the Irish property market, the league doesn’t heed the lessons from history. The last thing we need in 2017 is any League of Ireland club putting its long-term sustainability at risk for short-term gain.
