Glamour friendlies a mixed blessing

TUESDAY evening’s long haul up to Donegal turned out to be far more rewarding than we had any right to expect.

The appearance of Roy Keane and his Ipswich Town side was the magnet, but it was a spirited showing and ultimately a deserved victory for Finn Harps which made the evening a most enjoyable one.

In the great scheme of things, a friendly game between Irish and English clubs doesn’t amount to a whole hill of beans, perhaps, but trying telling that to wide-eyed young Harps fans who, having besieged Keano for autographs before the game, ended up roaring on their local heroes as the First Division Donegal side — containing a number of players not very much older than some of the autograph seekers — ran out 2-1 winners to claim a notable scalp.

And for 17-year-old goalkeeper Ciaran Gallagher there was the worthwhile bonus of being invited to train with Ipswich the following morning, after he had recovered admirably from giving away a penalty to turn in something of a man of the match performance for James Gallagher’s team.

For Keane, who clearly valued the exercise as a wake-up call for players still removing the summer sand from between their toes, the trip to Donegal brought him full circle — it had been 20 years since he made his senior debut with Cobh Ramblers at Finn Park.

Afterwards, he expressed disbelief that it could have been so long — but that was hardly a surprise since, to anyone’s eyes, the old ground has hardly changed since he laced up his boots there two decades ago.

Indeed, I’m not even sure that the windows in the media gantry have seen a cloth in all that time. Initially, I was about to pen a few lines about the ground being enveloped in fog until, sticking my head around the corner for a better look, the scene dramatically changed from monochrome to full colour.

Colleagues in, shall we say, the airy upper tier had a clearer view but not enough seats — although an enterprising journalist over to cover the game for Ipswich solved that problem by purloining a chair from a storeroom at the back of the stand and carrying it all the way around to other side of the ground.

Ah yes, romanticism is all well and good in football but there’s a fine line between homely and decrepit: in truth, the move to a new stadium being developed in neighbouring Stranorlar can hardly come quick enough for Donegal’s premier team.

Disappointingly for Harps, heavy rain on Tuesday night restricted the attendance to half of what might have been expected for a visit by Ireland’s most famous sporting son, but even if his liaison with the Tractor Boys doesn’t carry quite the same novelty factor and appeal as his managerial debut with Sunderland, Keane is entitled to expect bigger turnouts when he brings Ipswich back to his Munster heartland for games against Waterford United next Friday and Cork the following Sunday.

Pre-season friendlies have traditionally been a welcome boost to the coffers of League of Ireland clubs but since, with the advent of domestic summer soccer, they are now pre-season only for the visitors, such fixtures have turned into something of a mixed blessing for the locals.

The glamour friendly of the year is a case in point. Next Monday week, Real Madrid are in Tallaght to play Shamrock Rovers. (Pause here to digest the import of that sentence and permit a moment of personal reflection on the part of a Hoops-mad kid who grew up in the early 70s in Tallaght, at a time when the place generally only ever appeared in the national press alongside the words “concrete” and “jungle”, and when it used to take two bus trips to get from my stately pile to the holy ground of Glenmalure Park. So, one more time with feeling: Real Madrid are playing Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght next Monday week. And the Hoops are at home. Lovely).

Okay, that’s the trip down memory lane out of the way. For Real Madrid, their Irish sojourn is just a first fresh step en route to either world domination or the biggest fiasco in football since the last time the self-same Galacticos fell to earth — either way, it’s as well that Rovers have been able to extend their capacity to 10,000 since they’ll probably need at least half that number just to cater for the travelling Madrid media hordes who will be anxiously tracking every step(over) of Ronaldo and co.

For Rovers, there’s the obvious cachet of hosting one of the biggest names in world football in their brand new home but, from a strictly footballing perspective, the timing of the event could hardly be worse.

The match against Madrid might hog headlines all around the world but a far more meaningful game for a Rovers side with legitimate title aspirations comes just 48 hours earlier, when Michael O’ Neill’s team take on Sligo. And then there’s the big one just a week later: arch-rivals Bohemians at Dalymount Park.

So perhaps the sell-out crowd which has paid €60 a pop for the privilege of witnessing the coming of the men in white better steel themselves for the potential absence of star names: Ronaldo, I would guess, is more likely to start than ace Hoops marksman Gary Twigg.

To that extent, Madrid v Rovers seems to belong more to the world of theatre than sport. Although quite where that leaves Newcastle United’s appearance at the same venue today — with Joey Barton, no less, adding to the box office appeal — is a good question. The theatre of the absurd, perhaps?