In praise of local heroes

WITH Cork City on death row and desperately hoping for an 11th-hour reprieve before the lights go dim, and a small chunk of the Carlisle Grounds succumbing to gravity during a game between Bray and Shamrock Rovers – was this the first time in football that the wall actually “didn’t do its job”? – the League of Ireland badly needed a boost this week.

And, not for the first time in recent years, it got it on foreign fields.

Derry City’s draw in rain-lashed Riga was admirable enough, but it was Bohemians’ heroics in Salzburg which deservedly hogged the headlines – or, at least the few that were left over from the saturation coverage of multi-millionaire players with tans doing a spot of training in a stately pile in Kildare.

Bohs’ 1-1 draw with Red Bull Salzburg – Austria’s admittedly more modest version of the galacticos but still a financial powerhouse by Irish standards – was more than anyone dared to hope for let alone expect, with perhaps the vital exception of Pat Fenlon, whose proven track record in cutting big European opposition down to size is just one of the features which marks him out as the most impressive domestic gaffer of our times.

Of course, the Bohs boss – a realist before he is a romantic in football terms – will be the first to acknowledge that the job is only half done. And with, according to the reports of colleagues who were there, the Dublin club having had to do a lot of their best work without the ball in Salzburg – and then thanks to a mixture of lucky breaks, committed defending and a match-saving display by goalkeeper Brian Murphy to keep them on level terms – Fenlon will also know that Red Bull have the wherewithal to undo all Bohs’ great work from the first leg when they meet again in the second leg on Wednesday at Dalymount Park.

Of course we know that, more than any other Irish club, league champions and cup-holders Bohs have proven quality on the pitch too. But, once again, this is a situation where a manager of Fenlon’s calibre can come into his own, using his extensive European experience to deploy his resources to maximum effect.

Of crucial importance too will be his ability to plot a steady course between caution and adventure in the oppressive knowledge that, while a scoreless draw would do the job, the Gypsies can hardly afford to live on their defensive nerves for a whole 90 minutes and expect to come through unscathed.

Amidst deep concerns about Bohs’ capacity to continue beyond this season as full-time going concern, a number of commentators hailed Wednesday’s result in Austria as a classic example of grace under pressure.

Which may be so, but it can also be argued that for League of Ireland footballers who are so often at the mercy of forces beyond their control, the pitch itself is the one place where they can still feel completely in control of their own destinies, free if only for 90 minutes from all the other painful distractions.

If, as many fear, Bohemians, the best club on the island, are forced to revert to part-time status – or worse again, Cork City go out of business altogether – the long-dawning and inescapable conclusion will be that Ireland simply can’t afford full-time professional football in its domestic league. Which may not matter a whole lot to those who scarcely pay it lip-service to begin with but, for the passionate minority who have seen the quality of football played by the elite clubs improve enormously in recent years, the legacy would be a deep sense of wasted progress.

AS usual, the blame game sees clubs accusing the FAI who in turn point the finger at the clubs for living beyond their means. But the real root of the problem, as exemplified by the thousands willing to pay top dollar to see Real Madrid in Tallaght on Monday, is simply that even among those who would name football as their favourite sport, the League of Ireland has long since lost the popularity battle with the Premiership, Sky and the international game. Or to put it another way: Ronaldo is a much bigger draw than Gary Twigg.

We shouldn’t be surprised but, even so, we can’t help hoping that there might be a better way and a better day.

And, to their credit, it’s the key players who continue to provide us with reasons to believe – whether it’s Rovers proving that you can come back from the dead as a club or Bohs showing that a well-prepared team with a handful of outstanding talents on board can give themselves more than a fighting chance of claiming a biggish European scalp – with the tantalising promise of more to come.

Of course, that clubs have almost gone under in the bid to make the big breakthrough remains the disturbing ghost at the party. But, at least until Wednesday’s return meeting of Bohemians and Red Bull Salzburg, such phantoms can be banished amidst a renewed sense of keen expectation for another big European night in Irish football.

Doubtless too, much press space over the next couple of days will be devoted to calls for former Chief Bull Giovanni Trapattoni to show up at Dalyer but, while a sighting of the Irish football’s big boss would be a welcome fillip for the senior club game here, I can’t think of too many occasions where managers have jumped at the chance to revisit clubs they’ve departed in the fairly recent past.

Rather more dearly to wished for, surely, is that the capital’s football public rally to the Bohs cause next week. But being, like Pat Fenlon, more realist than romantic, we won’t be holding our breath on that score.