Liam Kerrigan embracing a new football life by Lake Como

When Liam Kerrigan moved from UCD to the Italian club Como 1907, a few eyebrows were raised by Irish football fans. Nobody was more surprised than the player himself

Sat, 27 Aug, 2022 - 06:30

Trevor Stynes

When Liam Kerrigan moved from UCD to the Italian club Como 1907, a few eyebrows were raised by Irish football fans. Nobody was more surprised than the player himself.

“I never really thought I’d end up in Italy. Once the opportunity came along for me, I was all for it. There weren’t really any other concrete offers, nobody that I’d entered into negotiations with, so I was waiting to see my options. I finished my degree, so I said I’d give football a proper go.”

After speaking to former England international Dennis Wise, the club CEO, and Marc Bircham, the former Waterford manager now on the coaching staff with Como, Liam’s mind was made up. It was also through Bircham that the chance came about.

“He saw me play a couple of times for UCD and in May he knew he was getting a job here, so he threw my name in and the club did their homework. They watched some clips, and they came to see me play with the Ireland Under-21s against Italy.

"I had a Zoom call with Marc and Dennis Wise, and they explained everything and answered any questions I had. The three-year contract they offered me shows they have some trust in me which gives me the confidence then to go and try to do the business.”

The move happened quickly meaning Liam was able to join up with the club at the start of their pre-season preparations.

“I arrived and we went straight to a training camp up in the Alps, in Bormio. Pre-season was tough, I was getting used to the heat and the intensity. I was coming from part-time football where you’d only train four or five times a week to training twice a day for the best part of three weeks. The body found it tough but luckily, I was coming from mid-season, so I was fit coming into it.”

That fitness paid off as Liam came on as a sub in Como’s first competitive outing of the season. It was a tough welcome to Italian football, as they lost away to Serie A side Spezia in the Coppa Italia, but Liam impressed in his 20 minutes of action.

“That was the first real taste of it, and it was against a Serie A side, so it was interesting to see, and I thought I did alright, in fairness. I didn’t expect it to be plain sailing, straight in and playing 90 minutes every week. I knew it would have to be a gradual process because I’m coming to a new league, new culture, new everything really, so I did expect it to be a slow process, but if it speeds up, I won’t be complaining.”

There may well be a chance of that happening. After spending the opening league game on the bench, last Sunday night Liam came on as a second-half substitute at Pisa and scored ten minutes later. His performance will have pleased manager Giacomo Gattuso, while Liam was impressed by the fans in the ground.

“The atmosphere there was unbelievable, but one of the guys on the bench had told me that anytime they go to Pisa it’s like that. That was their first home game and the fans obviously showed up. Once you get on the pitch you kind of forget about it."

Something which may help attract more Como fans to their own ground is the arrival of Cesc Fàbregas. While the club have by far the richest owners in Italian football, brothers Robert and Michael Hartono, up until now they have managed to keep that financial power under the radar. But if Silvio Berlusconi managed to take Monza up to Serie A for the first time in their history, can the Indonesian billionaires bring a return to the top tier for Como after a wait of over 30 years?

“I think they’re doing things a bit more naturally, and then the Fàbregas signing just blew it out of the water public-wise. This season we’re hoping to make the play-offs, and once you get there anything can happen. The play-off spots go as far as eighth place in the table, so anyone from third to eight could go up."

This season promises to be one of the most competitive Serie B championships for a long time. There are some big-name clubs battling for promotion, and Como have already faced two of those in their opening games; Cagliari were relegated from Serie A last season and will be one of the favourites to make a swift return, while Pisa were narrowly beaten by Monza in the play-off final. Throw in the likes of Genoa, Palermo, Venezia, and Parma, and it makes for a very exciting season ahead.

“Playing against the big boys, the names you know from growing up is very exciting. Then you have Bari with a stadium that can hold 60,000 so that will be a fun one. Also grounds like Genoa’s Luigi Ferraris, I’m looking forward to those. Monday night we host Brescia, again they’re a good side who’ll be aiming for a play-off spot."

While aware of the challenges that lie ahead on the field, away from the pitch Liam is already settling into Italian life, although the heat remains the biggest problem. When we spoke, Liam had a rare morning off, and was dreading the thoughts of what lay ahead that day.

“They said Como is never usually this hot, it’s a freak summer, I don’t think even they’re used to this heat so you can imagine how I must feel. Normally it’s training in the morning, but because we had a day off yesterday, we’ll be training this afternoon. Usually, we would train at around 9am, which is still warm enough. I’m starting to find it easier but today training is at 4pm so it’s going to be roasting, it’ll be around 32 degrees."

Though a break from his old routine means there are some opportunities to live la vita e’ bella by Lake Como.

“I’m living in Como itself, at the top of the town which is about a ten-minute walk to the lake and the main centre. On one of our days off I was on the lake, up in Menaggio, one of the small towns around the lake. We went on a tour boat, and you can see where House of Gucci was filmed, Richard Branson has a house there, and I think some of Casino Royale was filmed there too.”

He's begun the process of getting to grips with the language, while the world-renowned Italian cuisine has also created some problems.

“At the moment I’m using Duolingo. We’re moving to a new training centre so once we’re there the club will organise lessons. I can understand most of the football terms by now, and I notice when my teammates are talking, I can pick up words here and there, but I wouldn’t be able to speak it yet apart from the basics.

"I’m aiming to be able to speak a little bit by Christmas anyway. The assistant manager has good English so when I am struggling, he’ll translate it for me. Luis Binks from England is on loan from Bologna, he’s around my age and speaks my language so that makes it a little easier.

“As for the food, I’m not used to all these different courses. I was more familiar with a pre-match meal of chicken and pasta all on one plate, whereas here they separate it all out and eat it on its own. One day I mixed it all on my plate and the Italian lads were giving out to me.

"They also don’t like an early dinner, 8pm would be normal for them. As for getting set up with accommodation and the practical stuff, the club has a team manager who you can go to if you need anything. For me it was helpful even for something like getting the wi-fi in, to know what operators are best in the area.”

There’s plenty of competition for places within the squad, but Liam is hopeful that making an impact from the bench can be a stepping stone to bigger things. This may also include improving his chances of an international call-up.

“Whatever way we play, I would be on the right-wing side of things. We have two or three wingers who can play on both sides and now Moutir Chajia is coming back from a cruciate injury as well and he’s a very good player by the looks of things in training. You just have to get on and get playing and you never know what will happen with the national team. These days if you do something, people know as soon as it happens.”