And so,
after 4 successive Saturdays of mesmerising club football, the Championship
judders to a depressing halt for one of the all-too frequent international
autumnal interregnums; un autre quinzième
sans le jeu joli, malheureusement… Though at least once the latest FIFA
farce and poppycock is out the way, it’s back to domestic football bliss from
19th November onwards in this country; weather permitting of course.
Sadly in Ireland they’ve put away the strips, the nets, the corner flags and
the dubbin until next March, so I thought it best to update you all on how the
2016 Irish season panned out in the end.
However firstly,
we’d better have a look at a couple of the other Irish sporting competitions
that I’ve written about before. This, of course, won’t include rugby union and
Ireland’s victory over New Zealand in Chicago (apparently); some garrison games
are still a little too garrison and Limerick even for me.
In the GAA,
the main focus is now on club games. Each county runs its own championship; the
winners of those then participate in a provincial championship and eventually
the All Ireland club finals at Croker around St. Patrick’s Day. Of course,
there are plenty of checks, balances, caveats and exceptions in the three
grades of senior, intermediate and junior competition, based on ability not
age. I’m hoping to get my head round the complexities in the near future. For
instance, the various English champions (London, Warwickshire and Lancashire
mainly) are exempt until the quarter final stage. As far as the inter-county game is concerned,
hurling stopped on 4th September, when Tipperary edged out
favourites Kilkenny 2-29 (35) to 2-20 (26) to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup. In
football, it wasn’t until 1st October when Dublin eventually got the
better of Mayo to win the Sam Maguire Cup after a replay. The first game was
drawn 2-9 to 0-15, with an equally close replay ending 1-15 to 1-14 in the
Jackeens’ favour, much to the chagrin of the Rhubarbarians.
Meanwhile,
in the rarefied climes of the Leinster Cricket Union, the overall champions
were Clontarf, mainly on account of Alex Cusack’s sparkling batting, while the
side I’ve developed affection for, YMCA, came 5th, as well as
winning the Leinster Senior Cup. The side they defeated in the final, Leinster (the
club), gained promotion as runners-up to the slightly out of Leinster Cork
Constitution. In the interprovincial
tournament, Leinster Lightning proved there is nothing to fear from beyond The
Pale, by claiming the 20/20, 50 over and 3 day competitions. On the other side
of the coin, spare a thought for poor old Greystones 4th team, who
finished rock bottom of basement division 16, with a record of 1 win, 1
abandonment and 12 losses; even their solitary victory was only because of a
walkover. I’m looking forward to
visiting Claremont Road in Sandymount next summer, as part of my annual
undiplomatic mission.
Now;
football. The Irish domestic season ended on 6th November, with Cork
City avenging their defeat in last year’s final, by overcoming Dundalk 1-0 with
a goal in the last minute of extra time, in front of an encouraging 26,400
crowd. Dundalk would have celebrated the triple double if they’d won the FAI
Cup, but can still console themselves by the fact they’re still in with a shout
of progressing from the group stages of the Europa League. Such unprecedented European
success in the modern era by an Irish club side has seen them draw with AZ
Alkmaar and beat Maccabi Tel Aviv, meaning they are still in 2nd
place in Group C with a couple of games to go. Even if they bow out soon, it’ll
be a tremendous achievement and one that will almost certainly ensure their
continued dominance of the League of Ireland for the foreseeable future.
Elsewhere,
Longford Town finished bottom of the Premier Division and swapped places with a
resurgent Limerick side, whose only disappointment of the season just ending
was in losing the EA League Cup final 4-1 to St Patrick’s Athletic. Having
already seen off an obdurate and revitalised Cobh Ramblers in the first
play-off round, Drogheda United sealed a fabulous comeback against Wexford
Youths in the promotion v relegation tussle. Putting aside the misfortune of
having lost 2-0 to Mick Wallace’s pink-shirted vanity projects at Ferrycarrig
Park, Drogs triumphed 3-0 at home, with
ex-Mackem Sean Thornton’s penalty making it all Hunky Dory in Louth again.
Considering
Wexford’s supposed advisor Lee Chin didn’t even bother attending the second
leg, as it clashed with the GAA awards dinner, having excused himself by
claiming the tie was as good as won, there will be little sympathy for boys
from the pleasant Slaney in the wider League of Ireland community. Similarly, Roddy Collins getting the boot at
Waterford or the fate of the scoundrels running wooden-spoonists Athlone will
provoke few tears. However, a far more vexed question is the potential ground
share agreement between Bohemian and Shelbourne at a redeveloped Dalymount
Park.
Bohs were
formed in 1890; after a decade of gentle wandering through the less than leafy
lanes of north inner Dublin, they opened Dalymount Park in 1901, on land that
had charmingly been known as Pisser Dignam's Field. In 2006 they decide to sell
the ground to developers, in return for a 10,000 seat stadium out by the
airport until in 2008 the deal was dashed by the Irish Property Crash. In 2015, after years of hand-wringing, Dublin
City Council bought the ground in Phibsborough for €4m and promised to demolish
and rebuild Dalier at a cost of €20m. Fair play to the Corpo, if you’re a
follower of Big Club, which I am.
Shels were
formed in 1895; their origins are in Ringsend, on the south side. Their current ground is Tolka Park, less than
2 miles from Dalymount, in the adjoining suburb of Drumcondra. Shels moved into Tolka in 1989, but had
previously played there in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as other venues across
the south side of the city, such as Harold’s Cross, Irishtown and Shelbourne
Stadium. Rather ironically, Bohs are known as the Gypsies, not Shels. Over the years, seven different League of
Ireland clubs have used Tolka Park for home league matches on a regular basis:
Drumcondra, Shelbourne, Dolphin, Home Farm, Dublin City, Shamrock Rovers and St
James Gate F.C.
The main
problem is both Dalier and Tolka are falling to bits and need serious
attention. Predictably, Bohs are jubilant that their ground issues have
seemingly been solved, securing their future. The ones unhappy with this deal
are Shels, whose board announced last month that they will move into Dalymount
Park next year, as Tolka has been sold for redevelopment. Obviously, the two
clubs, Bohs and Shels, will need to find a temporary home while Dalier is being
rebuilt in the future, but where remains unclear.
As ever, the
only ones left disgruntled by boardroom machinations are the ones who nobody
bothered to consult with in the first place; the fans of Shelbourne, who fear
not only a dilution of their identity, but even the potential death of their
club. Now I’m not a Shels fan, so I don’t fully understand the fury with which
they’ve greeted this news, though the ghosts of Drumcondra, Home Farm, St James
Gate, Sporting Fingal, Monaghan United loom large on the horizon. We’ve been
here before in the League of Ireland and, undoubtedly, we’ll be here
again. If I can’t find anyone better
qualified to tell you the story, I’ll do so myself.
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