It says in the papers and podcasts - Tuesday 29 August

Never a dull moment in the #greatestleagueintheworld, however out-of-window transfer speculation might just be the most tiresome form of sports coverage going. Although winter GAA retirements push it close. Thankfully Shane Keegan’s interview with Johnny Ward and Dan McDonnell on the LOI Weekly podcast added some light to the heat being generated around Ronan Murray’s future.

 

Whether the Belmullet-born striker spends next season at Galway United, Erris United, or Manchester United isn’t going to be decided for a few months. However, his current manager gave us some interesting insights into how these decisions are made by part-time players in the League of Ireland.

 

Murray apparently works as a personal trainer and may be an example of a footballer who is actually better off, either in the short or long-term, as a part-timer. Such players are often not susceptible to the charms of the bigger clubs, as Cork have found out recently with Dave Mulcahy.

 

Keegan was very unhappy with Anthony Buttimer’s decision not to send off Rovers defender Dave Webster following a hand-ball incident in Terryland last week. In an emotive rant redolent of his namesake Kevin, Keegan left Soccer Republic viewers in no doubt as to his feelings. I wonder if Shane’s ever had a bubble-perm?

 

During the podcast interview, Keegan (Shane, not Kev) re-stated his position in more measured terms, while standing over his on-the-night emotionalism. Its worth noting that Webster’s manager Stephen Bradley expressed some sympathy for Keegan’s position, without necessarily criticising Buttimer’s decision when speaking to Jamie Moore of 98FM.



 

It has to be said also there was widespread support for Keegan on social media; albeit many questioned his generous assessment of Anthony Buttimer’s capabilities.

 

Connoisseurs of trolling will be delighted to read that Bradley’s interview on the 98FM podcast included a reference to how big a game Friday’s Ringsend derby would be for Shelbourne: “I’m sure they’ll play it like its their cup final”. This was pretty much the exact construction that caused so much mirth around the time of the Rovers-Bohs derby in July.

 



To be fair to Bradser, while his habit of talking up the opposition’s motivation levels does seem odd; players, managers, and commentators often use the term ‘cup final’ to underline the importance of a particular game or games. Even Owen Heary referenced “cup finals” when speaking to extratime’s Dave Donnelly.

 

Tony O’Donoghue used a variation of the same formula when questioning Ollie Horgan about his side’s chances of avoiding relegation after the re-scheduled Harps-Cork City fixture. Asked if he had “seven cup finals” coming up, the Finn Harps manager replied “yeah, we have” without batting an eyelid.

 

There have been some interesting incidents of podcasters-imitating-managers this week, with Newstalk’s Oisin Langan ranting like a Keegan, and the Indo’s Johnny Ward trolling Cork City fans (including Langan) like a Bradley.

 

Both commentators took varying views on the increasingly vexed question of just how good the current league leaders have been this season. Ward arguing that Cork would be lucky to make Europe if the season started now. Langan’s tongue-in-cheek broadside followed several interviews by John Caulfield which also defended his team’s recent record.

 

Caulfield, in seemingly flying form it has to be said, made two not unreasonable points; Firstly, that City had left Oriel Park in early June, 18 points ahead of Dundalk and that their lead stood at 17 after their victory in Finn Park on Monday.

 

Secondly, that a few nerves were perfectly natural. In spite of what he said to the Mirror on Friday, JC probably realised that this was a propitious week for him to praise his team, with Roddy Collins’ cellar-dwelling Athlone due at the Cross on Friday.

 

Not even the most evangelical Rodestant could defend Town’s recent form. Pete Mahon once memorably described Collins as “Ireland’s favourite plasterer”, but the Rod hasn’t even managed to paper over the metaphorical cracks at Lissywollen. The 7-0 defeat in Cork made it 14 goals conceded in a week.

 

The weekend marked the tenth anniversary of the passing of former Shels secretary and life-force Ollie Byrne. Personally, I liked Ollie and thought he was good for football in this country overall.

 

There were many references to Byrne’s arcane knowledge of the League’s rules and regulations during the week but at least Ollie managed to read the rule-book. Unlike many of the half-wits in cheap suits taking arbitrary decisions.

 

That said, contrary to Pat Fenlon’s assertions in last Wednesday’s Sun, it is hard to see any positives in the Paul Marney affair and the protracted administrative spat over who won the Premier Division in the last full winter season (see Sun article here). Although if memory serves, Ollie had wanted to settle the matter with a play-off but was stymied by his manager Fenlon and the Shels squad.

 

Interestingly, Fenlon also described how Ollie had more belief than the management team during the famous Euro run of 2004. A telling revelation perhaps given Nutsy’s euro-travails in the years since.

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