LEAGUE OF IRELAND FIRST DIVISION: TRADITIONALLY A dog-fight, the First Division is shaping up to be a two-horse race this year, according to the bookies, with the odds against anyone other than Sporting Fingal or Shelbourne taking top spot – and the automatic promotion that goes with it – running into double figures.
An injury-time Limerick goal at Tolka Park sent Dundalk up on the last night of last season but Dermot Keely reckons his Shelbourne side will be better this year so their place amongst the front- runners is easy to understand.
As you walk around ALSAA on a weekday morning and watch players like Shaun Maher, Eamon Zayed and Gary O’Neill training, the basis for Fingal’s high hopes is evident too. The club has spent big and, insists manager Liam Buckley, well, as it bids to win promotion at the second attempt and establish itself as another footballing force on Dublin’s northside.
With belts being tightened at almost every other club, Buckley could hardly have picked a better time to go on a shopping spree. Players used to competing for league and cups were suddenly surplus to requirements and the former Shamrock Rovers boss persuaded quite a few Fingal’s ambitions wouldn’t come close to being satisfied by mere promotion.
“Liam made his interest known from day one and it was something I appreciated, given the economic climate,” says former Longford Town and St Patrick’s Athletic midfielder Alan Kirby. “I was impressed with what he had to say, both on the pitch and off it. He obviously made a few good signings as well which showed me he’s really ambitious and I was glad in the end to get on board, I’m delighted to be here.”
Kirby, a popular figure during his time at Richmond Park, had hoped to be offered another deal by the Inchicore outfit but financial as well as managerial upheaval at the club meant there was no option but to move on. He is philosophical about it now and grateful Buckley was there to offer what is, aside from anything else, a much needed job.
“Players, generally, are frightened,” he admits. “They have families and kids and mortgages and what have you and they’re relying on people in soccer clubs to fund them. You might turn around during the season to find the contract you’ve signed is not worth the paper it’s written on and there’s so many horror stories going round I think people are looking into what they can do outside of it and in the long term that’s a good thing.
“If players aren’t looking outside football at the moment there’s something wrong with them, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.
“I’m not specifically full-time myself,” he continues. “I’m in DCU, doing a degree in business, which I’m halfway through. I can come in and train, then go on to college and catch up on any lectures I’ve missed and stay as late as I want in the library.”
A year ago the approach might have looked a little all over the place but now there is a strong sense of realism about it and the quality of squad it has enabled Buckley to assemble has resulted in a situation whereby the best rivals can say against Fingal not finishing first is that players of Kirby’s calibre won’t possess the fighting qualities required at this level.
Predictably, Kirby disagrees and welcomes the pressure that being billed as favourites brings.
“It sits very well, to be honest. We know all eyes are on us. We have good players with a lot of experience, a couple of younger lads and there’s energy throughout the team.
The team starts out against Kirby’s home town outfit, Waterford United, at the RSC.
Two years ago United boss Stephen Henderson, with a Cobh team including some of the players he has brought to his new club, showed promotion could be secured on a low budget with locally-sourced players.
But not even he would deny that money makes life that much easier, particularly when it’s scarce elsewhere, or that Saturday night’s visitors will start the campaign as the team to beat.
