Ireland should have one league and one team

SOCCER ANGLES:Darron Gibson and Shane Duffy come from Derry, but must choose between Belfast and Dublin for international duty. Who benefits?

DARRON GIBSON on Tuesday night in Manchester, Shane Duffy on Wednesday night in Athens: two young men from Derry who are making their way impressively through the ranks in English professional football.

Gibson, of course, is with Manchester United and at 22, is an established name. He has played five times for the Republic of Ireland senior team. Alex Ferguson has wondered aloud as to how long he can keep Gibson satisfied with a place on the fringes with the Premier League champions.

Duffy is 17. In the 18th minute of Everton’s Europa League tie at AEK Athens, Sylvain Distin was injured and Duffy was introduced as his replacement by manager David Moyes.

“Duffy came on and took a touch and they nicked the ball off him,” Moyes said, “but he learned very quickly to clear the ball and to be a bit more composed.”

Duffy will again be included in Everton’s squad for their match at home to Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow afternoon and, if he plays, will be able to assess himself against strikers of the calibre of Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane. To repeat, he is 17, so to be at this level already says something of Duffy’s defensive talent.

To date, Duffy is uncapped by the Northern Ireland senior team. He was included in the squad by Nigel Worthington for the friendly against Italy in June but did not get off the bench. Previously Duffy had represented Northern Ireland at youth level.

So did Gibson. But when the time came to decide on where to play his senior international football Gibson chose Dublin ahead of Belfast.

This is his right and it may be one that is followed by Duffy, whose family’s roots are reported to be in Donegal.

Should that happen, there will be disquiet at the Irish Football Association and among Northern Ireland supporters.

They will see it as another small step towards the marginalisation of their squad and team.

Some won’t mind this, let’s not pretend. But plenty of others will object. These are people who recognise the Border. That in itself does not make them odd or dangerous, these are people who also recognise that their segregated society is imperfect.

But Northern Ireland is where they were born and that is who they are. To borrow a phrase, they haven’t gone away, you know.

They do not wish to see young boys born north of the Border having a greater emotional-political connection with the south. And their concerns should be listened to.

We have strayed onto Political Ground. So be it. As another World Cup looms without any Irish representation, and with another European Championship qualifying draw coming in February, this seems as good-bad a time as any to discuss the state of Irish football, both at domestic and international level.

This column has said before that there should be one 32-county league. It should embrace Linfield, Sligo Rovers and Cork City. There should be, if necessary, government money put behind such a development, at least to get it off and running.

But this is not a big ‘P’ Political argument, this is a sporting argument. Irish domestic football is in economic and sporting jeopardy and requires an overhaul. An all-Ireland league would bring fresh investment and most importantly, fresh public interest.

Those against this, often portrayed as the two Associations, but in fact elements within the two Associations, must have the argument put to them again.

Their trump card is that one league would equal one international team. Well, Ireland has had one international football team before and the world didn’t fall apart. Prior to Partition there was one Ireland team and it played in Belfast. As did Dublin clubs such as Shelbourne in the Irish League.

In two years’ time it is foreseeable that at Old Trafford, Darron Gibson will be a dominant midfield presence. In two years’ time it is also foreseeable that Corry Evans will be beside him. Corry is younger brother of Jonny, who in two years’ time will be even more important to Manchester United’s defence. It is likely John O’Shea will still be around.

Yet Gibson, O’Shea and the Evans brothers will be expected to go their separate ways on international duty. If Oliver Norwood is as good as is being said, then he would be a fifth serious United player appearing in green. That Norwood is Burnley-born but is scoring brilliant free-kicks for the Northern Ireland under-21s against Germany shows the times we live in. He could be the new Kingsley Black.

And if both the Irish sides fail to qualify – or the opposite – for Euro 2012, whose purpose will be served? What sporting benefit will there have been in cutting Irish football chances in two? Do the players benefit?

Of course there are two cultures in Ireland, Catholic-Irish-Nationalist and Protestant-British-Unionist. But a ball is a ball. We need to talk about Darron.

Leeds too good for the third division

ACCORDING TO the official book, the capacity at Elland Road is 39,000. As of yesterday it was being reported that as many as 38,000 tickets had been sold for Leeds United’s home game with Huddersfield Town this lunchtime.

Whatever the final tally, it seems certain to be more than the 32,000 who saw the same fixture this time last year.

It is also certain to be more than are at Wigan or Portsmouth or Blackburn or Wolves today.

As Wigan fans are entitled to say: ‘So what?’ They are watching Premier League football while Leeds are in the third division – even though the Football League somehow thinks it’s okay to call it League One. One? But it is one of those occasional reminders of the scale of Leeds – and of a famous old club like Huddersfield.

Neither should be in the third division.

Leeds will surely not be for much longer. The neutral would fancy them to overcome fifth-placed Huddersfield and maintain Leeds’s six-point lead over second-placed Charlton. Leeds have a game in hand too.

If manager Simon Grayson’s presence at Manchester City-Arsenal on Wednesday night was evidence of anything, it was presumably an effort to secure players on loan in January.

The bolstering of the squad then would probably be enough to bring Leeds promotion after three seasons at this level. There remains much for Leeds fans to grumble about – they usually begin with chairman Ken Bates – but it feels as if the club has bottomed out.

That feeling is open to change though. Should Leeds beat Kettering Town on Tuesday night in their FA Cup replay, Leeds go to Old Trafford next. Ouch.