Archive
The Write Stuff – a decade of Hoops Scene contributions
Published in Hoops Scene 19/2017 (October 2017)
On the bookshelves, there they all are. Neatly packaged away in a programme folder for each year is every copy of Hoops Scene from the last ten years. On my computer, there they all are. Neatly packaged away in an electronic folder for each year, are all my contributions to Hoops Scene over the last decade.
As we come towards the end of the 2017 season, I realise that it is my testimonial year as contributor to the Shamrock Rovers programme. Don’t worry, I’m not looking for a programme testimonial dinner in the 1899 Suite, with Con Murphy asking me my thoughts on my favourite programme article but maybe indulge me and let me give you some thoughts on penning articles for the programme.
A quick flick through my computer and I reckon that this article is number 255 that I’ve written for the Shamrock Rovers match programme. It remains to be seen if this will even be published but more of that later.
My programme contributions began in in 2007 and I hoped to provided Hoops Scene with a bit of colour writing. They began with tales from Tolka Park as the club went into the final season of renting off rivals – Tallaght was on the near horizon for the Hoops.
Flicking through the programmes, I see stories on football fashion, football literature and football groundhopping adventures. My very first article was a look at the switch to summer football and how it was faring five years on from the move.
In 2010, the then editor asked me would I help out in doing the player interview for each programme. I was a bit unsure but did a bit of homework to develop some questions to run by the editor ahead of doing the first interview. I felt they were deemed to be okay when she said ‘there was some stalker level of detail’ about a couple of the questions!
The player interview is the staple of the traditional match programme in Ireland and the UK and so I do view it a privilege to get the access to the players and tell their story to the readers. The aim has always been to make it interesting for Rovers fans but also the away fans who pick up a programme when they visit Tallaght. On each match night, a programme is left for each player in both the home and away dressingroom but I’m unsure if any Rovers quotes have been pinned to the opposition wall as inspiration.
As the interviews are for the Rovers match programme, the players are usually fairly talkative, sometimes even too forthcoming. When one former player in a colourful interview described the chairman at his previous club as telling “more lies and more lies” during a particularly different season, the editor suggested maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea to potentially libel the chairman and the quote didn’t make the final cut.
When I interviewed one player after a defeat one particular season, he didn’t hold back on the performance. About an hour after I spoke to him, he rang me back and asked actually maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea for those criticisms to be in the programme for all to read. Best left in the dressingroom and so it was.
I usually conduct the interview over the phone which sometimes for me means popping into a meeting room in work and making a call from there while recording on phone.
When a colleague came into a meeting room recently to quickly grab a jacket they had left behind, they must of wondered who the hell I was talking to that was describing a game in front of “a full house in a concrete bowl open air stadium with army everywhere. There must nearly have been 20,000 soldiers!” It was John Coady discussing a Rovers game behind the Iron Curtain in the 1980s!
It can sometimes be difficult to track down players. A missed call from me is sometimes returned and if I’ve rung from the landline in work, I’ll get a call from reception saying something like “I’ve Gary Twigg on the line for you Macdara…” That’s something nice to hear!
With a Sunday night deadline for the 1,250 word interview, there isn’t much time to turnaround a programme interview if the Hoops have played on the previous Friday but the players are very good about making themselves available.
Some stories stand out, like when I asked Billy Dennehy who he swapped his jersey with after playing Juventus in 2010. “I decided to hold on to my own and give it to my Dad,” said Dennehy. “He will be happier than any player to have that. None of the Juventus players will know who I am, so it will be nice for my Mum and Dad to have.”
Stories like Stephen McPhail having his phone ring in Cardiff and have Venus Williams on the other end looking to chat with him on dealing with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune issue that McPhail and the tennis star both have to deal with.
Or talking to Pat Sullivan a few days after his goal in Belgrade helped the Hoops qualify for the Europa League. “(After the final whistle) I stood on the pitch for 15 minutes trying to soak it up with the few Rovers fans that were there. It was phenomenal. I’m still in a bit of shock.”
This year the editor asked me to also help with the ‘manager’ notes, another staple of the standard programme. There was nothing standard about Damien Richardson’s manager notes and in the past manager notes might be cobbled together with little input from the gaffer.
We have gone with an interview format with quotes specifically sourced for the programme from Stephen Bradley. The Hoops Head Coach takes a phonecall every Monday lunchtime ahead of each home game for a five minute chat with the copy to be with the editor by late night Monday.
Every fan wants a home draw in the cup. For programme editors and contributors, it does mean another match programme to add to the workload. However, an away draw in later rounds means a potential requirement for a quick turnaround match programme. With that in mind, that is why you are reading this piece today.
I’m sitting here on Saturday evening having attended a very positive club AGM in Tallaght earlier in the day. It is the eve of the FAI Cup semi-final up in Oriel Park between Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers. If you are reading these words, then it means the match in Oriel ended in a draw. A win or loss means you will never get to read this – and my Hoops Scene contribution goes back to 254.
Jeff Hendrick – one of Burnley’s Boys in Green
Photo by George Kelly
Published in Hoops Scene No.13 2017 season (July 2017)
Today won’t be the first time that some of the Irish internationals at Burnley have played here at Tallaght Stadium. Back in May 2012, Jeff Hendrick and Robbie Brady lined out for the Republic of Ireland under 21 team against Denmark, with Kevin Long on the bench, as Brady scored Ireland’s only goal that day with a superb left foot free kick.
There were a few other familiar faces in the Ireland squad that day – including senior internationals Shane Duffy, Eunan O’Kane, John Egan, Conor Hourihane and Greg Cunningham, along with former Dundalk player Richie Towell.
With some time off ahead of June’s Ireland v Austria match, Jeff Hendrick dropped by Tallaght Stadium to have a chat with Hoops Scene. “Yeah, I remember playing at Under 21 level here a good few years ago,” said Hendrick. “Noel King called up and asked me to play. For me it is about pulling on that green jersey and representing the country.”
Hendrick would go on to represent Ireland at senior level for the first time less than a year later under then Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni. “It was brilliant to be called up to the first team squad, really unbelievable. I started that season with an ankle injury but when I came back I had a good January and I was scoring goals. I got the call up just after my 21st birthday so it was a great thing to celebrate.”
His debut was a friendly against Poland at a packed Aviva Stadium with Hendrick coming off the bench to provide an assist for Wes Hoolahan in the 2-0 win. “I wasn’t taking it as a friendly, it was a game for Ireland. The atmosphere was brilliant and it was great for me to get that chance. I have my jersey framed in my Mam and Dad’s house now and they have all the newspaper clippings! I set up a goal, which was good. You need to impress on your first game wherever you are.”
Photo by George Kelly
Hendrick was one of Ireland’s stand out performers in the European Championship in France last year when Ireland qualified for the knock out stages of the tournament. The recent results in Ireland’s Russia 2018 campaign mean qualification for the World Cup is still very much in the hands of Hendrick and his Irish teammates.
“It would be unbelievable to qualify for Russia. After playing in the Euros, you saw the atmosphere at the games, it is something we’d love to do again, play in a big tournament. It is a hard old group. We are doing well but we aren’t getting carried away.”
Today we should get to see a number of Burnley’s Boys in Green in action – with four of the starters in Ireland’s 1-1 draw against Austria coming from the club – Hendrick, Brady, Stephen Ward and Kevin Long (who was handed his first competitive start by Martin O’Neill in that match). It is a pretty influential Irish contingent in the Clarets’ squad [with Jon Walters also signed ahead of the new season].
Hendrick joined the club in August last year and admitted that having so many Irish players at the club helps. “You feel at home a little bit.” In the winter transfer window Robbie Brady joined, meaning Hendrick got the chance to play club football again with Brady. The pair played as kids in the same St. Kevin’s Boys team.
“It was great when Robbie came in during January. We keep in touch anyway as we are friends since we were young so it is great to be back playing with him. The likes of Wardy has been brilliant as well.”
Although when Hoops Scene reminds Hendrick, that Stephen Ward is a former Bohs player, he says “We won’t big him up too much here (in Tallaght)!”
When Brady joined Burnley for £13m, he broke the club’s transfer record which had been previously been set when Hendrick joined for £10.5m from Derby County. Being a £10m plus player can add some pressure to perform but Hendrick didn’t see it that way. “I didn’t really look at it as pressure. If someone is willing to pay that, I just have to use that to give me confidence and try to show that I’m worth that.
“From day one they made me welcome. I enjoyed the atmosphere around the place. We worked hard but it was enjoyable. That made it easy for me to settle in. The main thing for me was to play games. I’m always happy when I’m playing.”
The 25-year-old midfielder made 32 league appearances for the Clarets last season, scoring two goals, including the club’s goal of the year for a long range effort in the 3-2 home win over Bournemouth. The priority for the player for the season though, was to contribute to the club staying in the Premier League.
“It was a nice goal to get but the main thing for us was staying in the league. Everyone wrote us off before the season started and we proved a lot of people wrong. They kept us going all year. The results we were getting with our home form was something that everybody was talking about and I really enjoyed the season.”
Burnley racked up ten home wins in the league – the seventh highest in last season’s Premier League (two more than Manchester United). However they only managed one away win all campaign and that was in late April. So it took some time for them to reach the magical 40 point mark which most seasons, like last year, confirms safety. They got to that stage with a 2-2 draw against West Brom two games from the end of the season.
“It was relief (to avoid relegation). We thought we were in a good position, a good bit out from the end of the season but you still have to keep putting points on the board and win games.”
Unsurprisingly Hendrick is very happy working under Burnley boss Sean Dyche. “From the minute I went in there, he told me what he wanted from me. I got to know the way his team plays. He tells it as it is and that is all you can ask as a player. You know where you stand and what you need to do to stay in the team.”
The player was 16 when he first moved over to England to Derby County where, like at Burnley, there was a sizeable Irish contingent, with five players on the youth team books including current Rovers player Ryan Connolly.
“From a very young age, any chance I got I was going over to different clubs. You hear stories of kids getting homesick and so but for me I was moving over to do something that I love – to play football every day. Any kid would love to do that.
“Ryan (Connolly) texted me when the fixture came out. We still keep in touch as we were good mates when we were over there together. It will be good to play against him.
“We are here for a week, with a few days training, then the game and then back to England. It is always good when I’m home with Ireland that the parents can drop out for a cup of tea and have a chat. It will be good for my friends and family to see me play a game here (in Tallaght). Hopefully we win. It is going to be tough as yous will be half way through your season.”
This article was published in Hoops Scene for Shamrock Rovers v FK Mlada Boleslav / Burnley in July 2017.
Euro success built from the League of Ireland
“In Ireland there is no league,” were the words uttered in 2013 by the then Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni but at EURO 2016 the League of Ireland was central to some magnificent Ireland performances in France. The results were very much built on the back of players who began their trade in the League of Ireland, with a certain former Shamrock Rovers manager leading Northern Ireland’s success.
When Trapattoni’s two former international teams came up against one another last week in the group stage of the Euros, it was the Republic of Ireland team who emerged on top – in a game that had seven former League of Ireland players contribute to that famous 1-0 win over Italy. Robbie Brady’s winning goal in Lille coming off a Wes Hoolahan cross will be one of the sporting highlights of not just the year but the decade!
Players who were on the pitch for the famous win over the Italians had previously lined out in our league for Shelbourne (Wes Hoolahan), St. Patrick’s Athletic (Stephen Quinn), Cork City (Shane Long), Waterford United (Daryl Murphy), Bohemians (Stephen Ward), Derry City (James McLean) and Sligo Rovers (Seamus Coleman), with former Cork City player David Meyler also named on the bench.
In the days following the win over Sweden, the FAI organised a photoshoot with all eight ex-League of Ireland players in the Euro squad wearing the jerseys of their former Irish clubs. Of course, the Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane also played in the league with Cobh Ramblers.
I was lucky enough to be out in France for the tournament, sitting in the stands supporting the boys in green, and with a press pass for a few other matches as I was doing some work with extratime.ie. The day after that photocall, I went out to the Ireland training camp in Versailles.
With Roy Keane up for media duties, I thought it would be a good opportunity to ask him about the photo and was he tempted to pull on a Cobh Ramblers jersey and join in?
He smiled and gave a quick “no” but went on to elaborate with great enthusiasm about the crucial contribution of the league in both his own career and the careers of more than a third of the Ireland squad at the Euros.
“Over the years people have been quick to criticise League of Ireland football but it played a huge part in my career,” said Keane. “You saw yesterday with those lads that was brilliant, a really nice photograph.
“No Ramblers player there” said Keane and I thought in my own mind a pity that there were no Shamrock Rovers players in it but hopefully in years to come! “With the criticism that the League of Ireland gets, it has played a big part in these lads having a very good career, so it was nice to see.”
There were a few League of Ireland flags flown at the games during the tournament. Both the Lynch Family flag ‘Hooping since 1984’ and the ‘London Hoops’ flag were visible at the Belgium and Italy games respectively. During Iceland’s battling draw with Portugal, a Galway United Football Club flag was hung down near the cornerflag visible to everyone watching the game.
These flags almost seemed a novelty with their support of League of Ireland clubs rather than the novelty ‘whack a funny Father Ted slogan’ on a flag that seems to have become the norm.
I was on press duty in the Parc des Princes for the Germany and Northern Ireland game. Former Shamrock Rovers manager Michael O’Neill has done a superb job with his national team. O’Neill took up the role as the boss with the North soon after leaving the Hoops at the conclusion of our remarkable run in the Europa League – the competition we are back in the qualifying rounds of today.
It is five years since we had that famous 20,000km journey through Europe from Tallinn to Copenhagen, London, Thessaloniki and Kazan. It was Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu who said “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. That first single step was taken against Estonian team Flora Tallinn and crucial to that was goalkeeper Alan Mannus.
In the first leg against the Estonian champions in Tallaght, Mannus saved a penalty minutes before Chris Turner would score the only goal of the tie and set us on our way. Those early games would be Mannus’ last for the Hoops as he made the move soon after to join St. Johnstone.
Mannus was part of Michael O’Neill’s squad at the Euros, which also qualified for the knock out stages of the competition earned by their 2-0 win over Ukraine. I got the chance to talk to Mannus after his side’s battling 1-0 defeat to World Champions Germany, on a night in Paris when the North were grateful for a brilliant performance by their number one goalkeeper Michael McGovern.
Mannus has been a regular in O’Neill’s ‘Norn Iron’ squads. The former Rovers boss had a tough opening campaign in a failed attempt to get to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. That meant Northern Ireland were fifth seeds in the qualification campaign for France. However, Michael O’Neill led his team to top spot in their qualifying group – the first team ever to do so from Pot 5 of the draw.
“We worked together at Shamrock and he did very well there,” said Mannus discussing his time with the Hoops under Michael O’Neill. “I’m delighted that he has done so well with Northern Ireland as I knew he was capable of that.
“The first campaign we probably played better than the results showed and in this qualifying campaign we played well and got the results we deserved and got through. I’m sure a number of clubs will be looking at him with a view maybe to take him on as manager.
“I’m delighted for him. He is a brilliant manager and understands football and that has been shown in the way we’ve played and the results we’ve got.”
Going into the last group game, the permutations were very clear for the Republic of Ireland. Beat Italy and qualify or else it was time to go home. The stadium in Lille was a sea of green with Ireland fans taking almost three sides of the stadium. With the roof of the venue closed, the atmosphere was incredible and the tension (and heat!) almost unbearable.
In the run up to the match, former Ireland assistant manager Marco Tardelli commented in La Gazzetta dello Sport that Irish players had “trouble handling the game tactically. They don’t get that football is also an intellectual matter, and not just about attacking and going forward.”
Seamus Coleman dismissed those comments ahead of the game – “I’m not really bothered what Marco thinks” – and the Irish team dismissed the Italian side with a tactical, hard pressing and physical performance against Italy. Martin O’Neill had made four changes to his starting XI, dropping Glenn Whelan, Wes Hoolahan, Ciaran Clarke and captain John O’Shea. Handed the armband was Donegal man Seamus Coleman.
O’Neill brought Richard Keogh and Shane Duffy into the centre of defence and they successfully marshalled the Italian attack. Ireland had left a win behind them against Sweden in Paris and it seemed the same would happen in Lille; Particularly after Hoolahan, on as second half substitute, missed a great chance in the closing minutes.
However, he picked up the ball moments later and delivered as good a cross as you will see onto the head of Robbie Brady. 1-0. ‘Who put the ball in the Italian net? Brady, Brady. Who put the ball in the Italian net? Robbie Robbie Brady.’
There were emotional scenes after the final whistle on the pitch – have we seen a happier Roy Keane – and in the stands. Speaking after the final whistle, the players were still coming to terms with the win that set up last Sunday’s game in Lyon against France. Coleman spoke about all those hours his father had driven him down to train and play with Sligo Rovers and how they are paying off now.
I bumped into the Cork City manager John Caulfield in the hotel I was staying in after the game and the City boss agreed that it was great to see big managerial decisions rewarded with a win! Both Martin and Michael O’Neill had made significant switches to their starting teams, against Ukraine for the North and Italy for our Boys in Green, and these were central to the success of both teams in the group stages of the competition.
Article published in Shamrock Rovers match day programme Hoops Scene Issue 10 – Shamrock Rovers v RoPS Rovaniemen – Thursday 30 June 2016
Hyland hitting the heights with the Hoops
Interview with Craig Hyland from Hoops Scene 4/2015 Shamrock Rovers v Bohemian FC (27 March 2015)
It was the fifth meeting of the teams in Oriel Park in 2015. The Dundalk crowd, and indeed their team, were nervy as the Lilywhites faced Shamrock Rovers in their penultimate home game of the season; the point they would earn in this 0-0 draw against the Hoops would turn out to be crucial in securing Dundalk the title. Referee Rob Rogers had a busy game and by the final whistle would brandish nine yellow cards, one red card and give Rovers a late penalty that they would miss.
The yellow card the referee gave Barry Murphy for time wasting would have a significant influence on the goalkeeping situation at the start of this season for Shamrock Rovers. Murphy’s fifth yellow card of 2014 meant that he picked up a suspension that would rule him out of the first league game of this season. This essentially ensured Craig Hyland would start in goal for Rovers at the start of the 2015 league campaign.
“He was unfortunate to get that suspension but that gave me my chance,” said Hyland about Murphy’s yellow card when Hoops Scene caught up with the goalkeeper after last Friday’s 0-0 draw with Cork City in Tallaght Stadium. “My whole focus in the off-season was to work really hard in the gym, and then on the pitch when we came back training, as I knew I was going to play in the first game.”
24-year-old Hyland had a previous spell with the Hoops in 2011 and he re-signed with Rovers last season making ten first team appearances (plus a further three starts with Rovers’ First Division team). He played in the EA Sports Cup Final at Oriel Park in the 3-2 defeat to Dundalk and kept a clean sheet in each of his three league appearances made in the last four weeks of the 2014 season.
“I played a few more times under Pat (Fenlon) than Trevor Croly and I felt I did well. The cup final was a big one for me for confidence. The result didn’t go well but goals aside I played fairly well and that gave me confidence for the games where I came in. I played relatively well, kept a few clean sheets and that stood me in good stead for this year.
“The whole goal for the start of the season was, even though I was going to play the first game, to extend it and play as much as possible. Luckily the first game went well; I kept a clean sheet and I’ve managed to stay in the team.”
On the opening night, played in windy conditions particularly tough for a goalkeeper, Hyland pulled off a spectacular save in injury time to deny St. Patrick’s Athletic striker Ciarán Kilduff a goal and earn the Hoops a 1-0 victory. He followed that up with a clean sheet in the 2-0 win away to Longford before last week’s draw against Cork – making it six clean sheets in a row for the Hoops.
The goalkeeping team at Shamrock Rovers is led by coach Dermot O’Neill and bolstered by under 19 goalkeepers Michael Kelly and Luca Gratzer. The situation with goalkeepers is an interesting dynamic as ‘keepers can go many matches without getting on the pitch, unlike outfield players who can come in and play in usually a couple of positions.
“You can go long periods of time without playing or sometimes you are in and out for cup games and then back on the bench. It is a mental challenge more than anything else. Last year, even though I knew that was the case, it was difficult at times. It can be frustrating. As a goalkeeper, you know there is only one position but there is always a few alternatives as an outfield player.
“You do work a lot closer with your fellow goalkeepers maybe compared with two outfield players in the same position. I’ve heard it can go one of two ways but I’ve never had an issue with any of the goalkeepers I’ve played with. I’m an easy going type of guy and I’d be friends with the ‘keepers who have been number one ahead of me or number two to me. That is certainly the case with Barry and we are good friends. He is very helpful especially now that I’m in the team. He is giving me little tips and pointers about different players and different teams which is great.
“I’m in the team now and hopefully that lasts but I know I need to perform really well in every game as Barry is there waiting to get back in and he is good enough to step back in whenever needs be. You don’t want a situation where you have your goalkeeper who is in the team but is extremely comfortable and not really pushing himself for form. You need to be at your best if you want to win leagues and do well in Europe.
“There is a rivalry for places but there is no bitterness if you are not in the team. The lads are always willing to help each other out which is massively important. That is the ethos Pat (Fenlon) has brought in. It is very long season and players are going to be in and out but everyone will get a run in the team. There is competitiveness for places, not just in goal but all positions in the team.”
It can be a bit of a surprise if you are hanging around Tallaght Stadium more than a half an hour after a game to see Rovers players with flip-flops and towels around the waist shuffling across Whitestown Way coming from the Arena Leisure Centre back into the stadium. The chance to carry out their warm down in the swimming pool opposite the stadium is one of the many positives for Hyland to the set up at Shamrock Rovers.
“We often do our after match recovery cool down in the pool especially when we have games coming all the time. It takes the weight off your joints. It is low impact and we can do our stretching. The affect of the water releases the tension in your muscles. After games I’m sorer from diving around and ‘keepers probably don’t need it as much as other players but I find it very beneficial.
“We go over, do our bit and then come back over and have a shower so the lads can clean up and tidy away. The gym does us a courtesy by staying open so late which is great. I’ve done pool sessions before but never as close to the stadium, with the option to do it straight after the game. The quicker you can do it after the game and get the recovery done the more rest you stand to have.
“Sometimes the sessions are done on Saturday morning but a lot of the lads including myself sometimes struggle to sleep after the game as you are so hyped up. It is a luxury to get to do the pool session straight after the game. You mightn’t sleep but you have more time for resting in the morning. A lot of other clubs wouldn’t have the ability to do that. It is a credit to the club, Pat Fenlon and the other coaching staff that we have that.
“If you want to be a top club you have to have the top facilities and ours have been upgraded on last year. We train in the morning and have full access to a kitchen so a lot of the lads would have their food there. We have a mini-gym so we can do our gym sessions with our strength and conditioning coach (Conor Clifford) and do extra bits including before training which is another improvement on last year.
“Conor did most of our fitness work in the off-season and is at most of the sessions. We do at least one gym session a week with him together as a team a. I’m the type of person who can train all your like but I need to be in the gym to stay as sharp as I can. It is a bonus for me as I get the extra hour there and that it will be tailored specifically for you.
“The group this year is tighter knit,” says Hyland speaking ahead of last Tuesday’s game away to Sligo Rovers. “We do spend a lot more time together. We work hard and are four to five hours a day with each other. That extra bit of gym work is done together and you can have that bit of craic and a laugh while working.
“It is a long season and there will be setbacks but as a group we are stronger this year. There is no micro groups within the group. Everyone talks to everyone and spends time with each other. The more experienced players like Stephen McPhail, Keith Fahey, Patrick Cregg and Tim Clancy have come in and they are helping us all, myself included. The new players have integrated straight into the group seamlessly almost as if they were always at the club.
“It can be tough for new people and a little intimidating coming in especially at a club as big as this and as competitive as this, where you are competing for trophies and qualification for Europe. It was a bit of a shock when I came back to Rovers from playing in the First Division with Waterford United. It took me a while to adapt to full time training last year but it is what you aspire to be. Full time football is what you want to do. When you get there, there is a lot of effort but what else would you want to be doing!”
When Hyland was last with the Hoops it was in the heady days of the Europa League. If it was a yellow card issued to Barry Murphy last October that gave Hyland his opportunity this season, it was a penalty save by Rovers goalkeeper Ryan Thompson that gave him a chance to be part of the Europa League experience in 2011. 35 minutes into the match against Rubin Kazan in Tallaght, which was Rovers’ first group game, Thompson faced a penalty won by Obafemi Martins, the former Inter Milan and Newcastle player now playing in Seattle. The Jamaican goalkeeper made the initial save from Nelson Valdez’s spot kick and then got back up and across the goal to block the rebound before the ball was cleared.
When Thompson made that penalty save he picked up an injury and, while he travelled to Tottenham Hotspur for the next game, Hyland was also brought along with the squad. It was a great experience for a 20-year-old player to be involved with the squad at that time. Looking back now the goalkeeper drew some parallels with this 2015 Rovers vintage, as well as outlining a mature lesson that he took from his time in Michael O’Neill’s squad.
“It was a very successful time for the club. The highlight of the whole thing was going on the trip to Spurs. Ryan Thompson had an injury at the time and I got to experience that game. It was mayhem. It was great to see how well Richard Brush did in that game and he was a standout player.
“I had the luxury of working with talented goalkeepers back then too. You had Alan Mannus who I still rate as the best I’ve seen and trained with, you’d Richard Brush, and Ryan Thompson who is back in America having a good career for himself.
“My memory of that time was the attitude of the team which had a refusal to concede goals. The team was very difficult to beat, very well organised and set up. Similar to how we are now.
“We do a lot of work on the training pitch to be organised. There is a good solidarity with the back four whoever comes in. We look like we will be hard to score goals against and that was a key back then. Under Michael O’Neill, the club won two leagues and qualified for the Europa League in the season when we also won the league. The levels of performance and effort were monumental.
“More so what I took away from that time, and I wouldn’t have said it then, was the overriding feeling that I needed to go away and play somewhere else. At no stage when I was at the club back then was I ready to play. The step up would have been much too big.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen with Michael O’Neill as there was uncertainty there. It looked like I was going to go on loan but I didn’t want a new manager coming in to Rovers and next thing I had was nothing. I had the opportunity of going to Longford and I took it. Was it a good decision or not? I don’t know but it has probably worked out for me. Being at Longford and Waterford was great and was massively beneficially so in hindsight I probably made the right decision for my career.
“It was a great experience watching the side do so well in 2011, winning and being so successful and knowing that is where I wanted to be. It was a goal after I left Rovers, if you want to play at the top, you want to get back to Rovers, there is no other team you want to play for, it is the top team in the country.”
“I did well enough to sign back here. I am getting a run in the team now and Pat has shown great confidence in me. If you get in the team and do well, you stay in the team. If you get that opportunity you need to take your chance and that is what I’ve done. I want to stay in the team at the minute but I want to improve and maintain that level of performance.”
Late goals are bad for your vision
In the run up to last week’s game against Bohemians, the Shamrock Rovers twitter account was looking for fans to tweet some derby day memories. The first ever game against Bohs in Tallaght is one that Rovers fans never tire of talking or indeed tweeting about. Gary Twigg’s late goals that turned a Rovers defeat into a victory in the blink of an eye left an indelible mark on people’s memories and quite a mark on my shins as in the mad celebration that followed I was forced into the seats in front of me!
Gary Twigg celebrates late goal against Bohs in 2011 in Tallaght – Photo by Bobby Best
Looking through last week’s tweets, unsurprisingly there weren’t too many recent good memories of derby days in Dalymount given Rovers’ record in the Dublin 7 venue with no wins in the five outings coming into the game. However, tweets from the ground were trending in Ireland that night thanks to photos of the atmospheric pyro display by the SRFC Ultras and a Vine video of Gary McCabe’s penalty opening the scoring in front of a full house of over 3,500.
Pyro in Dalymount ahead of kick off
Close to 1,000 Hoops fans watched from the Shed End as McCabe opened the scoring from the penalty spot directly in front of them. A couple of hundred Rovers fans had ringside seats sitting in the Jodi Stand at the opposite end of the stadium in the second half for the two sweeping moves that ended with goals from Ronan Finn and Marty Waters. Those headed goals cemented the 3-1 win as the Hoops put three past Bohs for the first time since the win in Tallaght in 2011 a few days after the Hoops had played Juventus in the Europa League qualifiers.
McCabe’s goal in Dalymount was the first Rovers had scored in the venue since Ronan Finn’s late late header in April 2011. My video of that goal – Ronan Finn injury time equaliser for Shamrock Rovers against Bohs – was the memory that I tweeted ahead of last Friday’s match. It is a dramatic late goal but you can also see the exact moment when I got my glasses broken in the goal celebration thanks to a stray elbow!
With 93 minutes gone on the clock, the Hoops won a corner, which saw Rovers goalkeeper Alan Mannus sprint into the penalty area to try and get on the end of. When the ball came in, both Finn and the Northern Ireland goalkeeper rose to head the ball, with many thinking it was Mannus’ touch that sent the ball into the top corner of the net. Nobody really cared that it was actually Finn and nor did I too much as put my bent set of specs back on my face after the whistle to end the game moments later.
This wasn’t the first time I’d gotten some collateral damage off an injury time goal. Back in November 2002, during Shane Robinson’s first spell with Rovers, the Hoops had a “home” game against St. Patrick’s Athletic in Richmond Park. The scoreline was 1-1 deep in injury time when Robinson found Hoops striker Noel Hunt in the penalty area. Hunt squared for James Keddy who scored the winner to provoke a manic celebration from The Hoops fans in attendance.
In the ensuing madness in the Rovers end, a fan crashed into me from behind and sent my glasses flying. My eyesight is pretty poor and with a -10.5 prescription it puts me pretty much in blind territory without my specs. All around me Rovers fans were jumping around in delight and I’m trying to tell them to stop as my glasses are somewhere below them! When the final whistle went a minute or so later, I’m thinking how the hell am I going to get home without my specs. Friends and strangers alike standing around me, cast there eyes downwards to try and spot them when a friend goes “I’ve got them!” They had somehow flown off my face and settled on the upright in between two seats. I think I celebrated the return of my glasses more than the goal.
The final late goal that comes to mind affecting my vision is from 2011. It was a finish to a game that caused a complex secretometer phenomenon involving my lacrimal apparatus. In fact it might have affected the Hoops Scene reader too that night, whether you were at the game or watching from your TV back in Ireland.
You might need a bit more information to know what I’m talking about but if I say that it was the result of a Rovers game in Serbia, you might recognise that what was affecting my vision that night and maybe yours were tears.
I’m almost surprised to think back that I had any liquid in my body that evening in Belgrade for the Europa League Play-off against Partizan. That was due to the temperatures being above 35 degrees at kick off, the sweat inducing atmosphere in the ground from the Grobari Ultras and the tension filled game that went into extratime after Pat Sullivan’s stunning strike.
Rovers fans had been advised that maybe football colours wouldn’t be the best thing to wear while wandering around Belgrade, the city where crowd trouble caused Partizan to thrown out of the same competition four years previously. On match night, most did wear colours. Someone asked me was I wearing the old 2006 Rovers home jersey, as a point of how far Rovers had come since then relegation to the First Division. No, was the answer as it was simply the thinnest jersey I had and hence the most comfortable in that weather!
“Tallaght Time” isn’t the only recent football book that has a chapter written about that famous Shamrock Rovers win in Serbia. Last year James Moor wrote a book about his experiences as an Englishman working in Belgrade and following Partizan in the 2011 season. “Grobar – Partizan Pleasure, Pain and Paranoia” doesn’t have a happy ending for the home team in the play off as we know. It is interesting to read his take on the penalty minutes from the end of extratime that had Europa League group stage qualification at stake.
“As Shamrock’s Stephen O’Donnell prepared to take the penalty the stadium booed as one. O’Donnell kept his nerve and put it away. Shamrock’s 50 or so travelling fans, hemmed in beneath the executive boxes by a thin luminous line of stewards managed to make their cheers heard among the stunned silence of 20,000 Grobari. At the final whistle, while the Irish players jumped up and down and saluted their few dozen fans, the Partizan fans let their team know what they thought of them.”
It is a cold hearted Shamrock Rovers fan who didn’t have a tear in their eye that night when the penalty went in or at the final whistle when the famous victory was confirmed. I’d even hazard a guess that if this evening you watched back the 35 second video – Winning penalty by Stephen O’Donnell, Partizan Belgrade v Shamrock Rovers – taken from amongst the small section of Hoops fans in the stadium and the subsequent screaming celebrations, some moisture might well effect your vision once again!
Article published in Hoops Scene 2014 Issue 4
My second (tier) favourite season
A Rovers return to the First Division was not on the radar for most of us. When the Tallaght era began for Shamrock Rovers in 2009, no one expected the club to be playing First Division matches here within five years. Thankfully though, it is our newly created reserve team that is lining out in the second tier of the Airtricity League this season, not our first team, with the aim of developing players that will help Rovers continue to win major trophies in Irish football in years to come.
The move to Tallaght has brought the Hoops a nice trophy haul so far with two league titles, two Setanta Sports Cups, two Leinster Senior Cups and only our second ever League Cup win. In 2011, when we qualified for the Europa League group stages, along with retaining our league title and winning the all island Setanta cup competition, it gave me and most others Rovers fans their favourite season ever following the club.
However if you were to ask me what is my favourite year outside of the time spent here in Tallaght, you might be surprised to read that is the 2006 season. That was the only other year Rovers ever played in the First Division. The enjoyment garnered from that campaign wasn’t something that I was expecting when the club had lost their place in the top flight of Irish football for the first time ever at the end of the previous season. The tears that flowed following that play-off defeat would in 12 months time be tears of joy but a lot was to happen in the meantime.
Rovers had found themselves relegated after a 2005 season that had seen the Hoops flirt way to close to extinction. The club went into financial free-fall and was on its knees before the fans rallied around and took over the club following the High Court Examinership period. However, while the supporters saved the club, they couldn’t save the team from relegation.
There was a certain sense of renewal about Rovers when that First Division season began. Under new board room control and a new managerial appointment, only two players remained from the relegated squad, with our current goalkeeper Barry Murphy one of those players. He provided the defensive foundation, along with new captain Aidan Price, which paved the way for Rovers’ success that season under manager Pat Scully.
Scully was a determined and demanding manager who had one clear ambition for Rovers. Get out of the First Division at the very first bloody attempt but at half-time in the season opener, things were not looking great. The Hoops trailed 1-0 to Dundalk with Rovers’ young team seeming to freeze under the pressure of playing in front of the large Tolka Park crowd. As the players trooped off after the opening 45 minutes, I thought to myself this was going to be a long hard season. No doubt Pat Scully said at some strong words half-time and the players responded in the second half. The Hoops equalised, through Jamie Duffy, with 18 minutes remaining before substitute Willy Doyle got the winner in injury time much to the home supporters relief.
When Rovers came to town that season, as always we brought a sizeable away support but the visit of the Hoops always brought out the home fans. “You’re only here to see the Rovers” was a common refrain to be heard throughout the season from the travelling fans of the Hoops and Rovers got to see a multitude of away league wins, a pleasant change from previous years. The Hoops hadn’t been in the top half of a league table since 2003. In 2005, they’d only won two league games outside of the Dublin environs an improvement having had no victories the season previous to that. But this year was different as away wins were clocked up regularly; three wins and two draws from the first five away games.
There were to be no Dublin derbies in the league that year with Kildare County being the nearest away trip for the Hoops. After one away win in Station Road, the Rovers fans that were returning to Dublin by train stood on the platform in Newbridge in high spirits after a 3-0 victory. The Iarnrod Éireann official in the station wasn’t used to his Saturday evening viewing being disturbed and announced over the PA “could the patrons at Platform 2 please be quiet as you are disturbing my watching Match of the Day.” He was met with a chorus of “You can shove your English football up you’re arse!”
Just prior to that season, I had purchased my first car and I put some mileage on it that year, in what was often called the “Discover Ireland” season. We got to go St. Mel’s Park for one last time before Athlone moved to their new ground. We stood on the terrace in Finn Park beside League of Ireland legend Brendan Bradley and made it over to Galway where disappointingly Rovers got beaten twice. We watched a dour 0-0 draw in Kilkenny in the rain on the night France and Spain played out a World Cup classic or so I am told as I’ve never seen the goals from France’s 3-1 win.
The Hoops did not run away with the First Division but led by a small margin for long spells in the season and were pegged back when other clubs benefited from Rovers’ points deduction for fielding an illegible player. The squad changed throughout the season, as players fell out of favour with Pat Scully and vice versa. But his team showed its class in the cup by knocking out Bohemians in a 2-0 FAI Cup replay win in Dalymount, before the Hoops were eliminated at the semi-final stage.
Andy Myler celebrates scoring in Limerick
Back in the league, Rovers manoeuvred themselves into a winning position with a crucial away win in early November in Limerick. It was a very different trip to the city in 2006 compared to their current superb surroundings in Thomond Park for both home and away fans. Back then, Limerick were playing out of Hogan Park where the corporate facilities were a 40 foot trailer with the canvass side pulled back and a few garden chairs for the VIPs available. On a bitterly cold night on Shannonside, Andy Myler’s two first half goals earned Rovers a 2-0 win and put the Hoops on the verge of promotion. Even having to drive back to Dublin without a rear passenger window, lost thanks to a rock thrown through the car as we were leaving the area, didn’t dampen our spirits that night.
Rovers ended their First Division campaign in Cobh, where they began their 2014 First Division campaign last night. The Hoop hoards descended on the picturesque Cork town with the locals maybe not knowing what had hit them. There are many tales that could be told about that final weekend revolving around double booked hotels, diverted Ryanair flights or the look on the face of the steward who opened the gate to see the size of the away supporters queuing to get in.
Barry Murphy had made a habit of saving penalties all season and he did it again on that final night but it looked like the large Rovers travelling support would not see a trophy presentation when Cobh scored after 79 minutes. But with six minutes remaining on the clock, Tadhg Purcell grabbed a precious goal, his 11th of the season, to cement Rovers as the First Division champions.
At the final whistle, the supporters myself included paid no heed to the “stay of the pitch” requests and vaulted the perimeter wall to stream onto the pitch to celebrate with the players. It was a chaotic scene that would be replicated with even more fervour in Bray four years later when the Hoops captured the Premier Division trophy.
On this night though, one supporter who was on crutches even made it onto the podium pretending to be an injured player joining in the celebrations with his “teammates” when the trophy was eventually presented. The fans sung “Rovers are back” and they meant it. The lasting memory of the night for me was Pat Scully’s speech so it was great to see it pop up in the last month on YouTube. Scully was carried shoulder high by supporters off the pitch before perching himself on the ledge of the dressing room to speak to the supporters.
A hush fell in that corner of St. Colman’s Park. Scully’s speech was short, sharp and summed up what that season was about. “This is Shamrock Rovers and we want to play football. This is Shamrock Rovers and we fuckin’ win!”
Published in Hoops Scene 2014 Issue 2 (Shamrock Rovers v Derry City)
Tallaght Time book launch
The official launch of Tallaght Time took place in the Gala Room in Tallaght Stadium on Friday 12th July ahead of the Shamrock Rovers v Derry City game. Broadcaster, and well known Hoops fan, Con Murphy officially launched the book and it was great for the authors to have Con do the honours and to have so many friends and family there for the launch.
Con Murphy with the authors of Tallaght Time
There are some more photos of the launch on the book’s facebook page here.
On the night in Hoops Scene, Shamrock Rovers’ matchday programme, there was an edited extract from Chapter Seven of Tallaght Time describing the dramatic conclusion to title battle between Rovers and Bohs in 2010 when the Hoops travelled to Bray on the final night of the season.
Chapter 7: Who wants to be League Champions? 2010 Title Run-in
A draw was all that was needed for Rovers to be crowned champions unless Bohs could put a hatful past Dundalk in Dalymount Park. It was first blood to Bohs who went 1-0 up against Dundalk after only 12 minutes. When Bray scored eight minutes later, it meant that if results stayed that way, it would be three in a row for Bohs. Gary Twigg was not going to let that happen without a fight as he latched onto a through ball from Craig Sives just before the break in Bray.
Gary Twigg
The ball gets down the side and the boy’s slipped and I was in. I saw the keeper coming and I took it around him. I don’t know why but for some reason I let the boy get back on the line. I’d usually hit it first time. I kept taking it in. The boy was closing me and I had nowhere to go except through his legs so I took it with the outside of my left foot. Thinking about it now I don’t know how I kept so calm with the pressure! The roar that went up that night when it went in was unreal. I think there was a lot of nervous energy going out from everyone.
Stephen Rice
With that goal other strikers may have snatched at it but Twiggy showed why he was the best striker in the league.
The Rovers fans’ nerves were eased when Twigg’s strike partner Thomas Stewart rounded off a fine passing move one minute into the second half giving Rovers a 2-1 lead while Bohs had conceded and were now only drawing their game. In the season that was in it, there was to be another twist when Gary Shaw’s diving header equalised for Bray after 69 minutes and Bohs went 2-1 up 10 minutes later. Rovers went into the three minutes of injury time at the Carlisle Grounds knowing that one more goal for Bray would mean the end for Rovers’ title ambitions.
In Dalymount Park, the final whistle went with Bohs 3-1 winners. In Bray, the Rovers fans beseeched referee Alan Kelly to blow up with a cacophony of whistles of their own. Alan Mannus had to make one final save but the referee blew up after what seemed the longest few minutes ever of injury time. The Hoops had waited 16 years to win the league but they had to wait no longer.
Rovers fans swarmed onto the pitch to celebrate with the players. Fans embraced each other with tears streaming down their faces. After all the ups and mostly downs since the last league title in 1994, this meant so much to the Shamrock Rovers fans. Nobody ever said winning the league would be easy but Rovers had managed to do it the very hard way. After 36 games, just two goals separated them from Bohemians at the end of the season.
There was a chaotic trophy presentation on the pitch. Surrounded by thousands of Rovers fans, captain Dan Murray managed to get his hands on the trophy alongside Stephen Rice to lift the coveted trophy to the backdrop of confetti and flares. In the melee that followed with fans swarming the podium, Pat Flynn was cracked over the head with the trophy, cutting his head open with blood flowing down his face. It was champagne though that flowed in the Rovers dressing room when they eventually got there.
Stephen Rice
The trophy presentation was poor but if you had to present me that league trophy in hell with fire and demons running around me, I would have taken it! It was crazy stuff. It was a massive night for the club and all of us players. It is something that we will never forget. It was incredible that some of the young fans out in Bray that night weren’t even alive when we won the last title.
Gary Twigg
What a night. If anybody says to me what is your best night playing for Shamrock Rovers, well the answer is that is the best night. That night will never be beaten for me, that was pure emotion.
The league trophy ready to be presented on the pitch in Bray
Trevor Croly
My daughter was at the game with my mam and dad, and I wanted to stand and watch the presentation with her. I had her in my arms and I just watched the guys. I just wanted to see the lads get their reward. It was an emotional night, one of those special moments in your life.
Justin Mason
It was mayhem but who cares. It was brilliant. There was a guy in a wheelchair in front of us and he was trying to get on the pitch with two of his mates. We came down and lifted the wheelchair over the wall so he could get on the pitch! I thought Pat Flynn had head butted the trophy because he is that mad. I didn’t realise it was accidental!
Buzz O’Neill
We went into a pub in Bray and what struck me was that it was all the same faces who had been in those meetings in the Plaza Hotel back in 2005, who had gone to the High Court hearings, who had been in Cobh back in 2006 [when Rovers won the first division]. A friend was there with her Dad and I started hugging her Dad and she was saying, ‘oh, by the way Dad, this is Buzz’. Never met the man before in my life! We limped over the line to a degree but when they engrave the League of Ireland trophy it doesn’t say ‘won it by one goal’, it just says ‘champions’.
Match Facts
Two or more teams had finished level on points at the top of the table five times before in League of Ireland history. Shelbourne had a superior goal difference to Derry City in 2006 and three titles were decided by playoffs, including Cork Hibernians’ 3-1 win over Shamrock Rovers in 1970/71.
15 Rovers players won the first League of Ireland medal of their careers that night. In the modern era, seven players have won the Premier Division with three different clubs. All of them played with Rovers and, with the exception of Joseph Ndo and Colin Hawkins, they all won a title at Rovers – John Coady, Mick Neville, Paul Doolan, Neale Fenn and Gary O’Neill.
© Macdara Ferris and Karl Reilly / The Liffey Press (2013)
Tallaght Time, published by The Liffey Press, tells the remarkable tale of Shamrock Rovers’ recent history since the club moved to their new home told through the words of those closely involved; Rovers officials, players and fans. In depth interviews were carried out specifically for the book with a number of Rovers officials and players including Gary Twigg, Stephen Rice, Dan Murray, Trevor Croly, Stephen Kenny and Jonathan Roche amongst many others.
The book describes the many magical nights since the Hoops moved to Tallaght such as Cristiano Ronaldo making his debut for Real Madrid against Rovers; the visit of Alessandro Del Piero and his star-studded Juventus team and winning their first league title since 1994. The book also charts Rovers’ extraordinary 2011 European campaign including the never-to-be-forgotten win over Partizan Belgrade in Serbia and the trip to White Hart Lane.
The book is 320 pages in length with over 70 colour photos by club photographers Bobby Best and George Kelly and includes historical inserts and detailed appendices with results, appearances and scorers for all Rovers matches from 2009 to 2012.
Tallaght Time is available from the Shamrock Rovers megastore, online and in Easons, Reads and Dubray Books.
Where Eagles Dare? On tour with Stephen Grant
In 2005, Stephen Grant’s career was at a real cross road. It wasn’t simply a choice of whether the striker would stay with Shamrock Rovers or go to another League of Ireland club. He also had the chance to change careers from being a professional footballer to being a professional golfer and it was the set of golf clubs rather than a new football club that he went for. It was a brave move for the Birr native but his daring decision over the last number of years has led him to a place on the European Challenge Tour starting next month.
Last weekend Hoops Scene caught up with Grant, who is based in Florida most of the year, on a rare visit to Ireland. Grant had just returned from playing in Morocco. On Sunday, he was flying out for a couple of weeks practice in Portugal before his next tournament in France in May. Despite all this jet setting, Grant still retains a strong affinity for Shamrock Rovers. He not only follows the games on SRTV and Twitter (where is twitter handle is the apt @soccer2golf) but he is also a Shamrock Rovers club member.
“Ever since I was a kid, even down in Offaly, Shamrock Rovers was a big deal,” said Grant. “I played for Rovers on two occasions and that was a big part of my soccer life. I saw the opportunity with the 400 club to help give something back to the club. I felt that the club paid my wages and gave me good times and so I wanted to give back so I became a member. I always wanted to play for them and I was always really proud to play for them. It was amazing what the fans did taking over the club but the Rovers fans are hard-core. They love the club. It is a special club and we all know that.”
Grant was part of a special Rovers team that were the first League of Ireland team to win home and away in Europe in over twenty years. “It was a big night for the fans, the players and a big night for the club,” said Grant of the night he scored one of Rovers’ goals in the 2-1 away win over Odra Wodzislaw in 2003. This was during Grant’s second spell at Rovers following his return from Stockport where he had finished eighth in the Championship. “I really enjoyed my last couple of seasons at Rovers. I was playing really well and enjoying it. I scored against Bohs in a few big games too!”
Looking back though, Grant feels that those years were a missed opportunity for the club. “It was a team that probably unachieved,” admitted the former Ireland under 21 international footballer. “That was a really good side. We had a lot of good players. I always look back on that and I can’t believe we didn’t win anything. We got to the cup final but it was amazing to think that Rovers team didn’t win anything.”
“The season I retired was the season before they got relegated. I could see the writing on the wall at the club. I couldn’t see us doing anything at Rovers the way the investment was. I was out of contract and I was offered a new one. My choice was to stay on for another season of soccer but the way things were going I had a good opportunity to make a go at the golf as I was starting to get good.”
“Damien Richardson was manager at Cork City and they were in Europe and one of the best teams. He offered me a two-year contract with Cork City. I didn’t want to play for anyone else in the League of Ireland. I thought I’m going to play for Rovers or nothing. The golf was a big opportunity and that is why I retired from soccer.”
These days Stephen Grant, who works with the coaching team of Butch Harmon and his son, regularly tees it up at his new home club in Florida with top US PGA players like Major winner Keegan Bradley or Ryder Cup player Ricky Fowler. So do the golf professionals know he used to be a professional soccer player? “They do. They buzz off it too. They think it is great. The club I’m a member in over in Florida has a lot of top players who are members like Ricky Flower and Steve Marino. You get to play with them and see how you are and it is real good for your game.”
Grant has yet to see a game in Tallaght but, as he is based in Europe this summer, he hopes to get to a match here or maybe even link up with Rovers for a Champions League away game in Europe. “That would be sweet! I haven’t been to a game yet in Tallaght. In the last two years, I’ve been in Ireland maybe 22 days. When I finally get time at home, I will go to a game in the new stadium. When I first signed for Shamrock Rovers, Pat Byrne’s selling point for me as manager then was that we would be in the stadium next season!” That was in 1997!
Up until recently Grant was, like other former Shamrock Rovers players Karl Sheppard and Shane Robinson, watching Rovers games online through SRTV and he is disappointed that the FAI have asked for games not to be streamed online. “I was able to watch games online in Florida but I’ve been told now they are not allowed anymore. What is the idea of them not watching us to watch it?” questioned Grant.
It is clear that Grant is up to speed on all things Rovers and how the season is progressing under Stephen Kenny, a manager who tried to sign Grant when Kenny was at Longford Town. Grant was all praise for the man that plays in his old position at Rovers. “Twigg is a ridiculous goalscorer! He is like Tony Cousins who was an unbelievable. When you have an instinct like this guy, he is worth his weight in gold.”
It is Grant’s golfing instincts that will be put to the test over the next few months as he begins playing on the Challenge Tour, the second tier of professional golf in Europe. Grant missed out on the final qualifying school tournament for a card on the main European Tour by two shots last year but is hoping that a good performance on the Challenge Tour will avoid the requirement of going to Q school later on in the year. “The top 25 on the order of merit at the end of the season gets their full European card. I’ve got a tournament on the challenge tour on the 10 May in France. That is my first real big tournament of the season. The season starts from here for me.”
Published in Hoops Scene Issue 6 2012 (Shamrock Rovers v Derry City, 27 April 2012)
Glass looking forward with Rovers
Sitting beside Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Kenny in the dug out tonight will be his number two Stephen Glass. Glass answered Kenny’s call when the new Rovers boss came looking for an assistant manager to work alongside him with the Hoops for the 2012 season. The pair worked together when Kenny was in charge of Scottish side Dunfermline.
“I was a player under him so I got to know him,” said Glass when he recently spoke to Hoops Scene, “but that was a player to manager relationship. He saw enough that he thought he could work with me in the future. He knew my character and was willing to bring me on board. When you are working for the biggest club in Ireland, you want to get it right. It is a good sign for me that he wanted to bring me in.”
It was just last season that Glass hung up his playing boots after a lengthy career that began in Scotland and included spells in Premier League with Newcastle and concluded in America. His playing CV includes a couple of trophy wins, an appearance in an FA Cup final at Wembley and an international cap with Scotland. So does the man from Dundee have a career highlight? “The biggest thing I did was winning a trophy with Aberdeen,” said Glass about his man-of-the-match performance in the 1995 Scottish League Cup final. “Anytime you win something it is got to be highlight. We won the championship last year in America and that was a good way to go out.”
The focus at Shamrock Rovers this year is not to sit back on last season’s Airtricity League and Europa League success but build on it and that was an attitude that Glass had during his playing career. “I was never one for looking back and saying that was great,” said the 35 year old. “I just enjoyed doing what I was doing at the time. I had great experiences playing with good players, playing with good clubs and playing in front of a lot of people.”
It was with the Carolina Railhawks in America that Glass ended his playing career on a high. The Railhawks last season won the North American Soccer League (NASL), the level just below Major Soccer League. So how did the move come about to play in the NASL, a league that includes teams from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico?
“A mate of mine Greg Shields, from when I played at Dunfermline, had gone over to play there. The manager was a Scottish fellow called Martin Rennie. He knew of me and he started asking Greg about me and it escalated from there. I was out of contract and nobody was taking a chance on me. I went over to America for two weeks to get myself fit. The manager kept me in mind over the winter as their season plays the same way as Ireland. I went to Hibs over winter and trained with them to stay fit. I believed I could still play for another year and I managed to it so it was worth it.”
The decision to switch from playing to coaching was an easy one for Glass to make and it is been a decision he is happy he made. “I’m really enjoying it.,” said Glass about his new coaching role. “It was something I was hoping to get into. I was going to retire regardless, it was time. Your body tells you when its time to retire and my body was telling me! I hurt my hip towards the end of my time in America. If I trained on it there was a possibility that I would need an operation. I wasn’t willing to go through that for later life. I already have had three knee operations on each leg, so the wise thing was to stop before any big damage was done. I was waking up sore every morning and grinding through training.
“I got this opportunity to come to Rovers and I couldn’t have hoped for it to go better. It has worked out really well, working with the manager and the other staff that he has brought in.” There were a few familiar faces in the Rovers camp in addition to his former manager Stephen Kenny. “I half knew a few players from before which makes things easier. I played against Gary Twigg in a friendly game and Craig Sives was with Hearts when I was playing with their rivals Hibs. I’m enjoying the work and I’m enjoying the response so far.”
Glass’ time at Rovers has seen him coach a team competing at the top of the league and playing in front of large crowds. Rovers have played in front of close to 5,000 fans at each of the home league games to date including the delayed kick off against Shelbourne due to crowd congestion. Rovers also sold out their 1,000 away ticket allocation in Inchicore last Friday but the less said about that result the better! “For myself it is good to coach at this level in front of big crowds but for the players it is great. When the referee comes in and tells you that the game is going to be delayed five or ten minutes, they know why it is delayed. They know there is a big number coming there to watch them and to be fair it’s a majority of Rovers punters. It isn’t because someone is bringing that big an away support. It is because we are bringing big numbers in and that is home and away from what I’ve seen. We got that 94th minute equaliser (away to Cork City) and it makes that trip a lot more worthwhile for fans. Hopefully the lads will keep giving them plenty more to keep them coming back.”
Rovers have made good progress in the Leinster Senior Cup (against Bohemians) and in the Setanta Sports Cup (against Cliftonville) but have required penalties in both competitions to move on. Kenny and Glass have been utilising the full squad in these competitions plus the EA Sports Cup and this has helped integrate the new players with the full squad. “Sometimes a penalty win, like we had in Belfast, can be great for team spirit and the group. The two penalty shootouts Oscar (Jannson) has done really well and saved a good number of them.”
“All the new lads will be looking to contribute and get accepted by the group and the public in general – to show that they deserve to be a Shamrock Rovers player.
The manager brought in seven or eight players so it is never going to be easy to get that group together. Obviously last season was a great success so by changing the group too much there can be danger there. But we think we’ve got it right with what we’ve brought in. You can see the spirit is there already. Winnings bring spirit, we are growing and getting better.”
Published in Hoops Scene 5 (Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk/Derry City, April 2012)
Kenny pleased with second half comeback
http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/7907/
Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Kenny had to be satisfied with a point from their game with Bray Wanderers in the Carlisle Grounds on Friday night. Rovers had a very poor first half and found themselves 2-0 down at the break. However, in a much-improved second half, they scored two and could have claimed a winner.
The visitors might have been going in at half time just a goal down as, just before the break, Gary Twigg earned a penalty for the Hoops. Darren Quigley saved Twigg’s penalty before Billy Dennehy put the ball in the net on the rebound. But referee Paul McLaughlin ruled it out to the confusion of many in the ground.
Speaking to extratime.ie after the game, Stephen Kenny was able to confirm that a free out was “given for encroachment” by a Rovers player. If Twigg had scored with that encroachment, the rules state the penalty would have to have been retaken. As the penalty was missed, the referee was correct in awarding a free to Bray.
The supporters on the night spent much of half time discussing these penalty infringement rules but Stephen Kenny was plotting with his team how they could turn around the two-goal deficit. Kenny asked for his team to step up physically, especially in midfield, and they responded with a much better performance in the second half
“The midfield area was problematic in the first half,” admitted Kenny, “but in the second half it was much much better. We had to believe in ourselves and be physically stronger. I felt we had the capacity to get back into the game as we have the ability to score goals and create chances. We were much stronger in the second half.”
Additional strength was provided by second half substitute Daryl Kavanagh who played a key part in both of Shamrock Rovers goals. Just after the hour mark Kavanagh replaced Gary O’Neill who had taken a knock to his ankle. Having scored his first goal for the Hoops in last week’s 6-0 win over Dundalk, Kavanagh first got a touch to play the ball into Ronan Finn for Rovers’ opener. He then held off a couple of Bray challenges in midfield before sliding a ball through to Gary Twigg who got the equaliser eight minutes from time.
“Daryl had a good energy and gave us a good impetus,” said Kavanagh’s manager. “He did well for us getting us back into the game. The two goals we got were outstanding goals but the disappointment was that we couldn’t get the third goal that we needed.”
Shamrock Rovers now face into back-to-back games against Derry City. The Hoops travel to the Brandywell on Monday night for the second leg of the Setanta Sports Cup semi-final 3-0 down after the first leg. They will then play Derry again, this time at home, in the Airtricity League as Stephen Kenny faces the team he managed last year. “We’ve got Derry on Monday and Friday. Monday is a tall order. Friday is a big one as we need to get back to winning ways in the league.”
The beautiful game - Blog by Macdara Ferris 