On the fourth of August, a League of Ireland selection will take on Manchester United Football Club in the new stadium at Lansdowne Road. Before we go further, that’s what we call it around here. Lansdowne Road.
The day after this, Shamrock Rovers will take on Juventus on Italian soil, in a crucial competitive match. Juventus and Manchester United, two football giants no doubt. Unlike the Shamrock Rovers side taking on Juventus however, the League of Ireland selection are playing for nothing. They’ve never really trained together before this, they play for a wide variety of teams. They’re not a team themselves, and they’ve been chucked together for a glory friendly. To be frank about things, this isn’t the best time either.
Why? Look at the League table. Bohemians, Saint Patrick’s Athletic, Shamrock Rovers and more besides stand a very realistic chance of lifting the League. So far, it’s been rollercoaster stuff, with nobody running away with it and surprises and upsets coming in thick and fast. In the midst of this, I’ve heard this game referred to in the media on multiple occasions now as a ‘pre-season friendly’. This is not a pre-season friendly for us. This is a match that couldn’t be timed much worse in truth.
Tickets for the match are going for mad money, far more than one would pay on any Irish gate on a Friday night. In fact, they’re going for far more than Shamrock Rovers are seeking in Tallaght Stadium this week for their Europa League clash. I don’t begrudge any youngster who wants to see Manchester United the right to do so, in fact I went along to their match with Shelbourne back in 2002 as a youngster (Spot-any-lad-you-can-name that night), but from the FAI this is all the more bizarre considering the refusal of the Limerick FC request to play Barcelona in Limerick, something which the organisers claimed would have done wonders for the county. The logic behind not granting that friendly was the fact League of Ireland matches were being played on the night in question. The matches? Dundalk would visit Sligo Rovers, while Athlone Town would welcome Waterford United. Neither match, if you know your geography, was taking place in Limerick.
I won’t be there. I hope some of the youngsters who go along are encouraged to follow a local club afterwards, but beyond that I can see nothing coming from this one. The FAI should really be asking itself why the highest gate of any Dublin team will always be the so-called ‘pre-season’ clash with an English side, and then realise that events like this will not help the situation.
Sporting Fingal at home last Sunday meant more, and very little could mean less.
The League of Ireland selection for the match with Manchester United:
Gary Rogers: St Pats
Gerard Doherty: Derry City
Brian Shelley: Bohemians
Ger O’Brien: Sporting Fingal
Ken Oman: Bohemians
Gavin Peers: Sligo Rovers
Conor Powell: Bohemians
Conor Kenna: St Pats
Paul Keegan: Bohemians
Shaun Williams: Sporting Fingal
Alan Kirby: Sporting Fingal
Joseph Ndo: Sligo Rovers
Richie Ryan: Sligo Rovers
Stephen O’Donnell: Galway United
Killian Brennan:Bohemians
Paddy Madden: Bohemians
Karl Sheppard: Galway United
Ryan Guy: St Pats
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