Sligo Rovers vs Bray Wanderers: Match Report/Review

Bray Wanderers headed back home on Saturday evening pleased with their days work. Following three straight defeats and losing arguably their best defender to Reading, they pulled a performance out of nowhere and managed to leave The Showgrounds with a point in the bag following their 1-1 draw.

Both sides will feel they could have claimed all three points. Bray's Dane Massey tweeted saying they were pleased with the point but felt they could have claimed all three. It was a very evenly matched game, I was certainly not expecting this to be a close fought contest.

Bray had an early penalty appeal when Kieran 'Marty' Waters was brought down as he attempted to power through the Sligo defence. Replays showed that it was, in fact a penalty but upon first viewing it looked like Joseph Ndo got a touch on the ball so it's understandable why the referee might not have been convinced. Jason Byrne also missed a chance that you would have put your mortgage on him scoring. Of all the players on the pitch he is the one man you would expect to score it. Unfortunately for the Wanderers he hit it straight down the middle at the legs of the 'keeper. Bray eventually took the lead through Byrne. Making them the first side to lead against Sligo at The Showgrounds since Shamrock Rovers in March 2010. Byrne pounced on an error from the Rovers' defence to slot in off the far post.

As I said already the game was relatively evenly balanced but for me, Sligo just about edged it. Danny North seemed to forget about the offside rule, and, if he timed his runs a bit better Bray would have been put to the word. Raffaelle Cretaro cut in from the left to unleash a superb effort towards the far top corner which cannoned off the upright. Gavin Peers got free very easily from two consecutive corners almost finding the net on both occasions. John Mulroy brilliantly cleared an attempt off the line when it look destined to find the top corner of the net. Mark Quigley and Pascal Millien came on and had an immediate impact. Quigley caused Bray many problems and it didn't take long for Sligo to find the net through Alan Keane. After that I felt there would only be one winner - Sligo. Thankfully The Seagulls held out to take a well earned point home with them.

To conclude I would say a draw was a fair result with neither team really doing enough to win it, Sligo will be disappointed not to have beaten Bray in a game they really should have been winning. Bray will be delighted with the draw and will look to build on it in their next game on Friday against Shelbourne.

Sligo Rovers vs Bray Wanderers: Match Preview

Bray face a stern challenge on Saturday afternoon as they head west to play league leaders Sligo Rovers.

Bray have been very poor since the mid-summer break. Losing three consecutive matches and conceding 9 goals in the process. Not only have Bray been losing of late, but they have not performed to an acceptable level since beating UCD 3-2 at home in the last game before the break. Unfortunately for Bray I can't see this Saturday being any different. You just need to look at the goals Cork scored last week and you will see that Bray's defending is identical to that of a schoolboys team.

On top of that, in the past week they have lost defensive rock - Pierce Sweeney, who signed for Reading. Sweeney has been, by far the outstanding performer in the Bray back four this season. Without him, they will really struggle. Adam Mitchell will most likely regain his defensive slot, having been unable to force his way into the squad after an injury despite being brilliant for The Seagulls last season. He really is being thrown back in at the deep end.

David Webster has been named as doubtful for the game due to a knee injury, further weakening the Wanderers' defense. Sean Houston is suspended due to reaching the yellow car limit.

Bray do, however have two new signings travelling to Sligo. Brendan King, a recent import from the United States is likely to feature at some point, with his family travelling over from the States for the match. Most recent signing Kevin O'Connor, brother of club captain Danny, will also be part of the squad. The club website says he "is likely to be involved at some stage on Saturday."

Sligo are on fire at the top of the league. With a win against the Wanderers they can extend their lead at the top to 7 points, at least for a day.

Jason McGuiness will miss the game through injury, making him the only player absent for Rovers. Alan Keane is once again available after his suspension and new boy Ryan Connolly could make his debut.

The Sligo attacking force will cause Bray a lot of problems. Quigley knows how to score against Bray, having tearing them apart on several occasions, most recently last season when Dundalk came to The Carlisle. Raffaelle Cretaro and Danny North are also capable of causing problems. Sligo have a lot of options, something that Bray certainly do not have.

I can only see this game going one way - Sligo win. I expect goals too, unfortunately, it's more than likely that most of them will come for Sligo. If I was to be pushed for a score prediction I'd have to say, (Bray fans look away now) 4-0 or 4-1.

Don't forget the match is live on RTE 2, kicking off at 3:45 on Sturday June 7th.

The Republic of Ireland: What change is needed?

The topic of the future of the Irish national team has been discussed almost to death of late, especially since the abysmal performance at the 2012 European Championships. Qualifying for the tournament gave the Irish people a sense of false hope. People who know nothing about football were jumping on the bandwagon and there was a suicidal belief that the team would qualify from their group. In reality, the Republic of Ireland are most certainly not in the top 16 teams in Europe. They were extremely lucky to qualify for the tournament and if I am going to be brutally honest if they got any draw other than Estonia they probably would not have qualified. Croatia, Czech Republic, Portugal and Bosnia and Herzegovina are all better teams. Turkey and Montenegro are probably on par with them, Estonia were the only side in the playoffs that I feel they could have beaten. Qualifying for the Euros overshadowed a lot of problems for the Irish team. Trapattoni didn't get the Irish to Euro 2012, drawing Estonia did. 

Since the shambolic exit from the Championships the public and media have been calling for wholesale changes. One man who has been the centre of attention is the man in charge - Giovanni Trapattoni. In a way the criticism is deserved. He is undoubtedly a great manager and you could say the Irish are lucky to have him but the system he insists on playing simply doesn't suit the Irish, in my opinion. There seems to be a real belief that Trapattoni is going to dramatically change his style and approach to the Irish team for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers. Why? I do not know. If you honestly think that he is going to make any drastic changes to the players, system and mentality then I'm sorry to say it but you are delusional. What evidence is there to suggest that he will change? None. Look back at the man's career as a manager. He is stubborn and has never changed in the past so why would he now? He has come under criticism with previous jobs for the exact same things and he didn't change, he instead responded to criticism by saying "If you want entertainment, go to La Scala" (the opera house in Milan.) His stubborn manner was most visible when Seamus Coleman was called up for the first time. There was a real sense of excitement among Irish fans but Trapattoni left him sitting on the bench for no apparent reason. This time will be no different, so get used to seeing Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan lumping the ball up the field with no real purpose other than getting the ball as far away from goal as possible. 

One major problem that I personally have with Trapattoni is that he seems to be sticking to his system despite not having the players to fit it. He selects the likes of Glenn Whelan despite having better players available who would prosper in a more adventurous formation. Players like Anthony Pilington, Wes Hoolahan, James McClean and even Keith Fahey would be much more effective if he would adopt a more attacking approach. I know Keith Fahey has played in this current system but having seen him for many years in the League of Ireland and in his time in England it is clear to me that he has a lot more than he is being allowed to offer. One baffling decision made by the Italian was when Fahey had to pull out of the squad for the European Championships and instead of calling up Wes Hoolahan (who is a very similar type of player) he opted for Paul Green, an unattached, waste of space in the Irish set up. His reason for overlooking Hoolahan on a regular basis is that "he doesn't fit the system", despite his style being almost identical to that of Fahey's.

Putting the system before the players is perfectly fine for the manager of a club team because in that situation players can be bought and sold to suit the system. In an international side, however, this is not the case. Your system must suit the players. You only have a limited group of players to select from and you cannot insist on playing a formation with a style that does not suit your best players. The system is not the only problem, the players he selects are also hugely responsible for the failure. Many players are well past their peak and should have been moved on some time ago.

I don't understand why this nationwide call for change is only happening now. It is not a new problem. Look back to 2009 to that infamous night in Paris when the Irish were denied a place at the 2010 World Cup not by the Henry handball, but by their inability to finish chances and defend properly. That handball was probably the worst thing to happen to Irish football because it gave people an excuse. That handball was not why Ireland didn't qualify for the World Cup. Even if that goal wasn't given Ireland were not going through, it would have been level. Damien Duff and Robbie Keane wasted chance after chance that night. If you're looking for someone to blame for not qualifying blame them and the defence, not Thierry Henry. Why did nobody clear the ball? Instead they allowed it to go over everybody and then stood and watched with their hands in the air as Gallas headed home from a yard out. Roy Keane said it at the time and received a lot of abuse, I don't know why, he was right. Even before this game in the game against Italy in Croke Park the defense was a disgrace. Sean St Ledger scored what looked to be a late winner but then the whole team just appeared to forget to defend. Italy instantly went down the other end and Alberto Gilardino scuffed in the equalizer.

The time for transition was at the beginning of the European Championship Qualifiers. Players could have been slowly integrated into the squad and by now they could be regulars. It didn't take place. It didn't even show signs that it would ever take place. Now, it has to. It cannot be put off any longer. The time for transition is now. Robbie Keane's international career is over. He rarely performs anymore and is getting into the squad purely because of his past. I appreciate everything he has done for this country and he has been a brilliant servant to the national team but that isn't enough to keep selecting him on a regular basis. He isn't needed anymore. He hasn't scored in the last 13 games he has played for Ireland and for the main striker that just is not good enough. There are plenty of alternatives. Players like Shane Long, Jonathon Walters and Simon Cox are all more than capable of replacing him without having a detrimental influence on the team. On top of his lack of ability, he is now living on the West Coast of America. Is it realistic for him to travel such a distance for one or two matches and be able to perform to the best of his ability while adapting to a new time zone? No, I don't think so. I would like to see him and Duff retire from international football so they can go out on their own terms. This way they avoid the humiliation of being exiled and they do deserve at least that due to their years of commitment for their country.

It is long overdue that Seamus Coleman becomes a regular fixture in the team. The full backs need to be given more freedom to go forward and attack. The two central midfielders need to be given a more advanced role if Trapattoni insists on playing 4-4-2. Players like Pilkington, Hoolahan, McClean and of course James McCarthy need to become regular players. Walters and Long in my opinion are the best two front men available, although Kevin Doyle might have something to say about that. Damien Duff also needs to step aside now and allow the likes of McClean to take his first steps into the side. 

To conclude, there are a lot of changes needed in the Irish team. The potential changes excite me. They could turn Ireland into an exciting team with a lot of flair. These changes need to take place as soon as the next squad is to be announced. I, along with many others would not pay a penny to see this current team play and the boring style and questionable selection is why I stopped going to the games. The unfortunate thing is I can't see change taking place under the current regime and think a new manager is needed to implement these changes. Why wait any longer?

Racism in Football: Why is it still alive?

It sickens me to see the issue of racism raising it's hideously ugly head yet again within the game of football. It's a strange problem in our game, as it seems to come back, appear to be solved, then a while later it returns again. Why is this? Are the people with power in football doing enough to permanently extinguish it from the game? Racism is obviously an issue which is above football. It is a problem with the most basic of human values. To discriminate against somebody because of their ethnicity makes no sense whatsoever. At the end of the day, we are all just flesh and bone. So why are there still so many brainless people in football? And why are they being allowed to paint a massive black dot over our beautiful game? 


The current European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine have brought this issue to the attention of everybody once more. Judging on various reports, most notably the Sky Sports special report, racism comes across to be a normal thing for football fans in these countries. I, however do not know enough about the issue there so I will not be going into detail with it.


The 'Lets Kick Racism Out Of Football' campaign seemed to be doing a good job. Everywhere you looked you would see advertisements for it. Be it in match programmes, on the side of the pitch, or even in football games such as Football Manager. I know there are still advertisements for it, but it seems to have dramatically faded. This should not have been the case. Racism is not an issue that you can highlight briefly and then sweep it under the carpet again. Eventually you have to deal with it properly. Another campaign that springs to mind is the 'Show Racism The Red Card' campaign. Every team had squad photos with most, if not all of the players holding up an enlarged red card with the campaigns title on it. This too seems to have disappeared. These campaigns should be running non stop. Whether racism is a current hot topic or not. The last time I saw either of these campaigns being advertised effectively was in the aftermath of the John Terry and Anton Ferdinand incident, Chelsea players wore the 'Kick it Out' t-shirts (Take note Liverpool). Even if these campaigns are still running, they are clearly not being promoted properly if I, and I'm sure many other people aren't even noticing them anymore. This part-time advertising of the problem is evident in my home league - the Airtricity League of Ireland. Whenever there is a player of a different ethnic background playing for an opposing team at my local stadium, an announcement condemning racial abuse is made. When there is not, there is no announcement. The announcement should be standard. Week in, week out. As it is, the only thing the announcement does is highlight the fact that there is a player of a different ethnicity playing in the match.


I posed the question in my opening paragraph asking are the people in power doing enough to tackle this plague on our game. Quite honestly, and perhaps controversially, I feel they are not. Racial issues are repeatedly met by underwhelming fines and strong words from UEFA. Words are not enough and as the old saying goes - "Actions speak louder than words." Clichéd , perhaps, but only because it's true. The fines they dish out would make you think that racism isn't actually as bad as we make it out to be. UEFA are treating it the way Irish people have treated problems for years with the mentality of "Ah, sure it'll be grand." This problem needs to be hit and hit hard. To imagine the force required to exterminate this problem, think back to when Adriano punched Marco Caneiro with both fists at the same time (Seriously, if you haven't seen that, look it up before you read any further.) 


If you ask me UEFA need to abandon the fines. They are ineffective anyway because they can not fine the respective associations enough that it will really make an impact on them. In previous years they have fined the Spanish association £45,000 in 2004, the Serbian association £16,000 in 2007 and the Croatian association £10,000 in 2008. The severity of these fines is really put into context when they fine Nicklas Bendtner £85,000 for revealing not an official UEFA sponsor. Why don't they implement a system where if a countries fans are caught engaging in racial abuse, they receive a points deduction. This might just be the only feasible solution. Russia were handed a suspended points deduction for their fans' violent behaviour in Poland. Why not go one step further and not make it not just a 'suspended' points ban for racism? If they are guilty, they must pay. 

An example of how poorly the issue is being treated was visible when Peter Odemwingie signed for West Brom from Lokomotiv Moscow of Russia. Lokomotiv fans held up a banner which read "Thanks West Brom" and had an image of a banana in the middle of it. This is appalling behaviour. Was any action taken? Not until the NIGERIAN Football Association wrote a letter to FIFA asking them to take disciplinary action. That really sums up how useless FIFA and UEFA are at combating it. The Nigerian FA had to step in to protect their countries player. Roberto Carlos recently had a banana thrown at him whilst playing for his club, Anzhi Makhachkala, also in Russia. He responded by walking off the field. He was visibly distraught as he left the field in tears. More players should respond in this way. If a player is suffering from racial abuse he should simply tell the referee who should then stop the game. If it does not stop, the game should be abandoned. There should be no tolerance.

Unfortunately, this disease is not only in the stands anymore. It has spread onto the field of play. In the last year there have been issues between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra, John Terry and Anton Ferdinand, and Emre and Didier Zokora. Didier Zokora responded directly to the alleged words of Emre by simply assaulting him the next time they faced each other. With no intention of playing the ball, Zokora ran and volleyed Emre's sensitive parts. Amazingly, Zokora held up his hand acknowledging what he did, yet he only got a yellow card. It really is remarkable.  (Another video worth checking out.)

The Suarez/Evra incident caused a lot of divided opinions. I can't begin to comprehend why. We all know the word Suarez used and I'm not about to repeat it here. He claimed, however that in Uruguay it is a "term of endearment". I'm going out on a limb here and saying that is complete and utter rubbish. He deserved a more severe ban than what he got in my opinion. I think the ban he received of 8 games was not enough. Compared with Joey Barton's 12 game ban for several acts of violent conduct, it isn't enough. I think it undermines the whole 'Kick it Out' campaign. I'm not saying for one second that Barton didn't deserve his ban, he definitely did. All I'm saying is that Suarez deserved one of equal severity, if not more severe.

I can't finish this piece without mentioning the John Terry/Anton Ferdinand incident. Nothing has been proven yet, so I'm not going to jump to conclusions. If Terry is found guilty, he too deserves a ban. If it was my decision he should receive a ban of a similar length to Joey Barton. This is unlikely though because the FA have handed out an inferior ban to Suarez as I said above. The John Terry trial is a strange one. I don't understand why he still hasn't gone to court with the issue. Why has it been allowed to drag on for this long? Another sign that maybe racial issues aren't seen as that important in the game. It should have been dealt with immediately, instead it is dragging on. It even caused controversy in the England squad. With Roy Hodgson being left in a situation where he couldn't really pick Terry and Anton's brother, Rio Ferdinand, so he had to chose one. The FA should have stepped in and removed John Terry from selection until the trial had been completed. This is another reason why the trial should have taken place a long time ago. Because the FA didn't lead by example, Hodgson had to make a decision. He opted for Terry, which proved controversial. However, Terry has performed admirably and has been one of England's best players thus far at the tournament, completely justifying his selection.

The issue of racism needs to be dealt with one way or another. My proposed solutions are just my opinion and obviously can be debated and argued. Feel free to comment and let me know how you think this problem should be solved.

Didier Zokora literally kicking racism out of football - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3iNHpZX_hg

Another look at Irish football fans.

I'm sure you're all aware of the phenomenal support shown by the Irish supporters throughout the group stage of the 2012 European Championships in Poland and The Ukraine. It cannot be argued that the support was admirable, I just want to raise the question: Why isn't it always like this?

It was spine-tingling to hear 'The Fields of Athenry' being sang loudly and proudly in Poznan and Gdansk, despite being 3-1, 4-0 and 2-0 down at the time. The national anthem was also roared with such pride it had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as a sat in my sitting room. The atmosphere from the stadium really did transfer through to myself and everyone at home - which is rare for a football match's atmosphere to be so clear when watching at home. The fans received a lot of press attention. The media jumped onto the support and Irish players often spoke of the brilliant atmosphere created by their fans. This glossed over a lot of on-field problems for the Irish, but I'm not going to discuss those problems (in this blog anyway, maybe another time.)

During the qualifying stage for the championships, the Irish support was poor. The attendances varied between 33'000 and 50'000. The one game that reached an attendance of 50'000 was the major game against Russia. This makes you wonder, who were the fans there for on that occasion? On more than one occasion there was only between 33'000 and 35'000 seats occupied in the 52'000 capacity stadium. This lack of supported was particularly highlighted during the Carling Nations Cup. The highest attendance seen for any of these games was 20'800 for the Republic of Ireland's clash with Wales. This is staggering when you consider that the domestic cup final attracted a crowd of 36'00 for a game between Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers. The League of Ireland is a very poorly supported league, yet the cup final still sold more tickets than a match in an international tournament that Ireland had a great chance of winning (which they did in the end.)

The Airtricity League of Ireland is an extremely poorly supported league. The title of 'Best fans in the world' that has been given to the Irish in recent days is extremely frustrating for this reason. If you were to visit any League of Ireland ground on a match day you will see that Irish fans are certainly not the best in the world. Far from it, in fact. My local team - Bray Wanderers would be happy to get 1'000 in the gate for a home game. Bray is a town of over 30'000 people, just outside Dublin. It is the only League of Ireland team in the county of Wicklow and is extremely accessible due to the road layout of the area. There is no excuse for attendances of this figure. It is shameful that in an area so passionate about sport and football in particular that attendances can be this low. It was not always like this for our domestic game, this is highlighted excellently in the book 'Who Stole Our Game? : The fall and fall of Irish soccer' by author Daire Whelan.

There is a huge following of the English football here in Ireland. I have nothing against this, I too support an English team but I also attend every game that my local team play. I do not support an English team at the expense of an Irish team. Sadly, many people do. If you were to visit Dublin airport in the early hours of a Saturday morning, you would find thousands of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Celtic jerseys. Thousands of supporters jetting off to see their favorite teams play. Unfortunately the support of the overseas leagues cannot be replicated in our own. I would imagine that more Irish fans visit their preferred English teams every weekend than many LOI teams get through their gates on a Friday evening. The league has attempted to tackle this problem. Everybody knows it cannot compete with the Barclays Premier League. The season runs from March to November, meaning the bulk of the season is played during the summer when the English teams are off on their holidays. Even for the time when the games overlap it isn't a problem because they are played on a Friday evening. What better way to end a week at work than to go and watch the football? The league has a bad reputation for having a poor standard of players and football in general. I do not necessarily agree with this belief. The likes of Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, Stephen Ward, Keith Fahey and more recently Seamus Coleman and James McClean all left the league to go on to becoming full internationals. A year ago James McClean was playing for Derry City, most Irish fans had never heard of him. Suddenly, he moves to Sunderland and the whole country wants him in the national team. Did he become world class on the plane to England? I don't think so. Much of his development as a player came from playing on a regular basis for a team in a competitive league. As far as the quality of football goes, I couldn't disagree more with the thought that it is poor. Teams like Sligo Rover, St Patricks Athletic and even minnows UCD play some brilliant football and are thoroughly enjoyable to watch.

The lack of support for domestic teams has unfortunately been catastrophic. Too many teams have faced severe financial problems in the recent history of the league and many teams have ceased to exist. Dublin City, Sporting Fingal, Galway United, Cobh Ramblers and even Cork City have all come to an end in the last ten years. Luckily, Cork City have reformed under a new name and are now back in the league and Cobh Ramblers are in the lower leagues of Irish football trying to fight their way back up to the top two tiers.  The most fascinating case, for me anyway was Monaghan United. Recently promoted to the Premier Division, half way through the season Monaghan pulled out of the league. They simply could not afford to go on. This happened on the very day that Ireland played in the European Championships. This was extremely hard to take for all of us who follow the league. It is madness to think that while Irish fans are being praised as the best in the world, a team in their own country has to pull out of the league. I obviously understand that supporters cannot solely be held accountable for a teams financial problems, but, with more support comes more money. 

To conclude, yes the support of the national team in the three games of the European Championships has been nothing short of sensational. Irish fans however have no right to accept the label as 'The Best in the World' when their regular support of the national team is extremely questionable and they allow their domestic league to rot away as it has been left to do.