It’s not always a dog’s life for fans Thrilling clash in Shillelagh
‘AND THEY call it puppy love.’
Despite compelling evidence to the contrary as a Donny Osmond song rattles through my brain, no, I haven’t completely taken leave of my senses.
There’s a valid excuse for my musical sins as we brought a furry new addition into the house as a birthday gift for my daughter and, considering I do the lion’s share of my work from home, the task falls to me to keep the little devil company while the rest of the family are out in the wide world.
His big, bright eyes are staring at me longingly, looking for attention as I desperately try to divide my time between actually getting a bit of work done and tickling him playfully behind the ears.
Luckily for him, it’s quite easy to turn heads when you’re cute as a button, but for others who can’t rely on their charm factor, it can be much more of a hard sell.
League of Ireland football constantly finds itself in that position, always striving for attention but only managing to lure in a small, but reliable, niche following.
All that changed briefly, as the domestic league had its moment in the sun at the weekend thanks to Jordan Flores’ stunning strike for Dundalk in the battle of the heavyweights against Shamrock Rovers on Friday evening.
In what was undoubtedly a rehearsed move, Michael Duffy drilled in a pacy corner from the right and Flores met it perfectly to arrow an unstoppable volley to the roof of the net.
Dundalk may have worked on it on the training ground, but to pull it off in the white heat of battle was unbelievable. The execution was perfection itself, and the agility the Wigan-born midfielder illustrated to reach the height required to get his foot over the ball to direct it to the net was a beauty to behold.
The fact that a moment of sheer brilliance was captured on live television was a marketing dream for the League of Ireland, as, instead of the usual single camera, the goal could be viewed from different angles and RTE were able to share the footage with TV stations around the world, giving the league more exposure than ever before.
Of course, building on that 15 minutes of fame is more difficult than forcing your way into the limelight in the first place and getting the public on board will always be a tricky ask, although the record near-capacity crowd of 7,522 that attended Tallaght Stadium on Friday night is a sure sign that the appetite is there given the right conditions.
Apart from that moment of pure magic, the game itself was easily the best I watched over the weekend, surpassing anything from across the water for sheer drama, with no shortage of skill for good measure.
The performance of Shamrock Rovers in fighting back for victory thanks to a beautifully-taken Jack Byrne winner may have been overshadowed by the Flores wonder goal, but the Hoops really look like they’re in it for the long haul this time around.
The season may be in its infancy, but you sense that the Dubliners won’t fall away like they did last term and we could be in for a riveting title battle as they really put it up to the champions.
As enjoyable as Friday’s match was, anybody that was entertained sufficiently to try out a League of Ireland game for the first time next weekend probably shouldn’t expect the same level of entertainment. If they go hoping for similar fireworks, they could end up feeling more let down that one of the helium balloons that are sadly wilting a few days after my daughter’s birthday celebrations.
As somebody who has spent a good bit of time in the stands for ordinary League of Ireland fare, I can assure you it can be a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the downright ugly, but no matter what the standard, it’s generally a step up from watching some faraway team on the box.
A bit like a new puppy, those who have been bitten by the bug have an unconditional love for League of Ireland football and keep coming back for more no matter how many times they’ve been heartbroken or let down.
Your spanking new runners, that you foolishly left lying around, may have been chewed to within an inch of their life, but one gaze into those big brown eyes and you’re won over again.
As with your new canine pal, the initial infatuation might subside somewhat with time, but as the dog grows he becomes a vital cog in your family life and a foil from the stresses and strains of modern existence. Not too dissimilar from Friday night football.
SHILLELAGH UNITED ASHFORD ROVERS 1 1
SHILLELAGH UNITED and Ashford Rovers served up an absolute belter of a game in the U12 Premier Division last weekend.
The home side opened the scoring through Scott Dixon but in the second half Ashford struck back with a Jack Conyard rocket to level matters after good work from Max Free and Stellan Frost.
Brendan O’Brien, Seanie McLarnan, Michau Piecha and Noah Cullen were best for Shillelagh.