MARCUS CAVAROLI
WHETHER or not Drogheda United qualify for the promotion play-offs, rookie manager Tim Clancy has done well this year with the hand he’s been dealt.
However, it’s quite ironic that the man who was originally offered the job is the one who now looks like leading UCD to the First Division title - after their victory over his home-town club Drogheda.
Collie O’Neill (pictured below right), who lived his entire childhood barely a mile away from the Windmill Road, was in the away dugout on Friday night but admitted that he gave serious consideration to succeeding Pete Mahon in the Drogheda hot seat last December.
In the end it all came down to practicalities as O’Neill - now resident in Churchtown in south Dublin - decided he couldn’t combine family life and his commitments to full-time employer Microsoft with the time required to manage a club based one hour up the M50 and M1.
‘I was really close [to taking the Drogheda job] because of my family ties obviously,’ O’Neill reflected in the aftermath of UCD’s crucial win on Friday night.
‘I’m originally from Glenmore Drive, grew up there and only really moved out when I was 18 when I finished school in St Oliver’s and moved to Dublin, so I spent all my childhood here.
‘I was in looking at the photo of my grandfather which is still there on the wall [in the clubhouse]. My dad was here as well, so I have big family ties to the place and there’s not many places I want to manage.
‘Here is one of them. It just has a homely feel to it. Maybe one day!
‘I didn’t come to United Park as a child. My dad was involved with Home Farm at the time, so I would have went to all the Home Farm League of Ireland games and followed them around the place.
‘That didn’t give me much time to come here and watch Drogheda, but of course I still have a soft spot for them. It’s my home town and my brother still lives out in Collon, My cousins, aunties and uncles are still here, so I have big ties to the place.’
Reflecting on his side’s victory on Friday night, O’Neill agreed that the double whammy Drogheda suffered just before half-time was the crucial period in the game.
‘We were doing well up to that point, but it was a big, big minute between the sending-off and then scoring the goal,’ O’Neill responded.
‘With the way we play, the longer it went in the second half the more comfortable we were going to get because of that possession-based style of football. ‘It in was the end comfortable omfortad and we just want ant the next game me now - the e Cup game e [against Waterford] this week is a bit of a distraction - and we e would play probably it [league aague game] tomorrow rrow if we could. ‘We’re almost over the line, but it’s still not an easy ask, especially when the next one is Finn Harps.’ Drogheda were thoroughly deflated after the heavy defeat, feat,defeat, but O’NeiO’Neill insisted they are ccapable of resurrecresurrecting their play- playand and off he hopes would like nothing momore than to see the BoBoynesiders ersBoynesiders back in the top flight with UCD next seasseason.
‘Of course they havhave the quality ityquality to come back from this,’ he responded. ‘It’s in their own hands because Longford is the next game and on their day they are capable of beating anybody. They’ve beaten Shamrock Rovers and they’ve had some really, really big results.
‘Tim [Clancy] and Kevin [Doherty] have been great at their jobs and it’ll be up to them to regroup and go again.
‘Of course I’d like to see Drogheda going up. I think Premier Division football is vital for the people of this town. When the club is doing really well they come out and support them and get behind them.
‘When you look at the First Division at the moment, if I could pick two teams going up it would be ourselves and Drogheda.’