Innovator Buckley leaves lasting impression
ERECTING statues or naming stands after club legends is not really the done thing in the League of Ireland, but it would be remiss of anyone with a grá for the domestic game not to acknowledge the impact Liam Buckley made. Not just as manager of St Patrick’s Athletic, but for football in this country. Perhaps the owners of McDowell’s, Tavey’s or the Black Lion, three pubs within a Killian Brennan killer pass of Richmond Park, will consider naming an area in the bar after the club’s most successful boss. He certainly provided enough nights of celebration over the last seven years for it to be considered. Buckley’s resignation this week came at the right time. The club have slipped well behind pace setters Dundalk and a change was needed. But the 58-yearold departs having altered the perception of how success can be achieved in the Premier Division. He re-shaped the thinking of coaches, rivals and players. Nice guys do finish first and they can do it producing even nicer football. Not that Buckley didn’t have an edge himself or expect his players to. At their very best, his sides had the perfect blend of guile and tenacity. ‘Club chairman Garrett Kelleher would like to thank Liam for his numerous successes during his time here and in particular for bringing his brand of free flowing and passing football to St Pat’s, which has brought much entertainment and enjoyment to those who witnessed it,’ a St Pat’s statement read on Tuesday. For Buckley’s first spell in charge at Richmond Park — where he also won a league title as a player — Pat Dolan handed him the keys to the castle and Buckley added to those firms foundations to make it back-to-back championships in 1999. He was sacked the following year but found his way back to Emmett Road in 2012. A year later St Pat’s won the Premier Division with a team moulded in his image. They produced scintillating displays of courage and skill in possession. They were a hardnosed bunch, too, although the ever-scowling Anto ‘Bisto’ Flood showed his soft side when he netted the goal to clinch the league five years ago and proceed to hold aloft a delighted young supporter who made his way onto the pitch. It remains one of the enduring images of the Buckley era but, yet, the one that will be recalled most fondly by many came a season later when the Saints ended a 53-year wait for the FAI Cup by beating Derry City 2-0 at Aviva Stadium. ‘And Brian Kerr is in tears,’ RTÉ commentator George Hamilton blurted out about his colleague next to him, a dyed-in-the-wool Saint, when Christy Fagan sealed the triumph. They were tears of joy and there were many more who shared in that emotion. Successive EA Sports Cups followed in 2015 and 16 and while the previous two campaigns (including a close shave with a first-ever relegation in the club’s history last year) were disappointing, Buckley departs having made a lasting impression as an innovator who helped revitalise the League of Ireland.