SO MUCH ABOUT THE GAME HERE EXCITES ME
KEVIN DOHERTY remembers his playing days when he marked future internationals in Kevin Doyle, Daryl Murphy and Keith Fahey.
He recalls Seamus Coleman breaking through, knowing he had the class to play in a major championship.
And he was a team-mate of Joseph Ndo and Wes Hoolahan who each did the same thing, Ndo in the 2002 World Cup, Hoolahan at Euro 2016.
Now a manager, Doherty believes the league is in its best health since that brief golden era between 2004 and 2006, when all those stars shone. He said: “We have come a long way. Back when it was a 12-team Premier Division, you always had at least four or five part-time sides in it. “Now there is one – us. Yet we have shown what we can do. We have beaten Rovers, have beaten Derry, the top two teams in the country.
“Cork, in ninth, also beat Rovers, who remain the benchmark because of the fact they have won three in a row and made progress in Europe.
“The best way of putting this is to simply say this is a great league to be involved in now.
“People seem to know about it, more matches are on free-to-air TV than there have been in years, there seems to be a buzz about it. As a manager you want to be here. It’s exciting, it’s progressive, it’s brilliant.”
And stressful.
Doherty’s Drogheda have been superb this year, more than capable of punching above their weight.
And yet the shadow of relegation lurks over them. Currently eighth, just two points separates them from Cork in ninth.
And ninth of course requires a team to go through a relegation play-off which ordinarily wouldn’t be a problem for a Premier Division team until you remember that the First Division has also had an injection of cash recently.
Doherty (above) said: “Teams like Waterford and Galway would have finished mid-table in the Premier Division four or five years ago.
“They’ve spent impressively – which is great for the league.
“So much about Irish football excites me now. There are so many good, young players here.
“When I made my league debut for Shels 22 years ago, I was 21 and was considered a kid. My name was always prefixed that season with the word ‘young centre-half’ Kevin Doherty.
“Now a 21-year-old could have amassed 100 games in our league. So many good players are emerging.”