By Aaron Cawley (@TheMoanyOne)
I did something this weekend that I haven’t done for an age, I sat down and watched a Republic of Ireland international match.
It’s not something I would normally do, not because I’m not proud to be Irish, no it’s my own personal way of protesting against John Delaney and his lack of interest in his problem child, the League of Ireland.
After watching 43 minutes of the game, I’m glad I don’t watch the Ireland team play on a regular basis.
The standard of football at times was under 10’s level. Players continuously misplacing or mistiming passes. Professional players not being able to control the simplest of passes was shocking and in today’s footballing world, unforgivable.
After the game finished I quickly turned over the channel to Planet Earth 2, at least watching that I knew I was guaranteed some sort of excitement.
I found myself feeling sorry for those fans who had travelled far and wide to watch that dross at the Aviva.
But, I also found myself getting angry with them. Fans will travel the length and breath of the country to attend the Aviva but won’t travel a short distance to watch a League of Ireland match.
Speaking of the League of Ireland, after watching Martin O’Neill’s team struggle against a shite Austria side, I asked myself the question; why aren’t there more players from the League of Ireland getting call ups to the national team.
It seems that if you want to play for Ireland, you have to secure a move across the Irish Sea firstly.
As I watched the misplaced passes, the snap shots on goal, the pure confusion at times in the Ireland team, I couldn’t help but wonder how different things with be with say a Kieran Sadlier type player playing in that team or a Patrick Mc Eleney playing or a Seani Maguire. At least with those players you know what you’re going to get. Blood, sweat and tears for the cause.
With Maguire moving to Preston in July, I fully expect to see him called up to the national team next season and follow in the footsteps of Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle, making their international debuts a couple months after moving from a League of Ireland club.
To be honest I was surprised that Maguire wasn’t in the squad over the last few weeks, he is the player who deserves it the most at the moment.
Brian Kerr’s comments about him having to prove himself at a higher level, is to me, bullshit and an insult to the league, he claims to support.
Yes the standard of some clubs in the League of Ireland isn’t great, but Maguire has shown this season so far that he’s capable of scoring against the best teams and the worst teams in the league and has an eye for goal.
I think it’s high time that the Irish national team start to take more notice of what’s on offer in the League of Ireland and that the FAI make a serious effort to keep young, talented, Irish players, playing in their domestic league instead of letting them move across the water for their dreams to be smashed before their careers even start.
Until this happens, Ireland are, in my opinion, going to always be the nearly men. Qualifying for the odd competition and the only thing people remember is the fans and not the performances on the pitch.