Jamie Hollywood - With the run-in we had and the form we had built up as well, it was difficult to take

Like many of his like-minded young acquaintances plying their trades in the First Division, Jamie Hollywood is one who has enjoyed a breakout year in 2018 and he has a name to match his star performances. 

Having struggled to initially break into Neale Fenn’s starting XI at Longford Town, the 21-year-old rose to prominence in a commanding midfield performance against Shamrock Rovers in the EA Sports Cup Second Round at Tallaght Stadium. 

With his season being cruelly cut short by injury in August, just before De Town’s First Division Playoff push, Hollywood caught up with extratime.ie as the Crumlin native spoke on the difficulties of getting back to full fitness and also on his year gone by.   

The 17thof August will always hold a significance in the career of Jamie Hollywood. Once of Bohemians, and previously of Drogheda United, Hollywood suffered, unknowingly, a season ending injury. 

With a Playoff assault in the pipeline, the man who scored the winner in a FAI Cup First Round win over Sligo Rovers the week’s previous, had to sit out the remainder of a rollercoaster season for De Town. 

“It’s tough,” was the blunt assessment from the Irish Colleges and Universities International on having to sit out a crucial stage of Longford Town’s season. 

“With the run-in we had and the form we had built up as well, it was difficult to take. After the game against Galway we had everything back in our hands and the last thing I wanted to do was be sitting in the stands watching the lads play. 

“At the time I didn’t know I had chipped a bone in my knee, so I always had it in my head thinking I could get back in time for the Playoffs if the lads kept on the run they were on.

“When I knew I had to get surgery it was tough but then we ended up missing out on the Playoffs, so it wasn’t to be unfortunately.

“I’ll be side-lined for three or four months with it, but I’ll be just about back in time for pre-season training.”



However, on the whole, 2018 was a year to remember for the 21-year-old. Having come through the ranks at Bohemians, this season was his first real taste of regular League of Ireland football when the former Crumlin United schoolboy scored three goals and made 15 appearances for De Town. 

“I started off by not having a great pre-season with college football getting in the way of things but once I got into the team, I enjoyed it. 

“It was a good dressing room, but it was disappointing the way it ended for us. We dropped a lot of points needlessly and that kind of put a bit of a dampener on it and we obviously would’ve wanted a better end to the season.”

Many brothers and even father and son combinations have graced the League of Ireland. 2018 saw the arrival of the Hollywood clan onto the stage. 

While Jamie was in the midst of a promotion push for De Town, his brother Glen made his debut for Bray Wanderers in the Premier Division. 

“Glen is 17 years of age and he’s already in and around the first team of Bray. My advice to him was that not every 17-year-old gets the chance to be in the first-team set-up.



“When I was at Bohs Under 17’s it was unheard of for 17 and 19-year olds to get a chance in the first-team. It’s a lot different now there of course but I just told him not to take it for granted and work extra hard to try and be there next year. 

“Hopefully Gary Cronin will take a liking to him working hard and Glen will still be around the first-team next year.”

Having played Third Level football for a few seasons now, the final year student of Sports Management and Coaching in IT Blanchardstown is well versed to what it takes to play at college football. 

“I enjoy playing Third Level.” Hollywood said. “It is very competitive. Especially for the times like now if I wasn’t injured, I’d be playing and keeping myself ticking over with College football. 

 “There’s a lot of good players and plenty use it as a way to get noticed as we all know the gap between 19’s and senior League of Ireland football is huge.

“It gives a lot of them an extra chance, I know a lot more managers are coming to games. Even going to play in the University Games in Taiwan doesn’t go unnoticed.”

The Dubliner spoke about the prospects of an under 23 League of Ireland division;  

“Something has to be done, 100%. The talks is on Under 13’s League of Ireland teams which will build all the way up to 19’s but then what happens after that. 

“A lot of players are going to fall through the net, we’re kind of all bringing them up to let 80 or 90% of the players down. The sooner we can get the likes of senior players coming down, maximum of two or three to help lads at 19’s get experience the better.” 

By the time Hollywood returns to competitive League of Ireland action it will be six months since he kicked a ball under the lights. 

Coupled with his injury, the wait is even more agonising. With players, managers and club volunteers alike all annoyed in unison about the long break, the former Irish underage international revealed that he is itching to get back to action for the 2019 season.  

“I’m itching to get back at it because I’ve been out for a while but normally you would say take a week or two weeks off for a break but after a couple of days, speaking for myself personally, I need to get back doing something. 

“During the off-season last year, I went off and trained with my local side Crumlin United. I can’t seem to sit still and always want to get out of the house. I enjoy training, I always want to train, and I think it’s far too long as an off-season.”     

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