A season in the extratime.ie press box

The League of Ireland returns next month with the league campaign kicking off in mid-February and extratime.ie will be there from first kick to last.

 

If you want to join our volunteer team, now is the time to get in touch with us. We are always on the look out for new talent, both writers and ‘snappers’ who are both passionate about their respective prose or photography and passionate about football in Ireland.

 

extratime.ie can give you the opportunity to cover all aspects of the game - the men’s and women’s national teams, the SSE Airtricity League and the Women’s National League, as well as the underage national leagues. 

 

So what is a season in the pressbox like? Well let me take you through a quick tour of last year from the perspective of this extratime.ie writer.

 

As well as covering matches, a press pass with us can get you a seat at the main football media events of the season. Last year they kicked off with Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane on hand to launch the league campaign in the Aviva Stadium – extratime.ie had three reporters at the event where we fanned out afterwards to talk to as many of the managers as we could.

 



 

 

Much of the football talk throughout last year revolved around the qualification quest for the World Cup – and we were there to follow both Martin O’Neill’s men and Michael O’Neill’s men with Russia 2018 proving to be just beyond the reach via the playoffs.

 

As well as being on hand for all the Republic of Ireland home games, we covered every Northern Ireland competitive game in Windsor Park in 2017. Highlights were the wins for the home team under cracking sunsets behind the Black Mountain in Belfast for games against Norway and the Czech Republic and seeing the World Champions Germany come to Belfast and impress in a 3-1 win.



 

 

 

Your intrepid extratime.ie reporter ventured into quite a number of diverse press boxes across the summer - braving the climb up the ladder to the scaffold press box in Derry City’s temporary home in Maginn Park to the plush surroundings of the Champions League Final in Cardiff. Some press conference are more interesting than others and I’ll be honest and say actually a Kenny Sheils press conference is more interesting that a Zinedine Zidane one!

 

We rebooted the extratime.ie sportscast during the year and that is a chance to not just write, but also talk about the beautiful game and more. We spoke with club managers and players, Irish internationals from both the men’s and women’s teams, and we even spoke to an Irish Olympian with Modern Pentathlete Natalya Coyle joining us for one of our ET Sportscasts.

 

 

 

In Cardiff in October, it was a do-or-die game for Ireland if they were to make the playoff. Scotland did Ireland a favour the evening before as a nervous press room watched online. The next evening there was an incredible a cappello rendition of Land of our Fathers by the Welsh fans but by the final whistle it was the Irish fans who were left singing after James McClean’s masterful strike for the winner.

 

 

 

The big rivalry in the league provided plenty of copy with Dundalk’s league dominance ended by Cork City who got over the line after they struggled with the departure of star striker Seanie Maguire to England. At the showpiece ending to the 2017 domestic season the Leesiders completed the double by lifting the FAI Cup.

 

There would be no joy for Ireland in November’s World Cup playoff. It all seemed so good for Ireland after the scoreless draw in the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen before Christian Eriksen scored as good a hat-trick as has been seen in the Aviva Stadium.

 

It meant there won’t be a World Cup with Ireland to look forward to next summer but there is still lots to cover in the domestic game in 2018 plus the…eh…excitement of the UEFA Nations League in the autumn.

 

There are loads of stories to be told and you could be the writer and photographer bringing those stories to life online.

 

extratime.ie is on the look out for new talent to join our volunteer reporting team for 2018 to cover all aspects of Irish football. If you are interested, please drop us an email to extratimelive@gmail.com.

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile