Top 20 most read articles on extratime.ie for 2019 (Part 1: 20 to 11)

Every year we compile our top 20 most read articles for the year. We have the usual spread of stories across topics ranging from transfers, controversial red cards, stadium redevelopments, opinion pieces and attendance statistics. 

We hope that you’ve enjoyed the content that the extratime.ie team have brought you this year and we look forward to doing it all again in 2020.

 

20: Manchester City trio named in Ireland under-17 Euros squad but talks continue over Spurs striker Parrott (Dave Donnelly) 

Back in March Dave Donnelly was reporting on Troy Parrott’s availability for the Republic of Ireland’s under-17 team for the European Championships. Six months later the striker was scoring twice in Sweden as the Ireland under-21 came behind to win. In November he made his senior international debut for Ireland and earlier this month he made his first team debut for Spurs. An appearance at the Qatar 2022 World Cup is the next progression according to extratime.ie’s own Declan Marron.

19: Charlton snap up signing of Chloe Mustaki from Shelbourne (Andrew Dempsey)

The 24-year-old former Shelbourne and UCD Waves player made the move to London in November to join Charlton Athletic. She is continuing to combine football with her studies - as she doing an internship outside of Ireland as part of her Masters. 

We also spoke with Chloe on the extratime.ie Sportscast earlier in the year when she spoke about juggling her academic studies in Ireland, France and Portugal over the years with playing in the WNL and discussed her health battle with Hodgkins Lymphoma and it is well worth a listen back. 

18: World Cup winner Pedro & captain Azpilicueta named in Chelsea squad to face Bohemians and St Patrick's Athletic(Dave Donnelly)

Looking at our stats, this story got quite a lot of hits from England as Blues fans were no doubt looking for information on their club’s two match tour of Ireland ahead of the start of the season for Chelsea under new manager Frank Lampard.

While Chelsea beat St. Pat’s 4-0, Bohs got a very creditable 1-1 draw against a star-studded Chelsea side that included Willy Cabellero who was back in Dublin two decades years after playing in Tolka Park (see below).

14-year-old Evan Ferguson (24 years younger than Cabellero!) came on late in the game at Dalymount Park and he was involved in the Gypsies late equaliser that cancelled out Michy Batshuayi’s early goal. 

17: Watch: Trevor Clarke and Lee Grace sent off for Shamrock Rovers against Bohs as Corcoran nets after controversial penalty (Dave Donnelly)



In the league Shamrock Rovers raced into an early lead against Dundalk and were on a run of eight league wins in a row before they welcomed Bohemians to Tallaght Stadium.

Rovers were down to nine men after 36 minutes and would go on to lose their first home game of the season 1-0 with Dinny Corcoran getting the winner for Bohs.

The fact Lee Grace received a second yellow card for handball despite the ball hitting his face didn’t reflect well on referee Paul McLaughlin but Bohemians supporters didn’t mind as they made it six wins from seven against Rovers. 

16: Former Republic of Ireland underage international Kevin Toner joins Kilmore Celtic (Andrew Dempsey)

The surprising news that St. Patrick’s Athletic player Kevin Toner was joining Leinster Senior League side Kilmore Celtic captured the attention of our readers late last month.

The 23-year-old defender had previously played in League One with Walsall and also played with Stevenage before he returned to Ireland where he made 56 appearances, scoring seven goals, in two seasons at Richmond Park. 

15: Bohemians -v- Shamrock Rovers - Where can I watch it and what do I need to know? (Dave Donnelly)

For much of the season the Jodi Stand in Dalymount Park was full on a Friday night and overall 51,795 punters came through the turnstyles at Dalymount Park (11 % of the total league attendance).

The best crowd of the season was in June for the visit of Shamrock Rovers (3,640), a match which was a sell out for weeks ahead of the game.

With that in mind, extratime.ie readers wanted to find out where they could watch the match and clicked into this story in large numbers. 

 

 

14: The last of the punk rock leagues? (Dylan O’Connell)

“From verse of punk and the rebellious past, this is the League of Ireland, inspired as the people’s league, the last of the punk rock leagues in Europe, the self-titled Greatest League in the World,” was how Dylan O’Connell described our wonderful domestic league in this opinion peice. 

Dylan’s article went down well with our website readers but didn’t quite go as viral as this tweet!

13: League of Ireland clubs on alert as St Johnstone transfer-list former Dundalk striker David McMillan (Dave Donnelly)

Since 2009, eight times the Premier Division’s top scorer has scored twenty goals or more. Less prolific seasons came in 2013 when Rory Patterson scored 18, the same number as Seani Maguire managed in 2016.

In 2019, top scorer was Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe with a mere 14 goals – the lowest total since Mick Byrne scored a dozen goals for Shamrock Rovers in 1986/87.

With this in mind, there was no surprise that the potential of a return to the league of striker David McMillan raised some interest – McMillan was top scorer with Dundalk in 2016 and 2017 and has the best strike record in the last decade in the league.

As it was though, McMillan joined Scottish League One side Falkirk in September 2019 for a season long loan.

12: Robbie Hedderman: 'When the same person is always putting money in, it can end up badly' (Dan Lucey)

For five years Dan Lucey has been carrying out interviews with a range of figures from across the League of Ireland spectrum and this year two of the 17 interviews we published have made our top 20 most read list.

The first interview to make the top 20 is an interview with Robbie Hedderman whose career in the league here spanned from 2003 beginning with Cork City, through spells with Derry City, Sligo Rovers, Dublin City, Waterford, and ending with Shelbourne in 2009.

Before his time in Cork, Hedderman was on the books with Aberdeen and that is where he has returned to now as the Community Trust Partnership & Business Development Manager at Pittodrie.

11: Singing section set for new South Stand in Tallaght Stadium (Macdara Ferris)

The new South Stand in Tallaght Stadium opened at the start of the season brought the capacity in the Dublin 22 up to 8,000. New arrangements saw the singing section move from the East Stand to the South, with away fans moving into the East Stand.

When the Hoops played Bohemians in August, at 7,021 it was the largest league attendance at the venue since it opened a decade ago. 

 

    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