Improvement wanted at Inchicore
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
Before I look forward to the 2010 season, I should probably recap on last year at St. Pats. It hasn’t escaped anyone’s attention that last season was one of the most disappointing at Richmond Park for some time.
A 3-0 defeat to Galway on the opening day of the league campaign seemed to sum up the season, though there was a little chink of light in the form of an excellent UEFA cup run, which brought us on great away trips to Malta, Russia and Romania.
One thing I did learn from last season is, no matter how much natural talent there is in a squad, if the overall attitude and team morale is not right it won’t be long until that starts to show on the pitch in the form of poor results. Thankfully, we managed to keep St. Pats’ impressive record of never being relegated from the top flight of Irish football.
The close season this year has been one of the toughest I remember in my nine years playing in the league. Starting wth the relegation of Derry City, then the protracted Cork City saga, it has been a PR nightmare for everyone involved in the league. With two of the biggest names in soccer plying their trade in division one, it is certainly going to be a strange premier division this year.
On a personal note, this will be my first year playing football part-time since I began playing professionally in June 1996. I have been working with O’Herlihy Communications for the past five months and I am still getting used to working and training. The days are certainly longer and with my wife and I having a five month old son, the long sleep ins I was used to are certainly a thing of the past.
Pre-season this year was as tough as ever, it never seems to get any easier. Both Pete Mahon and John Gill have been training us hard, but it is always great to get back to playing football. I realy miss it after a few weeks off. The harsh winter the country has experienced has had an impact on our training, running on waterlogged pitches is not easy and you certainly feel it the next day.
I was delighted to be offered another contract at St. Pats and I have been given the houour of captaining the club this season, which is something I am very proud of. This year we have a totally new team, with Pete opting to bring in young, hungry players with something to prove. If our opening performance in a comperitive match versus Linfield last Friday is anything to go by, I expect we might upset predictions for the year.
For the title this year, you can look no further than Bohemians with Shamrock Rovers pushing them a close second. After that, it is very hard to judge but I would certainly hope we will have a good league campaign with a European place a definite target. I can’t wait for Friday night in Inchicore, lets hope we can get off to a good start versus Galway.
A 3-0 defeat to Galway on the opening day of the league campaign seemed to sum up the season, though there was a little chink of light in the form of an excellent UEFA cup run, which brought us on great away trips to Malta, Russia and Romania.
One thing I did learn from last season is, no matter how much natural talent there is in a squad, if the overall attitude and team morale is not right it won’t be long until that starts to show on the pitch in the form of poor results. Thankfully, we managed to keep St. Pats’ impressive record of never being relegated from the top flight of Irish football.
The close season this year has been one of the toughest I remember in my nine years playing in the league. Starting wth the relegation of Derry City, then the protracted Cork City saga, it has been a PR nightmare for everyone involved in the league. With two of the biggest names in soccer plying their trade in division one, it is certainly going to be a strange premier division this year.
On a personal note, this will be my first year playing football part-time since I began playing professionally in June 1996. I have been working with O’Herlihy Communications for the past five months and I am still getting used to working and training. The days are certainly longer and with my wife and I having a five month old son, the long sleep ins I was used to are certainly a thing of the past.
Pre-season this year was as tough as ever, it never seems to get any easier. Both Pete Mahon and John Gill have been training us hard, but it is always great to get back to playing football. I realy miss it after a few weeks off. The harsh winter the country has experienced has had an impact on our training, running on waterlogged pitches is not easy and you certainly feel it the next day.
I was delighted to be offered another contract at St. Pats and I have been given the houour of captaining the club this season, which is something I am very proud of. This year we have a totally new team, with Pete opting to bring in young, hungry players with something to prove. If our opening performance in a comperitive match versus Linfield last Friday is anything to go by, I expect we might upset predictions for the year.
For the title this year, you can look no further than Bohemians with Shamrock Rovers pushing them a close second. After that, it is very hard to judge but I would certainly hope we will have a good league campaign with a European place a definite target. I can’t wait for Friday night in Inchicore, lets hope we can get off to a good start versus Galway.
About Damian Lynch
Premier Perspective: Damian Lynch is an extratime.ie columnist giving his views on the current state of the league as well as his own personal performance with St. Patricks Athletic. The Saints' skipper will give his … View Full Profile