The League of Ireland- it's a family affair

With bumper attendances throughout many of the League of Ireland grounds on this opening weekend it's fair to say that the League of Ireland family may be starting to expand for the 2023 season.

However, what about those families already there and in the thick of the action for clubs across the divisions? For some clans, it's easy to see where the loyalties will lie- brothers Shane and Wayne Guthrie both lined out for Kerry FC in their inaugural senior League of Ireland fixture on Friday night.

Goalkeeper Wayne has plenty of amateur experience and spent time playing in the A Championship for Tralee Dynamos while also playing Gaelic football to a high level, winning county titles with Austin Stacks. His sibling is a well travelled centre half- plying his trade in the league with Dundalk, Cork City and St Patrick's Athletic amongst others before departing Limerick in 2012 and also playing with Austin Stacks over the past decade. 

From the south west of the country to the south east we travel for another pair of brothers playing together and this time in the same line of the field. The Wexford FC midfield department contains a pair of brothers from Gorey who have returned to Ferrycarrig Park after a period plying their trade elsewhere.

21 year old Darragh Levingston came up through the Wexford Academy before joining Bohemians Under 19 side in 2020. Within eighteen months he was tempted back by Ian Ryan and featured once for the Slaneysiders in 2022 before appearing from the bench during Friday's derby encounter as a replacement for his sibling in the 78th minute.

Brother Conor, four years older, spent a number of seasons in the Wolves Academy as a teenager before he, too, ended up in Dalymount Park. After making over a century of appearances for the Phibsborough outfit he joined The Slaneysiders for their 2023 campaign.

In a strange twist of fate, the third set of brothers to feature for the same club on Friday night also took part in a shared substitution but a minute later. On 79 minutes at Tolka Park, Tyreke Wilson was replaced by his brother John Ross in the full back position. 

After leaving Cherry Orchard in his teens, Tyreke spent a number of seasons in the Manchester City Academy before joining Waterford for the 2020 season where his set pieces were an important part of The Blues' attacking threat. After a couple of campaigns with Bohemians in Dalymount Park he travelled to Tolka Park to link up with Shelburne for 2023.

At 24 years of age, John Ross is a year older and is approaching a century of appearances for Damien Duff's outfit, having rejoined Shels from Bray Wanderers ahead of the 2021 campaign. Predominantly operating on the right hand flank, in contrast to his brother's usual left sided role, JR spent time with both Bray and Bohemians earlier in his career.

Just over the Liffey, also on Friday night, another set of brothers lined out for a club usually resplendent in red and white. Ruaidhrí Higgins, who suffered the tragic passing of his own brother Kevin in Sweden recently, selected the experienced Shane McEleney in the heart of his defence. Shane's brother, the talismanic playmaker Patrick, began the game on the bench before seeing action for the last half hour.

The elder of the McEleneys by a single year, Shane,  has seen game time across the league with periods at St Patrick's Athletic and Finn Harps as well as a period playing in Canada while 30 year old Patrick was with Dundalk, after spells in England with both Sunderland and Oldham at various stages in his career, prior to his return to the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium. 

Having looked at clubs in the south east, south west, east and north west it's time to look to the Midlands for the final set of brothers from the opening weekend. Longford Town boss Stephen Henderson, whose brother Dave is involved with Bohemians as Head of Recruitment and Development, named the Verdon brothers in his opening league match night squad against Athlone Town. The elder of the two, Sam, was named as captain while Adam remained on the bench throughout.

Having started his career in the St Patrick's Athletic Academy, 27 year old Sam is now in his third spell at De Town- Finn Harps and Bray Wanderers the teams to punctuate his presence at Bishopsgate.  For his part, 21 year old Adam only joined The Midlanders last summer after spending his formative footballing years in the UCD Academy.

Split loyalties may exist across the league with the Curtis brothers (Sam and Ben currently at Drogheda and St Patrick's Athletic respectively), the Martins (Paul and John-Waterford and Dundalk) and the Powers (Joe and Simon- Bray Wanderers and Shamrock Rovers) but for those brothers in arms at Kerry, Derry, Wexford, Shelbourne and Longford, the League of Ireland is still very much a  shared family affair.