Top 20 most read extratime.com articles for 2023 – Part 1 (From 20 to 11)

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Credit: Paul Dolan, Conor Ryan, Martin Doherty and Eddie Lennon

This weekend we reach the end of 2023 and so it is time for our compilation of the most read articles on extratime.com for the past 12 months.

As per our tradition, we will countdown our top 20 in two parts beginning today with the top 10 to come on New Year’s Eve.

Oh the excitement of it all…

 

20. Eileen Gleeson: ‘I've been involved in Irish football for so long and I couldn't be any prouder’

Macdara Ferris Dec 06 2023

In Belfast at the start of December, we heard from interim Ireland boss Eileen Gleeson at what was the end of the busiest and most memorable year for the Girls in Green.

The former Peamount United boss it seemed had just finished her stint managing an Ireland side that had begun the World Cup year under the guidance of Vera Pauw and had ended it with promotion to UEFA Nations League A.

“It is magic,” she said about her time in charge of Ireland when speaking to extratime.com after the 6-1 win over Northern Ireland. “I've been involved in Irish football for so long and I couldn't be any prouder.”

However her six from six wins in the UEFA Nations League with quality performances in each match meant that when we next heard from Gleeson she was being unveiled as the permanent WNT Head Coach.



 

19. 'We were seen as total underdogs but that suited us' - how Longford Town became FAI Cup kings in 2003

Andrew Dempsey Jul 22 2023

This Longford Town longread was brought to you by Andrew Dempsey. Two decades on from the club’s FAI Cup triumph, he caught up with a number of that cup winning team including Sean Prunty, Sean Francis and Eric Lavine to talk about that famous Longford victory.

Grab a cup of coffee and that last mince pie and settle back to read this 2,500 word #longread



 

18. Ollie Horgan: 'I've said it year in, year out, that there's experienced officials out there and they've got to make a proper decision'

Paul Corcoran Oct 08 2023

Having moved on from being in charge of Finn Harps, Ollie Horgan was the perfect foil to manager John Caulfied at Galway United this season.

The duo led the Tribesmen back to the Premier Division but when Paul Corcoran spoke with Horgan for this piece it was directly after the disappointment of United’s FAI Cup semi-final defeat to Bohemians.

Usurpingly Horgan had something to say about the match officials.

 

17. Vinny Perth: 'Whether I’m back in football in six months, six years or never again – I'm comfortable with what I have already achieved'

Andrew Dempsey May 06 2023

A new addition hosted on the podcasting platforms this season was the extratime.com League of Ireland Voice Notes podcast.

Back in May host Oisin Langan caught up with former Dundalk boss Vinny Perth directly after a busy night of league action and Andrew Dempsey brought us this summary of their chat.

 

16. Former LOI stars Carroll and Casey in contract talks with Scottish Premiership's Motherwell

Patrick O'Connor Jun 01 2023

As the summer transfer window opened, Patrick O’Connor brought us this story about Scottish Premiership side Motherwell and their discussions with players Jake Carroll and Dan Casey.

 

15. Leinster Senior Cup set for revamp with group stages to be introduced

Andrew Dempsey Dec 06 2023

It was the talk of extratime.com towers when we heard about the shake up at our favourite cup competition. At ET HQ we love the #MagicOfTheLeinsterSeniorCup and so it seems do are readers, bringing this story in at number 15 on our most read list for the year.

 

14. Kevin Murray: Winning a national title at senior level (with Cobh) was fantastic. That was the pinnacle of my career.'

Dan Lucey Nov 13 2023

Throughout the year Dan Lucey drops into the extratime.com inbox interviews from across the spectrum of football in Ireland and every year these interviews make the most read list.

His first entry in the latest top 20 list is this interview from last month with Kevin Murray reminiscing about his career and, in particular, the success he had with Cobh Ramblers.

 

13. Bradley on his Hoops future and relationship with John Giles: ‘He watches all of our games and gives feedback. We were winning games and he had a go at me, he said ‘youse weren’t good’ and I thought ‘f*cking hell John’. I watched it back and he was right'

Macdara Ferris Oct 23 2023

The post-match managerial huddle is usually a five minute quick affair talking about the game just gone but on this night in late October in Tallaght it turned into a surprising 15 minute discussion about the influence of an Irish footballing legend on a Hoops side on the hunt for the four-in-a-row.

A question midway through about a Shamrock Rovers members event held in the Aviva Stadium that included a Q&A with John Giles saw Bradley open up about how the Hoops Head Coach had been tapping into the expertise of Giles in recent years.

 

12. Jack Moylan: 'Over lockdown my mates played Killian Phillips' mates out on the green. It was chaos - even to this day there's a bit of beef over it'

Dave Donnelly Nov 09 2023

Jack Moylan was the standout player for Shels in a season where Damien Duff led the Reds back into Europe for the first time since 2006.

Moylan won the Soccer Writers Ireland player of the month for October and extratime.com caught up with player who we now know will play his football in the new year with Lincoln City.

 

11. Jack Byrne out for rest of season as Alan Mannus retirement confirmed

Macdara Ferris Oct 20 2023

Jack Byrne got injured in July and while he returned for Rovers in late September for one more appearance off the bench, it would be his last of the campaign.

Towards the end of the season, his club ahead of their game against Drogheda United in their weekly pre-match press release confirmed that Byrne wouldn’t play again in the campaign.

Combined with the confirmation from our reporter in this article that Alan Mannus was to retire at the end of the season, meant this story was our 11th most read for the year.


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