A Timely Break

The big talking point amongst many Airtricity League managers since the start of the season has been the amount of games in a short space of time our players have been asked to play. With clubs operating on smaller budgets and squads, the start to this campaign has been a real test.

From my own perspective at Galway United, it has been a very testing period. Our performances on a Friday have been good, full of energy and have yielded some positive results, yet I found on the following Monday fixture we were on occasions a little flat.

With the club not being full-time, the Friday to Monday schedule did not allow time for adequate rest and recovery for the players, many of whom have part-time jobs and have to work at weekends. Add in the factor that we have three Dublin lads and it can be of no surprise to me or my staff that as a side we have not performed as well on the Monday following a Friday game.

When we finally came through that hectic schedule we were then hit with the Under 23 International games. I think there has only been three weeks from the start of the campaign when none of my players have had second games in the week, be it a league cup game , a college game and now the Internationals.

Although the recognition for both the player and club for International call ups are positive and welcome news, for the manager it can certainly make life difficult.

For myself, I had three of my keys players away during the week and, when they return, they invariably need a day off to recover. With a first team squad of 17 this can cause problems; add in a few injuries and at times we have trained with nine fit players.

These are just a few of the reasons that I am I looking forward to the mid-season break in June. I have spoken with a number of other managers recently and they are very much of the same opinion. The break will allow players to rest tired and aching limbs and recover from little niggles which many will have been playing with in recent games.

Like myself, I am quite sure that managers have asked players at times to play with a niggle or two in order for a manager to get his best team on the field. I for one believe that, when I can get my best 11 players on the field, we can compete with any side in the league.

And that has been one of the most interesting aspects to the league this year, the fact that there seems to be very little between so many of the teams. The financial cut backs at all clubs has resulted in a more even spread of talent throughout the league, making the title race and relegation issues more open than ever.

In fact, any side in the top five at the moment could have a real chance of getting over the line, whilst all sides just below fifth can be drawn into relegation trouble with a few poor results.

All in all it will make for an interesting second half to the season. In fact the league could very easily be won by the manager that does the best business with limited funds, as we all have, and brings in the one or two fresh faces to add that bit of extra quality for the last 18 games.

It will be an interesting few weeks as we come back from the break. Like myself, I am sure all other managers will take a few days off but, of course, the mobile phone will always be on as we search for that elusive player to make the difference to our sides.