The fine line between senior and intermediate grades
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On Sunday morning my Sunday league team were given the run around by an ex-FAI Cup final goalscorer and it wasn’t a pretty sight to witness.
In the end we were battered 7-0 and yours truly was substituted off the field in a spin. Granted, the opposition were four divisions above us and full of experienced players and we currently lie third last in the bottom tier. But still, it was embarrassing to be torn apart so easily by a player of such quality.
The player was former Waterford, Limerick and Cork attacker Willie Bruton. Yes, the Willie Bruton that scored the opener in the 2004 Cup Final playing six years later on a soggy pitch for an AUL team.
It’s quite a drop in standard and if it wasn’t for an unlucky cup draw, from our point of view I mean unlucky, then you’d be forgiven for saying that Bruton had stopped playing completely.
Sadly, it’s a common occurrence for players in the league, particularly those that fail to make an impact at a club, to disappear off the radar completely.
Similarly, Michael Nwankwo was another to make a brief sojourn at Cork City before disappearing into the lower echelons of the Munster Senior League with Fermoy a couple of seasons back.
Whether we believe it or not, the fact is that there is actually only a very thin line between the LoI and the top levels of our local intermediate and junior leagues.
Undoubtedly, former LoI players like Bruton are still controlling games and their class is evident but when Cork City boss Tommy Dunne brought in a host of players from local sides in Cork during the mid-season transfer window, it showed the other side of the coin.
As it turned out, of the seven or eight players brought in by Dunne, only Eoghan Lougheed and Gavin Kavnagh made any sort of impact. Others, such as former Kinsale striker Derek Varian, left the club after only a brief appearance off the bench to show for their efforts.
The problem according to the City boss was commitment and that players coming up from a local level can’t handle the extra travel and work playing in the LoI entails.
“I’m afraid to say, a lot of them find it difficult with the commitment that you have to give. It’s a step up and you have to have that little bit more dedication for it. Some lads have to work and can’t afford it, that’s the way it is,” Dunne said back in August.
“I don’t know what it is with them nowadays because when I was playing, you sacrificed everything. Now it’s different and I find it hard to accept sometimes, but it’s the norm now.”
There’s a lively debate bubbling here because on one hand you have the idea that players coming from that level with enough talent aren’t committed enough, though you can also argue that there isn’t much difference between the standard in the First Division and the top few sides in the Leinster Senior League or Munster Senior League.
After all, we can take the case of Billy Woods – who has incidentally gone back to college this year to further his education. Woods left Cork City, played MSL with Midleton and now he’s back at the club turning in performances like he had never left.
It's players like Woods that prove the line is fine between the top level and local level.
In the end we were battered 7-0 and yours truly was substituted off the field in a spin. Granted, the opposition were four divisions above us and full of experienced players and we currently lie third last in the bottom tier. But still, it was embarrassing to be torn apart so easily by a player of such quality.
The player was former Waterford, Limerick and Cork attacker Willie Bruton. Yes, the Willie Bruton that scored the opener in the 2004 Cup Final playing six years later on a soggy pitch for an AUL team.
It’s quite a drop in standard and if it wasn’t for an unlucky cup draw, from our point of view I mean unlucky, then you’d be forgiven for saying that Bruton had stopped playing completely.
Sadly, it’s a common occurrence for players in the league, particularly those that fail to make an impact at a club, to disappear off the radar completely.
Similarly, Michael Nwankwo was another to make a brief sojourn at Cork City before disappearing into the lower echelons of the Munster Senior League with Fermoy a couple of seasons back.
Whether we believe it or not, the fact is that there is actually only a very thin line between the LoI and the top levels of our local intermediate and junior leagues.
Undoubtedly, former LoI players like Bruton are still controlling games and their class is evident but when Cork City boss Tommy Dunne brought in a host of players from local sides in Cork during the mid-season transfer window, it showed the other side of the coin.
As it turned out, of the seven or eight players brought in by Dunne, only Eoghan Lougheed and Gavin Kavnagh made any sort of impact. Others, such as former Kinsale striker Derek Varian, left the club after only a brief appearance off the bench to show for their efforts.
The problem according to the City boss was commitment and that players coming up from a local level can’t handle the extra travel and work playing in the LoI entails.
“I’m afraid to say, a lot of them find it difficult with the commitment that you have to give. It’s a step up and you have to have that little bit more dedication for it. Some lads have to work and can’t afford it, that’s the way it is,” Dunne said back in August.
“I don’t know what it is with them nowadays because when I was playing, you sacrificed everything. Now it’s different and I find it hard to accept sometimes, but it’s the norm now.”
There’s a lively debate bubbling here because on one hand you have the idea that players coming from that level with enough talent aren’t committed enough, though you can also argue that there isn’t much difference between the standard in the First Division and the top few sides in the Leinster Senior League or Munster Senior League.
After all, we can take the case of Billy Woods – who has incidentally gone back to college this year to further his education. Woods left Cork City, played MSL with Midleton and now he’s back at the club turning in performances like he had never left.
It's players like Woods that prove the line is fine between the top level and local level.
About Alan Smith
Alan Smith works as a sub-editor for the Guardian newspaper in London. Originally from Cork, he freelances for several other newspapers and websites. Follow him on twitter @alansmith90. View Full Profile