Paisley eager for Shels return
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There was one Shels player noticeable on Friday night only by his absence. Since he arrived at Tolka Park midway through last season, Stephen Paisley has been a model of consistency at the back.
For the last three matches, Paisley has been missing from the team after picking up an injury against Athlone- a rare occurrence from the player who has been nearly ever-present since he signed.
“I’ve a bit of a sore back, I don’t know how long I’ll be out with it” says Paisley. “I’ll hopefully be back before the mid-season break. It was in my last game against Athlone. I jumped for a header and just fell awkwardly.”
Shels are somewhat fortunate that Paisley is their only medium to long-term injury concern and the centre-back says that the side are equipped to deal with his layoff. “We’re well prepared” he says. “The lads (Ian Ryan and Andy Boyle) have done well at the back, thankfully me being out hasn’t made too much of an impact. There’s three of us there for two centre-half slots, and any of us could do a job when required.”
Paisley started out as a youth with Clonsilla side St. Mochta’s before moving on to Cherry Orchard. After producing players like Andy Reid, Alan Quinn and Willo Flood in recent years as well as countless Irish underage internationals, the Orchard have a reputation as a leading youth side. Paisley can attest to this: “When you say Cherry Orchard you immediately think of good football teams. They just seem to attract the top players.”
Photo taken by Eddie Lennon against Wexford Youths in Tolka Park
Soon enough though, Manchester City came calling. For the young Clonsilla man, it was a long-held ambition to go across the water. “It was something I would have dreamed about. I have fond memories of my time in England. I played up to reserve level, but Kevin Keegan bought a lot of top players - which made it hard for young players to break into the team.”
Keegan is a divisive figure for many fans- leading Newcastle, Fulham and Man City to relative success but having a spell at England and another at Newcastle that are most often described as “mixed”. Paisley, who trained with the first team for two years, describes Keegan as “charismatic” but acknowledges that he had his faults.
“He got Man City promoted but then they didn’t really kick on when they were promoted, they were always fighting relegation” says Paisley. “He was maybe a bit naive in being too focused on attack when Man City went up.”
At underage level for Ireland, Paisley played at both the under-19 European Championships in 2002 and under-20 World Cup in 2003. “It’s probably the highpoint of my career” he admits. “I grew up with the lads in the team, and then getting the opportunity to go to a World Cup was one of the best memories from my career.”
Both teams were coached by Brian Kerr, someone who Paisley says he has the “fondest memories of” out of all the managers he’s worked with.
But who was the best manager he’s ever worked with? “I think that that’s usually the manager you’ve had the most success with - so in my case it’d be Alan [Mathews] he says. “It’s very hard to pick one though, fortunately I’ve had a lot of good managers.”
Having played in the Premier Division with Sporting Fingal, Paisley joined Shels in the transfer window last year after leaving the now-defunct North Dublin side for full-time employment in the financial sector. But was leaving the Fingal team he had won an FAI Cup and promotion with a hard decision to make?
No, says Paisley. “It wasn’t difficult, I was doing an MA in Finance in DCU so I always knew that when I finished I would go and look for employment. As well, the league was getting precarious at that stage, clubs were going bust. So I thought it best not to focus on full time football. Luckily enough Alan got the Shels job so I jumped at the chance to join him when he asked.”
And what about his current place in the Shels team? Paisley shares a singular desire within this Shels squad: “The priority is to get promoted” he says.
“People always associate Shels with being successful. When I joined Shels I joined for a reason- to be part of a group that wins promotion.”
For the last three matches, Paisley has been missing from the team after picking up an injury against Athlone- a rare occurrence from the player who has been nearly ever-present since he signed.
“I’ve a bit of a sore back, I don’t know how long I’ll be out with it” says Paisley. “I’ll hopefully be back before the mid-season break. It was in my last game against Athlone. I jumped for a header and just fell awkwardly.”
Shels are somewhat fortunate that Paisley is their only medium to long-term injury concern and the centre-back says that the side are equipped to deal with his layoff. “We’re well prepared” he says. “The lads (Ian Ryan and Andy Boyle) have done well at the back, thankfully me being out hasn’t made too much of an impact. There’s three of us there for two centre-half slots, and any of us could do a job when required.”
Paisley started out as a youth with Clonsilla side St. Mochta’s before moving on to Cherry Orchard. After producing players like Andy Reid, Alan Quinn and Willo Flood in recent years as well as countless Irish underage internationals, the Orchard have a reputation as a leading youth side. Paisley can attest to this: “When you say Cherry Orchard you immediately think of good football teams. They just seem to attract the top players.”
Photo taken by Eddie Lennon against Wexford Youths in Tolka Park
Soon enough though, Manchester City came calling. For the young Clonsilla man, it was a long-held ambition to go across the water. “It was something I would have dreamed about. I have fond memories of my time in England. I played up to reserve level, but Kevin Keegan bought a lot of top players - which made it hard for young players to break into the team.”
Keegan is a divisive figure for many fans- leading Newcastle, Fulham and Man City to relative success but having a spell at England and another at Newcastle that are most often described as “mixed”. Paisley, who trained with the first team for two years, describes Keegan as “charismatic” but acknowledges that he had his faults.
“He got Man City promoted but then they didn’t really kick on when they were promoted, they were always fighting relegation” says Paisley. “He was maybe a bit naive in being too focused on attack when Man City went up.”
At underage level for Ireland, Paisley played at both the under-19 European Championships in 2002 and under-20 World Cup in 2003. “It’s probably the highpoint of my career” he admits. “I grew up with the lads in the team, and then getting the opportunity to go to a World Cup was one of the best memories from my career.”
Both teams were coached by Brian Kerr, someone who Paisley says he has the “fondest memories of” out of all the managers he’s worked with.
But who was the best manager he’s ever worked with? “I think that that’s usually the manager you’ve had the most success with - so in my case it’d be Alan [Mathews] he says. “It’s very hard to pick one though, fortunately I’ve had a lot of good managers.”
Having played in the Premier Division with Sporting Fingal, Paisley joined Shels in the transfer window last year after leaving the now-defunct North Dublin side for full-time employment in the financial sector. But was leaving the Fingal team he had won an FAI Cup and promotion with a hard decision to make?
No, says Paisley. “It wasn’t difficult, I was doing an MA in Finance in DCU so I always knew that when I finished I would go and look for employment. As well, the league was getting precarious at that stage, clubs were going bust. So I thought it best not to focus on full time football. Luckily enough Alan got the Shels job so I jumped at the chance to join him when he asked.”
And what about his current place in the Shels team? Paisley shares a singular desire within this Shels squad: “The priority is to get promoted” he says.
“People always associate Shels with being successful. When I joined Shels I joined for a reason- to be part of a group that wins promotion.”
About Niall Farrell
Niall Farrell is our correspondent at Tolka Park, covering the goings-on at Shelbourne. You can visit Niall's website for further information and contact details- niallf.net. View Full Profile