Margin at the top growing ever narrower
Credit:
Well another season is drawing to a close. I have no more Friday night matches to cover. Missing logging on Extratime.ie a couple of times over the weekend to review the games.
Will I miss it? Yes of course! Every second Friday is marked down in my calendar as football night in Tolka. Now the long Dark Winter(in comparison to the long wet Summer), removes my football fix and I will revert to Match of The Day every Saturday and Sunday night to quell the football longing.
What I shall take from this season is that the First Division isn’t all that bad!! I might be biased as the Real Reds are by and large very successful this year. They have hit bumps and rough patches; however for the majority of the season they have fought hard and successfully led the division.
I have enjoyed watching Mervue battle hard, showing great pride and purpose through the season and the finesse of their midfield I didn’t expect; with Longford, and Keith Gillespie’s lack of pace but vision and deft defying touches, we see why football should be played in June.
Cork, Monaghan, Limerick all still in the hunt for a return to top flight football showed that the long, long rivalry of League of Ireland goes on and on. Or maybe they just hate the Dubs…
If all goes to plan I will only get to see one or two of the teams I mentioned above next season. Will I miss them? Well to be honest probably not! Trips to Dalymount, Richmond, Tallaght and Sligo will more than compensate.
The question which has arisen this season is the following: what is the difference between Division One & the Premier Division?
For the first time in my footballing life I would honestly say “well not much as it turns out.”
For the second time in three years, a First Division club will contest the FAI Cup final.
In the Premier, Galway have been nothing more than a disaster with six points from a possible 102 and a goal difference of minus 85. Drogheda have collected only 16 points more (six against Galway). Showing that, the gap has closed, or possibly just eroded.
However Shamrock Rovers have made a break through and that will either propel them to superstardom or drag the other clubs upward. In one sense the argument to revert to Winter Soccer was erased when Stephen O’Donnell dispensed of the Serbs in August. As this season draws to a close I look forward to the next one. All I ask for is 9 points!
