This is the run in. Five games left which means 15 points available. Spoiler alert, we are ten point adrift of safety so this is pretty much a foregone conclusion. The two teams which are 10 points in front of us are Cobh Ramblers in 8th and Cork City in 9th. We start our run in away to Cork so if we are going to have any chance of survival, it absolutely has to start here and now. UCD are two points in front of them so they are also technically catchable but all others are beyond reach.
Our last five matches are as follows:
Cork City away
Dundalk at home
Bohemians away
Cobh Ramblers at home
St Pat’s Athletic away
We go into this match at Cork without injured playmaker Antonicelli and right back Gordon Walker who is ineligible to face his parent club.
For the first time this season, we have three players in the team of the week. Previously we have had the odd token player but this is definitely new territory. Congratulations and thanks to Ryan Flood, Noah Lewis and Jimi Tauriainen… if you happen to be reading this.
Before we set off on our final relegation battle sequence, it’s time to offer some encouragement to the players in a team meeting. These, as I’m sure you’re aware, can go either way or result in a total division between players who appreciate the kick up the arse and those who get bogged down by the pressure. The latter prevailed, of course, as I challenged them all to be ready for what is being labelled as a six-pointer. Wish I hadn’t said anything!
Midway through the first half, Omar Bugiel fired us in front. He bloody loves a header, by the way – I think all his goals have been headers. Twelve minutes from time, substitute Ryan Rainey scored an incredible goal from miles outside the box to make it 2-0. We’ve absolutely turned up when it mattered there. That puts us seven points behind Cork, eight behind Cobh who drew at Bohemians and nine behind UCD who lost at Shelbourne. The only downside was Eoin Wearen picking up his 8th yellow card which means he misses our next match against Dundalk.
We’re in the papers, for the right reasons. The Irish Football Informer informed me that Jimi Tauriainen came second in September’s Player of the Month award having chalked up three goals, one assist and a 7.70 rating; Ryan Rainey’s outrageous effort against Cork earned him Goal of the Month for The Irish Football Daily and we got two more in the team of the week according to FourFourTwo – super striker Omar Bugiel and right back Corrie Masterson.
Next is Dundalk at home. This team stand a real chance of challenging for the championship. They’re only three points behind the mighty Shamrock and on great form. They’ve already qualified for the Europa Conference league. Quick break to name my next Under 21s squad for the upcoming qualifiers against Andorra and Poland which take place after the Dundalk match. No Troy Parrott this time as he’s in the main squad.
The first half was an absolute disaster. We went 3-0 down before half an hour had struck and we had managed even a shot… Bugiel managed to pull one back just before half time – with his head, of course. I tweaked the formation at half time; we weren’t getting anywhere near them in midfield so needed a busier presence there to try and win the ball back and move it up the field. Bugiel bagged another on 90 minutes, but shock horror – not with his head!
But the game finished 3-2 in defeat. Not a bad score or performance in the end, that first half an hour of running around like headless chickens cost us dearly. Our Lebanese talisman, by the way, has managed seven goals in ten matches in all competitions which is a decent showing for a 30 year old in a strange country. He played all his career in England but never got above League 2 and six goals is about his average since his younger days of double figures playing for Worthing in the Isthmian Divisions between 2013 and 2017.
International break, once again. Andorra at home first which as you can imagine has triggered “calls for a demolition job”. They haven’t registered a single point ahead of this match and hopefully today won’t be the day they start! That man Oko-Flex scores the opener quite early, then Aidomo Emakhu drills home a second. Kevin Zefi taps in a third and Emakhu scores again just before half time. So far, so good. Half time stats have us at 20 shots, nine on target and 3.58 xG. Andorra just the one shot, off target and xG is set at 0.09. Thanks for coming lads.
Joe Hodge misses a penalty early in the second half by basically chipping it into the goalkeeper’s open hands. I reckon my dog could’ve taken a better penalty. We had another goal ruled out for offside late on but completed the scoring soon after thanks to substitute striker Patrick Casey. So, it was a game that was more than comfortable but probably didn’t quite live up to the label of demolition job. Given the amount of chances we had, it was less wrecking ball, more gently breaking up some Lego and putting it efficiently back in its box. But I suppose 5-0 is not to be sniffed at. And Poland only drew in Macedonia which means our match to close the group is a dead rubber as they cannot catch us to get second spot and entry into the Second Phase Playoff.
I named an unchanged side for the trip to Poland. Tempting though it was to rotate given that we could only finish second, we want the best spot in the playoff that we can get. At half time, the score was 0-0, Poland had the majority of the possession but failed to even have a shot. Sexy Flexy (he may not thank me for that nickname) scored after an hour and the game finished 1-0. That puts us joint top of the Second Phase table, level on points with Turkey in third and Austria in first place, way ahead on a goal difference of +28 to our +7. What that means is that we three countries do not need an extra match to qualify for the tournament proper, we are already there – these (under-21) Boys in Green are going to Slovakia!
Back to Bohemia for us now and mission impossible. We dominate the first half but go in at the break level at 0-0. Bohemians take the lead early in the second half after we suddenly decide that we can’t string two passes together. It took virtually all of the second half to get going again before Ryan Flood levels us up with a free kick on 85 minutes – then substitute striker Patrick Ferry gives us a dramatic win with a last-minute header. Football, bloody hell! Cobh lost at home to St. Pat’s and UCD lost away at Dundalk. The gap is now five points to 9th place, six points to 8th. Two matches left!
If ever there was a six-point match, it’s the next one. We face Cobh Ramblers at home. Previously when this opponent has come around, I’ve been confident of finally ending our poor runs of form only to get absolutely whitewashed. The 6-0 still hurts! Winning this match would mean cutting our deficit down to just two points heading into the final game of the season. The alternative is simply relegation.
Another team meeting is required, I believe, to ensure the players know the gravity of the situation regarding this match. I decided to remind them that we are hitting form at the right time and that we can do this. The response was “very positive” all round. “That’s exactly the sort of reaction I was looking for”.
Imagine my surprise when we find ourselves 2-0 down at half time after playing absolute garbage for 45 minutes. It’s shit or bust time now, we have to go for it. Omar Bugiel, who else, pulls one back after an hour but we concede once more and the game finishes in a deflating 3-1 defeat. Game over, as they say. As it happens, it wouldn’t really have mattered anyway because UCD managed to draw 2-2 which meant that even if we had won, the best we could do would be to scrape to the playoff position on the last day of the season and with an away trip to third placed St. Pat’s and Cobh playing UCD, it would have been nigh on impossible to finish anywhere except bottom regardless.
The board have set the initial budgets for next season at €11,500 in the transfer fund and €21,500 in the wages which is the same as this season. No word yet if I will be sticking around to use any of it though. I do have another year in my contract…
Drama at the top… Shamrock’s game in hand at St. Pat’s ended in defeat which means Dundalk are top by one point heading into the final day of the season. Shamrock are going for a fifth straight championship; Dundalk are trying to wrestle it back to their grasp. The two clubs have dominated the division pretty much for the last ten years.
More news from the Irish Football Informer tells us that Ryan Flood’s “thunderous” free kick against Bohemians came second in the Goal of the Month competition.
So, now we go into the last game of the season away at St. Pat’s Athletic which is utterly pointless (probably literally) for us as we are finishing bottom of the league no matter what happens. And for extra shits and giggles, we lost our underwhelming Georgian centre back Mirtskhulava to injury and Noe Baba to suspension. A goal just two minutes in sets us on the back foot from the start. And another two minutes after half time the theme continues, and so it finishes 2-0; Finn Harps go down with a whimper.
Promoted last season and relegated straight back down. Cobh Ramblers landed in the playoff spot after losing 1-0 at UCD; Shamrock Rovers could only draw at Cork City leaving Dundalk to win the Irish Premier Division by three points. In the First Division, Drogheda United knocked out Waterford and Galway United edged past Treaty United before defeating Drogheda in the final to set up the playoff battle with Cobh. Cobh scraped through on penalties against Galway Utd to retain their Premier Division status.
The inevitable board meeting has arrived to discuss my future. I’ve gotten away with it! Obviously, they were disappointed and “hope I can learn from mistakes”. The upshot is that we must win eight points from our first five games of the season in the First Division. That should be doable. Except here come seven players “keen to discuss future/personal matters” relating to our relegation as well as two transfer offers. One of a total of €74,000 from Helmond Sport in the Netherlands for Dutch defender Noah Lewis and another of €86,000 from Spanish club Fuenlabrada for Argentinian Lucas Antonicelli. Both will be getting rejected as they are nowhere near asking price and are both non-negotiable. Antonicelli won’t have an issue as he isn’t interested anyway but Lewis “may become unsettled”.
The conversations with the players went as follows:
- Jimi Tauriainen – not happy and nothing can keep him here. We have agreed bids will be accepted at €240,000 which is pretty much is relegation release fee anyway.
- Noah Lewis – as above but with a fee of €170,000.
- Omar Bugiel – a above but with a fee of €250,000.
- Lucas Antonicelli – as above but with a fee of €140,000
- Jason McClelland – as above but with a fee of €130,000
- Seamas Keogh – as above but with a fee of €600,000
- Ryan Flood – as above but with a fee of €230,000
It is fairly tempting to accept the lot and become filthy rich and have a complete rebuild. However, I wouldn’t be against keeping any of them because they have all played well this season compared to the rest of the squad.
The minimum requirement for next season is to reach the playoffs which is essentially the top half of the table. And the bonus is that our real rivals, Derry City, got promoted as champions so we don’t have to worry about any derby day slip ups.
With only a couple of international friendlies to play, I’ll leave it there. Thank you for coming on this Irish adventure with me. It is not over yet so please stick with it. Next season, we go again and will compete for the Under 21 European Championships in the summer!
Sláinte is táinte!
Heart of Football 
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