INSIDE:NO BLUE FEELING

THE LONGEST CUP-TIE EVER

LOI ABROAD:RICHIE RYAN

THE ALL-IRELAND QUESTION?

volume 3 / issue 03 // may 2016

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Editor:Kevin Galvin

Designer:Kevin Galvin

Social Media:David DowneyThomas Aaron Cawley

Photography:fai.iewaterford-united.ienasl.comemeraldexisles.com

Contributors /David KentMícheál Ó hUanacháinDave GalvinThomas Aaron CawleyColm Cuddihy

Cover Page /Stephen Beattie has been an absolutely instrumental part of Cork City’s first-team since signing in 2015 from Sligo Rovers

Source: Timmy Keane The use or redistribution of any part of this magazine is strictly prohibited unless explicitly authorised by LOI Monthly

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THE ALL-IRELAND QUESTIONAARON CAWLEY reignites an age old debate, debating the positives and negatives of having an All-Ireland League to replace the League of Ireland and Irish League systems.

THE LONGEST CUP-TIE EVERMícheál Ó hUanacháin unearths a hidden world record in the early days of the FAI Cup

ALL A BIT ODD!Dave Galvin recounts more bizarre stories from the League of Ireland, including the unique double completed by St James’ Gate in 1940!

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LOI ABROAD:RICHIE RYAN 19Colm Cuddihy keeps us up-to-date with the career of former Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers midfielder Riche Ryan who swapped a Shamrock for a Maple Leaf in 2014. @

kjga

lvin

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Welcome to the latest issue of LOIMonthly; Volume 2, Issue 04, May 2016!

You may have noticed this month’s issue has come a week later than our usual release date of the first Friday in the month, April/May is an exceptionally busy times in terms of University, and with the vast majority of our staff still involved in college (including myself) getting the issue out right in the middle of exams was an unrealistic target, and therefore I revised it almost immediately following the April edition to give ourselves enough time to put out a decent issue.

The other thing you’ll notice is that this month is slightly down in terms of content, and this again is due to the huge work being put on our writers, designer, editor, and social media managers in terms of academic work. The magazine is ran totally non-for-profit and without anyone being paid to do so, including myself. The dedication and application I see every month from those who are as passionate about this project is fantastic, but one must prioritise when the going gets tough and next month I would expect to have a bumper edition with the European games now not far around the corner!

Some of the donations we have received have been more than generous and I can only extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has donated. We’ve recently paid out an expensive online bill which will last us the next two years to allow us bring the magazine to you, and with one of our sponsors pulling out your donations have allowed us to break even, which is really appreciated.

On the subject of sponsorship if you own or run a business and would like to appeal to over 10,000 people a month for just over €10 a month, then let us know by email loimonthly@gmail.com, on Twitter @LOIMonthly, or on facebook.com/loimonthly

The league is really beginning to take shape now, as expected, and at the time of writing once again Dundalk lead the way with a chasing pack of Cork City, Shamrock Rovers, and Derry City. In the middle of the table like St Pat’s, Galway, Sligo,

and Bohs, while the bottom three of Wexford, Bray and Longford look like they’re the relegation candidates this season.

The tide is certainly changing in the Midlands, as fans are now beginning to turn against Longford boss Tony Cousins, and not for the first time. Cousins did manage to deliver Premier Division football for ‘De Town’ but way behind schedule, particularly given the calibre of player that Longford have had in the First Division. They had a fairly frustrating year last season, only securing their top-flite status late in the season away to a wounded Cork City, and this year some of their performances have been absolutely atrocious.

Longford’s negative tactics seem to be causing some serious disillusionment amongst the player ranks, and having not one since the opening day of the season they’re now stuck rooted to the bottom of the table with some difficult games against St. Patrick’s Athletic and Cork City coming up, a side that smashed them off the park 6-0 in their last meeting.

At the other end Cork City find themselves in the frustrating position of being just out of the grasp of Dundalk, who top the league by four points. The Lilywhites’ consistency is absolutely astonishing, and a scrappy 1-0 away in a recent game away to Bray Wanderers shows that for all the talk of Dundalk’s beautiful football, Stephen Kenny’s men once again are able to find a way to win games tough.

This month sees the beginning of the FAI Cup for League of Ireland teams, with all of the heavy-hitters avoiding each other and for the most part getting non-league sides. Undoubtedly the pick of the round is Bohemians hosting Galway United in a game between two teams who will be depending on a cup run for some silverware.

However don’t forget the return of Dan Murray to Shamrock Rovers in Midleton colours on the Friday night, which should be extremely interesting to see. Dan was honoured by both clubs in the two sides’ recent Airtricity League game against each other, but expect him to show little emotion when trying to score a famous victory for the East Cork side.

Elsewhere the meeting of UCD and Bray Wanderers promises to be very interesting, and there could be potential shocks for Letterkenny Rovers and Firhouse Clover!

Remember if you have anything you want to share you can email us at loimonthly@gmail.com.Enjoy the read,

Editor,@kjgalvin93

Kevin Galvin

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@kj

galv

in93

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Well at least we got into the end of April this time before a club was announced as having financial difficulty.

Waterford United need to raise 80,000 euro to survive the season. Which means the likelihood is that they’re going to need more to survive next season when you add in travel costs, league entry, player wages etc etc.

But looking around the various social media outlets, I see an outpouring of support for the club.

#SAVEWATERFORD. Even Bohs had a bucket collection for them.

NO BLUE FEELINGHang on, rewind it there a second. Do I recall other clubs helping out Cork City when they were in financial bother in 2009? Do I recall bucket collections for Galway United? No. So why the sympathy for Waterford, Munster’s third biggest club? The obvious reason is that ‘’it’s another club going bust and that’s bad for the league’s image’’ and that appeared to save Dundalk in 2013

Waterford have had financial trouble for the last four seasons. I wrote in this column last year about them in May. They had to be saved by John Delaney (who didn’t mind funding his problem child then) at one stage. Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers have both got big windfalls recently, so be careful as to how they spend it, lest we forget their own history.

So you would’ve thought that Waterford would’ve learned a lesson then?

They then go out and appoint a man whose name is synonymous with clubs going under as their new manager. The joker calling himself a football coach that is Roddy

Collins has left a trail of turmoil and financial problems behind him once again. He’s been in

United ex-Chairman John O’Sullivan who recently resigned Photo: waterford-united.ie

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charge of eight clubs. This is the fifth one that’ll struggle to see out the season. Technically, he never managed Cork City but for the purpose of this article, I’m counting it

Speaking of the Rebel Army and their own history of financial problems, six days after being granted a license for the First Division, the club hosted a certain Waterford United in the EA Sports Cup. With thirteen players, they were beaten 2-0. But what’s coming back to gloriously bite Waterford on their backside now is the fans’ that night. A big banner emblazoned with two words. GAME OVER.

Six years on, it may well be that for the Blaas. And it’s for that very reason that I have absolutley no sympathy for Waterford United. They will not get a cent of my money. If you decide to mock another team in financial difficulty, you deserve everything that comes your

way. So I have my own two words for Waterford United. The second one is ‘off’...

One other issue which has flared up at the time of writing and also in the first division is the pitch at Stradbrook. Collie O’Neill was very upset with it when his UCD side went there a couple of weeks ago. I was at that match. Yes, Stradbrook is a rugby pitch which is riddled with holes and bumps that could easily cause a broken ankle or torn ligaments if you have a wrong step.

The only problem with complaining about Stradbrook in particular however is that there’s been grounds like Drom, Fahy’s Field, Bishopstown and the Carlisle Grounds that’ve had much worse a surface than Stradbrook even in recent memory. The last time I checked, a pitch doesn’t win a football match. Most Dundalk fans will gleefully make you aware of that.

The banner that Blues fans unfurled against Cork City FORAS Co-Op in 2010 Photo: waterford-united.ie

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When the SSE Airtricity League fixtures are announced, fans get that usual surge of excitement. Who are their clubs going to be playing in the first game of the season? When are they playing their closest rivals and are they home or away for the first game of the season? Many others however are forced to ask themselves just how many ‘pointless’ games are their team going to have.

For example, teams in the Premier Division will play each other three times and, if drawn against each other in the Irish Daily Mail FAI Senior Cup and the EA SPORTS Cup then that means five meetings. More if replays are needed. What if these are Dublin rivals, the likes of Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic, clash in the Leinster Senior Cup?

How many of these games are fans realistically going to attend? Would it not be better to scrap one of the competitions to avoid teams overplaying each other every season?

So, how can the FAI reduce the number of pointless games that crop up each year? Easy – the FAI and the IFA work together and create a new national, All-Ireland competition.

While this idea might upset and, indeed, anger some fans, I genuinely believe this is the way forward for not just the domestic game but also soccer north of the border. Just look at how well it works for both the GAA and the

IRFU.

It would also make financial sense for League of Ireland clubs as Sky Sports has, in the past, shown some of the bigger games from the Danske Bank Premiership.

The idea of an All-Ireland League is nothing new and when mooted about a decade ago it was shot down by both sides. The clubs did, however, agree to a cross-border competition, the Setanta Sports Cup, and although that finished badly a couple of years back it showed that the appetite was there to attend games involving clubs from Northern Ireland.

Having discussed my idea with fans from clubs across the country, some were in favour and others weren’t. Finance was the main reason for those who weren’t in favour of an All-Ireland League, i.e. the cost of travelling to and from games being played in places such as Cork or Wexford.

Remember that Derry City fans do this every season with no complaints. I’ll not mention money spent by Irish fans travelling over and back to the UK for English Premier League games – that is for another day.

I’ve spoken to players, too, some still playing and others who’ve retired. One in-depth conversation with an ex-League of Ireland pro revealed that he was against the idea of an All-Ireland League. In his opinion,

THE ALL-IRELAND QUESTIONTHOMAS AARON CAWLEY

Photo: Setanta Ireland

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the standard of football in the Danske Bank Premiership is poor and his fear was that it would affect the standard of football in the League of Ireland.

Some current players are for it, however, mainly because they’re fed up of the number of times they play certain clubs each season. One player said that playing the same teams over and over again is monotonous. There is no enjoyment in the fourth or fifth game. And, as a fan, I can see where he’s coming from.

If an All-Ireland League was to happen, there is the question of how could both leagues be combined? How many clubs from each league would feature in, say, a four-tier All Ireland League? There are 20 clubs in the SSE Airtricity League between the Premier Division and First Division. In Northern Ireland there are 26 clubs playing in the Danske Bank Premiership and the NIFL Championship One. That is 46 clubs in all.

To create a four-tier All-Ireland League, start with the new top flight – it would have the top six from the Premier Division and the Danske Bank Premiership. The bottom six in each would comprise the second tier and so on. The fourth tier would only have six clubs but to bring it up to eight the provincial leagues

could get involved by selecting the best two through a series of qualifiers.

What about the European places for UEFA competitions? Simple – the top two (in the top tier) would compete in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and the next two teams would go into the qualifying rounds of the Europa League.

The biggest stumbling block, though, for an All-Ireland League to take place are the organisations that run both leagues. Would the FAI or IFA be willing to give up all that comes with being an independent league in relation to funding and voting rights within both UEFA and FIFA? Would the ‘fat cats’ who run both organisations be willing to come to an arrangement that would benefit the clubs? This I doubt.

Personally, I am all for an An-Ireland League for the reasoning that it would cut out so many of the meaningless games each season, while the major broadcasters could be tempted to get involved which would add more revenue to clubs’ coffers.

Whatever happens, something needs to be done otherwise the SSE Airtricity League, as a whole, will suffer.

How many ‘pointless’ games are played a year? Here 646 people showed up to see Cork City hammer Waterford United 7-0 in their EA Sports Cup First Round clash Photo: Timmy Keane

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Until the penalty shootout was invented, the nearest thing for separating tied teams in many knock-out competitions was the corner count. It was used in some Irish competitions, like the Dublin City Cup, the Top Four Cup and even the Munster and Leinster Senior Cups at times right up to the end of the 1960s.

I haven’t been able to trace any use of it in the flagship competitions, like the FAI Cup, and its use doesn’t appear to have been widespread. But it was well enough known in the early years of the FAI to have been assumed to be acceptable on a famous, if now forgotten, occasion.

It’s often overlooked that the FAI Cup involves a round or rounds that the League teams don’t take part in, so much so that the newspapers fail to report them.

Perhaps it is understandable that free-standing competitions like the Intermediate and Junior Cups attract less attention than the Senior Cup, but back in the days when the non-League participation was decided by Qualifying Rounds, and later a Qualifying Cup, which had no other purpose than that, when they got a measure of coverage, it was a little uneven at best.

But the record-keepers of League

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THE LONGEST CUP-TIE EVERMícheál Ó hUanacháin unearths a hidden world record in the early days of the FAI Cup

Barrackton United during their pre-World War I days

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and Cup in our own time have mostly left these, and even the much later pre-League rounds played by those qualified through other competitions (or by invitation at times), out of their statistics, which seems a little petty.

Especially when the records, even going by what you can discover in the newspapers, throw up gems of soccer history - like the Cup tie in 1923/4 that runs the notorious 1971 English tie between Alvechurch and Oxford City damned close, losing by five minutes simply because Extra Time back then was usually (if not always, as we shall see) ten minutes each end rather than the 15 minutes a side that was standard by the 1970s.

In fact, as we shall see, Extra Time was variable in the extreme back then, like a lot of other practices in the game!

The regionalised draw for the First Qualifying Round in the 1923/4 season pitted Tipperary Wanderers against Cahir Park in North Munster. They beat their fellow Tipp-men 1-0 on 17 November in Cahir, and then travelled to Limerick where they overcame Prospect handily 4-1 on the 1st of December.

It was turning into a nightmare winter in Munster, and in the southern region Barrackton United, from Cork City, hosted Parnell Rovers in the Victoria Cross Grounds in a downpour that got steadily worse as the first half proceeded. Things got so bad that the visitors declined to take the field again

after the break, and tie, which stood at 2-0 to the hosts, was duly awarded to them.

It wasn’t the only match that fell foul of the deluge. The same afternoon, Bohemians (the Cork version) refused to play Extra Time after their match against Clifton ended scoreless, and the hosts were similarly awarded the game.

But the Dublin authorities recognised that the reluctant visitors in both cases had a point, and replays were ordered. Both home sides were successful on the second outing, Barrackton winning 4-0 and Clifton 2-1.

Barrackton, the other team in our story today, then benefitted from a walkover conceded by Cork Celtic, while Clifton beat Cork City 2-1. The draw for the Third and Fourth Qualifying Rounds gave the Barrackton club a home tie against Tipperary, while the winners would play Clifton, theoretically on 30 December.

Wanderers duly turned up at Victoria Cross on 16 December, and played a one-all draw, United right-full Cullinane equalising after William Casey had put Tipp in the lead with a first half penalty. Contemporary reports tell us that “Fifteen minutes extra play produced no other scoring” (Cork Examiner).

The Cork side travelled to Tipperary a week later, but the sides ended nil-all, the same source telling us that “the usual ten minutes extra play on each side” failed to separate them.

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Back to Cork, where the tie was becoming a very talked about event. The Examiner says in its New Year’s Eve edition that “the record attendance present - so large that the grounds could scarcely accommodate them - were treated to a really fine exhibition of the code.”

But nice football alone could not force a result, and after McGivney, the Tipp inside-left, had put them ahead, his counterpart Harry Duncan put the ball past the out-of-position Frank Butler in the Tipp goal.

This time, the paper tells us, “an extra

ten minutes a side was twice allowed, but the game remained a tie”, which indicates how variable the approach to Extra Time was back then.

A third replay was not all that unusual then, and the teams headed for Tipperary again, but on 6 January “a fierce storm, accompanied by torrential rains” accompanied the play from start to finish. Tom Welby put the home side ahead not long before the break, but late in the game, their left-half Michael Bonshell put a defensive header past Butler to level for the visitors.

Whatever about the duration of extra time, the decision that followed

Victoria Cross Ground: a Camogie game in 1916 (UCC v UCG)

caused considerable controversy. The officials at the match, determining that Tipperary had won 13 corners to the Cork side’s six, awarded the tie to Wanderers.

It was a decision that didn’t sit well with the officials in Dublin on this occasion, however, the Free State Football Association Chairman, JF Harrison, ruling that neither this nor any other cup tie could be so decided.

The weary players accordingly headed back to Cork, this time to Turners Cross,

as the Victoria Cross Grounds were unplayable “owing to the heavy rains and floods”. The result, predictably, was another draw, neither side scoring on 13 January.

By this time, the Senior Cup First Round was over, and by the time the tie was decided some of the Second Round matches had also been played.

At last, the teams met again in Tipperary on 20 January, and this time Wanderers went ahead early, left-back Michael Ryan scoring from a free before Tipp lost midfielder William O’Neill for his remarks after team-mate Albert Dash was injured. The Tipp side managed to hold off their visitors

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despite their one-man deficit, and emerged winners six weeks, and 10 hours 55 minutes playing time, after their original kick-off.

A week later, the victorious (and probably exhausted) Wanderers lost feebly by three goals to Clifton, who duly qualified - and in turn went under to Shelbourne United in their long-delayed First Round match in Cork.

The usually accepted longest-ever Cup tie is the English FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round decider between

Alvechurch and Oxford City, played over six matches in just over a fortnight in November 1971, in five different grounds. It lasted a total of eleven hours disregarding time added, but including Extra Time at 15 minutes an end in four of the games, which was how it happened.

If we – notionally at least – level the playing field in terms of Extra Time, no matter which direction we do it the Irish tie half a century earlier was longer: by a quarter of an hour if we assume the English match played 1920s ET, even allowing for additional time in the first game; and by five minutes if we adjust the Irish tie to 1970s ET, and not allow it on the first occasion!

Victoria Cross Ground: a Camogie game in 1916 (UCC v UCG)

The officials at the match, determining that Tipperary had won 13 corners to the Cork side’s six, awarded the tie to Wanderers...It was a decision that didn’t sit well with the officials in Dublin on this occasion, however, the Free State Football Association Chairman, JF Harrison, ruling that neither this nor any other cup tie could be so decided.

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DAVE GALVIN again takes us on a history tour through a league that’s seen it’s fair

share of wacky stories over the years

Getting crowds in the game is the League of Ireland’s major problem Source: Comeragh Photo

ALL A BIT ODD!

SOURCE: @StandingRoomOnly

SOURCE: @LongfordTownFC

We’ve all heard tell of unruly fans being banned from LOI grounds, but attempting to ban a photographer?

In his excellent book ‘From the Lodge to the Box-a Miscellany of Cork Soccer’, author Plunkett Carter highlights the story of Cork Evening Echo photographer, Roy Hammond, and how the Leeside based snapper fell foul of local LOI side, Evergreen United. Hammond himself relates the story:

‘On a very bad day at the end of a very wet week there was an enormous pool of water at one end of Turners Cross. The ball came over and actually floated in the mini lake. Eddie Doran came flying down the wing to boot the ball as hard as he could. There was an enormous splash, Eddie and the ball disappeared in the spray and when the water settled the ball was nestled in the back of the net.

I managed to get a shot of Eddie disappearing from sight as he shot for goal and this appeared on the back page of Monday’s Echo under the snappy heading ‘A goal against the Tide’.

Two weeks later, and back in Turners Cross for Evergreen’s next home game, I was called aside by Flor Crowley, United’s coach who told me how the club were most unhappy with the splash photo, and that in future I wouldn’t be welcome at their games!’.

While over the years, inclement weather has precipitated (excuse the pun!) a premature finish to many a League of Ireland fixture, on other occasions, what might be termed as an inclement

atmosphere, has effected a similar result.

The Sligo Champion of Monday April 14th 1967 reported on how a mass brawl in the 88th minute of Sligo Rovers’ last home game of the season against Dundalk, led to the game being abandoned by referee, Jimmy Quinn. Under the headline, ‘Fists Flew in Showgrounds Shambles’ the Champion describes how following Gerry Mitchell’s equalising goal for Rovers, all hell broke loose in the visitor’s penalty area.

Players, officials and some supporters behind the goal all waded into the fray, while Gardai and other club officials were unable to restore order, at which point referee Quinn simply walked back to the changing rooms accompanied by his two linesmen.

Somewhat bizarrely, when later questioned on an outcome, Quinn declared the match as having officially ended in a 1-1 draw. Dundalk goalkeeper Kevin Blount, despite widely proclaiming his innocence in the week that followed, bore the brunt of much of the anger of both Sligo players and fans and his departure was humoursly reported on. ‘With a large crowd out side the dressing room chanting ‘we want Blount’, eventually a car was brought around to Treacy Avenue. Blount was accompanied from the dressing room through a fence at the back of the pavilion and was taken away to the safety of the Great Southern Hotel for his after-match meal’.

As for a final resolution, not surprisingly perhaps, the referee’s decision to call it quits at 1-1 was subsequently upheld by the League’s Management Committee.

Thirty years earlier, another LOI game

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to have ended prematurely had a very different outcome. On 24th March 1940, St James’s Gate’s home league game with Cork United was abandoned after 81 minutes following a crowd invasion, with the home side leading 1-0.

The League Management committee ordered that the remaining 9 minutes at the Iveagh Grounds be played out, and on 20th April that year both teams took to the field to complete those same 9 minutes with neither managing to find the net.

Remarkably, the Gate then lined out again later that same afternoon in 4-0 home win against Brideville, while United dashed across to the capital to Shelbourne Park, where they lost out by a single goal to the Shelbourne Reds!

The final League of Ireland table for the 1977-78 campaign is unique, certainly

in one particular respect.

Despite high pre-season expectations that were generated by a first ever appearance at senior level for both Galway Rovers (later United) and Thurles Town, the newcomers actually contrived to finish in the bottom two places. Thurles, who finished rock bottom, managed just one win in thirty league outings, the Tribesmen notching just three.

All of which hardly endorsed the League Management Committee’s decision to expand the league from 14 to 16 clubs! Others to have suffered the indignity of finishing bottom in their debut LOI campaign include, YMCA (1921-22), Rathmines Athletic (1922-23), Cork Hibernians (1957-58), Longford Town (1984-85) and Emfa (1985-86).

The spectre of managers and coaches

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In 1956 Evergreen United player J. Madden received presentations on behalf of the directors and players at Turners Cross, to mark his recent marriage. Others included are Austin Noonan, John Vaughan, Jack Morley, Derry Barrett, Pat O’Keefe and Jack Lennox.

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moaning about fixture congestion is all too familiar one in the modern game. It would appear however, that they made them a bit tougher in the old days, certainly in the League of Ireland!

Particularly back in the 30s and 40s, it was quite common for clubs to play back to back League or Shield fixtures on consecutive days. This was especially true when it came to provincial clubs playing in Dublin, when travelling costs were reduced by doubling up on a Saturday and Sunday fixture. In one extraordinary period in late May 1942, Shamrock Rovers lined out three times in just four days in the newly created All Ireland Inter City Cup competition!

On Sunday May 24th the Hoops completed an 8-7 aggregate win over great rivals, Shelbourne at Milltown. The following day Cliftonville were hammered 5-1 at the same venue in

the first leg of the semi-final, and two days later on the Wednesday, a place in the final was confirmed with a 2-0 victory against the Northern Regional League outfit at Solitude in Belfast. The final itself, a 0-1 defeat to Dundalk was played on Sunday May 31st, so 3 in 4 for Rovers, sure no problem, and no complaints either!

Kevin Blount, here claiming a cross for Cork Celtic against Shamrock Rovers in the 1964 FAI Cup FinalPhoto: dundalkfc.ie

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COLM CUDDIHY reccounts the story of one of the League of Ireland’s most exciting exports, currently playing in the MLS.

The North American Soccer League (commonly known as the NASL) was one of the biggest leagues in the world back 70s and 80s, boasting the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, George Best and Pele to name but a few. The David Beckham movement has seen a resurgence in the popularity of American ‘soccer’ with the MLS, but the NASL now has been dubbed as the secondary league. One player who has thrived there however is former Sligo Rovers and Shamrock Rovers midfielder, Richie Ryan.

Ryan started his career with then-Premier League side Sunderland back in 2003, making his debut in the Tyne-Wear Derby, which Sunderland lost 1-0.

The following season, the Tipp man signed for Scunthorpe United, he made 13 appearances for The Irons before moving onto Boston United, before leaving once again a year later.

The midfielder didn’t flourish in England during his four years there and decided after his spell with The Pilgrims, he decided to try his luck in Belgium, signing for Royal Antwerp in 2006. He played eight times for the club, he only spent a season in The Capital of the World before moving to the capital of the North West, Sligo.

This was without doubt his best spell in his career, winning two FAI Cups and an EA Sports Cup, making 111

LOI ABROAD:Richie Ryan

Photo: nasl.com

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appearances, scoring five goals. During his first two years, he really did struggle with injury, and it looked like it was going to be the same old story for Ryan.

He made his debut for Sligo against Cork City, which The Leesiders won that day. The midfielder was made captain for the 2011 season, in which they won the FAI Cup and came second in the league, behind Shamrock Rovers. This was the first time Richie won the FAI Cup, Sligo did win it in 2010, but he was suspended for the final. He won Player of the Year during the 2010 season and his only season as captain was his last for the club, as he signed for Scottish Premier Division side Dundee United in January of 2012.

He was not the only Irishmen at The Terrors, with ex Longford Town defender Seán Dillon, midfielder Willo Flood, striker Jon Daly and defender Gavin Gunning all already at the club. He made 36 appearances with the club during his season and a half in Scotland, but had his contract terminated by mutual consent in July of

2013.

After this, Shamrock Rovers decided to take a chance on Ryan, signing for the club in August of that year, he made nine appearances for The Hoops before swapping a shamrock for a maple leaf. Ottawa Fury came knocking on Richie’s door in 2014, making him captain for the 2015 season.

During his second season with the club, Ottawa got to the Soccer Bowl final

against former club to the stars, the New York Cosmos, losing

3-2 to the Cosmos, Ryan played the entirety of the game, getting booked in the 72nd minute. That

was his final game for The Fury, before signing for the Jacksonville Armada, he has

yet to make an appearance for the club.

Richie Ryan has had a very up and down

career, but his longest and best spell was

without doubt during his time with Sligo Rovers. He did win an EA Sports Cup with Shamrock Rovers, but his time with the Bit O’Red must be seen as the best in his career, the former Sligo and Shamrock Rovers player has graced the pitch against the likes of Raul, Marcos Senna and Wayne Rooney, but could never get the break he so badly wanted.