The great thing about James McClean is that he wears his heart on his sleeve. The not so great thing about James McClean is that he wears that heart on his sleeve and is never afraid to publicly air the views that are inspired by said heart - whether you like them or not and whether you want to hear them or not.

A friend did ask me yesterday if I had heard the inevitable news that Tiernan Lynch is no longer the manager at Derry City. As someone with the League of Ireland close to my own heart, of course I had.

The same person, another LOI devotee, asked me if I thought James had driven Tiernan out of the club. That’s an easy question if you think that those who own League of Ireland clubs pay attention to social media.

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Eyes on the prize…

I’m not so sure they do. If they did read every word that’s said about them in the poisoned word of social media, there would be precious few owners around the self proclaimed greatest league in the world.

Indeed, if the managers in our league paid any attention to X, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, managerial jobs would be available every week of every season.

That’s why I wasn’t in the least surprised when Derry City owner Philip Doherty announced, as part of the statement outlining Tiernan Lynch’s departure from the Brandywell, that he pays little or no attention to social media or football pundits. The Lynch decision was based on results and recent results decreed it was time for a parting of the ways.

That’s it in a nutshell. Results haven’t been right at Derry City and the manager, as is always the case in professional football, paid the price. Not the owner and certainly not the players.

So James McClean, for all his recent outbursts, had little or no impact on the actual decision by Doherty to sack Lynch. What he did influence was the atmosphere around the club and, in all probability, around the city.

Derry City FC is a unique case in football. The city revolves around the club and the club revolves around the city. The two communities, sporting and public, are one and the same. When Derry suffers, Derry City FC suffers. When Derry City FC suffers, Derry suffers.

You can add James McClean to that theory. He is as Derry as anyone I have ever met, as committed to his town and his people as anyone who has ever stepped foot inside the city walls.

There are times when that obsession borders on the ridiculous but he shouldn’t be blamed for that. It’s his way and you are never going to change his way.

Instead you need to understand them before you are ever going to accept them. You need to understand that Derry - and Derry FC by association - matters to James McClean as much as his family does. Simply because everything connected with Derry is family to him.

What James may need to understand is that not everyone feels the same way and not everyone needs to share his feelings for the town he clearly loves so well. The world bleeds red but only some of it bleeds red and white like he does.

What James really needs to understand though is the power of silence. How many times has he quit social media only to return within days with new targets on his timelines? How many times has he laboured a point to score cheap points against those he clearly believes to be enemies of Derry and, therefore, his enemies?

James McClean doesn’t need anyone’s approval to voice his opinion, nor will he ever seek it.

But my advice to him now, and he will never seek that either, is to shut up. Get fit, play your football and enjoy your return home to Ireland James.

You’ve come back home with a career to be celebrated, not one to be continually thrown open to scorn by some self inflicted words on social media.

Let your feet do the talking again for a while and leave the worries of the world to the world. That’s where they belong.

It's another big story week in the League of Ireland and our LOI correspondent Darryl Geraghty joins editor Cathal Dervan again to discuss the Tiernan Lynch sacking at Derry City and the James McClean effect along with the European latest for Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne and Bohemians...

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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League of Ireland great Paul Whelan told a lovely story the other day, one that struck a chord as FIFA’s very own Dark Knight Gianni Infantino saw his plans to turn the World Cup into a cash cow collapse like a deck of cards in a sandstorm.

Paul was talking on the shop floor in the INTERSPORTS Elverys store at the Pavilions shopping centre in Swords as the new Home Farm DCU amalgamation launched their entry into the inaugural FAI National League.

This footballing marriage made in heaven will bring the rich underage footballing heritage of one of Ireland’s most famous nursery clubs and match it with the educational offerings from one of the country’s leading and most innovative third level institutions.

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Lying down on the job…

Home Farm DCU will offer Irish football’s brightest young players a viable alternative to the flight abroad and an opportunity to advance their football careers at the highest level available in Ireland whilst all the time pursuing a degree level education.

This step forward for Irish football, similar to the offering at UCD for many years, is one that excites former FAI staff coach Paul who has already started work as Chief Football Officer with DCU.

It also, and this is where is gets emotional, offers Paul, his son Gavin and his brother Ronnie, the chance to pay homage to dad and granddad Ronnie Whelan Snr, one of the legends of Dublin football and a man who was introduced to the Home Farm ways by his neighbour, the one and only Busby Babe Liam Whelan.

Ronnie Snr’s love for Home Farm was always going to be passed on to his own sons and, as the family had just celebrated the anniversary of his death a fortnight ago, he was at the forefront of their minds at the launch of this new Home Farm project last week.

On the very day that football started to stand up to the greed of Infantino and his venture capital cronies and UEFA launched their own revolution against the vulgarisation of the World Cup, so Paul and Ronnie Whelan spoke fondly of their Da who first brought them to the Whitehall Field of Dreams when they were only five and six.

Like so many Irish grassroots clubs, Home Farm staged World Cup style tournaments to introduce the local kids to the beautiful game. Ronnie Jnr was the first one to take his formative steps in the famous blue and white hoops with his dad by his side. And Paul soon followed, that first visit sparking a love affair that is as alive today as it was almost 60 years ago.

The simplicity of playing for France or Italy or some other World Cup nation with the famous blue and white shirt on your back left its mark on Paul and Ronnie, just as it did with so many others.

As Ronnie suggested, Home Farm ran the most successful academy in Irish football long before Irish football knew what an academy was.

Great coaches like Liam Tuohy, Paddy Hilliard, Gerry Garvan and Ronnie Snr worked with some of the best players in the city and the country, always teaching them to play football and to live life the Home Farm way.

The innocent stories of times long gone, as told by Ronnie and Paul Whelan at the launch last week, were the perfect antidote to the money grabbing mayhem of FIFA and Infantino’s World Cup sell off plans that dominated the news the same day.

But one line stood out above all others. As Paul Whelan, like Ronnie, celebrated the return of the traditional blue and white hoops as the home jersey for the new Home Farm DCU entity, he issued a short but great line that summed up what football should be all about.

“As kids we loved those blue and white shirts, they meant everything to us,” he said. “They were the stuff that dreams were made of, so special to us that we wore those blue and white hoops to bed and dreamed our football dreams in them.”

Simple and sincere words from a man who has been involved in Irish football all his life. And the sort of words that we needed to hear so badly as Infantino ran amok.

Home Farm and the Hoops are back. And Infantino appears to be on the way out. There’s still hope for our beautiful game, the game of the people.

Home Farm DCU will kick off their first season in the new FAI National League on August 29th when they travel to play Bonagee United in Letterkenny. For Ronnie Whelan, the club launch was a trip down memory lane, for new manager Gavin Peers it was confirmation that the business end of the third tier of the League of Ireland is only around the corner. Editor Cathal Dervan caught up with them both.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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First the good news. Gianni Infantino wants to run for President of FIFA for another four years from 2027. Now the bad news. Gianni Infantino wants to run for another four years as President of FIFA.

Before you go running to your local national football governing body to insist they vote against this buffoon, don’t bother. They won’t upset their backers and they can’t afford to after Wednesday’s pledge by football’s Mr Nasty to give each federation over €35million as their share of a proposed FIFA sell-off to private investors.

That €35million offer to support the FIFA Forward Enterprise - a proposal to bring together the sale of FIFA’s commercial rights including broadcasting, ticketing, sponsorship and licensing revenues - would go a long way to paying off the FAI’s near €40million debt. Just think about that for a second.

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Happy days

Then his vulgar offer was followed by a threat from Infantino of less funding for grassroots and development projects for any national associations who don’t vote this proposal through by September 19th. That’s the dissidents told. Or most of them.

Naturally the offer was met with disgust by UEFA who immediately called an emergency meeting of its members, including the FAI, and claimed Infantino had crossed a line this time.

There’s already talk of UEFA leading a revolt against Infantino and his disgusting attempts to turn world football into his own personal fiefdom. Even new British PM Andy Burnham got in on the act when he declared on X yesterday: “Football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine.”

Nice words from the Labour man. Strong words that will be applauded in many European corridors of power. But useless words. There’s literally no point standing against Infantino.

The man who spent the build-up to the World Cup and the summer chasing Donald Trump’s affirmation like Fred running after Wilma in the Flintstones already has enough support from the Americas, Asia and Africa to guarantee his re-election.

So opinions on this side of the world won’t count for anything when the Sepp Blatter replacement - or clone if you like - goes to the ballot box next year with his victory already guaranteed.

We see this in politics all the time. It’s what happens when you throw enough money at your constituents to ensure they see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

As the excellent Martyn Ziegler reported recently in The Times, FIFA’s cash distributions to its 211 member associations have risen from $2million per annum in 2016 to $8million, over a four-year cycle. Now they’re all being offered a €35million bonus.

That loot - and the previous increase under Infantino’s watch - explains why those in power in three of the five continents have already decided that the status quo is just fine for another four years from 2027.

So they will continue to turn a blind eye to the despicable and ongoing behaviours of their president.

As long as Infantino and his FIFA crew keep signing the cheques - and the cheques get bigger and bigger - the emperor can continue to wear no clothes and wrap himself in the nakedness of ambition.

Crown Prince of World Football? Clown Prince is more like it.

Editor Cathal Dervan sits down with Stephen Hunt talking about life after football, players, transfers and the life of an agent. The former Crystal Palace, Brentford, Reading, Hull City, Wolves, Ipswich and Coventry played 39 times for the national team now looks after players on both sides of the Irish sea through his agency, SHM.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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All politics is local, they say. And whoever they are, they should also acknowledge that all great sports stories are local. There’s always an angle, even when Mayo win their first All-Ireland football title in 75 years and someone on X goes looking for a League of Ireland angle. Of course, they found one.

And it’s a bloody good one, the story of Andy Moran and his time as a wannabe professional footballer introduced to the black and red stripes of Longford Town whilst still a teenager.

Moran, as reported by the Longford Live website on Monday and based on a 2025 interview with the community radio station in Castlebar, turned to the League of Ireland’s underage set-up when he came out of minor football in Mayo and was left waiting for his senior call-up to the county colours.

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Getting down to business

By all accounts he was a decent footballer when he travelled down the N5 to the Strokestown Road grounds, winning an Enda McGuill Under 21 Cup with the Town’s under 21 side in 2003. “When I was younger, it was probably always my dream to play a bit of professional soccer,” said Andy. “I loved it, I really enjoyed it.”

Moran was also humble enough in that interview to admit that he wasn’t the best minor footballer in Mayo, never mind Connacht. He was a bit part player at best and only a December call-up to train with the Mayo senior panel from then manager John Maughan persuaded him to swap professional footballer ambitions for the chase for Sam.

That chase was a forlorn one as a player. Moran played in six All-Ireland final Sundays and left Croke Park a beaten man on each occasion.

But, as current squad member and former captain Paddy Durcan told Marty Morrissey at Monday night’s homecoming, Mayo always kept knocking on that door. On Sunday, the one time Longford Town winger Andy Moran handed them the key.

Not long after the hooter sounded at Croke Park, the Longford social media crew got to work. Their tweet was a simple one - ‘Congratulations to former Longford Town player Andy Moran who managed Mayo to All-Ireland success today! #Town2026 #CmonDeTown’

It was a good move by the Town’s media crew and it wasn’t a cheap shot. That tweet was typical of the goodwill that Mayo’s first All-Ireland win in almost 80 years generated across the country and indeed as far as Joe Biden country in America and Kevin Kilbane’s new home in Canada.

Mayo’s eventual All-Ireland success story touched soccer heads just as much as it inspired the gaelic football world. One of the best photographs I’ve seen is of Steve Staunton celebrating in the Croke Park stands alongside his brothers, the win meaning as much to them in honour of their late Mayo father Tom as Louth’s proud march to the Leinster title this year did for the Dundalk family.

Sport crosses borders and sport unites. And there’s a lesson for Longford Town and every other trailblazer in Irish soccer as Mayo fans begin to think about going back to work sometime this week.

It’s been a while since Alan Matthews did an Andy Moran on it and inspired Longford Town to breakthrough honours with consecutive FAI Cup wins in 2003 and 2004.

Now back in the First Division, the Town are fifth in the table and in a dogfight to make the promotion play-off places at the end of the season. But, like their former player Andy Moran with Mayo, they are still knocking on that door.

And someday that door will open again for Longford Town just as it did for the Mayo footballers. Just don’t wait 75 years, lads! It’s not good for the heart.

In another change to ‘normal’ service it’s Tuesday Night Football for Darryl Geraghty and editor Cathal Dervan. With a huge night ahead for Shamrock Rovers and further action for LOI teams across Wednesday & Thursday, the pair delve into what might be in store for our sides.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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The script was written long before Ross Tierney pulled his right foot back and sent a size five screaming into the top corner of the Ballkani net, a fitting finale as the curtain came down on European football at Dalymount Park.

On the ground graced by legends like Pele, Zidane, Brady, Givens Finney, Whelan, O’Connor and Jameson in a chequered past, it was appropriate that the match winning hero for the would be one of their own for the Bohemians faithful.

Ross Tierney epitomises everything that is good about Bohemians Football Club. And then some. Born and bred just up the road in Ballymun, Tierney is proud of his roots, proud of his family, proud of his community, proud to be a Bohs man.

His incredible work ethic is that of a man who knows the value of a hard shift. His loyalty is that of a man who will do whatever his right for those nearest and dearest to him. His passion is that of a man who’s only focus in life is to be the best father, husband, footballer and role model he can be.

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I’ve worked with Ross Tierney. I’ve seen first hand how hard he trains, how dedicated he is to the jersey on his back, whatever the colour. I have witnessed just how determined he is to provide his children with the very best opportunities in life.

He is making the very most of his ability as a footballer to make life better for those he goes home to. He will stretch every sinew in his body to show the world that he is entitled to earn the living he makes from football.

And that attitude, that willingness to put his body on the line and his brain into gear, whatever the demands of the occasion, ensures that Tierney will always give his best. It also embodies all that is good about the modern day Bohemian Football Club as we prepare to say goodbye to Dalymount Park as we know it.

Before anyone gets carried away with this bromance, there are things about the Bohs way that I don’t like. I’ve been going to Dalymount since I was a kid by the way so let me feel entitled to my opinions!

Some of their fans get a little too worked up about things for my liking and a few of them are far too quick to turn against their managers when things go wrong.

But this is definitely a club for its people. A club that listens to what its members want, takes the majority view on board and acts on it.

In many ways, Bohemians is the football club that the FAI should model itself on. One where the senior management actually know and understand Irish football, one where the board and those answerable to them actually listen to their members, a club that is not afraid to take the hard decisions and actually see them through.

Ross Tierney’s goal late on Wednesday night gives Bohs real hope of progressing in the Conference League when they go to Kosovo next week. It was scored by a man raised by Irish football, a real live product of the Irish system that the FAI are now rebuilding from the ground up.

The goalscorer’s story and his club’s mantra are the way forward for domestic football in this country. That match winner against Ballkani didn’t just provide a fitting farewell to European football at Dalymount before the bulldozers move in, it also provided a pathway to the future. And that’s a good night’s work from the hardest working man in Dublin - to paraphrase Jimmy Rabbitte.

With the SPFL season only a week away, there’s been plenty of noise around the lack of signings at Celtic. ASCOM has plenty to share, not just football either…

You can watch all the LTF episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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It is almost time to park the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Almost. With the League of Ireland vibrant and exciting, with our top clubs active in Europe and with the return of the English and Scottish Premier Divisions only around the corner, the world will move on from the World Cup.

That’s football. One of the beauties of the game, one of the facts facing any supporter dealing with a massive letdown from their team is the simple fact that there’s always another game on the horizon.

Rodri will return to Manchester City in a couple of weeks. Mbappe will be wearing the Real Madrid shirt again. Ronaldo will play on, regardless of his age, in Saudi Arabia. Messi will be back on South Beach in Miami alongside new team-mate Vozinho. And Pico will finally have ventured back into Dunnes Stores in Kilnamanagh for the big shop.

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Life will return to normal - or as normal as it gets for some of the superstars of international football, as normal as it will ever be again for Vozinha and Pico after their Cape Verde heroics.

We will still have the great moments of the summer of 2026 to fall back on. We will always have those magical plays from France, the tactical genius of Spain, the false promise of England, the farce of the American President’s red card interference, the 308 goals across 104 games, the Scottish bagpipes, the Viking rowers, the hydration breaks, the four quarters, Argentina’s comeback in Miami, the Torres winner again the overly aggressive Argies in the final.

Those positive memories will be there whenever our World Cup vibe needs a boost, whenever we feel like looking back at a tournament that delivered probably more than most of us expected, a tournament which proved once again that the World Cup can suck you in and stick to you like no other sporting event on the planet. It is still an essential watch every four years.

And now it is time to move on. And debate what it all means for Irish football after a summer when one of our own reversed the granny rule and starred for his father’s country on the international stage.

Four years from now Spain, Portugal and Morocco will be the main hosts for a tournament likely to be expanded to 64 teams - with Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay also hosting games to mark the 100th anniversary of this great event.

That expansion to the Beatles number is an interesting one. Will we get to love the World Cup as Ireland fans when it’s 64? Apologies to Beatles fans but it is an interesting question to ponder post the summer of 48 guns - and that’s an alarming attempt at humour.

There’s no guarantee that Europe will get significantly more teams at the next World Cup. That ignoramus Infantino is a dab hand at harvesting votes from the smaller confederations as he clings to his tainted power and you would have to suspect that votes equals more teams at the next World Cup finals for those who keep Trump’s mate in office.

So what we have to ensure is that Ireland qualify on the pitch next time around. And I’m hopeful. The Troy Parrott generation will be four years older and have the benefit of the Euro 28 campaign behind them.

The kids coming up behind Troy - the Noonans, Melias, Umehs and Devanneys - will be senior internationals by then. A generational talent may well have exploded from the traps. We might even have a Head Coach who knows how to protect a two goal lead in a play-off away from home and see it through. It won’t be the current incumbent by the way but that’s a story for another day.

Who knows, four years from now the FAI might have sorted itself out and realised that it is a members association, not a supermarket chain.

What we cannot do is allow another World Cup to pass us by. Norway and Scotland have had their shot at the ‘best fans in the world’ title. It’s time to get the champions back in the ring.

Let’s do whatever needs to be done to get Ireland back on the World Cup stage in 2030. We deserve another Ray Houghton moment of our own.

Renowned coach and coach educator Larry Mahony joins us for his regular chat and discusses the finale to the World Cup, the non-football from Argentina versus the patient approach from Spain - catch up with Larry at www.bigpicturecoachingIreland.com.

Watch the full episode now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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Perhaps a little light relief for a Friday… the last of the Let’s Talk Football World Cup Specials - a couple of clips from the full episode can be viewed below but the full, no holds barred version is on site and streaming platforms now.

Watch the full episode here

England are coming home without the World Cup and Rob Shepherd does not like that. He’s dismayed, disappointed and downright angry with how Thomas Tuchel handled the semi-final against Argentina and is calling for the German to be sent packing before England have to play France in Saturday night’s bronze medal game in Miami. Shep insists Tuchel got it wrong with his tactics against Messi and Co. and has failed miserably with the job of improving on the Gareth Southgate era. He wants Tuchel gone now and explains why to editor Cathal Dervan in this Let’s Talk Football World Cup special when he names Eddie Howe as his choice to take England forward.

Greatness is the ability to turn a game of football on its head in an instant. Genius is the ability to do it repeatedly, no matter the level of the game or the standard of the opposition.

Lionel Messi is a genius. Ten out of ten for stating the bleeding obvious Mister. Yeah, I know. He was a genius before he played England for the first time on Wednesday night and he will be a genius long after Sunday’s World Cup final against Spain has been consigned to the history books.

We’ve known he’s a genius for a long, long time. But at this World Cup he had shown greatness but not, it could be argued, genius as he walked around America like a man without a care in the world, switching on the greatness only when he needed to.

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On Wednesday, after Anthony Gordon scored the 55th minute goal that might shut up the Spanish press bemoaning his move to Barcelona for a while, Argentina needed the genius Messi to turn up. And he did.

For the next 35 minutes of normal time and an extremely long 10 minutes of added time, Messi was at his very best as Argentina enjoyed 88 per cent of the possession for the remainder for the game and England looked like headless chickens with a headless coach in charge of them.

The English media are already having a field day with Thomas Tuchel’s decision to park the bus with his team a goal ahead against the reigning world champions. And rightly so, it was a bizarre decision that stank of Gareth Southgate pragmatism, the very trait Tuchel was hired to remove from the English psyche.

But Tuchel didn’t just park the bus - they handed the keys to the highway to Messi and so England were doomed. Not just because Tuchel surrendered the ball after that Gordon opener but because he allowed Argentina the possession they needed to get the ball to Messi.

He played right into the hands of the nation that gave us the Hand of God goal all those years ago and the outcome was just as disastrous for England and maybe even for Tuchel who wants to see out his long term contract as the bus driver.

It’s debatable after this collapse whether or not Tuchel deserves to stay in charge of these under achievers. And it’s not really our problem so let’s park that one for now - like the bus.

Instead this morning, we should celebrate the genius that is Messi. He didn’t score in those final 44 minutes but I’d bet he ran more in that defining period of the game than he did in any of the previous matches as Argentina clawed their way to a final showdown with a Spanish side that has also done what it needed to do before switching on the turbochargers against France in their semi-final.

How will Spain fare against Argentina? That’s a mouth watering question but one thing is for certain - they will know better than England how to handle a genius like Messi. They train with one every day in the shape of Lamine Yamal. And he’s barely old enough to drive a bus, never mind park it!

In another European special edition of the League of Ireland pod on Let’s Talk Football, Darryl Geraghty and editor Cathal Dervan look back at that record breaking result for Shamrock Rovers on Tuesday and look ahead to the big Thursday night tests for Derry City and Bohs.

Watch the full episode now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here) to get the latest from the World Cup giraffes!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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Shamrock Rovers have consistently paved the way for Irish Clubs in Europe whilst maintaining their dominance domestically - there is no doubt in my mind that they can overturn the 2-0 away defeat to Floriana last week when the sides meet again in Tallaght tonight.

Rovers have a squad built for European campaigns which have often seen them play into December, so they have the depth, experience and quality to turn the return leg around. Despite a surprising result away, particularly when you consider Floriana are still in pre-season, Stephen Bradley’s men will not panic and will stick to their principles.

The Champions League route is a lucrative one and Rovers, more than any other Irish club, understand the importance of progression. They have been here before and have come through but there is no doubt last week’s result adds greater pressure for a club with high expectations.

It’s World Cup semi-final time and the business end of the tournament, Cathal Dervan talks through more dramatic days with Rob Shepherd as eight became four. Spain, France, England and Argentina - two mouth-watering ties ahead or will they progress through passing their opponents to defeat?

Watch the full episode now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here) to get the latest from the World Cup giraffes!

Their league form is decent as they maintain a seven-point advantage over Bohemians. I expect a big performance from Rovers who will have to count on all their previous European experience and while it could be a tense night in Tallaght, they have more than enough to overcome a 2-0 deficit.

Derry City had a credible result in the Europa League last Thursday, losing 3-2 away to CSKA in Bulgaria, with James Olayinka’s 89th minute goal setting up a potential cracker in a packed Ryan McBride Stadium.

There has been significant turnover of playing staff with Tiernan Lynch being backed heavily by the club. This brings extra pressure but, like Rovers, I expect Derry City to progress in this qualifier.

The Brandywell can be a special place, packed with amazing supporters and they could be the difference. Derry will need to start the game well, get the supporters fully behind them and make it an intimidating atmosphere. European football is special. Derry have many players with huge European experience and these players I’m sure will deliver on Thursday.

Ironically, a good run in Europe playing against higher level opposition could be the making of this squad and could aid their league form which must improve.

There has been heavy investment throughout the club and it’s great to see a proper grass pitch installed at the Brandywell which now looks like a proper football stadium. The Derry players certainly won’t miss the artificial pitch which I feel was detrimental to performance.

I expect a strong finish from Derry in the League and hopefully a good run in Europe. Derry’s loyal and fanatical fan base can be demanding but with everything now set up for success, there are no excuses.

The team, the manager and backroom staff need to deliver more consistent results. A win on Thursday will go a long way to helping their cause.

My old club Bohemians enjoyed a solid win at home to St. Joseph’s of Gibraltar in the Conference League last week, a late Conor Parsons goal giving them a 2-0 advantage heading into the second leg.

Bohs have had a good look at their opposition and although they will face challenges with the heat and the way St. Joseph’s operate by bringing in players from the EFL specifically for Europe, Bohs have a good squad of players who, on their day, can be electric.

It would be great to see my old club have a good European run. Playing in Europe is magic and the memories will always remain with the players and staff who experienced the last European campaign.

Those nights in the Aviva in 2021 were golden - we played a brilliant exhilarating brand of football, swatting away Stjarnan from Iceland and Dudelange from Luxembourg before beating high ranking Greek side PAOK 2-1 at the Aviva.

As an aside Bohemians had played PAOK the season before in the UEFA youth league with Andy Lyons, Dawson Devoy, Ross Tierney and Promise Omochere featuring. To play them in the first team the following season in the Conference League, I believe, was a huge endorsement of our commitment to youth and our belief in young players.

They were magnificent to a man on our European run and, although we dropped points in the league between European games, the boys managed to produce a huge FAI Cup performance against Rovers in Dalymount with Andy Lyons scoring a cracker with his left foot.

I was so proud of this young team with an average age of 23 years, the seventh youngest to compete in Europe that season of all the top divisions and with 88% of the players born in Ireland. The fans gave us everything travelling around Europe with many not being able to attend the games due to Covid restrictions.

Another European run is what the Bohs fans deserve and crave. They have the squad and should progress. A kind draw, if there is such a thing in Europe, could see a special campaign for the club with the group stages not beyond this squad.

Whatever happens this week, I wish all our clubs competing in Europe the very best. It is vital that we continue to improve our co-efficient and be competitive on the European stage.

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John Russell is a good guy and everything he did at Sligo Rovers suggests he is a good manager who performed miracles under difficult circumstances. Now comes the real question - has he got what it takes to become a great manager?

That is the question as we wait to hear his first press conference as the new Shelbourne manager and await news on how his recruitment took shape in the days and weeks since Joey O’Brien was relieved of his duties as Damien Duff’s replacement.

It’s going to be an interesting watch. Much was made post Joey’s departure of the link-up between the Reds and Jamestown Analytics, the Tony Bloom owned data company that specialises in player recruitment and opposition analysis using data. A Moneyball style system as it is often referred to.

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There were numerous reports that data analysis, via the Jamestown methodology that has fuelled Brighton and Hearts amongst others in recent times, would find a new manager for the last but one League of Ireland champions.

Some Tolka Park fans, frustrated by the fact that Joey O’Brien never quite emerged from the shadows of the really successful but unique Duff era, were excited by the prospect. They spoke in excited tones of the arrival of a continental wizard, a Jurgen Klopp in the making.

French and Spanish names appeared out of nowhere on message boards. Stunning win percentages were brandished across chat rooms. Johnny Foreigner was coming to town and the Reds would rise again.

Others, those of the more traditional type, wondered what on earth a Portuguese coach with no experience of domestic Irish football would make of the Showgrounds on a wet Saturday night in October.

Well wonder no more. John Russell knows the Showgrounds in Sligo inside out. He knows them so well, he could easily turn right and into the home dressing room by mistake the next time Shels are in town.

He also knows where to park at Mounthawk Park for Friday night’s FAI Cup derby and how to get to the RSC in Waterford for his first league match in charge on the last Friday of the month.

Familiarity with Irish football is a key attribute for John Russell and, you would have to think, one of the reasons Shels have abandoned Moneyball and gone for home comforts instead of David Healy, favourite for the job for so long, and Mark Kennedy, the former Ireland international who was interested in the position.

This familiarity shouldn’t breed contempt for the appointment amongst the Shels faithful. Russell knows our game, is a bloody good coach by all accounts and values attacking football.

What he must do, and quickly, is convince the Reds fan base that he knows how to work with a budget instead of one a shoestring. He has to prove to them, and very quickly, that he can compete at the top end of the table, not scrap for his life like a prize fighter in the basement battle.

Winning relegation battles is of no interest to Shelbourne FC. Finishing midtable, as Russell did for most of his time at Sligo, is of no interest to a club with ambitions to finish ahead of Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic in the capital market.

John Russell has shown us he is a good manager. Now he must prove he is of Damien Duff stature, with the emphasis on achievements and not statistics.

Watching him chase that aspiration in the coming months is going to be so, so interesting. By the time his former club Sligo, the real Rovers as they call themselves, travel to Dublin and Tolka on October 9th, for the fourth last game of the Premier Division season, it will be fascinating.

Best of luck John. Nice guys can win - at Tolka Park you have to win both matches and trophies. Just like Duffer.

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Stephen Bradley’s Rovers can lead the way for the League of Ireland and the co-efficient with a Tallaght Stadium win tonight

Keith Long, Columnist

Shamrock Rovers have consistently paved the way for Irish Clubs in Europe whilst maintaining their dominance domestically - there is no doubt in my mind that they can overturn the 2-0 away defeat to Floriana last week when the sides meet again in Tallaght tonight.

Rovers have a squad built for European campaigns which have often seen them play into December, so they have the depth, experience and quality to turn the return leg around. Despite a surprising result away, particularly when you consider Floriana are still in pre-season, Stephen Bradley’s men will not panic and will stick to their principles.

The Champions League route is a lucrative one and Rovers, more than any other Irish club, understand the importance of progression. They have been here before and have come through but there is no doubt last week’s result adds greater pressure for a club with high expectations.

Their league form is decent as they maintain a seven-point advantage over Bohemians. I expect a big performance from Rovers who will have to count on all their previous European experience and while it could be a tense night in Tallaght, they have more than enough to overcome a 2-0 deficit.

Derry City had a credible result in the Europa League last Thursday, losing 3-2 away to CSKA in Bulgaria, with James Olayinka’s 89th minute goal setting up a potential cracker in a packed Ryan McBride Stadium.

There has been significant turnover of playing staff with Tiernan Lynch being backed heavily by the club. This brings extra pressure but, like Rovers, I expect Derry City to progress in this qualifier.

The Brandywell can be a special place, packed with amazing supporters and they could be the difference. Derry will need to start the game well, get the supporters fully behind them and make it an intimidating atmosphere. European football is special. Derry have many players with huge European experience and these players I’m sure will deliver on Thursday.

Ironically, a good run in Europe playing against higher level opposition could be the making of this squad and could aid their league form which must improve.

There has been heavy investment throughout the club and it’s great to see a proper grass pitch installed at the Brandywell which now looks like a proper football stadium. The Derry players certainly won’t miss the artificial pitch which I feel was detrimental to performance.

I expect a strong finish from Derry in the League and hopefully a good run in Europe. Derry’s loyal and fanatical fan base can be demanding but with everything now set up for success, there are no excuses.

The team, the manager and backroom staff need to deliver more consistent results. A win on Thursday will go a long way to helping their cause.

My old club Bohemians enjoyed a solid win at home to St. Joseph’s of Gibraltar in the Conference League last week, a late Conor Parsons goal giving them a 2-0 advantage heading into the second leg.

Bohs have had a good look at their opposition and although they will face challenges with the heat and the way St. Joseph’s operate by bringing in players from the EFL specifically for Europe, Bohs have a good squad of players who, on their day, can be electric.

It would be great to see my old club have a good European run. Playing in Europe is magic and the memories will always remain with the players and staff who experienced the last European campaign.

Those nights in the Aviva in 2021 were golden - we played a brilliant exhilarating brand of football, swatting away Stjarnan from Iceland and Dudelange from Luxembourg before beating high ranking Greek side PAOK 2-1 at the Aviva.

As an aside Bohemians had played PAOK the season before in the UEFA youth league with Andy Lyons, Dawson Devoy, Ross Tierney and Promise Omochere featuring. To play them in the first team the following season in the Conference League, I believe, was a huge endorsement of our commitment to youth and our belief in young players.

They were magnificent to a man on our European run and, although we dropped points in the league between European games, the boys managed to produce a huge FAI Cup performance against Rovers in Dalymount with Andy Lyons scoring a cracker with his left foot.

I was so proud of this young team with an average age of 23 years, the seventh youngest to compete in Europe that season of all the top divisions and with 88% of the players born in Ireland. The fans gave us everything travelling around Europe with many not being able to attend the games due to Covid restrictions.

Another European run is what the Bohs fans deserve and crave. They have the squad and should progress. A kind draw, if there is such a thing in Europe, could see a special campaign for the club with the group stages not beyond this squad.

Whatever happens this week, I wish all our clubs competing in Europe the very best. It is vital that we continue to improve our co-efficient and be competitive on the European stage.

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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