Damned if you do... and damned if you don't
League of Ireland fixtures remain unchanged with international call-ups
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Dawson Devoy, Alan Reynolds and Bohemians have been short changed by the League of Ireland fixtures for the sake of a Dublin derby that comes around at least three times a season.
Dramatic? Maybe but let’s consider the facts. Dawson Devoy is 24 years of age and playing the best football of his career. To date his international caps have come at Under 19 and Under 21 level with the Republic of Ireland but he has never made any secret of his desire to play for the senior Irish team.
The Meath man’s form has been such all season at the heart of the Bohs midfield that many have clamoured for him to be included in Heimir Hallgrimsson’s men’s national team squad.
The Icelandic coach finally agreed earlier this month when he named Dawson in his squad for the end of season friendlies against Qatar in Dublin next Thursday and Canada in Montreal on Saturday fortnight. A good move, we all agreed.
After all Bohs boss Reynolds has been saying all season that Devoy deserves this chance, that he is good enough to become the first Gypsy to play for Ireland since Dawson himself was only a year old. Rennie even suggested he wouldn’t stand in the way of Dawson playing for Ireland - but now that stance has been reversed as we discovered on Thursday.
The Qatar game is outside the international window when clubs are forced to release their players by FIFA but that doesn’t bother most of those players available to Hallgrimsson as he looks at all his options post Prague.
Those in the Ireland frame who play below the top divisions across Europe and weren’t still involved with their clubs, got their chance against Grenada in Murcia last weekend.
The rest, including many established international and some trialists for want of a better word, will feature against Qatar and Canada, in Dublin and Montreal respectively. Or will they?
We found out on Thursday that Heimir and Rennie have now agreed that Devoy will stay with his club for Monday’s home derby against Shamrock Rovers and the trip to Sligo the following Friday. Only after that second match will be report into the Castleknock hotel with his new Irish team-mates.
After recent ups and downs, the two matches are just too big for Bohs before the international break at the start of June that comes with calendar year football. Fair enough - or is it?
Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley hasn’t the same concerns as Rennie as his team look the most likely to win the League. So, as well as losing Pico Lopes to the World Cup, he has released goalkeeper Ed McGinty and winger Adam Brennan to join Ireland ahead of his last two games before the summer recess, against Bohs and then St Pats.
Is Bradley being fairer to his players than Reynolds? You could argue that but I won’t. Instead, I’d have called Monday night’s game between Bohs and Rovers off and postponed the Friday matches as well.
At a time when the League of Ireland is doing everything in its power to improve the product, and doing a good job at it, the international call-ups for these three and for Cork City’s Connor Brann should have been celebrated.
They should have been used as the perfect excuse to show that we take our League seriously, to prove that we take pride in our League, that we are proud of our best young players.
Dawson Devoy may never get the chance to play for Ireland again. That’s not being pessimistic, it’s just accepting facts.
Because Heimir is in experimental mode at the moment, this was the time to show what Dawson can do - for two games and for the full international camp. Not for a six day trip to Canada, jet lag and all.
The player deserved better from the League he illuminates every weekend. Much better.