The League of Ireland’s Eurovision is more Meat Loaf than Bonnie Tyler but it’s Jim Steinman all the same
One out of three tonight is more palatable than a total eclipse
Cathal Dervan, Editor
Bonnie Tyler, James McClean and the Total Eclipse - welcome to another whacky week of League of Ireland headlines, drama and action and it is all reviewed here again by our LOI expert Darryl Geraghty and editor Cathal Dervan
The total eclipse line in the latest Let’s Talk Football podcast, available here on The Sports Hacks, isn’t ageing as well as the Bonnie Tyler song referred to more than once in the weekly League of Ireland chat with Darryl Geraghty so let’s turn our attentions to another Jim Steinman song. And butcher it as well!
Jim, in case you are too young to have heard about the 70s never mind remember them, was the songwriting genius behind the rock musical God that was Meat Loaf - or Mr Loaf as one Irish radio presenter famously called him back in the day.
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Wednesday Night Lights
Meat Loaf was an operatic rock singer, a man who needed a big song to showcase the full power of his incredible vocal range. Steinman provided Mr Loaf with so many of those great power anthems in the late 70s that the big man became a household name across the world.
By the early 80s however, Meat lost his voice and Steinman ultimately offered Total Eclipse of the Heart to Bonnie Tyler, only finishing the song after they had met, according to myth anyway. Bonnie and Jim made a fortune from the song and the rest is history as is the suggestion, in the week of the eclipse and on the latest Let’s Talk Football, that the James McClean situation at Derry City is akin to the story behind the song. Once upon a time they were falling in love but now they’re only falling apart - even if the Candystripes have withdrawn their threat to rip up McClean’s contract.
As we await confirmation of the latest twist in the James and the giant breach of contract, let us consider another Steinman song in a different guise - and play with the lyrics a little.
‘Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad’ was the opening track on Side Two of the multi-million selling debut album Bat Out of Hell for Meat Loaf - and Steinman - and earned a gold record in its own right as a single between 1977 and 1978.
And what has this got to do with Irish football, you may well be asking yourself at this juncture? Well, tonight three League of Ireland sides are in European action. Shamrock Rovers take a 3-1 lead to Egnatia in Albania in the Europa League while the Conference League second legs see Shels 3-1 down, at home to Ajax, and Bohs 2-0 down, away to Midtjylland of Denmark.
That’s three teams with three chances to make it through to the final qualifying rounds in both of the lesser European competitions - or is it?
Bohs have it all to do in western Jutland against a strong home side with goals right across their frontline. Don’t count on anything for Ireland from this one - other than repeated renditions of Johnny Logan’s ‘Hold Me Now’ of course!
Rovers again have the best chance of staying in Europe. They should be taking a bigger lead to Albania but the evidence was clear enough in Tallaght last week to suggest that they are more than capable of scoring away from home tonight. If they do get a goal, they have more than enough European experience in their ranks to make it one out of three for LOI sides tonight. Not a great return, but not bad either.
Shels could have lost by a handful in Amsterdam last week but they didn’t - and Daniel Kelly’s well taken goal in the Johan Cruyff Arena gives them what manager John Russell has rightly labelled a ‘fighting chance’ in Tolka Park this evening, a venue as far removed from the plush surroundings of Ajax’s home ground as is possible. So Shels might just rescue the European coefficient for the League of Ireland with a miracle win tonight. If they do then ‘Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad’ will definitely be worth an airing - or two. It’s unlikely - but it could happen.
Kian Leaving? English, Scottish and Scandinavian clubs considering move for St Patrick’s Athletic star - Irish Sun
‘I’m loving every minute of it’: Fitzgerald thrilled as Shamrock Rovers on brink of Euro group stages again - Irish Examiner
Shamrock Rovers won’t sit back as they chase European league phase - RTE Sport
‘Practical joker’ Damien Duff is taking ‘another step towards’ Premier League management with Brentford role - Irish Mirror
Messi plays for Inter Miami after father’s death - BBC Sport
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Bonnie Tyler, James McClean and the Total Eclipse - welcome to another whacky week of League of Ireland headlines, drama and action and it is all reviewed here again by our LOI expert Darryl Geraghty and editor Cathal Dervan.
The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com
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