Bargain-hunters ransack Ireland
Thursday 25 January 2007
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Kevin Doyle's success has seen scouts flood to Ireland (©Getty Images)
Senior figures in Irish football have expressed concern about the number of players leaving the domestic game to join foreign clubs.
Bargain buys
Since the transfer window opened in January, eleven players have quit the Republic of Ireland for the United Kingdom and some have already made an impact with new employers, like former Shelbourne FC forward Jason Byrne, a match-winner on his debut for English Championship outfit Cardiff City FC. Those eleven players represented the cream of the domestic-based talent and there is concern that their combined transfer fee was estimated at just over €500,000. Hardly a king's ransom.
Burgeoning status
The success of striker Kevin Doyle since his move from Cork City FC to Reading FC has made UK clubs take notice of the Irish league. Doyle, fourth-top scorer in this season's English Premiership, has proved an absolute bargain at €120,000 although former Shelbourne coach Eamonn Collins, now an adviser to players, added: "The success of our clubs in Europe and the fact the bigger clubs here have gone full-time are important factors too. It's viewed as a decent league now, a far cry from the way it was perceived when I was playing and everyone was part-time."
Decimated league
There are those who fear the consequences, however. "It is a bad sign for the league that many players are leaving," said Pat Fenlon, who managed Shelbourne to the league title in 2006 and is now boss of Derry City FC. "Unless you are one of the big leagues you will always lose your best players. That's the way of the world. There's nothing wrong with that, it's normal. But the amount of players that have left in the last year or two has to be a concern because any league suffers when its better players leave."
Scotland calls
Six players went from Irish sides to Scotland: Trevor Molloy and Paul Keegan (St Patrick's Athletic FC to Motherwell FC), Danny Murphy (Cork City to Motherwell), Bobby Ryan (Shelbourne to Dunfermline Athletic FC), Sean Dillon (Shelbourne to Dundee United FC) and Mark McChrystal (Derry City to Partick Thistle FC).
English destinations
Five others have joined English second-tier teams: Cork's George O'Callagan transferred to Ipswich Town FC, the aforementioned Byrne came to Cardiff along with Derry's David Forde, Stephen Ward of Bohemian FC signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers FC while Patrick Kavanagh left University College Dublin AFC for Birmingham City FC. More moves may follow as Cork's Alan Bennett and Roy O'Donovan have been the subject of bids from Reading and Hull City AFC respectively.
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