Episode 247 - Award Winners

[00:00:01] Welcome to The Other 3 Amigos, Los Damas, your weekly unofficial SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division Podcast with Declan McCormack, Eileen Ring and John O'Sullivan.

[00:00:12] Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. So sit back, put the feet up because it's Toe Tap time.

[00:00:19] On this week's Toe Tap Los Damas we announce two incoming recruits.

[00:00:24] We wrap up a busy two weeks in the Irish game.

[00:00:27] We talk Killduff, Gleason, Innovation and Fetech Childcare courses.

[00:00:34] We have the Team of the Year, Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year as well as one panelist refusing to do a Christmas special.

[00:00:43] We also have the sections that never made the pod and much much more on this, the final last damas of the season, the Awards Night.

[00:00:55] Hello and welcome to Toe Tap Last Damas, Season 1, Episode 29, Episode 247 of the full Toe Tap offering.

[00:01:03] We are the award winning podcast, we are now on Patreon, you can find us at patreon.com forward slash Toe Tap.

[00:01:09] Retweets are very important to help the pod grow and as always our DMs are always open.

[00:01:16] Guys, we weren't here last week because we were accredited media at the FAI Cup Final.

[00:01:23] So, we're back this week for the last episode of the season.

[00:01:28] It's just a general season review, what's gone on in the two weeks since we were last here.

[00:01:34] And the first thing that's gone on guys, I guess, is there's news coming out of Toe Tap Towers.

[00:01:40] You may remember the last time that Jessica Farrie was here.

[00:01:43] She instructed our people to talk to her people and see if we could come up with a deal.

[00:01:48] And that's exactly what happened.

[00:01:50] And our people spoke to Jessica's people.

[00:01:53] Jessica has agreed to give up the majority of her weekends next year for absolutely no pay, no benefit, absolutely nothing.

[00:02:00] But she will be joining us on a more permanent basis next season.

[00:02:06] So, we're delighted to welcome Jess on board.

[00:02:09] And we also have a second person joining us next year who's also joining us tonight.

[00:02:17] Now, this is big for Toe Tap, big for Eileen, big for myself, big for John,

[00:02:23] because this person is probably the most respected voice in women's football in the country.

[00:02:28] So, it's a pleasure to say that Shauna Cook will join us next year and also join us tonight.

[00:02:34] Shauna, thanks for coming on board.

[00:02:36] Are you mad or what?

[00:02:37] But Sherlock, here we are.

[00:02:39] Sherlock, I'm doing nothing else.

[00:02:41] I was going to say when you said the most respected voice, I was about to say,

[00:02:44] that person must have dropped out and then I was asked.

[00:02:48] Why do you see your listenership go down now as the weeks go on with me on the pod?

[00:02:55] No chance, no.

[00:02:56] If we haven't broken them by now, I think they're sticking with us, I'll be honest with you.

[00:03:03] There's even Sean McGovern's fans still listening.

[00:03:07] So, yeah, all is good.

[00:03:10] All is good.

[00:03:11] So, folks, look, we'll kick it off.

[00:03:14] Since we were last here, there was a cup final.

[00:03:17] They finished at loan one, Shelburne six.

[00:03:21] I guess, Shauna, you're the natural person to start with, a Shelburne legend.

[00:03:25] And were you surprised by the performance and the manner of the result?

[00:03:32] Do you know what?

[00:03:33] I said this summer the day before, I think even the week before, I text someone saying it would be about four nil to Shelton.

[00:03:41] You know, I was basing that on the fact that I think that at loan had kind of ran their race.

[00:03:46] You know, in fairness to them, I think they threw everything in the kitchen sink at the league.

[00:03:52] You know, you look at the level of squad attrition they had towards the end of that season.

[00:03:58] They just gave everything to us.

[00:03:59] So I expected nothing less than a Shel's win in that game.

[00:04:03] If you remember a couple of finals previously, it was the same for Shel's.

[00:04:06] You know, they won the league on the last day of the season.

[00:04:09] And then, you know, by the time they got to the final, there was kind of nothing left.

[00:04:12] And I think Wexford beat them well in Tala.

[00:04:16] And yeah, I think it was just at loan had their day two weeks previous.

[00:04:19] And then, you know, going into that game with, I mean, the players that they lost

[00:04:25] and then obviously going into it then without Laurie was a struggle.

[00:04:29] But then I think as soon as they played with the wind against them, that kind of poor wind,

[00:04:33] I think their race was definitely ran.

[00:04:37] Yeah, and I don't know how it came across on TV because I haven't seen RT's TV coverage,

[00:04:41] but I can't describe how strong that wind was and what a big a factor it had in that first half.

[00:04:46] And at loan just didn't manage to deal with it at all.

[00:04:49] And obviously, Eileen, the first goal was a killer being so early.

[00:04:53] Ball holds up in the wind, Katie Keane can't get there.

[00:04:56] And, you know, the predator Mooney, she's been christened, just tucks it away.

[00:05:00] And once shells were one up, it just seemed almost very hard for at loan from that point on.

[00:05:06] Yeah, very much.

[00:05:07] And it reminded me, and I'd say you might have actually been involved, Sean.

[00:05:10] Were you involved in the 2016 Cup final where you beat Wexford 5-0?

[00:05:13] And they were without Kylie on that day.

[00:05:15] And I think while a player like Laurie, she's not going to change the outcome.

[00:05:19] I think the results could be a little bit more favorable than Athlone in that situation.

[00:05:23] And again, in that 2016, Kylie doesn't suddenly mean Wexford win that game because Shelburne were excellent on the day.

[00:05:27] But I just think that kind of steady influence and that person that's so vital to them.

[00:05:32] And look, Laurie's proved that I think for me, probably, I suppose, rounded off her for me,

[00:05:38] her player of the year, because you could see how vital she is and has said just to steady the ship.

[00:05:41] But that's not taken away from Shelburne because they were absolutely incredible on the day.

[00:05:46] And they were a joy to watch.

[00:05:47] And look, they were hurt.

[00:05:48] There's no doubt about it.

[00:05:50] That's a dressing room full of winners.

[00:05:52] And they've had a rough couple of years.

[00:05:54] And I think they'll feel, especially after the Cup final last year, that they wanted to put that right.

[00:05:59] So look, they were a joy to watch.

[00:06:01] And I think while we never want a very one-sided Cup final,

[00:06:05] you just sometimes have to put your hands up and say, Christ, they were very, very good.

[00:06:09] So fair play to them.

[00:06:10] And look, the celebrations and everything were very good.

[00:06:12] And the way they ended the season like that, that's why I kind of expected them to go on and win it,

[00:06:16] because their trajectory was very much on the up-like.

[00:06:19] And they had been excellent in the build-up to it.

[00:06:22] So I sort of think it was overly surprising.

[00:06:24] Probably just, again, the actual scoreline was, I think, what surprised most people.

[00:06:30] Guys, I caught up with Pearl Slattery after the game.

[00:06:33] And I just started by asking where the performance, and especially the first half,

[00:06:36] would rank in terms of all-time Shelburne performances.

[00:06:40] It's really up there.

[00:06:42] And to be honest, all week and this morning and today and before we came out on the pitch,

[00:06:45] it was about us.

[00:06:46] It was about our performance.

[00:06:48] Obviously, you know, we felt a hurt last year, but it was their year.

[00:06:51] But all week today, I felt it was going to be, you know, our day if we performed well

[00:06:55] and put in a top performance.

[00:06:57] And I mean, what a forced half.

[00:06:59] And, you know, the route to the final even was difficult for us.

[00:07:02] You know, Galway away, Rovers away.

[00:07:04] We didn't get an easy review, so I don't think anyone can deny that we haven't deserved this.

[00:07:08] You know, we were very close in the league.

[00:07:09] We've been exceptional all season, really, the staff, the players.

[00:07:12] So just delighted that, you know, the day was the day.

[00:07:16] It's a bit mad, to be honest, to think.

[00:07:17] Like, you're sitting there at halftime thinking, is it 6-1?

[00:07:20] Like, no, after the fourth goal, I think we're all kind of looking at each other.

[00:07:23] Like, what's going on here?

[00:07:25] But you have to take it.

[00:07:26] You don't know how many of these days are going to come around.

[00:07:28] And we put in a hell of a lot of work and effort throughout the year.

[00:07:31] And I genuinely believe we've deserved that.

[00:07:33] You mentioned it there, but I was going to say, when I spoke to yourself and Megan Smith-Lynch

[00:07:37] out to like Turner's Cross three months ago, Megan said, we want to beat the toughest opponents

[00:07:42] we can and the route to winning the conference.

[00:07:44] You mentioned she'd done that.

[00:07:45] Today, it tops all those performances, everything that's gone on.

[00:07:48] Was there any element of not winning the league as a motivating factor coming into today?

[00:07:54] Yeah.

[00:07:55] Maybe putting down a marker and saying, OK, you won the league, but we're celebrating football.

[00:07:59] Yeah, we wanted to make a statement, even from last year.

[00:08:01] But definitely, you know, the way we lost the league, either of us could have won it, really,

[00:08:05] if you look at it.

[00:08:06] And in fairness to them, even with the injuries they got, you know, to pick up the points,

[00:08:09] they did.

[00:08:09] Fair play to me.

[00:08:10] Put your hands up and you say, right, it's their year in terms of the league.

[00:08:12] And then, yeah, we knew then, you know, from Galway on, Rovers, that we wanted to cup

[00:08:17] and that was it.

[00:08:18] And nothing was going to get in the way of that.

[00:08:20] And I mean, we're a group of players, staff.

[00:08:23] But today, as I said, we just didn't want to feel the way we felt last year.

[00:08:25] We wanted to be celebrating with our people and to do that for every goal, you know,

[00:08:30] every moment with the fans that come week in, week out and a good crowd here today.

[00:08:34] This is for everybody at Shells, you know, not just us as a group of people.

[00:08:37] So many people support us throughout the year, volunteers.

[00:08:40] And their family and friends have to deal with us on good days and bad days.

[00:08:44] And, you know, just to be able to celebrate that with them tonight now has got to mean a lot.

[00:08:47] Finally, before you go, would you have any interest in doing a quiz?

[00:08:52] No.

[00:08:52] And, you know, I just did an interview there on RTU and I was going to give rates of Roma

[00:08:56] and Megan a shout out because I actually forgot them.

[00:08:58] But I always say to the girls, I am the worst in the world that I'm put on the spot.

[00:09:01] They could ask me to name my family members and I'd go blank.

[00:09:03] But I've been getting death all week.

[00:09:05] Let's put it that way.

[00:09:06] So I have a lot of making up to do tonight.

[00:09:08] Thanks, Fern.

[00:09:10] So that was Pearl's lottery after the game.

[00:09:12] John, I have to say that was probably maybe half an hour, 40 minutes after the game finished.

[00:09:17] Pearl was in the stand with family, friends, you know, with kids.

[00:09:22] There was kids everywhere.

[00:09:24] And she came back out to me, in fairness to her, to do the interview.

[00:09:28] And she still had a look of complete steel in her eyes.

[00:09:31] Like it was like, you know, I'm not going to say she was possessed, but like.

[00:09:36] In their heads, I'd imagine that there was no way they were leaving there without the cup.

[00:09:42] As I said, they'd won 6-1.

[00:09:43] And 40 minutes after the game, Pearl still has this look in her eyes that just says,

[00:09:48] I'll go straight through you if you get in my way.

[00:09:50] Get between me and this cup.

[00:09:51] You know, it was eye-opening to see.

[00:09:56] Yeah, look, I think like I mean, touching it there, you've got a dressing room full of winners who are used to winning and historically have won, you know, repeatedly.

[00:10:06] And like the amount of medals across that squad already is just immense.

[00:10:11] But yeah, from the off the last day, like there was the wind was a massive, massive factor in some of the goals, like players losing the flight of balls in the air and things like that, you know, stuff, goals of the type that at loan wouldn't normally give in.

[00:10:27] But the conditions were the same for both teams in a way, you know, and just like it felt at one stage like everything that every time shells broke, they were going to score.

[00:10:38] They were just clinical even in the conditions.

[00:10:42] They were just brilliant.

[00:10:44] I mean, I do look, you put it into the group like that Laurie was on the bench and injured.

[00:10:50] And like our initial reactions was, oh, Christ, like almost, oh, Christ, this could get ugly because like Sean had touched it there.

[00:10:58] You look at the players at loan were already going into that final without and what they've and I guess they finished the season with quite a small core of players because of that.

[00:11:11] And then you're without Laurie.

[00:11:13] Again, look, Eileen's 100% right.

[00:11:15] It's not going to change the result, but probably the, or sorry, it's not going to change the outcome, but it possibly would have had an impact on the score.

[00:11:23] But you can't take anything away from shells.

[00:11:25] They were just magnificent.

[00:11:27] Like, and they, like, and I know the second half technically finished nil-nil, but really they just, they were so comfortable.

[00:11:34] You know, it, it's, it, it was like, it was cruise control for the entire, as it should be, of course, you look your five goals up.

[00:11:41] It was cruise control for the second half, but they were, they were brilliant.

[00:11:44] Yeah, absolutely fantastic.

[00:11:47] Brilliant performance.

[00:11:49] Great day out.

[00:11:50] Can't take anything away from Shelburne.

[00:11:52] Wouldn't want to, as much as it pains me to say anything nice about Shelburne Football Club in general.

[00:11:57] I can't knock them in any way.

[00:12:00] Okay, actually I can, because I stayed in the Maldren and my bedroom was right over the room in which their celebration was taking place.

[00:12:08] And I had a six-year-old going to me about half 11.

[00:12:10] Daddy, won't you just go down and tell them, turn off the music?

[00:12:13] I was like, if you take a guy going down there into the middle of Pearl Stattery, no worry.

[00:12:17] The rest of them, they tell them, turn down the music.

[00:12:18] There's absolutely no chance that's happening anyway, you know.

[00:12:22] I guess the big news after the game was that Ciarán Kildoff, it was announced that Ciarán Kildoff was leaving at loan.

[00:12:32] Eileen, big surprise, really?

[00:12:37] No, because you told me a couple of minutes before that you really felt he was going to be gone from your interview with him.

[00:12:42] But no, no, no.

[00:12:45] Aside from that, look, of course, of course it is.

[00:12:48] And I think maybe the timing of it as well.

[00:12:50] But look, to be fair to Ciarán, where he's based, he's a lot of travel.

[00:12:54] Like he's a young family as well.

[00:12:55] It's a huge, huge commitment.

[00:12:57] So I suppose, again, and it comes back to what we spoke about with Hugh Strong a few weeks ago.

[00:13:01] Like we don't know people's personal circumstances.

[00:13:04] And as I said, when there's a huge amount of travel up and down, the training up and down for games, it is hard.

[00:13:09] It's even harder when you, as I said, a young family, he's relying an awful lot on his wife there to just put the shoulder to the wheel every weekend and a couple of nights a week.

[00:13:16] And that is difficult.

[00:13:18] So I suppose for him, yeah, like he's been linked with 101 jobs.

[00:13:22] And look, probably other than Owen Weirins, I think in the women's game, he'd walk into any job apart from Matt Shelburne.

[00:13:29] And like, obviously, look, he's going to always be linked with Dundalk, men's job.

[00:13:33] Realistically, he'd be better off managing Maynooth's under 12s than Dundalk men's, to be honest, I would think.

[00:13:38] But I said his star has risen an awful lot.

[00:13:43] I hope he stays in the women's game because I think Ciarán, while he's not as maybe out there a character as Damien Duff, when he talks, he talks sense.

[00:13:51] And I think people listen.

[00:13:53] So like we need someone like that in the women's game.

[00:13:55] We need someone that's willing to kind of put their hand up.

[00:13:57] And he was quiet for the first while and he said he would be.

[00:14:00] And then when he kind of felt that he'd earned his stripes a little bit in the women's game, he spoke out.

[00:14:05] And he's a really intelligent fella.

[00:14:06] And I think he always holds himself so well, especially the way the last couple of weeks went for him.

[00:14:11] And he was kind of being thrown to the wolves at times, maybe being misquoted at times.

[00:14:15] So, yeah, look, for me, I think he's been brilliant for the league.

[00:14:18] I've really enjoyed him.

[00:14:19] A huge amount of time for him personally anyway as well.

[00:14:21] But it'll be interesting to see where he goes.

[00:14:24] But as I said, I think he'll just take a couple of weeks and sit down with the family and see what comes next for him.

[00:14:30] But hopefully it will be the women's game.

[00:14:32] Yeah, look, Sean, obviously I spoke to Ciarán after the game and we put it out on social media about 10 minutes before Atloan made the announcement.

[00:14:43] Yeah, I was pretty sure after speaking to him that he was gone.

[00:14:45] I said it to the two lads and I was like, look, we'll just put it out in the morning because there's no way there's anything going to happen.

[00:14:51] And then I get a message from somebody saying Ciarán's gone and it's going to be announced at about 10 minutes time.

[00:14:57] And I'm scrapping to try and get stuff out.

[00:15:00] But his overwhelming thought was that he was completely and utterly frustrated around the whole Eileen Gleeson situation.

[00:15:09] He felt he'd been misquoted.

[00:15:11] And I couldn't help but feel in the moment they were talking to him that that did play in some way into his decision to leave.

[00:15:19] Because I think he was just kind of looking at it and going, I'm wasting my time here.

[00:15:24] You know, there's nobody going to back me up.

[00:15:25] I mean, I don't know if I want to be critical of the other managers, but Ciarán came on this pod three months ago.

[00:15:31] David Kelly then picked it up in the independent.

[00:15:34] Kelly picked it up again in the independent the week of the, sorry, the week of the cup final.

[00:15:40] No other manager in the league came out and backed up Ciarán publicly anyway.

[00:15:43] You know, maybe they've done so privately, but I didn't see anybody come publicly.

[00:15:48] And I can't help but feel like Ciarán maybe felt a little bit left on.

[00:15:53] But they're my words.

[00:15:55] They're not Ciarán's words.

[00:15:56] And I don't want people to think that's anything that Ciarán said.

[00:15:58] It's just my impression of what's going on around the whole situation.

[00:16:03] Yeah, look, I think for Ciarán, like, I agree with Eileen.

[00:16:08] Like, in my opinion, I think he's in the league of his own in terms of his coaching ability and his management in the Women's National League.

[00:16:17] Like, I think he took over a squad of good players.

[00:16:21] And towards the end of this season, like we spoke earlier there about like Chloe Singleton,

[00:16:26] before the injury is probably looking at being the player of the year.

[00:16:29] You know, he's turned Kelly Brennan from a striker into a right back to then go and play a 10 against Bowes and win the game,

[00:16:36] get a player of the match for them.

[00:16:39] Kaylee Shine, like I could name literally every player in that squad to go.

[00:16:43] Before Ciarán, they were classed as good players.

[00:16:45] And he's now really moved them on in terms of their player development.

[00:16:50] And look, it's easy to get a squad of great players and go out week in, week out and get results.

[00:16:55] But like to do what he done with the squad he had and, as I said, turned those players into brilliant players.

[00:17:01] But I know from speaking to him and speaking to other people involved in the game, like it's a difficult place to be at long.

[00:17:07] I don't think anybody, you know, thinks otherwise.

[00:17:10] And everybody knows the challenges there.

[00:17:13] But women's football in general is a difficult place to be, especially if you have an opinion.

[00:17:19] You know, it can feel like you are kind of out there, you know, and nobody's backing you up.

[00:17:24] And I think it's easy, though.

[00:17:26] I did hear a few kind of comments after Ciarán came out of people going, oh, yeah, I agree with that.

[00:17:30] That's easy to do.

[00:17:31] It's easy to wait for someone else to speak and then step forward and say something.

[00:17:35] But, you know, I think he's very well respected in the game and I don't blame him for feeling how he's felt.

[00:17:43] We have to do what we can to keep good people in football and women's football.

[00:17:47] And, you know, I always say there's kind of that mentality in Irish football.

[00:17:51] Like we prefer to lose a game if it meant our rivals getting relegated or losing rather than trying to kind of support each other.

[00:17:59] And I hope he stays within the women's game because I do feel like, yeah, he's a real bonus.

[00:18:06] And I do think he's kind of similar to Duff in terms of what he's done, in terms of the interest that he's brought to the league as well and the level of professionalism he's set from a coaching standpoint.

[00:18:15] So it's disappointing to see.

[00:18:17] But like I've heard stuff that the decision was made before the final, you know, and maybe it was.

[00:18:24] Maybe it was just a collective of things that said, like Eileen was saying there, like, you know, when you've got family stuff going on and then you've got like the media twisting bits and pieces.

[00:18:33] And, you know, it's a slog through the end of the season there.

[00:18:36] It can all just accumulate.

[00:18:38] But, you know, look, maybe he's just looking for a fresh challenge.

[00:18:41] And I agree with Eileen.

[00:18:42] I think he'd be mad to take the Dundalk job.

[00:18:44] And I'm hoping he ends up at another club in Dublin for sure.

[00:18:51] John, I don't, personally, I don't think the final and the result had any bearing on Ciarán's decision.

[00:18:56] I think it was most likely done and dusted before that.

[00:19:00] Maybe there was discussions late on on the Sunday night that maybe, I don't know, again, I'm speculating, so I won't speculate.

[00:19:07] Sorry.

[00:19:08] But look, I don't think there was anything on the day in the cup final that in any way played into his decision.

[00:19:15] Would you see it that way as well?

[00:19:16] Or do you think there's a possibility the final result just was the final nail in his coffin?

[00:19:22] No, I'd share Sean and Eileen's, and I know your own Dickie's opinion of Ciarán.

[00:19:28] Like he's a really intelligent, measured fella.

[00:19:31] I don't think he's the type really that, you know, kind of would jump to a decision like that on the spur at the moment.

[00:19:38] So I do think he probably would have been, you know, quite measured, thought about that quite deeply in the buildup.

[00:19:45] So I kind of do kind of what Sean has said there about maybe it being, you know, a decision that had been made prior to the final probably rings true.

[00:19:54] But yeah, I think I can see why some of the stuff that happened in the last couple of weeks would be kind of like that kind of straw that broke the camel's back kind of thing.

[00:20:07] I think, you know, when he was on the podcast a couple of months ago when he brought up that issue first about not being contacted and having these players.

[00:20:15] And he wasn't really a complaint at the time.

[00:20:18] It's the way I felt it.

[00:20:19] It was, I have these exceptional players, these brilliant players.

[00:20:22] I have to be able to show them something.

[00:20:24] If we want to keep talent in the game here, we have to be able to do something for them, you know, in Ireland and make sure they're being looked at.

[00:20:32] And that's, it was purely from the point of view of his own players.

[00:20:36] And that, look, that's been twisted recently.

[00:20:39] Do you know, that's, that's kind of the fact of the matter is.

[00:20:41] And I think that has to be frustrating when, when you go out and you put your head above the parapet and you, you, you speak for not only your own players, but other players in the league.

[00:20:50] Like, you, you, you want, you know, you don't, you want to be represented correctly, answered correctly and supported.

[00:20:58] I don't think he had any of that from, but again, look, I, I think he would be a massive, massive loss to the women's game.

[00:21:04] And I, I really hope he stays in the women's game.

[00:21:07] Like, I, I think he's been brilliant for it because look, the fact of the matter is there's, there's a lot of, and in the same way, again, look, comparing him to Damon Duff.

[00:21:15] There's a lot of people who don't pay much attention to the League of Ireland until Duff speaks.

[00:21:21] And there's an awful lot of people who don't pay attention to the women's premier division until Ciarán or someone at that, at that level speaks, unfortunately.

[00:21:29] But it's just the reality of it.

[00:21:33] Sean, am I mad in thinking there's probably only two jobs in the women's league that would interest Ciarán?

[00:21:40] Sean, um, Owen Weirin has one of them and isn't going anywhere.

[00:21:43] So Shelburne's job isn't on the table.

[00:21:46] And the other one I think would be Sean McRover's, but by all accounts, that job isn't available either.

[00:21:51] So is there any way keeping Ciarán in the women's game is basically the question.

[00:21:55] Yeah, interestingly, um, I, I think I'd speak at Tewan and, uh, I'm having, um, the chats.

[00:22:03] I think it's probably one job we'd be interested in as rovers, um, from the conversation that I've had, um, you know, and, and he's, he's intelligent.

[00:22:13] John said it there, you know, he knows about stepping into roles when the time is right.

[00:22:17] But also, um, you know, we, the last time I spoke to him, we, we spoke about the right environment.

[00:22:22] Um, he learned that, you know, from his, his time so far, um, or up to the point of it alone in terms of, you know, is, I asked him why, um, he didn't go over the Shell job last year, you know, and he felt, he said he felt like the time wasn't right.

[00:22:37] The environment wasn't right.

[00:22:38] Um, and, uh, you know, he, he's that kind of, he's that fella, like he's making this decision, not just based on a bunch of players or, you know, what he thinks he can do.

[00:22:50] He's, he's looking at it from a strategic point of view.

[00:22:52] What can I do with this team over a period of time?

[00:22:57] Is the environment right?

[00:22:58] You know, um, can I affect change within the club on behalf of the, the females?

[00:23:03] Um, and yeah, I think who knows, like, you know, you, you obviously know more than I do that the rovers jobs, not, not up, uh, for, um, for pickings.

[00:23:15] But, uh, who knows?

[00:23:16] Like stranger things have happened in this period that, that we're about to enter now where, where all the,

[00:23:20] Milvins starts.

[00:23:21] So I'd love to see him there.

[00:23:22] I think he'd do a fantastic job.

[00:23:24] I think they have the closest to a proper professional set up within the women's game.

[00:23:28] They have a fantastic young bunch of players there.

[00:23:30] I think if someone like Kilduff goes in, brings in a Katie Kane, maybe another center half and a midfielder,

[00:23:37] I think he's, they'd be right up there with the best of them next season.

[00:23:42] Yeah.

[00:23:42] Look, I mean, somebody told me a couple of weeks back that the rovers job was safe for another season.

[00:23:47] Um, but then I did ask the question the other day in the group, I lean, know that Kieran killed off is available.

[00:23:54] Does that maybe lead to a change of, of thought within the rovers hierarchy?

[00:24:00] Yeah.

[00:24:01] I think my thing always with Collie was, and I think I said on the last podcast, are they looking at it like the way they looked at Bradley where they gave him time, but like he's had a lot of time and I don't think he's done.

[00:24:10] Look, they have underperformed in the two seasons.

[00:24:12] There's no doubt about that.

[00:24:14] And like their setup is incredible.

[00:24:16] Like roadstone there.

[00:24:16] It's an, it's, it's incredible.

[00:24:17] Like you can even see some of the videos and the pictures from there.

[00:24:20] It's as Sean has said, like it's as close to professional environment as what we see in the women's game.

[00:24:24] Um, so like I would think obviously with rovers, there's a lot up in the air in terms of budgeting and how far they go on Europe and stuff like that.

[00:24:32] But look at the moment, I would think their women's budgets will still be handsome enough next year with their European windfall so far, that's only going to increase realistically.

[00:24:41] So yeah, like you would imagine it's something that they're going to look at because like, they're not a million miles off in terms of what they have.

[00:24:49] I suppose at senior level and not only that, but what they have coming through and it is a very attractive option.

[00:24:55] Look, there's a lot of very, very good things going on at that club club wide.

[00:24:58] And you can see that during the week of the press as well.

[00:25:01] And it's an attractive option for players coming up.

[00:25:03] And I would think it's a very attractive option for a manager as well.

[00:25:06] And again, travel wise, not, it wouldn't be a huge amount of travel training wise and stuff for him.

[00:25:11] So yeah, look, I'd like to see him go in there because I said, I want him around the women's game and he's going to be at a club where he would be provided with, I suppose, as good as what he'd get anywhere else.

[00:25:22] So it would be very, very interesting to see.

[00:25:24] We'd have to kind of like Sean McRover's then though, that would be difficult.

[00:25:27] That'd be the thing.

[00:25:28] There'd be somebody as Sean McRover's who'd be willing to talk to us next season anyway.

[00:25:31] So that would be good for us.

[00:25:33] We'll see what happens.

[00:25:36] There's plenty of Sean McRover's who would like to talk to us.

[00:25:38] That's very strange about that.

[00:25:43] Yeah.

[00:25:45] The likes not being viewable on Twitter anymore is actually one of the greatest.

[00:25:50] It's one of the great things that's happened.

[00:25:52] Because when you see who liked Eileen's tweet that time about when he decided to throw them all under the bus, it would have been very funny to see what would have happened if those likes were publicly viewable.

[00:26:02] But anyway, guys, it's almost like a Ciarán Kildoff special at this stage without him actually being here.

[00:26:10] But his name was banded around a lot at Eileen Gleeson's press conference pre the Georgia game.

[00:26:16] Sean, I know Ciarán was extremely frustrated.

[00:26:19] He felt like she wasn't dealing with the points that he had made, that she was dealing with.

[00:26:24] He never said that she should be picking his team or his players.

[00:26:28] He never said that he thought his players should be in an Irish squad.

[00:26:31] He was talking about, as John has already said, about structures and something for players to aim for, be it home-based squads, under-23 squads, whatever it was.

[00:26:42] And he felt that all that stuff was set aside with simple answers to, I'm not picking that lone team player, so why would I ring him?

[00:26:51] And it just seemed a little bit, I don't want to say it was disingenuous for Eileen, but she wasn't answering the questions or the points that Ciarán raised, in my opinion, anyway.

[00:27:02] Yeah, you know, and I think it's a really interesting argument.

[00:27:07] Like, I think it's great for football, you know, obviously it's frustrating for Ciarán, but the more we can, I think, have these conversations and for this stuff to be spoken about publicly, I think it's great for women's football, first and foremost.

[00:27:21] You know, I didn't, obviously, Ciarán's interview, he spoke to the media and whatever it was that came out.

[00:27:32] I think, from his perspective, I do agree with both Ciarán and Eileen, insofar as to say, I think Ciarán is right in saying we have an awful lot of potential and talent in the league here.

[00:27:43] I think we all know that.

[00:27:46] You know, when I first watched Eileen's reaction, I was going, oh, it's a bit unprofessional.

[00:27:50] But then, as I said to you earlier, as I kind of thought about it more, you know, look, she's been involved in women's football in Eileen for a long time.

[00:27:58] She played herself, going back to the Civil Service League, managed that value one, was involved in women's football and it was extremely difficult.

[00:28:06] Like, it's gone through some really tough times.

[00:28:09] So, I think for her, that maybe was where that kind of emotion came from.

[00:28:14] But I do think she's right in saying, like, one of the lines Eileen said was, like, you can be a great women's National League player and still not play international football.

[00:28:23] Which is strange because I was an average women's National League football and I played international football.

[00:28:28] Ah, stop now.

[00:28:31] No, I think, like, the way I see it is players are going in there and they're spending time with, like, the likes of Colin Healy, Emma Burr, one of the greatest goalkeepers of the game.

[00:28:41] Colin, fantastic coach.

[00:28:42] It's a good set up.

[00:28:43] Like, there's good coaching staff in there.

[00:28:45] It's high intensity.

[00:28:46] You're playing with really, you know, players at a high standard.

[00:28:50] Katie McKay, Denise O'Sullivan and whatnot.

[00:28:53] Like, I think for Eileen, the reality is, and, like, I'm not criticizing anybody in particular in Irish football or anything like that.

[00:29:02] But I just think in terms of if she has to say to a player, like, look, you know, you're nearly there.

[00:29:08] I just need you to work on your tactical awareness in these situations and your decision making under pressure.

[00:29:13] And that person or player goes back to a club in the UK and, you know, they have access to resources like professional level, top, top quality coaches, maybe ex-players, international players.

[00:29:25] And they can go back to their clubs and they have people there to help them, you know, improve these areas of their game.

[00:29:31] Could I say confidently that that's the same here in Ireland?

[00:29:35] And I'm saying that across the board.

[00:29:36] I'm saying this about all clubs now.

[00:29:38] I couldn't be confident in saying there is that level of quality and experience across the league in terms of coaching.

[00:29:46] The other thing as well is, like, I feel in Irish football that we have this obsession with a magic pill.

[00:29:54] Like, we've seen, like, when I was in secondary school, so that's gone back a long time, home-based training started.

[00:30:01] And it's evolved over time to the point where I personally feel like it got to the point where there's nothing more than a photo opportunity for the FAI to show you our young community service.

[00:30:12] And I think that it hasn't worked.

[00:30:16] So that was the magic pill for a while.

[00:30:17] And then it was the league on professional or offering contracts.

[00:30:21] That was the magic pill.

[00:30:22] That didn't work.

[00:30:22] And now we're on to the under-23s.

[00:30:24] That's not going to be a magic pill because a manager will come in, you know, unless the FAI go, your under-23s can only exist of players that are playing in Ireland.

[00:30:34] It's not going to help women's football here greatly.

[00:30:36] It'll turn the needle slightly and we'll maybe see one or two players benefit from it.

[00:30:40] But in the grand scheme of things, it's not going to change a lot.

[00:30:43] What needs to happen is, like, there's a saying in football, if you want to change something big, you have to change something you're doing every day.

[00:30:51] So we need to get teams training every day.

[00:30:54] We need to get them, you know, better access to resources.

[00:30:58] They have to work more as a team together.

[00:31:00] And we have to improve the level of coaching across the league.

[00:31:03] We have to get more Keir Ankle Duffs at different clubs, the likes of Dave O'Connor at Shells.

[00:31:07] We need to get him at clubs across Shells.

[00:31:09] We need to get the likes of Steve Williams, the goalkeeper, coach, you know, the clubs.

[00:31:13] And then we'll start to see women's football move closer to international football.

[00:31:17] So, yeah, that's a long way of saying I think neither of them are wrong and neither of them are right.

[00:31:24] John, I mean, Sean has said that the home base squad just basically became a photo opportunity for the FAI to do, as Sean described, some community service.

[00:31:38] I think that's a new take, to be fair, and not a take that a lot of people wouldn't have heard before on the home base squads.

[00:31:47] Is it a tough process to do to agree with or would you be coming down on the other side of the argument?

[00:31:53] I probably would have started off very much on the other side of the argument, but I'm not going to go against Sean on that thought.

[00:32:00] But I guess my thing on the home base squads or the under-23 squads is like the mantra in the FAI going back, way back to the starting of the player development program was, you know, the best with the best against the best.

[00:32:13] And I think you have to have some way of looking at league players.

[00:32:21] We can't really be waiting for, you know, a Sheffield United to come over and pluck Ellen Malloy out or, you know, that kind of thing.

[00:32:29] I think there has to be something there where there's a structured way to look at who the most talented players in all the League of Ireland clubs are,

[00:32:37] put them into an environment together and increase those standards.

[00:32:41] Because some of those players will bring those standards back to their clubs and the whole thing, you know, might drive on a little bit.

[00:32:47] But I do think, and I look, I think in the Vera Pau era, it was a bit of a, you know, no one was ever going to jump from a home base squad, in my opinion, to one of Vera Pau's squads.

[00:33:08] I think if you were really in Vera's mind, you were going to bypass that anyway.

[00:33:13] Because she, you know, and I think that's probably the reality.

[00:33:16] But there's, I do, like, I do take Shauna's point though, like, I'll go back to Shauna's point.

[00:33:22] It might benefit one or two players, but if it benefits one or two players every year, potentially every two or three years,

[00:33:32] it might pull someone through who's, you know, who might have missed the mark.

[00:33:35] And I do think we probably do, we do need something as well.

[00:33:40] Again, I was just going to sound very, very cliched or probably a bit woolly-like,

[00:33:44] but you do have to have something for players to aspire to.

[00:33:49] You know, like there's, you know, a home base squad that is treated meaningfully by the FAI

[00:33:56] is something for players that aren't going to get on a plane to the UK in the next year,

[00:34:01] the next two years to look for and to look forward to and put themselves in a shop window.

[00:34:06] Not a shop window, to put themselves in a window where Eileen Gleeson is looking at them

[00:34:11] on a one-to-one basis or a routine basis.

[00:34:15] And I think that, I do think that's important if, again,

[00:34:18] if the intention on the FAI side is correct about it.

[00:34:21] I do take the point about, you know, becoming a tick-box exercise,

[00:34:25] but I do think there's enough talent in the league to justify

[00:34:31] at least running it and trialling it for a while and seeing how we're getting on.

[00:34:36] Do you not think, though, that the concept, like, for example,

[00:34:40] like, I think a 23s is great, it's definitely needed,

[00:34:43] but, like, do you not think there's players over there in the UK

[00:34:47] that maybe have been playing, say, underage for England,

[00:34:52] maybe Scotland as well, and then have fallen off a little bit

[00:34:55] and seeing our under-23s as an opportunity to stay involved in international football?

[00:35:00] Like, I think you will see some players definitely go in,

[00:35:03] but I do think even as a manager of an under-23 team,

[00:35:07] they're going to want to go in there and compete and win,

[00:35:09] and they're not going to want to see that as a development squad.

[00:35:12] So I think a 23s is definitely needed, but the concept of the home-based training,

[00:35:18] like, for me, like, I personally am not, like, I've heard managers say

[00:35:22] when it was going, like, they'll go, they go, oh, yeah,

[00:35:25] but it actually weakens our training because the three or four players,

[00:35:29] you know, that are selected from our team are gone,

[00:35:32] and then we're struggling, it's the standard of our training is dropping.

[00:35:35] So I think if we can do something that kind of lifts all boats

[00:35:38] as opposed to just one boat, like, the concept of home-based training

[00:35:42] came out of the fact that, as I said, I was in school when I started.

[00:35:45] It was based on the FAI looking at Loughborough,

[00:35:48] what the FA were doing with Loughborough and Mo Marley at the time,

[00:35:52] and the FAI basically went, how can we do that but cheaper?

[00:35:55] So they cut the education side out of it

[00:35:57] and then brought in the concept of home-based training,

[00:36:02] but Loughborough system didn't work for the FA.

[00:36:04] That's why they pivoted to, you know, creating the WSL

[00:36:08] and lifting all boats, a strategy that lifts all boats,

[00:36:11] and then, like, I think the under-23s for sure is needed,

[00:36:15] but for me, I just really wish here we'd stop focusing on the magic pill,

[00:36:20] you know, and then look at, as I said, ways that we can make sure

[00:36:23] that all clubs, like, we need a competitive league.

[00:36:26] We need to stop seeing six ones, four ones, five ones,

[00:36:28] and we need to see games that are competitive,

[00:36:31] and I think for that to happen, we need to strengthen squads

[00:36:34] and for all squads to be, you know, there and there about.

[00:36:38] So, yeah.

[00:36:39] Can I go off on a tangent here, though?

[00:36:42] Sorry, Deca, if you don't mind.

[00:36:44] So, but, so, Charlotte, like,

[00:36:47] something we discussed in the pod a while ago

[00:36:48] that I absolutely had a conniption about

[00:36:50] was the FAI removing the ETP structure,

[00:36:55] especially for women's football in the country.

[00:36:57] How do we ensure that the girls that are coming to that league environment

[00:37:02] are really on a path to being at that level

[00:37:05] the way development is going in the country at the moment?

[00:37:09] For me, like, I think I've been saying this to different clubs

[00:37:13] and I was talking to a politician about it

[00:37:15] the past couple of months.

[00:37:17] Like, the way Arsenal have their academy there

[00:37:20] that feeds into their, you know, to the reserve team

[00:37:23] and then feeding into the 23s and then on to the first team,

[00:37:25] I think we need to start looking at systems like that within clubs

[00:37:29] that are maybe paired with education.

[00:37:30] Like, nothing that's a four-year degree or anything too long

[00:37:34] because you will have players that have aspirations

[00:37:36] to go to the UK or maybe on to America

[00:37:39] that don't want to get tied down in a four-year degree.

[00:37:42] And, like, our college football here isn't strong enough,

[00:37:45] isn't strong enough, you know,

[00:37:46] when you're going and playing for UCD or Maynooth or whatnot.

[00:37:49] But I think if we were to pair clubs up here with, like,

[00:37:54] a level six or level seven kind of core structure

[00:37:58] where players could go in and study for two years

[00:38:02] and it's, you know, a diploma or just lower than a degree.

[00:38:07] And they're in that environment where they're training every day

[00:38:11] for two years.

[00:38:13] So they're still kind of improving their football ability.

[00:38:17] It's giving those players that maybe need the extra development

[00:38:19] that time to, you know, I think is used to there,

[00:38:23] get prepared to make the step to the National League.

[00:38:25] You're always going to have your Kate McCabe,

[00:38:27] your Avi Larkins kind of pushing on.

[00:38:29] But for the other, I think, five or six or seven behind them,

[00:38:32] it gives them an opportunity to stay in the game.

[00:38:34] But also for clubs to increase the training

[00:38:37] and access the resources that players need

[00:38:40] to get them to the next level.

[00:38:42] And I'd love to see clubs here kind of being masters

[00:38:45] at our own destiny as opposed to constantly looking at the FAI

[00:38:48] and going, well, hang on, you're not doing it.

[00:38:50] So we'll just sit here and moan about it.

[00:38:52] You know, I think clubs have to change their attitude

[00:38:55] a little bit too in that regard.

[00:39:00] Eileen, listening to the two guys there,

[00:39:02] the one thing that strikes me is that for me,

[00:39:05] thinking about it over the last couple of weeks,

[00:39:07] like I actually worry about the future of the league.

[00:39:10] I worry about the structure of the league.

[00:39:12] It's not a league that's able to fund itself.

[00:39:15] It's not a league that's able really to do anything for itself.

[00:39:17] It's completely dependent on the men's game

[00:39:21] and men's clubs earning money

[00:39:22] and then giving the women's side of this club

[00:39:24] or here's a few pounds for you

[00:39:26] and you can get a bus to Dublin

[00:39:27] or you can get, you know, whatever you need to get.

[00:39:29] But there's no core revenue streams.

[00:39:32] I think off the top of my head,

[00:39:34] and I have this figure,

[00:39:36] like the average attendance across the whole league

[00:39:39] for the season was something like 317.

[00:39:42] So like you can't build a league

[00:39:44] where your average attendance is 317.

[00:39:47] There's no, as I said,

[00:39:49] there's no money coming into the league

[00:39:51] and everything is then completely dependent

[00:39:53] on the men's side of the clubs.

[00:39:55] And somebody pointed out to me last week,

[00:39:58] Chelsea, who are probably the most dominant side

[00:40:01] in the women's Super League now,

[00:40:02] are run completely independently.

[00:40:04] They have their own income streams.

[00:40:07] They have their own merchandise streams.

[00:40:08] Everything is done independently.

[00:40:11] There's no reliance on the men's side of the club.

[00:40:13] And I just,

[00:40:15] like you hear a lot about what's going on in the background.

[00:40:17] I think DLR, to be fair to them,

[00:40:20] are probably the only club this year

[00:40:21] that I haven't heard

[00:40:23] of some massive rumbling

[00:40:25] at some stage of the season

[00:40:27] within the club,

[00:40:28] within the squad,

[00:40:29] about money or about facilities

[00:40:31] or about this, that,

[00:40:32] or the other thing.

[00:40:33] And it just,

[00:40:33] to me,

[00:40:34] it just seems like it's completely built

[00:40:35] on a pile of sand.

[00:40:37] And until it's built on concrete,

[00:40:39] we're kind of

[00:40:41] bashing our head against a brick wall,

[00:40:42] really.

[00:40:47] And that,

[00:40:47] like,

[00:40:48] the league and the men's league

[00:40:49] is run by the FAI.

[00:40:50] And when that's happening,

[00:40:52] I think we're always pissing in the wind,

[00:40:53] to be honest,

[00:40:53] because we're relying on them.

[00:40:55] You're never going to get government grants

[00:40:56] or anything like that.

[00:40:57] And that's all going to be huge.

[00:40:58] And you talk about,

[00:40:59] say,

[00:40:59] someone like Chelsea,

[00:41:00] clubs like Arsenal,

[00:41:01] and they're running independently of the men's.

[00:41:04] Now they are,

[00:41:04] but there had to be a huge investment

[00:41:06] to get to that point.

[00:41:07] And the reality is football,

[00:41:09] even men's league of Ireland clubs,

[00:41:11] that money's not there.

[00:41:12] Like,

[00:41:13] you can see,

[00:41:14] and take them again,

[00:41:15] as my second time mentioning them tonight,

[00:41:16] like Dundalk,

[00:41:17] and how quickly things can go really,

[00:41:19] really badly wrong.

[00:41:20] And as I said,

[00:41:21] I think the league,

[00:41:23] both men's and women's,

[00:41:24] has to step away from the FAI,

[00:41:25] because other than that,

[00:41:26] I think we're going to keep going around

[00:41:27] in this circle.

[00:41:28] And at the moment,

[00:41:30] it seems to me,

[00:41:31] again,

[00:41:32] and I'm looking,

[00:41:33] a lot of my bases is on Cork,

[00:41:35] but I know it's at other clubs as well.

[00:41:38] The women are the poor relations,

[00:41:40] like,

[00:41:40] they are,

[00:41:41] and you're kind of feeding off scraps

[00:41:42] a lot of the time.

[00:41:44] And we're hearing that,

[00:41:45] as I said,

[00:41:46] I know Cork City,

[00:41:47] because obviously that's where we are,

[00:41:49] and we're kind of in the thick of it.

[00:41:50] But you hear it from every other club,

[00:41:52] as you said,

[00:41:52] the only clubs you don't hear it from

[00:41:53] are the two that aren't linked to men's clubs.

[00:41:56] So,

[00:41:57] like,

[00:41:57] it is really difficult,

[00:41:58] but it's just that kind of overall conversation

[00:42:00] of we do have to step away from the FAI,

[00:42:02] because other than that,

[00:42:03] I think we're always relying on them.

[00:42:05] And as Sean has said,

[00:42:06] it comes back to that they have to be doing this,

[00:42:08] they have to be doing this,

[00:42:09] but at what point do the clubs,

[00:42:10] are they willing to step forward?

[00:42:12] And we saw Sean and Grover's have that great initiative

[00:42:14] in terms of their academies during the week.

[00:42:16] And that's brilliant to see.

[00:42:18] That's so,

[00:42:18] so good.

[00:42:19] And then at the same time you have that,

[00:42:20] and you still have fans of other clubs going underneath,

[00:42:22] this is all dope.

[00:42:23] Like,

[00:42:23] just step back and say,

[00:42:25] here's a club doing something right,

[00:42:27] thinking outside the box,

[00:42:29] something that every other club would be able to feed into

[00:42:31] if they do it right.

[00:42:32] And it comes down to like contact hours

[00:42:34] and things like that.

[00:42:35] And I suppose that goes back to what Sean and John

[00:42:37] are both talking about.

[00:42:38] It goes back to what Ciarán is talking about.

[00:42:40] It's contact hours with players

[00:42:42] and developing players from a young age.

[00:42:44] And as I said,

[00:42:44] I just think all of that comes down to,

[00:42:46] it comes down to funding,

[00:42:47] whether we like it or not.

[00:42:49] And it's very difficult to get that

[00:42:51] under the banner of the FAI.

[00:42:53] Yeah,

[00:42:54] but I mean,

[00:42:55] Owen Doyle and Sharmick Rovers have now put a structure in place.

[00:43:00] Owen Doyle will show clubs how to do it.

[00:43:03] You can tap into the Tulsa money.

[00:43:06] Like my wife has worked in childcare for 20 years.

[00:43:09] I know how difficult it is to draw that money down

[00:43:12] and everything else.

[00:43:13] But when you do it right,

[00:43:14] and your paperwork is right,

[00:43:16] and your structures are right,

[00:43:16] and Rovers are saying that they could employ,

[00:43:18] what, 40 coaches by the end of the 2026 season?

[00:43:22] That's a game-changing move.

[00:43:24] And it's there now for other clubs to go do it.

[00:43:28] And my question is,

[00:43:29] how many will?

[00:43:31] How many will put the investment

[00:43:33] and the time and everything else

[00:43:34] into actually doing it?

[00:43:36] And as you said,

[00:43:37] there'll be plenty of fans

[00:43:38] coming on with Sharmick Rovers this,

[00:43:40] Sharmick Rovers that.

[00:43:42] Sharmick Rovers are at the forefront of innovation

[00:43:44] in this country.

[00:43:45] Whether we like it or not,

[00:43:46] they are.

[00:43:47] And they have to be acknowledged

[00:43:48] and accredited for that.

[00:43:50] And yeah, look,

[00:43:52] I can see stuff,

[00:43:53] you know,

[00:43:55] off-season,

[00:43:56] fellas will be online

[00:43:57] and they'll be talking about

[00:43:58] whether all the Sharmick Rovers coaches

[00:44:01] have FETEC level six

[00:44:04] early childhood development qualifications

[00:44:06] because they're all working in childcare

[00:44:08] and doing the rest of it

[00:44:09] and trying to be smart arses.

[00:44:11] But I mean,

[00:44:12] it's innovation, Sean.

[00:44:13] And at the end of the day,

[00:44:14] this league needs to be innovative.

[00:44:16] Finally, because we have to move on

[00:44:17] from this, Sean.

[00:44:18] I can just ask you,

[00:44:19] in terms of centralized contracts,

[00:44:21] centralized merchandise deals,

[00:44:23] all that kind of stuff,

[00:44:24] taking maybe the best

[00:44:25] from the American system

[00:44:26] and maybe the best

[00:44:27] from the rugby system here.

[00:44:29] Are these things

[00:44:30] you'd like to sit down

[00:44:31] and maybe put

[00:44:32] a genuine,

[00:44:35] interested lobby group

[00:44:36] or technical group together

[00:44:38] to sit down

[00:44:39] and really study

[00:44:40] these things

[00:44:40] that are happening

[00:44:41] in different sports

[00:44:42] and different areas of the world

[00:44:43] and see what we can take

[00:44:44] as best practice from those?

[00:44:46] Yeah, I think the last time

[00:44:48] I was on with you,

[00:44:49] I spoke about that.

[00:44:50] I think that definitely

[00:44:51] needs to be kind of a group,

[00:44:53] a working group

[00:44:54] that's looking at different aspects

[00:44:56] of football,

[00:44:58] you know,

[00:44:59] from fan experience

[00:45:00] to player development

[00:45:02] across the world

[00:45:04] and feeding that back into Ireland,

[00:45:06] looking at trends

[00:45:07] and whatnot.

[00:45:07] But the word you said there

[00:45:08] for me that's key

[00:45:09] is innovation.

[00:45:10] And I think we need more people

[00:45:13] in,

[00:45:14] there's great,

[00:45:15] look, there's lovely,

[00:45:15] so there's lovely,

[00:45:16] good people in football

[00:45:17] here in Ireland,

[00:45:18] but lovely and good

[00:45:19] won't get you to the level

[00:45:20] we need it at

[00:45:21] to push on.

[00:45:23] I think we need people

[00:45:25] that aren't afraid

[00:45:26] to have bold ideas,

[00:45:27] that aren't afraid

[00:45:28] to challenge,

[00:45:28] have tough conversations

[00:45:30] that, you know,

[00:45:31] are really willing

[00:45:32] to try and be disruptors.

[00:45:33] And, you know,

[00:45:34] from my experience

[00:45:35] in women's football

[00:45:36] across this country,

[00:45:37] I definitely think

[00:45:37] we're lacking that.

[00:45:38] I hear a lot of,

[00:45:39] oh yeah,

[00:45:40] no,

[00:45:40] we support women's football,

[00:45:41] but, you know,

[00:45:43] straight away when I hear that,

[00:45:44] I just go deaf.

[00:45:45] I'm like,

[00:45:46] I don't want to know

[00:45:46] you're done for,

[00:45:48] you know,

[00:45:49] with me because

[00:45:50] that straight away then is

[00:45:51] we can't have the big ideas,

[00:45:53] we can't,

[00:45:54] you know,

[00:45:54] you have to start somewhere.

[00:45:55] And Eileen,

[00:45:56] you'd notice,

[00:45:57] like,

[00:45:57] you know,

[00:45:57] you look at the WSL,

[00:45:58] like how many people

[00:46:00] that are working

[00:46:00] behind the scenes

[00:46:02] for Arsenal and Chelsea

[00:46:03] are dedicated

[00:46:04] to that women's side

[00:46:06] of the game,

[00:46:08] but also have come

[00:46:09] from the women's game.

[00:46:10] I think in women's football

[00:46:11] in Ireland,

[00:46:12] there's a lot of people

[00:46:12] working behind the scenes

[00:46:14] that have maybe

[00:46:15] kind of come into

[00:46:16] women's football

[00:46:17] because they haven't really

[00:46:18] found a place

[00:46:19] in the men's game

[00:46:20] and they see this

[00:46:21] as an opportunity

[00:46:22] to kind of

[00:46:23] be at that level

[00:46:24] of football,

[00:46:25] like elite level

[00:46:26] of football

[00:46:26] in a role.

[00:46:28] and they're lacking

[00:46:29] experience,

[00:46:30] they're lacking knowledge

[00:46:30] and I think with that

[00:46:32] comes the kind of

[00:46:34] small-minded

[00:46:34] or small-club mentality.

[00:46:37] So,

[00:46:38] yeah,

[00:46:38] I do think it's needed

[00:46:39] and we need to start

[00:46:39] looking at,

[00:46:41] like,

[00:46:41] bows do it well,

[00:46:42] it breaks me hard

[00:46:43] to say,

[00:46:43] but like,

[00:46:44] the merchandise

[00:46:45] that they're pumping out

[00:46:47] is fantastic.

[00:46:48] Like,

[00:46:49] my partner

[00:46:49] has no interest

[00:46:50] in football at all

[00:46:51] and sometimes

[00:46:52] I pretend

[00:46:53] to take her on dates

[00:46:54] and we end up

[00:46:55] at a football club

[00:46:56] by complete accident

[00:46:57] on a Saturday.

[00:46:59] But,

[00:47:00] like,

[00:47:00] the only time

[00:47:01] she's ever said to me

[00:47:02] where we've come out

[00:47:03] of a football club

[00:47:04] and she said to me,

[00:47:05] I'll go with you again

[00:47:06] if we go there

[00:47:06] was Daily Mount

[00:47:07] and it broke my heart

[00:47:08] but as I spoke to her

[00:47:10] I completely understood

[00:47:10] why,

[00:47:12] you know,

[00:47:12] she enjoyed that experience

[00:47:14] but there's other places

[00:47:15] she's come out of

[00:47:16] and she says to me,

[00:47:17] geez,

[00:47:17] that's like Angela's Ashes,

[00:47:18] you know,

[00:47:20] so,

[00:47:21] you know,

[00:47:21] I think we need

[00:47:23] those big,

[00:47:23] bold,

[00:47:24] innovative thinkers.

[00:47:25] We need people

[00:47:25] who are dedicated

[00:47:26] to women's football

[00:47:27] and don't come from

[00:47:28] that mindset of

[00:47:29] I like or I support

[00:47:30] women's football

[00:47:31] but we need people

[00:47:33] who go,

[00:47:33] you know,

[00:47:34] I'm dedicated to it,

[00:47:35] it's in my heart

[00:47:36] and I'm willing

[00:47:37] to do what it can take

[00:47:38] to push it on.

[00:47:41] Guys,

[00:47:42] I'm going to have

[00:47:42] to leave it there

[00:47:43] because we're a long way

[00:47:44] into the pod.

[00:47:45] It's a brilliant topic.

[00:47:46] I'd love to come back to it

[00:47:47] and it all started

[00:47:48] in Eileen Gleeson's

[00:47:50] press conference

[00:47:51] and we know

[00:47:51] have done probably

[00:47:52] 25 minutes

[00:47:53] on the future

[00:47:55] of Irish football

[00:47:56] so that's

[00:47:58] what I love

[00:47:58] about this pod

[00:47:59] and you don't know

[00:47:59] where you're going

[00:48:00] to end up.

[00:48:02] I was going to do

[00:48:03] a little bit on

[00:48:03] James O'Callaghan

[00:48:04] leaving Piedmont

[00:48:05] but at this stage

[00:48:06] Eileen,

[00:48:06] I guess all we can say

[00:48:07] is best of luck

[00:48:09] to him

[00:48:09] and another manager

[00:48:12] that you would like

[00:48:13] to see

[00:48:14] stay within the game

[00:48:15] and stay within

[00:48:16] the league here.

[00:48:17] Yeah,

[00:48:18] very much.

[00:48:19] He's been brilliant

[00:48:20] for Piedmont

[00:48:20] and they've been

[00:48:21] outstanding

[00:48:22] and he came into

[00:48:23] Piedmont

[00:48:23] at a time

[00:48:24] where they'd been

[00:48:25] decimated.

[00:48:26] People probably forget

[00:48:26] that and if you're

[00:48:27] newer to the league

[00:48:28] so Piedmont

[00:48:29] were very,

[00:48:30] very strong

[00:48:30] the first couple

[00:48:31] of years

[00:48:31] and then UCD

[00:48:32] Wave popped up

[00:48:33] and poor old

[00:48:34] Piedmont

[00:48:34] got decimated.

[00:48:35] So like

[00:48:36] he built that

[00:48:37] team up really

[00:48:38] with Piedmont

[00:48:38] from their

[00:48:39] underage structures

[00:48:39] and the likes

[00:48:40] of Amber Barrett,

[00:48:41] Neil Farrelly,

[00:48:42] Lauren O'Callaghan

[00:48:43] all kind of came

[00:48:43] through together

[00:48:44] and then some

[00:48:45] of the UCD

[00:48:46] Wave players

[00:48:47] filtered back

[00:48:48] and look,

[00:48:48] they had a lot

[00:48:49] of success

[00:48:49] but a proper legend

[00:48:51] of the women's league

[00:48:52] here,

[00:48:52] no doubt about that.

[00:48:53] He used to drive me

[00:48:54] mad on the sideline

[00:48:54] when I was coaching

[00:48:55] with Cork City

[00:48:56] but again,

[00:48:58] I never,

[00:48:59] like you only

[00:48:59] dislike people

[00:49:00] who kind of

[00:49:01] agitate you

[00:49:01] for the right reasons

[00:49:02] so no,

[00:49:03] best of luck to him

[00:49:04] and again,

[00:49:05] he's a legend

[00:49:06] like you want

[00:49:06] to keep him

[00:49:07] in the game

[00:49:07] and I think

[00:49:08] what stood out

[00:49:09] was players,

[00:49:10] his present

[00:49:11] and former players

[00:49:12] just saying

[00:49:12] what a good

[00:49:12] man manager he is

[00:49:13] and I think

[00:49:13] he works in

[00:49:15] youth work

[00:49:16] in the inner city

[00:49:17] in Dublin

[00:49:17] I think I saw

[00:49:18] that in the

[00:49:18] TG Carher

[00:49:19] documentary

[00:49:20] so yeah,

[00:49:21] look,

[00:49:21] best of luck to him

[00:49:21] and hopefully

[00:49:22] we will see him

[00:49:23] in the game

[00:49:24] in the women's

[00:49:25] side of the game

[00:49:26] going forward

[00:49:26] but for Piedmont

[00:49:27] it's kind of

[00:49:28] a hard one

[00:49:29] isn't it?

[00:49:30] Like because

[00:49:30] they are that

[00:49:30] standalone club

[00:49:31] and spoke this

[00:49:33] season already

[00:49:34] about maybe

[00:49:35] will they be able

[00:49:35] to retain the

[00:49:36] squad they have

[00:49:36] at the moment

[00:49:37] and it's kind of

[00:49:39] hard to see

[00:49:39] where they go

[00:49:40] but it'll be an

[00:49:40] interesting few

[00:49:41] months there

[00:49:41] I think.

[00:49:43] John,

[00:49:43] is there any

[00:49:43] chance that

[00:49:44] James re-emerges

[00:49:45] down in

[00:49:46] your heroes

[00:49:47] down in

[00:49:47] Wexford?

[00:49:50] I didn't even

[00:49:51] consider that

[00:49:52] actually.

[00:49:55] He'd be a

[00:49:55] brilliant fit

[00:49:56] down there

[00:49:56] wouldn't he?

[00:49:57] Look,

[00:49:57] you're delighted

[00:49:57] John.

[00:49:58] I know,

[00:49:59] yeah.

[00:50:00] He's ringing

[00:50:01] Dave,

[00:50:01] he's after

[00:50:02] ringing Dave

[00:50:03] Casson.

[00:50:03] Hang on,

[00:50:03] I'll have to

[00:50:04] text someone

[00:50:04] there.

[00:50:08] Yeah,

[00:50:08] no,

[00:50:08] look,

[00:50:09] he's like

[00:50:09] I lean,

[00:50:10] I can't add

[00:50:11] to that.

[00:50:11] He's like,

[00:50:13] yeah,

[00:50:13] I think that

[00:50:13] the point

[00:50:14] though that

[00:50:16] he built

[00:50:16] that Piedmont

[00:50:17] team up

[00:50:18] from ashes

[00:50:18] in a lot

[00:50:19] of ways

[00:50:19] is just

[00:50:20] can be

[00:50:21] forgotten

[00:50:22] because you

[00:50:22] look at

[00:50:23] the last

[00:50:24] few years

[00:50:25] and you

[00:50:25] look at

[00:50:25] the success

[00:50:25] they've

[00:50:26] had

[00:50:26] and you

[00:50:26] kind of

[00:50:27] forget

[00:50:27] that

[00:50:27] they

[00:50:27] weren't

[00:50:28] always

[00:50:28] there.

[00:50:35] He never

[00:50:35] annoyed me

[00:50:36] in the

[00:50:36] sideline

[00:50:36] anyway,

[00:50:36] but I

[00:50:37] never

[00:50:37] coached

[00:50:37] against

[00:50:37] him.

[00:50:39] He's

[00:50:39] brilliant.

[00:50:40] He would

[00:50:40] have if

[00:50:40] you did.

[00:50:42] Sean

[00:50:42] will back

[00:50:42] me up,

[00:50:43] I'm sure.

[00:50:44] Look,

[00:50:45] he's done

[00:50:45] a great

[00:50:45] job there

[00:50:46] and I

[00:50:46] think

[00:50:48] I liked

[00:50:49] him

[00:50:49] because

[00:50:49] he's a

[00:50:49] character

[00:50:50] and you

[00:50:50] can have

[00:50:50] that

[00:50:50] banter

[00:50:51] with

[00:50:51] him.

[00:50:51] He's

[00:50:52] one of

[00:50:52] the

[00:50:52] only

[00:51:01] the

[00:51:06] under-19s

[00:51:08] beat

[00:51:09] Belgium

[00:51:09] in a

[00:51:09] friendly

[00:51:10] 2-0.

[00:51:12] They

[00:51:12] played

[00:51:12] the

[00:51:13] Belgians

[00:51:13] again

[00:51:13] on

[00:51:14] Tuesday

[00:51:16] and

[00:51:16] Katie

[00:51:17] Keane

[00:51:17] has

[00:51:17] left

[00:51:18] the

[00:51:18] senior

[00:51:18] squad

[00:51:18] to

[00:51:19] return

[00:51:19] to

[00:51:20] that

[00:51:20] under-19

[00:51:21] squad

[00:51:21] for

[00:51:21] that

[00:51:22] friendly

[00:51:22] game.

[00:51:23] Sean

[00:51:24] would

[00:51:25] Katie

[00:51:25] Keane

[00:51:26] just

[00:51:26] be

[00:51:26] better

[00:51:26] off

[00:51:26] staying

[00:51:27] with

[00:51:27] the

[00:51:27] senior

[00:51:27] squad

[00:51:28] in

[00:51:28] terms

[00:51:28] of

[00:51:28] development

[00:51:28] again

[00:51:29] or

[00:51:29] is

[00:51:30] the

[00:51:30] right

[00:51:30] place

[00:51:30] for her

[00:51:31] to

[00:51:31] slip

[00:51:31] back

[00:51:31] to

[00:51:31] the

[00:51:31] 19s?

[00:51:35] To be

[00:51:36] honest

[00:51:36] with you

[00:51:36] she's

[00:51:37] not

[00:51:37] going

[00:51:37] to

[00:51:37] play

[00:51:37] for

[00:51:37] the

[00:51:37] seniors

[00:51:39] that's

[00:51:39] the

[00:51:39] reality

[00:51:40] so

[00:51:40] for

[00:51:41] a

[00:51:41] player

[00:51:41] of her

[00:51:42] age

[00:51:42] I think

[00:51:42] it's

[00:51:42] about

[00:51:42] game

[00:51:43] time

[00:51:43] and

[00:51:43] just

[00:51:44] getting

[00:51:45] her

[00:51:45] time

[00:51:46] I know

[00:51:46] it's

[00:51:47] a

[00:51:47] friendly

[00:51:47] and

[00:51:48] there's

[00:51:48] opportunity

[00:51:48] to have

[00:51:49] a

[00:51:49] look

[00:51:49] at

[00:51:49] someone

[00:51:49] else

[00:51:49] but

[00:51:50] Eileen

[00:51:50] said

[00:51:50] she

[00:52:27] minutes

[00:52:28] the women's national team and keep her spot there for a second i thought you were going to say she'd

[00:52:34] eventually made that proper step up to england or to the english game she will she definitely i think

[00:52:39] that's look to write a passage for a player like kate and she's very talented she's got the right

[00:52:44] mindset and i i've no doubt in in a couple of years you know what happened last weekend will

[00:52:50] mean nothing to her it'll be just a blip on our journey and then you know look we have to remember

[00:52:55] our age as well and i was behind the goal and it was you could say it was difficult to watch but um

[00:53:00] she's a she's a great attitude um and i think you know she's she's going to be brilliant for us

[00:53:07] in terms of in the league here and for our national teams and uh yeah i i i was delighted for her getting

[00:53:14] into the women's national squad but i do think um it's maybe a little bit too early for her and i'm

[00:53:19] glad she's back with the 19s like look she's gonna be she's gonna have the rest of her career to play

[00:53:24] senior international football you're only a couple of years at under 19s let her go back and enjoy her

[00:53:29] time with her friends yeah awesome awesome john very quickly just while we were away there was just

[00:53:37] in the youth section i know the games are ongoing and the leagues nearly finished so why not but

[00:53:41] just to mention shamac rovers winning the under 17 national cup final another one in the bag for them

[00:53:48] um another impressive victory yeah john is key coffee has that team one of the best co-commentators

[00:53:55] in the country there's only two of them we're talking about which are there's one keith's the

[00:53:59] other one that day against treaty i still say i never learned as much from a co-commentator as i

[00:54:04] learned from keith that day but it just got me thinking he's obviously got that under 17 side

[00:54:09] pouring and if he can install the knowledge that he clearly has on that team there's there's a great

[00:54:15] opportunity that a lot of those girls would go on and play at a much higher level thanks to his coaching

[00:54:19] i guess oh yeah no i mean like we we've said it consistently on on the part that maybe one of the

[00:54:27] mistakes rovers made coming in was that they didn't look at the strength like you know come in with the

[00:54:33] intention okay maybe we won't win anything for two or three years but but focus on those kids that are

[00:54:40] coming out rovers academy is just bonkers like they i think they had four different goal scorers in the

[00:54:47] final um and like i we would never start calling out individual girls and things like that because

[00:54:55] they're so young and you don't want to be putting pressure on kids but some of the names that that

[00:54:59] that rovers have in that under 17 team they're they're already fairly close to kind of household

[00:55:04] names and people within the league know exactly who they are coming up do you know there's some

[00:55:10] scary talent coming up in rovers and it goes back to what sean is saying like you know you're you're

[00:55:17] you're getting you're getting players and you're putting them in an environment where they're

[00:55:22] training more often there's more contact hours they're surrounded by a by good coaches but also

[00:55:27] like specialized coaches and you know it's not just like one or two coaches working with the whole team

[00:55:35] there's someone there to for the goalkeepers some definitely defenders there's someone they're looking

[00:55:38] in strength and conditioning the whole thing is really well looked after and like again it goes

[00:55:42] back to what you said earlier on deckie like we may not like to admit it but rovers are actually

[00:55:47] they're actually kind of maybe not doing it in terms of points and points on the board yet but in

[00:55:53] terms of showing how you set up a club and how you try and build they're they're probably leading the

[00:55:59] way in a lot of respects these days but yeah well done yeah yeah they are as much and of course and

[00:56:06] the girls as well not just keith like he didn't play the girls actually with the trophy like typical man

[00:56:13] yeah yeah yeah that is true right crikey we're nearly an hour in already guys um the reason we're here

[00:56:20] season review i mean where to start eileen it's probably been the best season i would say of the

[00:56:28] last five or so seasons is that fair enough to say best season ever i would say would that be fair

[00:56:35] shauna i think like in terms of competitiveness like you do shauna's gonna pick the day shells were

[00:56:41] at the last day of the season when no but like in terms of like a quality throughout a league where like

[00:56:47] you genuinely had weekends we didn't know results like for a long time in the league

[00:56:51] unless like rahini were playing p-mount at the start or maybe shelburne were playing wexford around

[00:56:55] like we knew every result realistically like there was no there was very rarely an element of surprise

[00:57:01] and a huge amount of surprise this year and like for me as a supporter and not as a cork city supporter

[00:57:06] wasn't great to be honest but like at times it was good for us but as a supporter of the league who

[00:57:13] foolishly decided to do a podcast on and had to watch every game every weekend i thought

[00:57:17] quality wise it was brilliant and like i said that element of surprise and like i don't think i

[00:57:22] won too many accumulators on any weekend did you mr mcormack no i wouldn't dabble in accumulators

[00:57:28] anyway i try to um i try to be clever about i mean i'd be if i would admit this no problem whatsoever

[00:57:35] the minute i heard laurie ryan was missing the cup final i backed shelburne i mean do you know what i

[00:57:41] mean it was just the logical thing to do you know um so yeah i had a great cup final weekend anyway

[00:57:46] so um yeah no i for me like the season overall quality wise it's it's been excellent um and that's

[00:57:55] from every side i think at times every side has really shone i think the difference between

[00:58:02] athlone shelburne and galway is their consistency and that's what other sides have to strive to achieve

[00:58:08] to be able to do a week in week out you can't be excellent for three weeks and then fall off the

[00:58:12] scale for the next four you know it's about that consistency throughout your throughout a league

[00:58:17] campaign and throughout a season and i said that's it's a big thing to find like it's a bit

[00:58:22] it's not the easiest thing in the world to just say oh yeah well look we were good for three weeks but

[00:58:26] what happened it's trying to get it all right and not for me as a supporter i've really enjoyed it

[00:58:32] interestingly enough and i was kind of surprised when i saw this but athlone who won the league

[00:58:37] were the biggest improvers if you compare the league table from last year to this year they went from

[00:58:44] fifth to first jumped four places they had 12 points more this year than they had last year

[00:58:50] um treaty actually improved by 15 points but only improved three league paces from 10 to 7 so that

[00:58:56] probably tells its own story as well but look john i'd ask you because i won't ask shauna because it

[00:59:02] wouldn't be fair like well yeah i was just what am i asking you if i was going to say deserved league

[00:59:08] champions no question about it but sure you're going to come with your shell burner the best team

[00:59:11] in the country crap again aren't you no no they were they were to bet they were like look over the

[00:59:16] course of the year like pearl admitted that herself in interview after the cup final like when you look

[00:59:21] at what they the struggles they had the players they lost look i know like i i probably should say

[00:59:26] should have been saying all along is eileen was saying that shells were the form team in the league

[00:59:30] heading into the cup final ball and the best team in the country but i'm not going to roll back from

[00:59:34] it now either um but no like atlone absolutely deserved to win the league there's no there's no question

[00:59:41] of it if the league had been another 10 games maybe shells would have caught them but it wasn't another

[00:59:47] 10 games atlone were absolutely the best team in the league throughout and when you look at losing like

[00:59:52] losing chloe singleton to injury losing casey howe um having to go through an almost a rebuild mid-season with

[00:59:59] with the losses and and and the players that they've lost and and injuries and things like

[01:00:04] that and coming back and just like game after game just just rack continuing to racking up the wins

[01:00:11] like i thought no they were they were exceptional like i wouldn't i wouldn't take anything from them

[01:00:16] they were they were an outstanding side all year absolutely absolutely sean is the league season too

[01:00:22] short 20 games it's it's it's more of a sprint than a marathon yeah you know i think it's obviously to

[01:00:29] do with the number of teams like um like we don't want to get to the stage where teams are playing

[01:00:35] each other four or five times um so i think we have to to get more teams into the league um but

[01:00:43] like the one thing i find is the breaks in the league really kill it as well like yeah sometimes

[01:00:48] like i don't understand why sometimes we're stopping for international break we don't have

[01:00:51] international players or one player like going into the international squad like um for me you know i

[01:00:58] think that that's probably where the communication needs to happen between the international manager

[01:01:03] and the and clubs um more but like you know i don't think it's too long um i i think the issue is

[01:01:12] the breaks in it um kill it more than anything else um and as i said i personally like it's you're

[01:01:20] watching maybe teams playing each other two or three times i don't know eileen what is it now they play

[01:01:24] three times or two times twice so we're twice now at the moment yeah yeah yeah like i i think for

[01:01:31] for me that's enough like um as well in the allaire and the club games and so like i wouldn't mind the

[01:01:38] shorter season if it's if the intensity is there the quality is there um but as i said for me i just

[01:01:45] think those breaks kill it but the breaks almost make no sense because we have international breaks

[01:01:50] and say there was an international break this window and eva mangan was in the international

[01:01:54] squad it was the game the game that was in cork and city played that weekend city played bowls on a tv

[01:01:59] game that weekend and like so you've taken an international break but actually one of the

[01:02:04] teams do you know what i mean so like yes there's no sense in that then either like so it's be consistent

[01:02:09] whether or not like yeah yeah i think even around like you look at the world cup like and you know i

[01:02:14] obviously know people want to go and watch games and whatnot but like i felt like there could have been an

[01:02:17] orchestration there to kind of piggyback off the interest and you know like when when people are

[01:02:24] interested in something that's when you have to try and hook them in and i think like the fai missed

[01:02:28] a real opportunity there we seem to do that you know it's like that big break and you know as a

[01:02:34] player like i was there you want the break here and there so you can kind of maybe have a bit of

[01:02:39] leisure time but like even as a player you're getting frustrated because you have a there were some

[01:02:44] weeks where i know clubs were having like one game and then they had like say they were the team

[01:02:48] that weren't playing the next week and maybe then it was another break after that and and like teams

[01:02:53] maybe players might not play for for three or four weeks and so like that can be hard as well for the

[01:02:59] momentum side of things and you know if you've had it if you've had three or four games and then all

[01:03:05] of a sudden you're on a two or three week break that can completely kill your you know your your

[01:03:10] kind of um the momentum you have there so um yeah i hope that's answered your question absolutely no

[01:03:19] bother whatsoever what do we make of shelburne season shauna i mean they they drew five games more

[01:03:27] this year than they did last year and they won two games less i mean that's where they won and lost

[01:03:32] the title was that inability maybe earlier in the season to turn some of those draws into victories

[01:03:38] yeah like look i think with any shelburne team there's always the expectation to win the league

[01:03:43] and the players as a player you know that based on what's coming for you as fans the expectation is

[01:03:49] there but i think that was intensified this year with the squad they had um i for me the bare minimum

[01:03:55] this season should have been the league and anything else should have been it and i said we'll take the cup

[01:03:59] after not winning anything last year but i do think you know that it's disappointing um to not win the

[01:04:06] league um but um like you know like consistency is important and i think early on there was maybe

[01:04:14] like owen and rory they're good coaches you know that they've they've come into the game and you can

[01:04:20] see they're trying to do things right but maybe there's a little bit naive naivety on their part like

[01:04:24] i think the first game of the season i remember watching it and with the lineup they started i

[01:04:29] remember saying to somebody um i said i would have i would have started jen mcquin like because they

[01:04:35] sligo have two strong physical center half so for me it's kind of like wear them down and then bring

[01:04:41] on your you know your younger players to then you know kind of be the busy buddies because i've played

[01:04:45] center half and if you've had a battle for 45 minutes and then you think you're getting a bit of

[01:04:50] respite and then you see a 17 year old coming on you're going i'm gonna have to chase this one

[01:04:54] after being battered for 45 minutes this isn't gonna go well so i think there was a few moments

[01:04:59] like that this the at the crunch at long game in tolka there was a few strange decisions i thought

[01:05:05] maddie gibson was having an absolute field day um you know on her side of the pitch i think at long

[01:05:11] were lucky not to be a couple of goals up at half time and i thought like again there was a bit maybe

[01:05:16] naivety or over eagerness i don't know what you'd call it um but there was some strange decisions and

[01:05:20] and um and look they'll learn from it um as as a management um but yeah i think there's a

[01:05:28] disappointment there that they that they didn't win the league there was an expectation that they would

[01:05:32] um as always put even a higher expectation with the squad they had and fortunately yeah it was for me

[01:05:38] it was it was very disappointing for them not to to to win the league speaking of owen weir and i

[01:05:44] caught up with him after the cup final and uh we had a few words delighted to be joined by cup

[01:05:50] winning manager on where and how does that sound yeah it looked fantastic uh i think it was important

[01:05:55] that we did finish the year with a trophy given the performance that we've had um you know the work

[01:06:00] that's been put in by the players the staff you know i think it's what we deserved it's been a nine

[01:06:05] or ten months where it's been a slog at times it seems a long time ago that we started pre-season

[01:06:09] in january i was here at the cup final this time last year having you know a good idea that i was

[01:06:14] going to get the job so it's been 12 months i suppose building up to this moment and um you know

[01:06:19] with the the sacrifice and the commitment that's been put in by by staff and players this year to go

[01:06:24] on and put on the performance that we did in the final there's one thing winning the final but

[01:06:27] to win it the way we did especially in the first half i thought we were exceptional and

[01:06:31] you know winning is the most important thing but winning it the way we did was uh was really pleasing for me

[01:06:37] do you feel like the statement that was made today may make your job in terms of recruitment for next

[01:06:42] year a little bit easier look with this group of players i'm more worried about retention

[01:06:48] honestly that that's a that's a massive part obviously every year you want to improve the squad

[01:06:53] um but this is it you know fantastic group of players fantastic group of people you know they

[01:06:58] deserve everything that they've that they've got today and you know so it's really important that i

[01:07:03] reflect on that for us and what we have sometimes you can always look outside of what you have but

[01:07:08] we have a really good as i said group of characters really good group of footballers so

[01:07:12] you know i'd be more than happy if i'm going into next season with most of the same faces

[01:07:16] brilliant it's known thanks a minute for your time and congratulations again enjoy the

[01:07:20] celebrations and we'll hopefully catch up to you next season yeah brilliant thanks for everything

[01:07:25] eileen you were a big critic of shelburne's style of play over the last two or three years

[01:07:30] do you feel like owen has done some good work in that respect just throw me under the bus there um

[01:07:35] yeah like they're much better to watch to be fair um it was very defensive under noel king wasn't it

[01:07:41] like i don't think i think even shelburne fans weren't overly um enthused by the style of football

[01:07:46] noel king played but yeah like they've been great to watch the season especially the

[01:07:49] the second half of the season and that probably does come with the fact that owen is is used to the

[01:07:56] league he knows the other teams at this point as well i saw like even kieran had said i think

[01:08:01] the night he was on with us like that first game they had against like galway like he just wasn't

[01:08:06] really he knew julianne russell was a good player but he wasn't aware she was a very very good player

[01:08:11] do you know what i mean and he was just you can get caught when you're new in a league like and as

[01:08:15] shauna said like that's probably what happened them early doors but once he kind of adjusted to it

[01:08:19] some of the games in the second half they were just an absolute joy to watch they've look

[01:08:24] look at the players they have like if someone like noel murray there and you need to be able to get

[01:08:28] the best from her and just leave her kind of do her thing and look as i said it's a joy to watch

[01:08:33] they've been very very good um because someone i was getting a slag in a work the other day about

[01:08:39] how the league come to head to head and obviously that's not how the league was won but

[01:08:43] they were i was they were someone was saying about shelburne but did you see that team in the

[01:08:46] swedish fourth division and they hadn't like they hadn't lost a game they hadn't conceded a goal

[01:08:51] but they drew a load of games so that's what i was comparing it to i think just the draws killed

[01:08:55] them but yeah again straight away if they'd never add to that squad they're going to be favorites but

[01:09:01] in no matter what anyone else does next season they'll be favorites at the start of the season

[01:09:04] because as shauna said there's an air of expectation around that group of players

[01:09:09] especially with i think some of the experienced players and like i said like pearl and noel

[01:09:13] they're aging backwards like so they're fine

[01:09:16] yeah um noel confirmed afterwards with aaron clark of the women's national league show that

[01:09:21] she would be around next year obviously pearl is going to be around next year

[01:09:26] are there players shauna that you would expect not to be around

[01:09:29] next year and obviously owen has referenced retention more so than recruitment as his biggest

[01:09:34] um aim going into the offseason but like i mean it hasn't really worked out for the likes of mia

[01:09:40] dodd to be fair so are there are there players you would expect to move on yeah like i i know

[01:09:46] owen's talking there about like uh retention um but i do think like he'll want to strengthen like all

[01:09:53] coaches want to strengthen um their squad and you know like pearl obviously i think and noel like

[01:10:00] they're match winners for you you know they i think you have them on the pitch um and your chances

[01:10:05] of winning greatly increase um but like the reality is they're not getting younger either

[01:10:11] and it's it's time to make maybe start bringing in younger players and getting them around the

[01:10:16] squad and i know he's done that with the likes of nia hannon lucia roo canny heliam or rebecca devro

[01:10:21] um which is fantastic um but like yeah i i i i personally don't feel like there should be any room for

[01:10:29] you know just squat like players who are there they're kind of you know are willing to just be

[01:10:33] happy enough to be there like successful squads are competitive um like when i was with chels like

[01:10:40] sometimes the toughest times of the week weren't the match at the weekend it was a wednesday evening

[01:10:45] or a monday night where training was like a battle um and i think that's the way it has to be um so i

[01:10:54] do think that like you know he should be looking at right you know these players it was great to have

[01:11:00] them around but we do have to maybe tell them that it's time to go elsewhere that maybe they're they're

[01:11:06] not going to get game time and you should as i said be bringing in those younger players or

[01:11:10] players even from other squads um that you think you know you could get two or three years out of

[01:11:15] um now bringing them in and and embedding them in um to the squad so yeah i i do think he should be

[01:11:24] looking at kind of moving a couple along i'm not gonna name names like i don't think that's fair but

[01:11:29] um you know i think over the course of the season it's easy to see who's played regularly who didn't

[01:11:34] so you know like he'll want to i'm sure he has his eyes set in champions league and winning champions

[01:11:41] league next year but to do that you need to have a really really strong squad to go and compete there

[01:11:47] guys i'm a favor getting sean in to do the cutthroat business for the corks of the men's

[01:11:52] promotion from the first division to the premier division because yeah cutthroat just say as a

[01:11:58] crox city fan i i'll take all of shells players that sean is uh cutting very true very true john

[01:12:08] p-mount won 10 games less this season than they won last year it's a pretty damning you know they've 26

[01:12:17] points less their goal difference was 31 goals less than it was last year they scored 20 goals less

[01:12:26] conceded 11 more it's i mean there's no there's no buttering it off it's been a horrific season

[01:12:35] by their standards yeah but i i just look i i again it goes back to i i kind of used the that that the

[01:12:42] parallel that we have with laurie ryan in the cup final syve doyle played 15 minutes for the whole

[01:12:48] season like and that when you're setting out your stall um for a year you know you're you're finishing

[01:12:55] up with the player of the year last season um and you're looking that you know what you've got

[01:13:00] you're constantly they're i think they probably spent the season trying to figure out how they

[01:13:07] were going to play without her um like and even there early in the season when they moved um

[01:13:12] karen duggan back into a back three which worked for them it's still it it it sucked them back into

[01:13:19] themselves really a little bit like they just weren't we talked about a lot like where were the

[01:13:23] goals going to come for them um and i do think um they made a couple of look clever signings in the

[01:13:31] in the window and i think that got them playing a little bit better but by p mount standard there's no

[01:13:36] look in the same way shells that that's a dressing room it's full of winners full of players that

[01:13:42] want to be competing at the very top of the game and they won't be happy with it either um but it

[01:13:49] the manner of some of the the losses and to who they lost as well p mount this year would

[01:13:54] probably have them scratching their heads a little bit um you know like look like even though i was

[01:14:00] delighted like cork city went up to peace and and and won like i i i mean can confirm this but i don't

[01:14:09] think we'd ever done that like once before once before you know so i mean these are kind of

[01:14:17] generational upsets kind of you know if you're following the league for a while so yeah i i i would

[01:14:23] after last year i would never write p mount off or anything but there's a big rebuilding job especially

[01:14:29] with james going i think they've probably got the well maybe maybe at loan have a slightly

[01:14:36] bigger job depending on how the next couple of months go but yeah p mount seat without james you're

[01:14:42] kind of looking there going they need to get a manager in there fast because they've got a lot

[01:14:46] of talented young players that other clubs will come into come other clubs will be coming come and

[01:14:51] looking for um and if there isn't someone there to reassure tie those players down you could see

[01:14:58] you could see peace losing um and look karen douggan and uh said on the come on you girls in green

[01:15:04] podcast there a while back that one of her concerns was keeping that squad together um so i i think in

[01:15:10] the in the void that james's departure is going to leave like i i i'm sure there's quite a few

[01:15:16] peace players that already have had owen weir and collie other managers on the phone to them because

[01:15:21] right now peace don't have a manager um and you know that's where movements happen

[01:15:29] i didn't tell me which club this is they they won seven games less than they did last year

[01:15:35] they lost four games more than they did last year they scored 19 goals less

[01:15:43] and had 18 less points by the time the league finished is it declan mccormick's favorite

[01:15:51] the one and only shamrock one and only game changers change the game all right just not the way they

[01:15:58] thought they were going to yeah obviously they hadn't they weren't aware of what they were going

[01:16:03] to achieve at owen dylee at that point but um look it was it was a disappointing season there's no two

[01:16:08] ways about it i want to say as well in relation to shamrock rovers and also to go back to shelburne

[01:16:13] fair play to shelburne for some tremendous shithousery with their enjoying ourselves t-shirts

[01:16:18] at the celebrations like i'm like i'm bitter and like i'd be wound up by something but like not

[01:16:24] bitter enough to go put it on a t-shirt and wear everywhere but 10 out of 10 but yeah no for rovers

[01:16:28] they were they were very very poor to be fair weren't they at times like i know like i've heard some of

[01:16:34] their players being interviewed their manager and like oh we're playing great football but they

[01:16:37] weren't always playing great football you know um i think towards the end of the season they were

[01:16:42] quite good in spells i think if you kelly had an outstanding season for them i think maria reynolds

[01:16:47] as she came into it especially that back i suppose from june on was excellent and again like there are

[01:16:53] two players from their academy that have come through um and look two players with really big

[01:16:58] futures if they can keep them here and that's obviously going to be a thing and same way with

[01:17:02] p-month like trying to keep the likes of ellen dole and try to keep the likes of free healy in the

[01:17:05] country jesse sure like it's really really tough now because there is a lot of eyes on the league but

[01:17:10] yeah i think with rovers yeah it's not good enough it's not i i would think like we think at times

[01:17:16] with cork city shauna thinks at times at shelburne that you know there's high expectations and we're

[01:17:21] kidding ourselves if there's not really high expectations at shamrock rovers not just because

[01:17:25] of the money that they're putting in just because of the history of the football club

[01:17:28] and it has to get better and i think the players in that squad know it has to be better and look maybe

[01:17:35] we saw as the season goes on went on some of those younger players the likes of maria reynolds

[01:17:40] stepping up into kind of leadership roles which you probably don't think should be happening considering

[01:17:44] some of the experience they have in the dressing room but once you could see someone like her stepping

[01:17:48] into that role and really doing it quite well for for a really young player i said look if there's no

[01:17:54] fear of them for the future but yeah i think i think if it was men's football like there'd be

[01:18:00] shouts for the manager's head and that and because it's the women's game it's only declin shouting for

[01:18:05] the manager's head i have never in my life said that i may have i'd say 12 times an episode like

[01:18:11] i may have intimated at it at times that i've never those words have never come out of my mouth

[01:18:17] um

[01:18:21] shauna what do you make of the goings on in tally this season

[01:18:25] yeah like i agree with eileen there and like it's it's kind of similar to what happened with

[01:18:30] arsenal there after the chelsea game you know where where like fans and the media and whatnot

[01:18:36] we're talking about jonas and you know is it time to move him along whatnot i think that all these

[01:18:42] conversations are fine you know and like collie's been around the game a long time so should we

[01:18:46] water off a duck's back like um you know like what i say is i i like the setup is fantastic

[01:18:54] from what i've heard like all the white there like the coaching staff they have brilliant there's just

[01:18:58] something not clicking i think you know i think they're lacking a little bit of personality

[01:19:04] um you know on and off the pitch like you're talking there about you know coaches talking about

[01:19:09] you know playing well and i've heard uh interviews where there's stats being given out and i often find

[01:19:16] like the people that are talking about these stats are the ones that are losing

[01:19:18] um you know you'll never hear a great manager who's winning telling you the xg in in a game or

[01:19:25] whatever that stuff means um but like for me like some of the best talent um is is asham at grovers i

[01:19:33] think ifa kelly is a joy to watch i think she's absolute unbelievable player and as much as you know i do

[01:19:40] think they need to change management there i do think collie needs credit for like the development

[01:19:45] um in some of those players i think leo leary has stepped up majorly since going there some of the

[01:19:51] younger players like maria reynolds and had a great season i think if i'm a younger player in this league

[01:19:57] or i'm a parent with a younger player in this league that's where i'm looking that's where i'm

[01:20:01] wanting my my daughter to be because the setup's great and i do think if they can kick on whether

[01:20:07] that's under collie you know the jury's out for me on that i think maybe they need a kilduff

[01:20:12] and i'm being honest there but if they can get in a jess fitz from p mount um and as i said maybe a

[01:20:19] kate kean like i think they're pushing on um so yeah it has been disappointed and it has been

[01:20:27] disappointing you know as a fan watching the watching them um but i think the other stuff they have going

[01:20:32] on they're building really strong foundations like they do get a good crowd to games you know i know

[01:20:36] we're talking about average crowds being low the likes of themselves and bows have had the higher

[01:20:41] crowds i think in terms of their commentary for games as you said there is very good the quality of

[01:20:47] the stream is excellent and i think um you know i i do hope the final jigsaw piece falls into place

[01:20:53] for them because we'll see a competitive league and as i said i think they're they're going to be

[01:20:57] producing the the future talent i think for the women's national team based on the setup they have

[01:21:02] there guys we can't go through every team which would just take too long but i mean

[01:21:06] i guess the other one who jumped out at me was bows because the narrative around bows is always

[01:21:12] extremely positive and rightfully so but call later day they took nine points less this season than they

[01:21:20] did last season they dropped from six to eight and you know they won three games less than they had

[01:21:25] the season before is that me being unfair and on bows eileen and maybe not giving enough credit for the

[01:21:32] fact it's ken kieran's first season in the job there was a certain amount of rebuilding to do they

[01:21:38] obviously lost me a dodd who was a big player for them to shellburn at the start of the year and

[01:21:42] um we need to just leave the season be as it is and look to next year and the year after that for

[01:21:50] signs of improvement again from bows

[01:21:52] are you keering it out i'd say really by the sound of no not at all that's no jesus no no no ken don't

[01:21:58] mind her she's trying to get me in trouble again no like i'm actually surprised to hear that with

[01:22:03] bows but i do think after they lost to city like the wheels just totally came off and i think the manner

[01:22:08] of that killed them and i think why it killed them is they're a really young squad um for me bows are

[01:22:14] another club and really kills me no saying it's probably more than even shamakovers that are doing

[01:22:18] things really the right way like they're probably the most they are the most consistent with their

[01:22:22] crowds they're nearly always have over 500 and that's like we're not seeing big pushes on social

[01:22:26] media or anything like that so that's just work that they're doing in the community around them

[01:22:30] which is brilliant to see and i think i said in the past every other club needs to follow that

[01:22:34] blueprint and say what are you doing to make this happen but like on the pitch

[01:22:38] i think it very much we're talking about foundations being built and i think it was very much a season

[01:22:43] where ken was building foundations and he's after blooding through a lot of really really young

[01:22:48] players like ava brennan i think has been one of the top performers in the league and she's 16 years

[01:22:52] of age like she is an incredible footballer and i think tony said in the last game she started every

[01:22:58] single game for them this season um he's a lot of very very good young players and like then i think

[01:23:04] he's been astute with bringing in someone like tegan ruddy who has probably got back to the

[01:23:08] best we've seen from her in years and again it's because she's playing consistently you have the

[01:23:11] experience of someone like lisa murphy back there as well and it's just a good balance you've sarah

[01:23:16] mckevitt so i think for them the foundations are there to really kick on and again they have some

[01:23:21] really good players in with their under 19s that can come through and like sean has said if you're

[01:23:26] a parent around dublin you're saying yeah well look my my kid's going to get an opportunity to play

[01:23:32] senior football here and look we can see that's the big thing we can see that an awful lot down here

[01:23:36] in cork as well and there doesn't always need to be a big rush to put 16 year olds through to senior

[01:23:40] football in my opinion but if you are a parent you could see a manager who's willing to put them in

[01:23:46] when they're ready and i think for me that's really important i think that's something ken's got spot on

[01:23:50] this year he's not putting players in when a younger player just for the sake of it he puts them in when

[01:23:55] they're ready and i think the foundations are there for them to really kick on and have a good season next

[01:23:59] season yeah i was going to say eileen i think i agree with you there in terms of a brennan like

[01:24:05] i think she's actually bypassed a lot of other players our age in terms of she could have stayed

[01:24:10] at shells and maybe got a squad number but you know it was a very brave decision for her to to go and

[01:24:16] yeah for me she was definitely a standout player of the league um and it's it's great to see you know

[01:24:22] or or take our opportunity which is quality you don't have too much pressure on a 16 year old but

[01:24:28] she's been it's said she's well up there in the top performers this season i think

[01:24:33] john the rest of the league obviously treaty and cork city were in terms of points the the the big

[01:24:40] winners you know treaty had 15 points more than they had the season before cork city 12 points more

[01:24:45] um dlr and galway had very similar point tallies to the year before very similar seasons i guess to

[01:24:52] the year before wexford i don't know as i said like three points more went from seventh to fourth

[01:25:01] and sacked the manager it's just i still can't i still don't understand that it's to me that'll

[01:25:07] always be batshit crazy did they sack the manager declan have you actually found this out or you

[01:25:11] just continue okay no i don't look okay well like few strong is no longer there and you're

[01:25:17] yeah you're trying to get me agitated no because i would imagine the wording and everything else

[01:25:23] suggests that who strong was let go by the football club if i'm wrong i'm sure somebody would come and

[01:25:28] tell me i'm wrong like they always do they love to do so you know um yeah but like yeah look the

[01:25:35] huge strong thing there's rumblings from around wexford that he wasn't the most popular manager

[01:25:39] there i think there's a i think there was a sense that the style of football they played not

[01:25:47] everyone was happy with it that he might have been a little bit too defensive and that's not exactly

[01:25:50] what wexford were pride themselves on shall we say but at the same time like as the season went on

[01:25:57] it was really effective and they they did do better this season than last season um and they've also

[01:26:05] brought in like leah mcgragh racist patrick ryan uh keola bergen's been played a huge amount of games

[01:26:11] this season and like they've had an embarrassment bridges and goals like nicole nix as well i think

[01:26:15] she's only 16 17 they've they've brought players in as well i i think they've the the makings of a

[01:26:22] really strong competitive team again for next year it's it's a really interesting in like i think that's

[01:26:30] a club and a role that a lot of people would want to you know throw their names into the hat for um

[01:26:36] not only for the you know the historical success they've had there but for the quality they have

[01:26:42] there right now um they've a 17s and 19 squad as they always do that are really strong as well so

[01:26:49] um yeah i a really good straight good good um finish second half of the season bit surprised i suppose

[01:26:57] that hugh strong wasn't kept on but i don't i i i don't know all the story there but yeah um i wouldn't

[01:27:06] be surprised that if it wasn't his his own call to go but i'll leave that one hang out there maybe we'll

[01:27:14] cut it out decky i don't know no we won't no anyway um right you've got to keep moving christ we're an

[01:27:23] hour and a half in now and we haven't even talked about a team of the year so there may not be much

[01:27:27] discussion around the team of the year except to just put it out there and say this is what we've

[01:27:32] gone far um right so the toe top last damas team of the year is okay yeah katie keen kiva keenan

[01:27:46] pearl slattery jesse rossman shauna brennan laurie ryan noel murray um roisin malloy maddie gibson

[01:27:58] maggie pierce and julianne russell eileen great any

[01:28:07] that's the thing that's what i said a couple of weeks ago about these things is you put in a player

[01:28:17] and it means you have to leave another player out and it's horrible i hate them to be honest with you

[01:28:21] but um shauna hasn't heard that no shauna first reaction there oh do you know what i i to be

[01:28:29] honest with you um i normally disagree with most teams of the year and these kind of things but

[01:28:35] that's pretty spot on it's a take it send them out against georgia during the week there

[01:28:41] i think i think you can send me out against georgia

[01:28:47] yeah the problem is eileen won't pick them so she won't ring them anyway um yeah so guys right that

[01:28:55] was the team of the year yeah like there's no need to have discussion because shauna has given it our

[01:28:59] blessing so we can move on i think the only one the only one i think we haven't mentioned yet in

[01:29:05] uh all the chats are having here is and i think she does need a mention is jade miran

[01:29:11] um for wexford youths yeah i think she's see deckie see i think she's been there she's a young player i

[01:29:18] watched her in in uh talga park earlier this season she was brave she commanding our box

[01:29:23] um and i think she's one to watch out for so i you know i think he's been very good but i think

[01:29:28] equally maybe jade jade miran's been a silent but but very consistent performer for wexford

[01:29:35] yeah i'll take that one on the chin that was me um okay so look sorry jade i do apologize um right

[01:29:45] player of the year very quickly before i do this i spoke to laurie ryan after the cup final and i

[01:29:50] just asked her was she looking forward to being involved in the player of the year and team of

[01:29:55] the year conversations that were about to happen in the following week or two um i don't think i'll

[01:30:00] be in either of those conversations uh and i don't mind um i think you know the girls that i play with

[01:30:06] and girls i play against are all so talented that um i wouldn't even put myself in the same breath as

[01:30:11] them i'm just delighted to have the opportunity to play a weekend and week out against them and

[01:30:15] with them so um look i just hope for at loan's sake we have a couple on the team of the year i think

[01:30:21] we really do deserve it um and i i think um they've really stepped up this year and there's so

[01:30:26] many girls between maddie roisin uh jesse shauna like those are the girls that deserve it that

[01:30:31] they've been consistent from start to finish of the year you're being very very harsh on yourself i

[01:30:36] hope you know that i know i honestly i can guarantee you there won't be a mention listen laurie thanks

[01:30:43] a million and look we look forward to seeing you again next season have a good off season and

[01:30:47] a nice christmas i guess thanks so much yeah we'll be i missed the podcast now that it's gone i won't

[01:30:52] know what to slag row about anymore those pajamas got great mileage listen thanks a minute and

[01:30:57] appreciate your time that's can you imagine wishing people happy christmas in october like

[01:31:02] jesus christ yeah no wonder they don't give you a credation like like what are we going to do i'm

[01:31:08] not going to i'm going to talk to any of them until february again or whenever like you know um

[01:31:12] so eileen who is the toe top last damas player of the year you'll always be in our conversation it's

[01:31:18] larry ryan yeah i think it was unanimous pretty much there was no disagreement um

[01:31:27] it's just they don't function without her they just yeah they won a league and if she missed three games

[01:31:32] in the league they wouldn't have won the league it's just she's just so so important to them

[01:31:38] yeah very much for me like she gives me big um kylie murphy energy up like that mid um

[01:31:43] kind of 2018 years um she was just brilliant and it said i think probably a mark of how good she is

[01:31:50] of how good a player is when how they perform without her and i think the two games because i

[01:31:55] don't think she really played that much up in galway either like you could see um her absence but no

[01:31:59] she's brilliant and a brilliant leader and i think so indicative of everything good that atlone do

[01:32:04] and we will give a shout out to uh the cup winning captain pearl slattery who was in the conversation

[01:32:09] along with julian russell they'd be our top three well they're my top three so you can just say

[01:32:15] they automatically become our top three yeah we're not we're not working with you eileen like you're

[01:32:20] you're the guru

[01:32:26] yeah so there we have it young player yeah to give me i was just starting young player of the year i'm

[01:32:33] going i'm gonna ask shauna for her young player of the year because i think it might be the same as

[01:32:37] ours but this is just pure speculation but go on shauna who would your young player of the year be

[01:32:43] so for me there's only two and two in the bracket um i think the number one is a brennan

[01:32:49] um i think she's just been phenomenal for what i've watched all year and she's technically gifted

[01:32:55] i think it's the kind of player we want to be producing more of um second to her i'd have is

[01:33:02] ella kelly from um rovers i think she's been very good and a young player that's shown a lot of

[01:33:08] promise and talent i should never have asked that question you got the surname right you got the

[01:33:13] surname and the club right nearly right yeah go again with the first name ifa kelly

[01:33:22] but you know what the thing is right if it plays with a maturity sometimes i think she's a lot older

[01:33:27] than she is so i definitely know that you've reminded me i think she'd definitely be uh sharing

[01:33:33] the squiles of abe brennan yeah to be fair like with the amount of young players like that are in

[01:33:38] the league like that have such a high ceiling like it is really exciting i think for the league and for

[01:33:44] the international team going forward yeah but look we had to give it to ifa kelly before we give it to

[01:33:50] ifa brennan just to prove that we don't actually absolutely hate shamrock rovers and we're not

[01:33:55] completely biased against them you know um but no so look fair play to ifa kelly who is our young

[01:34:01] player of the year very quickly guys goal of the year eileen and completely biased uh darrow

[01:34:10] groylick's goal against bows on that tg catter game oh the cross is just bouncing it was a late goal

[01:34:16] it was just chef's kiss it was incredible and an incredible moment to be at as well yeah that's the

[01:34:22] correct answer john you're going that you're doing that for that goal as well okay yeah

[01:34:29] shauna what was your goal this season for me i i i would have went out and just but just to be

[01:34:34] to be um to be go for something else i think kelly brennan's goal against bows the second last

[01:34:39] or the it was when they won the league i think her technique the changing what he shaped the score

[01:34:46] that goal um i thought was very good yeah i would have probably went for the car goal against bows and

[01:34:53] two yeah i actually went for one that i think as i said was never going to get the credit that it

[01:35:00] deserves which is maddie gibson's free kick against shamrock rovers um

[01:35:08] you missed people everyone was coming from twitter sean over because he was blaming the keeper

[01:35:18] no no no no nobody listened to what i said i said that goal would never get the credit it deserves

[01:35:25] because she was good enough to put it in that corner when she saw manda budden going left and

[01:35:30] i stand over that and that's that's my goal of the season um and i defy anybody to tell me i'm wrong

[01:35:38] especially those league of ireland players who tweeted me and told me i was disrespecting maddie

[01:35:43] gibson i was not under any circumstances yeah yeah anyway look such is life um don't get into twitter

[01:35:52] battles there's just no upside to it right where am i going next i completely okay goal of the year

[01:35:59] is done um jesus john i think it's just one last time for for postman pad is it

[01:36:08] no we have to there's no

[01:36:32] all right enough for that um question for the final pod wex for supporter here have you heard anything on the

[01:36:39] great phone read the nature of strong's departure and our potential replacement

[01:36:45] i should have read these before we did to say okay we answered this let's do the postbag up front chat

[01:36:50] yeah we answered that about 10 minutes ago um potential replacements i actually think james

[01:36:56] mccallum makes a lot of sense down there but i don't know whether that's really undercarriage or not

[01:37:00] that's just my own um speculation thanks for the great coverage across the season even if decky hasn't

[01:37:07] always been the biggest believer in wexford thanks john for being so optimistic about our prospects

[01:37:12] here you go i know john you're loved in wexford they let me down though they didn't finish third

[01:37:17] that's what i predicted yeah what's your look i mean um can't have everything you want you know

[01:37:25] um okay sean here's one for you what team is what team is the offseason most important for

[01:37:32] and what team do you think could afford to sit on their hands a bit

[01:37:37] um what team the offseason most important for i think bohemians uh i think it's important that they

[01:37:44] recruit well uh build on some of the the good players they have in well

[01:37:50] um i think there's there needs to be a lot of work done ken probably has his work out

[01:37:56] and we can afford to sit in their hands a little bit i don't think anyone can to be honest with you

[01:38:01] like it's been a very competitive league but i wouldn't look at any of those squads and think that

[01:38:05] they're they're you know miles ahead of the other any of the others and they can just sit in their hands

[01:38:10] um so yeah i wouldn't say any of them um if i'm being honest okay here's another one throughout

[01:38:20] the season you had your fair share of guest presenters on the pod offering different outlooks

[01:38:24] on the league going on league goings on will you continue with this next season yeah we should have

[01:38:30] done the veil bag up front really shouldn't we you know yeah shauna and jess will be with us next season

[01:38:36] and maybe one other we have one other invitation out that we will have further discussions on during

[01:38:43] the offseason and see if we can get a another body to join us or not um yeah i think that might just be

[01:38:51] it that's all i can see oh yes can i also say to the at loan supporter who sent us in the dm yes we got

[01:38:59] it yes we read it your chairman's a barrister we ain't reading it out and we ain't quite fucking near it

[01:39:06] in any way shape or form right um so on that note guys i think that's about it um john for the last

[01:39:17] time anything you want to get off your chest any uh just hello boys not just a goodbye but just like

[01:39:26] one highlight of the season that we didn't touch on um the bow was palestine friendly i think was

[01:39:31] possibly the best football event that wasn't really points awarded for i thought that was just so

[01:39:40] special and again to everyone that was involved in that with with both just fantastic the best thing

[01:39:47] about that night was the commentary dream team of uh tony and shauna tell you tell you it was yeah

[01:39:53] that was magic magic i i i was a a late sub to that because um sinead taylor and her wife had a baby

[01:40:03] so congratulations to sinead and shorty but i was um very honored to stand in obviously to to uh

[01:40:10] fill in for me good friend sinead but also it was an incredible incredible experience and i think i said it

[01:40:16] to look out and see that number of people at a women's match in in ireland was incredible um and

[01:40:23] congratulations to bowels because you know i do think they're they're doing very good work for

[01:40:27] the women's side of the house um and long may it continue and hopefully we'll we'll see more of

[01:40:32] those types of occasions and crowds at women's matches going into next season yeah absolutely

[01:40:38] absolutely eileen any hellos or goodbyes that you need to uh get off for the last time

[01:40:44] last episode so i'm gonna need about five minutes declin no just obviously just obvious just to

[01:40:50] say thanks to everyone who's interacted with the pod be it good be it bad who thinks we're

[01:40:54] tree langers who thinks we're tree sound people whatever it is we appreciate all the feedback and

[01:41:00] look we'll stick around for another season anyway and see how we drive on add a dub and a sligo woman

[01:41:05] into the mix and sure what could go wrong anything could happen yeah next year next year could be

[01:41:10] carnage actually that reminds me i forgot about this stuff that never made the pod you know our

[01:41:16] sections that we were going to do we didn't get cancelled so no no no never met no i know but like

[01:41:22] remember stuff like slattery's pearl of wisdom where pearl slattery would come on every year and give

[01:41:28] give listeners just just one pearl of wisdom to take with them for the week no or remember we were

[01:41:34] going to do consoling collie you know last time listeners get to send in notes to console collie after

[01:41:40] another shit sharpie rovers results but many of the stuff no karen karen karen karen karen karen

[01:41:48] you know ptsd and i've lagged it karen and damien duff at a charity ufc match um

[01:41:56] morrie's memories noel comes on to talk about her favorite bookings of all time

[01:42:03] you know what was the other one thompson mooney and o'brien thompson kate mooney and ellie o'brien

[01:42:09] come on to talk about their favorite types of bread stop stop stop you have way too much free

[01:42:16] time in your hands like you need to get a hobby like oh are heading heading into the off season

[01:42:21] now dossing with eve eve eves dosson comes on to talk about what she does with her time off

[01:42:27] something more productive than you anyway at least

[01:42:29] i uh i ring rings eileen randomly rings people in her phone book just to uh see how they're getting

[01:42:37] on you know do you remember any of no

[01:42:42] anyway there were some of the sections that didn't make the pod

[01:42:45] it's always for the one we could finally get someone on the pod yeah yeah yeah yeah

[01:42:51] we'll see what happens next year although john's john had the best suggestion of the lot which was

[01:42:59] getting um dean zambra and pad hickey on to talk about the emotional support group they set up for

[01:43:07] male league of ireland players when they're clearly not the best player in their current relationship

[01:43:15] that one's real actually

[01:43:20] we'll see what we might we might do that next year we might get them on next year and see

[01:43:24] see if they're willing to talk about that um guys look as aileen said a big thank you to everybody

[01:43:30] who's listened interacted um especially managers players people at clubs who have organized stuff

[01:43:38] for us it is very very much appreciated um we will be back next year it's been a pleasure to

[01:43:44] do this this year it's been fantastic for all of us and as i said big thank you to everybody who's

[01:43:49] listened and until next season maybe christmas we'll see but until next season don't be committing

[01:43:56] the stuff now without talking to us first will you what you don't understand now is they did a

[01:44:01] total christmas special last year and like i actually had to text my mother and tell her not to listen to it

[01:44:06] because such is the level of abuse i got and i'm not going on a christmas special anyway

[01:44:13] my brother is still has a can't look me in the eye like since to be honest

[01:44:17] so no i'm out of the christmas special but that was bad santa we'll get good santa this year

[01:44:22] it was bad it was bad santa for good or bad santa this year okay fair enough fair enough guys i guess

[01:44:28] we won't talk to you till next year so but until next season for the final time adios

[01:44:36] adios i'm not doing it

[01:44:41] say adios

[01:44:43] it's in the contract contract you'll have to do it all this season

[01:44:49] happy