Mark O'Neill-Cummins' Setanta Preview

[A face]

Mark O'Neill-Cummins' Setanta Preview


The Setanta Sports Cup returns on Monday, February 20 and promises to be bigger and hopefully better that last year. From an eircom League perspective, the campaign ended in disappointment with Linfield beating Shelbourne in what was a pulsating final.

Off the field, our league south of the border benefited from the wider exposure our top clubs received along with the chance to pit their wits against players of a standard that some argue is on a par with our league but others suggest is a notch down.


Read more at www.rte.ie (http://www.rte.ie/aertel/p231.htm)

[pete]

That is more a review of last years cup than a preview of this years?

[SwiftsSupporter]

Yeah Parkhouse is at Limavady and he mentions Arkins and then says how he's not in it??? This guy stoned or what?

[Roverstillidie]

With the exception of individuals in
colours belonging to a club not even in
the competition causing a nuisance at
one game, the competition went off
without a hitch and the promoters
proved things like this could be done.

i presume he is refering to Glasgow Celtic fans, otherwise he has strayed into libel....

[Speranza]

Exactly what I thought RTID but he didn't refer to the club in question.

[JC_GUFC]

In fairness his pieces are generally pretty good - Parkhouse was at Derry though - I had him as part of my 53-man Fantasy League squad made up of bargain basement players who defied the odds to become Champions!!!

J

[Dazzy]

In fairness his pieces are generally pretty good - Parkhouse was at Derry though - I had him as part of my 53-man Fantasy League squad made up of bargain basement players who defied the odds to become Champions!!!

J

A good few years ago but!

[EireBadBoy]

With the exception of individuals in
colours belonging to a club not even in
the competition causing a nuisance at
one game, the competition went off
without a hitch and the promoters
proved things like this could be done.

i presume he is refering to Glasgow Celtic fans, otherwise he has strayed into libel....

Sure as long as youse and the 'Vile are missing from the competition you've nothing to cry about. Feeling picked on? Well stop your fellow supporters travelling the whole way to Belfast to show their colours. :D

[Roverstillidie]

Sure as long as youse and the 'Vile are missing from the competition you've nothing to cry about. Feeling picked on? Well stop your fellow supporters travelling the whole way to Belfast to show their colours. :D

what are you talking about?
he is clearly referring to oily's disproven allegation that it was rovers, not shels fans who tried it on with the linfield fans.
what this has this to do with our link up with the reds? :confused:

[EireBadBoy]

The very fact that YOU are getting all upset about it say's it all. Your tedious links with the bastion of all that is Irish in West Belast gives me the ****es, might actually be the only time wee Mr.Byrne is right.

Whatever he is on about, if it is Rovers fan's, take him to the courts - sure he punches well above his weight there anyway.

[Raheny Red]

Well David Jeffery reckons it was Rovers fans also

Click (http://www.unison.ie/sportsdesk/stor...=12&si=1565300)

PHONE any of the top managers in the Eircom League - Pat Fenlon, Damien Richardson, Stephen Kenny - request an interview, and there's no problem. Not so, however, with David Jeffrey, manager of Linfield, possibly the biggest club in Ireland.

The phone calls began on Wednesday, and it wasn't until Friday afternoon that we got talking. "You're a hard man to get," was my natural response when he finally answered. "If you had two jobs you'd be hard to get too," he replied.

The fact that the position of manager of Linfield FC is not full-time surprised me, but Jeffrey soon filled me in. "Regarding money and compared to the Eircom League, it's like day and night up here," he explained.

"For instance, our players' budget is £350,000, about a third of Shelbourne's, which is over one million euro, and Stephen Kenny, manager of Derry City, is reportedly paid £55,000.

'I trust and pray that football will bring us together, and that football will be the winner'

"I would love to go full-time, but I also love my work as a senior social worker and manager of an elder care team. And I also believe that the existence of the club is greater than the ambition of any one person."

Jeffrey is envious of the situation he sees in the Republic. "There is a lot more co-operation between the Eircom League, the FAI and the Government than there is between the relevant bodies in Northern Ireland," he claimed.

But how about all that money the Football Ground Trust was supposed to pore into Northern Ireland as a result of the enquiry into the Hillsborough disaster? That is the envy of clubs in the Republic, I ventured.

"Linfield has not got a penny of that money," he responded. "The money from the Taylor Report is supposed to be eight million sterling, but no one has seen a sign of it yet."

Linfield's supporters haven't always covered themselves in glory on their visits to the Republic, but when I broached this subject, it was like a red rag to a bull.

"I'm getting ****ed off with that," he said. "We brought 2,000 supporters to Dublin last year for the final of the Setanta Cup against Shelbourne in Tolka Park and there was not one bit of trouble. The Shels fans and our supporters got on fine, but where did the trouble come from - it came from Shamrock Rovers' supporters.

"Then when we went to Derry City, we had a great time, but our supporters were attacked, not by the Derry City fans, but by some hooligans with an agenda."

As a parting shot on this issue, Jeffrey pointed out: "Linfield is a more mixed club religion-wise than any in the whole of Ireland. We have the most mixed team of any in the Eircom or the Irish Leagues."

Probing a little further, I said: "I'm a Catholic, you're a Protestant and we're getting on fine, but was it always that way with you?"

"Very much so," was his emphatic response. "As a youngster I played in a mixed football team. I went to a Grammar School, which Catholics attended, and I played rugby with them. The way I was brought up you very much respected people who were different or have different beliefs to you."

Last year, Jeffrey earned lots of kudos when he helped provide training facilities for a camogie team. I asked him about that.

"It was very simple. I was approached by a sporting body, we had the facilities, so why wouldn't we let them have them? To me they were just another team and we were able to accommodate them.

"I am very much into inclusivity rather than exclusivity, and I'm pleased to say that I was applauded by the Protestant side as well as the Catholic side on that issue, but it was no big deal."

Naturally, his talk of inclusivity prompted me to ask whether he was in favour of an All-Ireland League?

"It won't happen," he replied, "because at present the two Associations have four spots in Europe each, whereas if it were one League those eight spots would be reduced to four.

"That's the problem from the legislative point of view, but I would like a smaller Irish League and an enhanced Setanta Cup, and for the two Associations to tie it in more as part and parcel of their seasons. I'm very keen on that."

At present, Linfield's biggest gates are for games against Glentoran, then Portadown, but after that it's the Setanta Cup ties against Shelbourne and Derry City, which draw the fans.

Linfield are running away with the Irish League this season, with strikers Glenn Ferguson and Peter Thompson scoring goals for fun. The 21-year-old Thompson has naturally been the object of transfer speculation.

"We haven't received any offers for him, but there's not a lot of money among the lower division clubs in England. He's every bit as good as what's over there, but whether they see him as improving their team is the question. The most Linfield have ever received for a player is £100,000, they think we're all ignorant Paddies.

"For me, Peter Thompson is our Jason Byrne, and I was interested to see that a Swedish club was prepared to pay big money for Jason. That's the type of valuation we have on him. The continental clubs seem to be more realistic in their appreciation of our players."

Apart from his great service as a player and a manager, David Jeffrey is a legend in Linfield for the goal he scored in 1984 at Milltown, which eliminated a great Shamrock Rovers team from the European Cup. Rovers thought they had done the hard work by securing a 0-0 draw in Windsor Park, but Jeffrey ended that dream.

"It has come across in legend as a great shot and a great goal," he recalled, "but I was a robust centre-half and when the ball came out I just hit it as hard as I could and God guided it."

Linfield played Panathinaikos in the next round and were unlucky to lose 4-3, narrowly missing out on a visit to Liverpool.

Jeffrey's team are preparing to defend their role as All-Ireland and Setanta Cup champions tomorrow when Derry City visit Windsor Park for the first time in 35 years. So what is he hoping for?

"I trust and pray that football will bring us together, and that football will be the winner." I couldn't have put it better myself.

Sean Ryan

They were both Celtic and Rovers fans removed from the new stand during the same game! :rolleyes: :eek: :mad:

[Roverstillidie]

The very fact that YOU are getting all upset about it say's it all. Your tedious links with the bastion of all that is Irish in West Belast gives me the ****es, might actually be the only time wee Mr.Byrne is right.

Whatever he is on about, if it is Rovers fan's, take him to the courts - sure he punches well above his weight there anyway.

the only thing tedious about this is that journo's keep parroting oilys line that it was rovers fans. even the shels supporters know it wasnt us.

what has our link up with the ville got to do with who tried to start handpbags on richmond road?

[Speranza]

Jeffries has always struck me as the Il's version of Dolan. To suggest that Linfield fans didn't cause any trouble in last years competition is laughable when the racist abuse dissed out towards Joey Ndo was audible on Setanta. Many sane Bluemen on ILF also criticised those who gave Nazi salutes and took part in other disgusting activities in Longford.

He has no right to target Rovers fans when his own club have a serious issue. I have no doubt City fans will be greeted with the same rubbish tonight but we won't rise.

[Roverstillidie]

its not jeffries fault per say.
some linfield fans get provoked, mcdermott witnesses this and fills the space the indo had reserved for the 'inevitible' trouble so oily calls a hasty press conference the next day where it is blamed on 'rovers or celtic fans'.
the press report this, then the challenge from the Rovers board to prove it and it all got los tin the legal action around oily assaulting Roddy.
it was never retracted formally by oily, he just hid from the calls to reveal his 'proof', so DJ was probably none the wiser to the fact it wasnt us who did it.
but i do agree that the minor spats in last years setanta involved linfield and shels fans, so leave us out of it.

[SwiftsSupporter]

Wouldn't say he's like Dolan but I wouldn't lisen to him

[Speranza]

Fair enough point RTID but I felt that Rovers moving into Tolka was the first sign that the 400 club takeover wasn't this robust arse kicking machine Rovers fans would have us believe. The man was threatened with legal action but one year later you line his pockets!


Wouldn't say he's like Dolan but I wouldn't lisen to him

Suppose you are right, hard to be as duplicitous as the fat one.

[Roverstillidie]

Fair enough point RTID but I felt that Rovers moving into Tolka was the first sign that the 400 club takeover wasn't this robust arse kicking machine Rovers fans would have us believe. The man was threatened with legal action but one year later you line his pockets!
.

but it was money not in the bozo's pockets!!! ;)

[hoops1]

the difference in rent money between Dalymount and Tolka
ment that we would be moving in even if Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Hiding combined were in charge
biting of your nose to spite your face makes no sense

[Juz the Hoop]

Well David Jeffery reckons it was Rovers fans also

Click (http://www.unison.ie/sportsdesk/stor...=12&si=1565300)

["I'm getting ****ed off with that," he said. "We brought 2,000 supporters to Dublin last year for the final of the Setanta Cup against Shelbourne in Tolka Park and there was not one bit of trouble. The Shels fans and our supporters got on fine, but where did the trouble come from - it came from Shamrock Rovers' supporters.

They were both Celtic and Rovers fans removed from the new stand during the same game! :rolleyes: :eek: :mad:

Thats because he believed what oily told him. That said he shouldnt have said it.

He told newstalk two days after the setanta cup final that he would get proof that it was rovers fans. 9 moths later we are still waiting. I was told that night by a person from drumcondra that oily was on the warpath around drumcondra that night and without any basis just started blaming rovers fans he then tried to change it that it was fans of a team wearing green and white.

KOH

JUZ

[CollegeTillIDie]

Thats because he believed what oily told him. That said he shouldnt have said it.

He told newstalk two days after the setanta cup final that he would get proof that it was rovers fans. 9 moths later we are still waiting. I was told that night by a person from drumcondra that oily was on the warpath around drumcondra that night and without any basis just started blaming rovers fans he then tried to change it that it was fans of a team wearing green and white.

KOH

JUZ


Well those pesky Sporting Lisbon fans are nothing but trouble. And don't get me started on those St. Francis fans!:D