Dublin City in the Sunday Times
The Sunday Times today has a story about Dublin City's departure. It begins along the lines of "Just after Cork City's European win, came the devastating blow of Dublin City's demise, making the league a laughing stock again in the process.
The first thing to point out is that the Sunday Times has no coverage whatsoever of the Eircom League, so it has no basis whatever for criticising the league, given that it does no effort itself to cover it.
Dublin City's demise was anything but devastating: the project was quixotic from its inception and - with no home ground - they never had a prayer of surviving at this level.
And their departure made the league a laughing stock, the same week that Drogheda, Derry and Cork did so well in Europe? How many clubs all over Europe are in a financial mess that makes our clubs' plight look positively tame.
GUFC chairman Nial O'Reilly was interviewed during the article, in which he refers to recent attendances at a United home game and a Monaghan away game. Monaghan have never had any support, even when doing well. We had a very poor crowd for the Cobh game because our form prior to it was rubbish and it was played during the week. He blames summer football, but this has nothing to do with it. During the time of the summer football experiment, we have been floundering in midtable in Division 1. If we were doing well, the crowds would be good.
In my view, the league is at its highest level in years - yet you still get cynicism from journalists who basically have earned no right at all to discuss matters they don't promote.