FOCUS: SPL cashes in on Ireland’s finest

January 11, 2007

Sean Dillon’s anticipated transfer to Dundee United, which should be completed before the weekend, will make him the fourth eircom League player to sign for a Scottish Premier League club this month – and that number could well increase in the coming weeks. eleven-a-side.com delves a little deeper.

Dundee United manager Craig Levein will cough up a nominal transfer fee to land Dillon, who spent just one season at Shelbourne after joining from Longford Town last year.

But the size of the fee – reports suggest he will cost as little as €20,000 – reflects less on Dillon’s ability as to the financial problems which have afflicted the eircom League champions and prompted chief executive Ollie Byrne earlier this week to reflect on a gamble gone wrong.

Dillon, a member of the Ireland under-21 squad in recent seasons, was virtually ever-present in his year at Tolka Park as Shels lifted the league crown, his ability to fill any position across the back four making him a prized asset in Pat Fenlon’s regime. The Tangerines could well have pinched an uncut diamond for a song.

Danny Murphy is another young defender with Irish under-21 experience to make the switch to the SPL this month, taking advantage of the Bosman ruling to net a free transfer from Cork City to Motherwell.

Formerly on the books of QPR, the London-born left back forged a reputation as a defender of some substance during three successful seasons at Turners Cross.

He may have suffered from disciplinary problems, but that also points to the type of competitive edge so cherished by most managers. Impressive in Cork’s European runs over the past two years, he could well adapt to the SPL with ease.

If part of the appeal of Dillon, 23, and 24-year-old Murphy is their potential to progress to a higher level, Motherwell’s decision to draft in front duo Trevor Molloy and Paul Keegan from St Patrick’s Athletic is even more intriguing.

Despite their run to the FAI Carlsberg Cup in December, St Pats were not among the top eircom League clubs last season, their seventh place finish reflecting their middle tier standing.

Saints fans may have lamented the departure of their experienced front pairing, but Molloy and Keegan – aged 30 and 33 respectively – scored just 12 league goals between them in 2006 and the hope will be that Gary O’Neill, the club’s recent signing from Shelbourne, could reach that tally on his own in the coming year.

Both Molloy and Keegan possess ample experience and a level of football intelligence which has seen their influence remain steady despite their waning years. But it is debatable whether Derry City, the runners-up in the eircom League for the past two seasons and favourites, given Shels’ troubles, to go one better this time around, would have been interested in either, and certainly neither would have been considered, at this stage of their careers, by any club in the top two divisions in England.

Should the quartet – and Keegan and Molloy in particular, given their age – make a tangible impact in Scotland, they would underline the fact that the League of Ireland is commensurate with the SPL, and in turn prompt more Scottish clubs to turn their periscopes towards Ireland for new players.

Dunfermline Athletic have already looked to these shores for their new manager, Stephen Kenny, who led Derry to second-place finishes in 2005 and ’06 after a spell at Bohemians during which he brought the title to Dalymount Park.

Kenny had been expected to raid his homeland for players, but Dunfermline’s position, nine points adrift at the bottom of the SPL, has made them a somewhat unattractive proposition. Nonetheless, they are in the hunt for 2005 eircom League Player of the Year George O’Callaghan, who was frozen out of Cork City following a row with manager Damien Richardson last summer. O’Callaghan has been training with Ipswich Town for the past two months, but the English club have failed with three offers already and Dunfermline, having asked to be kept informed of the situation, could yet make their move.

Kenny is also interested in central defender Colin Hawkins and striker Jason Byrne, who remain under contract at Shels but could yet have their deals at Tolka Park shredded if it is ruled that the non-payment of wages effectively renders them free agents.

So three of the 12 SPL managers are actively recruiting in Ireland this month, but there is a forerunner to Kenny, Dundee United’s Craig Levein and Motherwell’s Maurice Malpas – long before they cast their eyes in the direction of Ireland, Jimmy Calderwood snaffled some of the best young talent in the league for Dunfermline. Defender Richie Byrne, midfielder Gary Dempsey and striker Noel Hunt – all Irish under-21 internationals at the time – signed for the Pars between 2001 and 2003. None remain at Dunfermline, Byrne and Dempsey following Calderwood to Aberdeen while Hunt made the switch to Dundee United, with excellent results, last summer.

Quite apart from former eircom League players, moreover, the Irish contingent in Scotland has grown apace in recent years. Anthony Stokes may have attracted all the headlines at Falkirk in the first half of the season, but long before he moved to the club, manager John Hughes had utilized his contacts at Arsenal to sign midfield pair Patrick Cregg and Stephen O’Donnell, while the injury-afflicted Ireland senior international Graham Barrett has yet to make his debut after joining from Livingston last summer.

Richie Foran, who first came to prominence at Shelbourne before a spell at Carlisle United, has scored 14 goals for Motherwell this season, Jon Daly made the move to Dundee United from Hartlepool last week and left back David Van Zanten has found a home at St Mirren after failing to make the grade at Celtic. Darren O’Dea, a colossus in defence and at 19 potentially the best of the lot, has been making giant strides for the Scottish champions this season.

The success of former Cork City pair Kevin Doyle and Shane Long at Reading has made the League a fashionable port of call, comparable to Norway when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Tore Andre Flo made major impression in the Premiership in the mid-90s.

Just today, Bohemians have accepted a bid from Wolves for striker Stephen Ward which, according to the Dublin club, will set a new record for an eircom League player. The exodus is likely to continue, but Ward will be in the minority who make England their next home. Scotland, it seems, is the destination of choice.

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