He had signed a pre contract with dundalk (which wasn't worth the paper it was written on)
Went to cork with it after the cup final. cork matched it and stuck him on a two year so he signed. Bolger did something similar to waterford.
Anyone who thinks any league of Ireland player cares about the meeja, or indeed their club, I have an end of dalymount park to sell you.
Fair play to Sheppard for playing the silly season game to perfection to extract the best possible wages to go into his bank account. Cork fans better hope he's not going to become the 2018 Christy Fagan
The Leinster Senior League needs a strong Bohemians
He played both clubs, poor form really but that's his prerogative. Makes a bit of a mockery out of his "question my professionalism now" comments, there'll be plenty outside of Cork and Rovers that'll be doing that now.Originally Posted by Lim till i die
Has he an agent or someone representing him?
Yeah Bolger is the best centre midfielder in the league I think. Shame we couldn't hold on to him.
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
What utter nonsense. He kept his head down, didn't say a word to the media, and negotiated with both clubs presumably. He has been absolutely nothing but professional. Unlike Kenny comments regarding the same. There was only one person unprofessional in this saga (unless the pre contract thing is true, which I very much doubt) and that's the person who made it something to play mind games about in the media the week of the cup final.
He's fantastic, but he rightfully lost his spot to McCormack and no one could argue otherwise. Shame because he's a great player, and ideally you could accommodate both but it doesn't work
If you say so....
I voiced my doubts about the leaking of the story last week and recent developments are reinforcing my doubts. Does he have an agent?
I wouldn't have thought they were hugely similar players. Both deep-lying midfielders but McCormack is all-action and Bolger isn't, and that's probably why he was never a sure starter for Cork.
They play the same position but very very differently. McCormack is a terrier, Joe gamble style. Positioning is excellent, reading of the game is fantastic, cuts out everything and can mark a dangerous player out of the game easily. We were a different team when we didn't have him this year. Everything was based around him as a Base. Our most important player after Seani.
Bolger plays in the same area, but is more of a ball player. Doesn't control the game in the same way though. He started in the position at the start of the year but once McCormack got his chance you couldn't justify dropping him, even for Bolger. Bolger was great in some games, but very poor in others. When he's on form, his distribution is excellent, the games he wasn't we lost a lot of ball through him.
I think McCormack is the only one I'd have ahead of hi..
Bolger didn't get as far as that with us. We tried to sign him in the summer because he wanted out of Cork (wasn't playing and hates Caulfield). We would've had to pay a hefty fee so instead we got Keegan and were planning on picking Bolger up for free at the end of the season. I think Greg was pretty set on joining Waterford, but Rovers came in for him and he chose them (including European football) which is fair enough. There's no ill feeling about it here. Himself and Reynolds are god buddies anyway and I wouldn't be surprised if he played for us at some future point since he's from Wexford.
I’m surprised. Reynolds never struck me as the religious type.
Went up to Saratoga, where my horse naturally won.
There were rumours that he was leaving for months because he wanted to go back to Dublin. It was later that rumours appeared that he was going to sign for Dundalk. Dundalk Sport was the first media outlet to announce that he definitely was going to sign, again citing that he wanted to move closer to home. When asked about it Kenny said that he didn't want to make it awkward for Sheppard before proceeding to make it awkward for him.
I really don't think you can discount the media speculation so easily. Players want to win trophies yet the lead up to the final was all about whether he would be picked and if so how he'd perform. On the RTE coverage Alan Cawley said that he was amazed that Caulfield picked him. Stuart Byrne said that Kenny threw him under a bus and Sadlier said that Kenny had thrown a hand grenade into the Cork dressing room. All eyes were on how he'd manage the awkward situation that he was placed in.
I don't think he was playing the clubs against each other. He had reasons to go home. His partner lives in Bettystown and attends DCU afaik. After resigning he thanked her on twitter for agreeing to relocate. So there were two people that needed to be convinced. All in all it would have been easier for him to move north. You say he talked to City after the final and that ties in with others who saw Caulfield talking earnestly to Sheppard and his girlfriend after the match. I really think that Kenny helped make up his mind.
If Kenny was to blame then Dundalk have a bit of a problem. Every player will have put himself in Sheppard's shoes and asked what would I have done?
With regards to pre-contracts, I think that he could have signed one with Dundalk, but that Cork (as his current employers) still had the right to offer him another one?
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
All any club have to do is offer a letter of retention in the final year of a players contract on the same money and any pre contracts the player signs with anyone else are worthless.
An outstanding player LTID, big step up for him though.
Have Comerford and O'Connor resigned for you lot yet?
Aaron Barry away to Cork as well, we hear.
Wouldn't be expecting him to stay with us (he's from Wicklow), but Cork would seem a strange move. I don't think he'd get on.
Of course, if they're offering (allegedly) double what we are, why wouldn't he go?
As far as I'm aware that only applies to players under the age of 23 so if they do leave the previous club are entitled to development compensation. Anyone above that age is covered by the Bosman rule, any retention letter may as well be written in crayon.
With regard to Shep, more power to him, got an extra few bob out of Cork to stay, of course within their budget either way. If he had of came to us we're well stocked already on the wing, as good as he is there, and he wouldn't be the answer up front if McMillan is off to Scotland.
The close season as mad as usual anyway so far for all clubs, not just ourselves and Cork, the shadow of a potential asterisk beside Bray as well yet to be confirmed and sure the off seasons only started!
You are correct fairplay. My league of Ireland law is getting rusty
John Caulfield expects to complete a deal for the main stand at the Sligo Showgrounds to replace the one that blew down in Turner's Cross.
Not yet. I'd expect Comerford to be back. O'Connor won our player of the year but I've a suspicion he might move to a Dublin club.
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