Devlin unhappy with lack of co-operation -
www.elevenaside.com
May 11, 2004
Pat Devlin, the Bray Wanderers manager, has criticised some of his eircom League colleagues for their lack of co-operation in his attempts to put together the strongest possible squad for next week’s semi-professional representative tournament in Aberdeen in Scotland.
With the eircom League’s authorities having decided that the Irish representation would be restricted to players who were under-21 at the end of last season, Devlin, assisted by UCD’s Eddie Wallace, announced an 18-man panel on Monday.
Devlin’s own Bray Wanderers side have four representatives in the squad, as do Premier Division leaders Shelbourne. UCD, meanwhile, have three players in the panel, with Derry City, Bohemians, St Patrick’s Athletic, Waterford United, Cobh Ramblers, Kildare County and Galway United all having one representative apiece.
But Devlin has claimed that some eircom League managers were less than co-operative when he tried to contact them to inquire about the availability of certain players.
He said: "We’ve contacted every club in the league, but some managers didn’t return calls. Most were contacted one way or another and we’re happy with what we’ve got, we tried to take everything into consideration, with the league going on and under-19 and under-21 internationals taking place as well. Most lads in our league don’t get much of a chance of caps, so it’s a bit of a shame that some lads we wanted weren’t made available."
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