Drogheda in pole position as Sporting fold

SOCCER:DROGHEDA UNITED and Monaghan United have both indicated their firm interest in replacing Sporting Fingal in the Premier Division for the coming season after it was confirmed the Dublin club will cease trading as a result of failing to secure new financial backing ahead of this weekend's licensing deadline.

According to the league’s rules, Drogheda are first in line to fill the vacancy with Monaghan and Waterford United second and third respectively but the FAI said last night that the decision on which club to offer the place to will be based on the outcome of Sunday’s Licensing Committee meeting.

News that Fingal officials had admitted defeat in their attempts to save the club prompted potential replacements to redraft their licence applications yesterday.

“We’ve applied for a Premier Division licence,” confirmed a Drogheda United spokesman last night. “We’ve revised our budgets based on Premier Division income and resubmitted them today.”

It was denied that the club, which has suffered a succession of financial problems itself in recent years, would simply be exposing itself to further difficulties by seeking to stay up after being relegated at the end of last season.

“No, we’ve been talking to potential backers in recent weeks and the message we’ve had back loud and clear is that everything changes if we’re in the Premier Division. If we can keep the playing budget low but increase our income then really everything becomes manageable.”

Having seen their side lose out in the play-offs to Bray Wanderers, meanwhile, Monaghan United officials are keen to avail of any opportunity to play at the higher level. “We would be very anxious to take the place,” said club chairman Jim McGlone last night, “and we feel we’re in a better position than most clubs to take it on; we’re confident that we would get through the season without any problems.”

McGlone added that while Mick Cooke had signed the majority of his squad for the coming season, the club had held back before completing its panel just in case. “We’ve been a bit cagey in relation to two or three players because we needed to be sure what division we’d be in before we made a decision,” he said.

Ironically, it means that the club, like Bohemians, could be in a position to sign released members of the highly-rated Fingal squad when other, ostensibly stronger clubs would not because they have already allocated their budget for the year. Ken Oman, having only signed for the club after the long running contractual dispute with Bohemians was sorted out recently, became the first player to move on yesterday when he joined Shamrock Rovers.

Though clearly a major blow to an already battered league, the timing of Fingal’s decision has at least spared the FAI the difficulties that followed the mid-season collapse four and a half years ago of Dublin City. Nevertheless, the league director, Fran Gavin, acknowledged that it was a setback and expressed his sympathy for the main figures behind the club.

“It’s disappointing news,” he said. “They informed us this afternoon. John O’Brien, the secretary of Sporting Fingal, said they were withdrawing their licence application. It’s very disappointing from a human point of view for the players, their families and Liam Buckley, who’s put five years of his life into this project, three years of which were very successful.”

He said that if Drogheda United receive a Premier Division licence this weekend then he sees “no reason” why the club should not take the place in the top flight and said that the question of whether the squad might be amateur was “a choice the club will have to make”.

Buckley, who along with O’Brien had been the driving force behind Sporting Fingal’s creation and remarkable success over the past few years – the club won both promotion to the Premier Division and the FAI Cup during its short existence – said he was “devastated” by the club’s collapse.

“Finding a replacement for our supportive backer was always going to be a major challenge but we were pleased with the progress made.

“Sadly, the suddenness and timing of last week’s sponsorship setback sent us back to the drawing board, a predicament we were simply unable to overcome so close to the season kick-off.”

The club’s place in the Europa League will now go to St Patrick’s Athletic who have until April to apply for the required UEFA licence.