Galway win appeal to extend stay in Premier Division

SOCCER:THE VAGARIES of life in the League of Ireland were highlighted once again yesterday as Galway United won its appeal against the decision of the FAI's Licensing Committee to refuse it a permit to play in the Premier Division this season. The success means the Terryland outfit will retain their place in the top flight while Monaghan United have had the one they thought was about to be theirs snatched away again.

By last night, the upshot is, Galway manager Seán Connor was well on the way to assembling his squad for the campaign while his Monaghan counterpart Mick Cooke was planning to tell a number of players at training this morning he would not now be needing their services after all.

There was, of course, delight in Galway where members of the supporters’ trust that now runs the club expressed relief that the work they have done trying to tackle the club’s problems has not been in vain. “Yeah, we felt our case was very strong and our licensing officer did a great job but we’re very, very happy that it’s done,” said the club’s FAI delegate Tommy Shields.

He went on to express sympathy for Monaghan with which, he said, the club’s supporters have enjoyed a good relationship over the years.

Cooke last night was clearly dismayed at the news and the way the club has been treated. “I don’t know what other clubs do,” he said, “that’s not my business. But what I would say is that we sign players on 40-week contracts and then we honour those contracts, we don’t make deals at the end of the year. We also abide by the terms of the participation agreement and have done since it was introduced.

“For the local community in Monaghan this is a terrible kick in the arse and it will be difficult for some of the players too,” he continued. “Over the last 48 hours I’ve assembled a squad I’m confident would have been competitive in the Premier Division but at training in the morning a few of them are going to be getting bad news.”

Connor’s problem, meanwhile, was rather different with the Northerner setting himself a deadline of 11am on Tuesday morning to have assembled his panel for the season. “Football management isn’t easy to start with,” he said, “but if the club hadn’t won today then I was out of a job through no fault of my own and that’s frustrating. As it is, though, I’ve just got to get on with it and while I’ll probably have the second lowest budget in the division after Drogheda, I’m getting on with putting together a squad I think will still be able to make life difficult for some of the other clubs.”

Under Connor, Galway made an impact last year, pretty much single-handedly scuppering Bohemians’ hopes of retaining their title despite struggling themselves at the opposite end of the table. To date, the club has assembled a number of experienced players including Alan Murphy, Steve Feeney and Seán Kelly.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has confirmed he has been keeping tabs on Shane Long’s remarkable run of form at Reading and admits a move for the Republic of Ireland striker during the summer is a possibility. “Shane is a player who interests us and that’s as far as I’m going,” said Lennon. “He is a Reading player, you know, and I don’t want to comment on other teams’ players. The transfer window has been and gone but we’ll assess things in the summer.”