Northwest clubs need continuity off pitch

Pat Morley may have summed up what most of us were thinking at Ballybofey when he wandered out of the dressing-room to chat about his team's 1-1 draw with Finn Harps on Saturday night. But it still seemed a bit odd to hear it from the lips of one of the Cork City squad.

The striker took an admirably detached view when he suggested that the result set everything up nicely for this Saturday's televised clash with second placed St Patrick's Athletic at Turner's Cross.

For the neutrals, the press, RTE and, of course, for everyone in the St Patrick's camp, City dropping two points has given the game that extra edge. But for the southerners, even the possibility that they might lose their lead at the top of the Premier Division must be a blow after they had appeared to be back to their best.

The task facing Dave Barry and his side in the northwest always looked a good deal trickier than the one with which the defending champions had to wrestle, though. Harps and Sligo have a good deal in common. The wide catchment areas they draw from, the plans to improve their grounds and the ambition. But the clubs' different philosophies on the pitch mirror the differing attitudes of the top two.

Under Charlie McGeever, Harps have, like their opponents at the weekend, slowly but steadily become a side built on local talent. The policy has been pursued patiently over a couple of seasons. While the manager's stated priority has been to bring success to the club - wherever the required talent must be found - when a choice has arisen between a player from the northwest of the island and another from elsewhere he has consistently opted to bring in players with whom the local population can readily identify.

One obvious consequence has been the growing Derry City connection. On Saturday night, there were five former Brandywell stars (Jonathan Speak, Gavin Dykes, Declan Boyle, Tom Mohan and Pascal Vaudequin) in the starting line-up against Cork.

The recent arrival of local man Fergal Harkin after a stint at Bohemians was another piece in the jigsaw for McGeever, and with a couple of youngsters hovering around the edges of the first team the benefits of the policy, in terms of the team being rooted firmly in the community (and, of more direct practical benefit, being able to train together) are obvious.

Rovers' teams, too, tend to be based in the locality, although rooted might just be overstating it a bit. Like many that have gone before, the current squad contains a large overseas contingent, though almost all of them live in the town.

The policy has worked well enough for the club in the past, and, despite the reservations of some locals, one or two of the managers who have come and gone have made their mark on the Showgrounds.

In recent years Willie McStay is the name that springs to mind. But at a club which probably hasn't enjoyed the success that it might have over the past decade, Nicky Reid's League Cup success last season will be fondly remembered long after, one suspects, Cork's supporters have forgotten their recent success in the competition.

The problem for Reid and his predecessors at Sligo, however, has been the spectacular lack of continuity on the playing side of the club. A structured policy of bringing through local talent at their own pace while basing the team on imported players is all very well, but the regular close season upheavals have meant that at the start of most seasons the team taking the pitch is almost unrecognisable from the previous campaign.

At the start of 1997/98 - or, more precisely, a couple of months into it - Reid attempted to overcome that problem by signing many of the squad on two-year contracts. But many of the British players signed, and several of those who played on Sunday are simply of too limited ability to help the club move forward.

In the defeat by St Patrick's, the scoreline may have made things look worse than they are, and had referee Dick O'Hanlon taken the logical course of action in the 53rd minute, when he signalled that he was penalising Ian Gilzean for elbowing Wesley Charles in the face, and sent the former Rovers striker off, then the result would surely have been very different.

But there was an obvious gulf between the sides on Sunday. And that is in no small way down to the fact that, for every Charles, whose sweeping at the heart of a three-man defence did much to keep the home side in the game until the late collapse, there is another player whose presence brings little obvious benefit.

Inside the squad there still seems to be a considerable amount of confidence that the current difficulties can be overcome and relegation avoided. But, if they're wrong, there'll be some tough times ahead for what is potentially one of the country's greatest clubs.