Playing on till it was nearly pitch black

SPORTING TEACHERS: Emmet Riordantalks to former League of Ireland star Terry Eviston who was regarded as one of the league's most stylish forwards.

IF TERRY EVISTON’S students at St David’s National School in Artane ever need a reminder of his long career as a soccer player, the former League of Ireland star only has to bring his jersey from a very special game into class with him.

Back in 1980, Eviston was part of a League of Ireland selection who took on Argentina in Buenos Aires, losing 1-0 as a 19-year-old Diego Maradona scored the winner at the River Plate.

It’s just one of the memories that Eviston racked up in a career that spanned three decades. Regarded as one of the League of Ireland’s most stylish forwards, Eviston picked up four league titles, one FAI and two League Cup medals before finally hanging up his boots at the age of 40.

And if Maradona was the child prodigy, Eviston admits he was at his best when many players are thinking of winding down their playing careers.

“I really enjoyed playing in my 30s. Fellas look and me nowadays and say ‘are you mad or what?’ But the fact was I did. I had a different outlook on things at that stage. That’s life though, it’s a learning curve,” says Eviston.

After spells at Home Farm and Bohemians, Eviston would pick up the first of his league medals as a member of Shamrock Rovers’ first title-winning side of the four-in-a-row era. Despite being in his mid-20s at that stage, Eviston admits he didn’t particularly enjoy the experience and he would move on to Athlone Town after a season and a half and miss out on the rest of the glory that came the way of Rovers in the subsequent years.

“I don’t know what happened really, we had a fantastic team and I was given every chance, but I spent a lot of time injured and my confidence dipped then. I’m not sure if the whole move affected me. I should have been mature enough but looking back on it I think I was a late developer,” he admits.

Eviston would link up with his old Bohemians boss Turlough O’Connor at St Mel’s Park and credits him with getting back on track. He followed O’Connor to Dundalk and what he describes as “seven of my best seasons”. His spell at Oriel Park yielded two league titles, including the double in 1987/88, his performances that season earning him the Soccer Writers’ Player of the Year. Throw in League Cup medals and it represented the most successful period of his career.

At the ripe old age of 36 he got his chance to put right his previous experiences at Shamrock Rovers, when he played a pivotal role as they took the league title in 1994 under manager Ray Treacy. “I was at the twilight of my career, it fact it was nearly pitch black. That was a great season, I was a bit older and wiser at that stage. It was the total opposite of the first time I joined Rovers,” he says.

Eviston combined playing and managing at Rovers and Athlone before finally signing off his 22 years in the League of Ireland at Cobh Ramblers, where he scored the last of his 101 goals.

After a number of assistant manager jobs alongside Roddy Collins, Eviston now looks after Drogheda Town in the Leinster Senior League, and admits it’s a different ball game altogether. “It’s a bit of a culture shock as regards commitment and things like that. You’re not sure from one week to the next what team you’re going to have. It’s certainly enjoyable but it’s different,” he observes.

As a part-time player all his career, he has taken a close interest in the recent plight of League of Ireland clubs who have suffered after going full-time.

“We were always just part-time, it was a grandiose dream to go full-time, but I don’t think it was thought fully through. The league tried to put constraints on it with licensing and I thought that was all in place. But it seemed to fall apart last season for whatever reason,” says Eviston.

“I’m not an economist but I don’t know where the money is coming from. I think people chose to be blind to it, it probably needed somebody like David McWilliams to come in to the League of Ireland and blow the lid on it.

“It’s basic, you cut your cloth to suit your measure. The soccer scene will have to row in with what we have to do generally in the economy, balance the books and only pay out what you can,” he adds.

The pupils at St David’s have a new hero in their teaching ranks in Shane Whelan, with many be hoping to emulate the midfielder and go on to play for Dublin. Eviston had his own dreams when he started out as a 12-year-old with St Martin’s in Donnycarney. And although he mightn’t have reached the peaks of Maradona’s career, he had few regrets when he finished playing.

“The way it is now you are written off when you get to 33 or 34. When I got to 40 I was looking up Stanley Matthews and he played until he was 55,” he concludes.

Still time for a comeback then.