SOCCER ANGLES:Shamrock Rovers should have been excused at least one league game before they started in Europe, writes MICHAEL WALKER

MONDAY NIGHT, Richmond Park, Inchicore, and to these eyes, a high-standard, technically-adept, quick-tempo match zipped by. St Patrick’s Athletic and Shamrock Rovers, as Rovers’ manager Michael O’Neill said afterwards, produced “a fine advert” for the League of Ireland.

There were two excellent goals, Stephen O’Donnell opening the scoring for Rovers and Danny North drilling in the St Patrick’s equaliser. There was a good atmosphere too inside the tight ground. All in all, thoroughly enjoyable.

The praise doesn’t stop there. Having been to Burton Albion versus Plymouth a fortnight ago, and Swindon Town versus Oxford United a couple of weeks before that, it can be said (without bias) that Monday night’s game was better – technically – than the one at Burton and on a par with, and probably better than the offering at Swindon.

These were in League Two in England, the old fourth division. Admittedly St Patrick’s-Rovers is a Dublin derby, and that always should ensure tempo, but then Swindon-Oxford is a local affair.

There was a feisty atmosphere at it and Paolo Di Canio – now Swindon manager – generated headlines by being sent to the stands, but that masked a lot of ponderous midfield play. No midfielder on view that day showed what Conor McCormack showed on Monday night.

Burton have a decent young midfielder called Jimmy Phillips and one of those at-ease, experienced centre halves in Tony James. So this is not anti-English. Nor is it anti-Scottish, as having been to Kilmarnock-Motherwell in March, it is easy to say it was no better than Monday night.

It is to point that at the top of the League of Ireland there is quality. Let’s not get carried away, there were some players on Monday who looked short of being top class in domestic football, while there is clearly a disparity between the top of the division and the bottom.

But there was enough on view to merit more than 2,420 turning up. Okay, that’s more than were at Cheltenham Town and at Morecambe last Saturday in League Two; in the Conference only formerly big league clubs, Grimsby and Luton, attracted more, and in the Scottish First Division just nine more people attended Raith Rovers versus Dundee – an east-coast derby of sorts.

It was a Monday, moreover, and it was a stormy night. It was also broadcast on satellite television, for those who can afford that. And of course we are in both a recession and All-Ireland final week.

So there were mitigating circumstances. Yet an impression for the casual visitor was that the League of Ireland is undersold. It’s better than is let on.

Another contrast/comparison came last Saturday at Borussia Dortmund versus Hertha Berlin. There were over 80,000 at the magnificent Westfalenstadion providing unforgettable sights and sounds. But the football was average.

Coming away on Dortmund’s Underground, the sense was if Dortmund are the reigning German champions, the Bundesliga is oversold. One particular Dortmund player was embarrassingly poor; he could not have stood out at Richmond Park.

It was a judgment confirmed by his dire performance against Arsenal – and it shows how bad Arsenal are at the minute that they could have conceded three or four on Tuesday. (For those who have backed Dortmund to win the Bundesliga again, give up, it’s Bayern Munich’s title.)

Ultimately we trust managers of the sustained excellence of Arsene Wenger and his emerging Borussia counterpart, Jurgen Klopp. They know what they’re doing.

But sometimes there is a jarring feeling and one came in the journey from the Ruhr to Inchicore.

There is an issue of packaging, of overselling and underselling.

That sense grew because another question arose: why were Shamrock Rovers being asked to play on the Monday night before their historic entry into European football’s group stages on Thursday? Was it not going to be hard enough to face Rubin Kazan anyway?

Go back less than one year and this is what Rubin Kazan did: they drew at home with Barcelona, having been in front for half an hour. Eight of the 14 players who started or came on against Barcelona in a Champions League group match were present in Tallaght on Thursday. This is serious opposition. Borussia Dortmund would not draw with Barcelona, they’d be torn apart.

So Rovers’ task was already mighty before Monday. Michael O’Neill then had to collect tired players on Tuesday and rewire them for Thursday. Given the prestige brought by Rovers’ presence in such a high-profile group, could the club not have been excused at least one league game before they started in Europe? After all, Shamrock Rovers are for now the League of Ireland’s representatives in Europe. That’s certainly the view in Britain. People are curious.

But is it the view in Ireland? Judging by the decision to make Rovers play on Monday, no.

Richmond Park offered much under-rated fare, no mistake, but we could have waited. There is authentic talent here, but it needs exposure. The League of Ireland should give itself, and Shamrock Rovers, a break.

' Financial doping' haunts Rangers

SHOULD Rangers be stripped of the titles won in the 1990s and some of those since? That is now a pub debate in Scotland and of course if you belong to one side of the Old Firm, we can guess your answer.

The reason it is being mentioned is the weight of Rangers' debt, an estimated €58 million that is in danger of dragging the club down. Much of it is owed in income tax for wages, etc, paid out when the club lived beyond its means, especially in the era of Dick Advocaat.

Had Rangers not clocked up that debt, they would have been paying smaller wages to less talented players. The SPL field of play would have been less tilted. This is the "financial doping" which so bugs Arsene Wenger.

It is a worthwhile discussion. It again addresses how we measure achievement, and by what measurement, though Rangers losing titles is far-fetched.

The first Rangers-Celtic game of the season arrives tomorrow with Scotland once again enduring this kind of introspective gloom. And still no challenge from outside the Old Firm.

YOU SURELY had to be in Lisbon to appreciate the context of the question and answer of Alex Ferguson this week regarding Pele and Wayne Rooney. There seemed to be some acceptance from Ferguson that Rooney shared some of Pele's virtues, such as hard work.

True, but let's stop there. As Ferguson did. When, if, Rooney reaches the point in the distance where he can be called an equal of Kenny Dalglish, then people can think beyond that.