IT WAS A dismally disappointing summer for League of Ireland clubs in European competition this year, with Cork’s City 5-0 aggregate defeat to Rosenborg last night ending Irish involvement for another year.
All of Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers, Derry City and Premier Division champions City have now made their exit, with none having made it to at least a play-off round in either the Champions League or Europa League.
Many hoped Dundalk’s qualification for the group stages of the Europa League in 2016 would mark a turn in fortunes for Irish clubs in their quest to battle alongside Europe’s elite.
However seven defeats in 12 European qualifiers this year has marked a poor return, with just three wins secured by clubs from this country in 2018.
Former Ireland and St Patrick’s Athletic manager Brian Kerr said City’s 3-0 defeat to Rosenborg, on top of their Champions League qualifier exit against Legia Warsaw, were due to a gap in quality caused by Irish club’s constantly selling their best assets each season.
“What it shows is that the players they are putting out aren’t good enough to win games against the best team in Poland and the best team in Norway,” he said.
"The image for the league isn't good enough for us to retain players." - Brian Kerr analysed the state of our domestic game after Cork City's loss to Rosenborg #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/L6TahnsTau
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) August 17, 2018
“The best players in Ireland, on the Cork team, aren’t good enough to win in Europe. You can’t keep selling your best players every year and replacing them with younger players.
“Ryan Delaney went, Kevin O’Connor went, Greg Bolger went and most importantly of all — Sean Maguire went. They are not replacing them with battle-hardened players who know how to win matches in Europe.
Out of 12 games this year, Irish teams have failed to score in eight of them. Only Dundalk scored a goal at home,” Kerr added.
“You can’t progress in Europe if you are constantly selling your best players and replacing them with young players, some of them were playing Munster Senior League last year.
“They don’t have the physicality required, the tactical nous required, the cuteness required, the speed required, and the ability to take chances to score goals.”
Kerr assessed that the poor showing of League of Ireland club’s in Europe this summer was the result of a much wider malaise within club football in this country, with a lack of adequate promotion a key factor.
He said: “The development is too slow. We have a league of which there is no proper promotion — no marketing. John Caulfield has said there isn’t marketing for the league: there isn’t enough professionalism about the promotion of the league. The image for the league isn’t good enough for us to retain players.
What frustrates me is seeing players going off to play in the lower divisions in England rather than play for Dundalk or Cork in the Champions League.
“The tradition at the club [Rosenborg] and the success they have had over years means that they have a knowledge base and a culture, and they know what it takes to win matches and European games against most reasonable opposition.
“Can we get to that position? Not with our league as it is currently structured. We have done too much fiddling around with the structure of our league, about whether it is a ten-team or twelve-team league or whether we play three rounds of matches or four.
“We are ignoring the core issues: the promotion of the league, the marketing of the league, the professionalism of the league, the back up structures of the league.
If you take the first round of the FAI Cup last weekend: it was almost a state secret but for the efforts of RTE and the newspaper that sponsors it, the Daily Mail.
“The development of the stadium has been a mickey mouse, piece-by-piece development. We talk about building a new stadium here, and maybe an all-weather pitch in there, and maybe we build one new stand at a time. It is all piecemeal.
“We stopped doing anything for about 50 years, bar Cork’s situation. They’ve done a good job, Sligo have done a good job. A lot of the dressing rooms and the facilities aren’t up to standard.
“There is a huge amount to be done for the league to have credibility.”
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