ON SOCCER:Blooding home-based internationals is easier said than done, writes EMMET MALONE.
GIVEN THE FAI decided to mark Giovanni Trapattoni's first appearance at Croke Park with a blast of That's Amore, don't be surprised if the suits at the League of Ireland look to boost their popularity among fans by adopting Godfatheraccents and demanding the new guy in town show "a little respect".
Certainly, Trapattoni's failure to include a single locally employed player in his initial squad of 40 for the trip to Portugal generated some anxiety among the league's most enthusiastic supporters. And the situation wasn't helped when Colin Doyle's withdrawal led to a call-up for Keiren Westwood, who upon hearing the news joked he wasn't so much Irish as Catholic.
For those slightly put out by it all - and understandably they included the Bohemians goalkeeper Brian Murphy - the problem had much to do with appearances. Few were aware of Westwood's eligibility and at first glance it's easy to see how it looked like a return to the dark old days when the likes of Maurice Setters would, it seemed, select any English-based player in an under-21 squad ahead of someone doing well in the league here.
For such an attitude to be adopted by the recently installed Italian and his management team would be particularly disappointing in view of how they went out of their way to stress their "equal opportunities" philosophy.
Trapattoni, Marco Tardelli and Liam Brady have all insisted players with Irish clubs will be considered on their merits, and after meeting with the veteran Italian, the manager of the league's own under-23 representative side, Pat Fenlon, declared himself happy with what he had heard.
Westwood, as it happens, has just had a fine season with Carlisle, playing an important part in getting the club to the League One play-offs and then doing well against Leeds United, who simply proved too strong for a team that has done well to bounce back from the great Roddy Collins misadventure.
Many might question whether doing well in the English third flight amounts to a case for an international call-up, but on the one hand Westwood has done sufficiently well to attract serious interest from a number of Championship sides and on the other a similar question is permissible in the context of Ireland's Premier Division.
Nobody could doubt Brian Kerr's dedication to the indigenous game, but Jason Byrne's brief appearance at the end of the friendly in Poland was the height of it for locally based players under the Dubliner.
Don Givens and Steve Staunton also capped League of Ireland players, but there would have had to be quite an array of withdrawals before anyone based at home would have been risked in a genuinely important game.
With the leading teams here greatly improving the standard and a couple now looking to sign players of a calibre that would once have been unaffordable, that will, hopefully, change. But the difficulty for clubs here as they seek to move forward has been highlighted by West Brom's pursuit of Paddy McCourt.
The Derry City midfielder might not have reached the point where he is only six months from the end of his contract had things been more settled at the Brandywell last year, but the reality now is that Stephen Kenny looks powerless to keep his most naturally gifted player, a Northern Ireland international as it happens, as the midfielder will soon be a free agent. And given the circumstances, West Brom have shown a marked reluctance to pay much more than £50,000, a laughable sum for the newly promoted Premiership outfit.
McCourt's case is hardly typical but it does highlight a long-term problem. It has been a significant achievement for so many clubs here in recent years to establish full-time professional squads and the improvement on the pitch has been obvious; but the obvious upshot is that if an individual excels while playing in a generally improved league he is much more likely to become a target for clubs in Britain.
Greater interest from Scottish clubs has already been evident, but the difference there is that while players might look to move to the SPL in the hope of furthering their careers, they often find that aside from the few very biggest clubs, the money is often no more - or, as McCourt found out a couple of years back when he nearly moved there from Shamrock Rovers, even significantly less - than what is being paid here.
How long it will take for things to progress here to the point where clubs can fend off interest in players of genuinely international class remains to be seen.
The pity, though, is that unless Trapattoni finds some reason to name an even more extended squad over the next year or two we are unlikely to find out just how he and his scouts actually rate the league's best players in the wider scheme of things."if an individual excels playing in an improved league in Ireland he is much more likely to become a target for clubs in Britain . . .
