Galway United will embark on a new search for a striker following the decision by Barbados international Llewelyn Riley to return home. Riley is a regular scorer for his national team, where he partners Eric Lavine up front. His arrival, which suffered a number of delays, had been seen as a major coup for the club. But having made his debut at Cork City on Sunday, the player has informed Don O'Riordan that he does not feel he will be able to settle. "It's unfortunate," said O'Riordan yesterday. "But there's really very little we can do about it. He has a fiancee and a couple of young children back at home and I think they're missing him which, in turn, is making it more difficult for him." The club have made the break immediate and Riley is extremely unlikely to be involved in tomorrow evening's league game against UCD at Terryland Park.
"It's pretty much back to the drawing board in terms of finding somebody, although there would have been a couple of people that we passed over because of the situation with Llewelyn. The first question now is whether those players are still available or not." Shamrock Rovers, meanwhile, have confirmed an unofficial approach from a group of businessmen who have expressed an interest in purchasing the naming rights of the club's proposed stadium in Tallaght for the asking price of £1 million. The name they wish to use is Glenmalure Park. The initial contact was made a month ago and while nothing has been confirmed, club chairman Joe Colwell is hoping that the group will follow up on their interest.
The proposed transfer by Rovers midfielder Billy Woods to Cork City is on hold, with the clubs unable to agree a fee, while Jason Sherlock has informed Damien Richardson that he will not be returning to National League football.
Eircom have denied accusations of bullying with regard to the use of the company's logo on unofficial web sites. Reacting to claims that they had acted in a heavy-handed way with Johnny Ward, the man behind eircomleague.net, a spokesperson insisted that while the company felt the need in the circumstances to protect their brand and limit the way in which the logo was used, they had not attempted to interfere with the name of the company in the site's name or address.
