Football in Ireland has been professional at varying levels for almost 25 years, but I thought we’d be in a better place by now.
It’s important we’re honest with ourselves by admitting that.
Study this season with a critical eye and you’d have to admit there’s a serious lack of real competition in the league.
Shamrock Rovers remain the dominant force and I wouldn’t pay any attention to their defeat in Dundalk last week.
They will only get stronger over the second half of the season, mark my words.
When I was winning leagues with Shelbourne and Drogheda, there were stages when I felt there was no competition at all.
It just got so monotonous at times.
I won the league in 2007 and, honest to God, it was a walk in the park. It was difficult to feel like you had really achieved something.
It’s a terrible thing to admit, but it’s just how I felt. We won the league with games to spare and training hit a lull and went flat.
There’s nobody banging on Rovers’ door and I’m sure that conversation has taken place in private around their training ground.
I don’t want to undermine what Stephen O’Donnell is doing at Dundalk as a lot of people questioned him about that move - and I was one of them.
So far, he has proved it was the right decision for him. Five points off top spot with a game in hand, he has Dundalk firing.
But here’s the question….
Dundalk were thrown together quite late on in pre-season, yet they are the ‘best of the rest’.
That shouldn’t happen in a professional league. The rest of the clubs should be taking a long, hard look at themselves in the mirror.
None of them are doing enough, and it’s not good enough.
I was full of hope at the start of the season. I thought St Pat’s were well placed to kick on but they’ve gone backwards.
Derry are a work in progress but they've struggled to maintain their early pace and are fighting to stay in touch.
Sligo never got going at all.
It’s an annual problem in this league - one or two teams progress, while the others seem to just give up and scrap it out for Europe or survival.
It’s why players at the big clubs love this time of year with Europe on the horizon.
It’s a proper challenge and a test of character - one that gets you fired up. It’s the closest any player will get to the highest level.
Across any league, in any country, you’ll get a natural filtering of teams as the season goes on. It’s snakes and ladders.
Unfortunately in Ireland, it’s only ever one or two and, I hate to say it, but it’s not a sustainable model if we’re trying to make it entertaining and attractive.
I’m biassed, but the league was better - or certainly more competitive - from 2000 to 2008 than it is now.
The answer is investment, of course, but there’s no quick fix there so we’re left with the alarming realisation that our game isn’t progressing at the rate it should be.
Rovers-Bohs could be off the charts
Despite the points I’ve made in my main article, I live in hope that Rovers-Bohs will be a cracker in Tallaght tonight.
I’m there on TV duty and I’m getting to the stage where I only enjoy going to certain grounds in the league.
Tallaght Stadium is one of them because you know it’s going to be a proper event and occasion.
This sold-out game could be off the Richter scale.
Scales weighing up Ireland breakthrough
Liam Scales is clearly thinking of his Ireland career by joining Aberdeen on a season-long loan from Celtic.
He has been a late call-up for Stephen Kenny in the past, and James McClean and Enda Stevens are no spring chickens.
With a regular run of SPL games, there’s no reason why Scales cannot become a serious option at left wing-back for us.
Players are heeding the manager’s advice that they need to be playing and Scales is a class act.
Such is the culture in the Ireland team, he could be thrown in at any stage and if you get the jersey, it’s yours to keep if you take the chance.
Rip off!
I went to the bank this week to lodge some cash. Felt like a dinosaur.
So on the way home, I treated myself to a cappuccino.
There was nobody in the place, but at €3.80 is it any bloody wonder?
I look forward to next year’s visit.
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