TIME FOR CHANGE. TIME TO GO, KEVIN.

TIME FOR CHANGE. TIME TO GO, KEVIN.

London have beaten Sligo in the Connacht Championship and it really isn’t a shock. RTE might call it the ‘first shock of the summer’ but if you’ve seen the 2013 version of Sligo you will know different. Kevin Walsh knew it last week as he got the excuses in early declaring how Sligo struggled against ‘lower ranked teams’. Ross Donovan gave an angst ridden, confidence sapping interview to Newstalk about the perils of playing London in Ruislip. Some pitfalls included airport security, the plane landing and staying in a hotel. This wasn’t a pair of rookies talking; this was the manager and the team captain. It appeared the only white flags that Sligo would be raising against the exiles would be flags of surrender.

Sligo’s one point Connacht Championship defeat to London may be the most significant loss of Kevin Walsh’s tenure but in truth somewhere between the FBD league final and the Divison 3 hammering by Monaghan in Clones Kevin Walsh lost the dressing room. His players lost faith in the training, in the team selections but most of all in the manager himself. Kevin Walsh asked for more of a commitment from the players in the Autumn. No player who did not give a full winter time and spring time commitment would be considered for selection for Sligo. In discarding Eamonn O’Hara based on this diktat, Kevin Walsh alienated many in the squad with a massive u-turn when drafting in Mayo-man James Kilcullen in the midst of a relegation campaign. Sligo’s need for a midfielder was acute but at what risk including Kilcullen?

On Saturday night, while Sligo were settling into their hotel in London, James Killcullen was playing for Ballaghaderreen against Aghamore in the Mayo Senior championship. He would be a second half substitute against London as things got desperate. He made an impact at midfield were Gilmartin and Taylor had singularly failed to control a rampant London engine room. Had Killcullen started maybe Sligo would have fared better at midfield and therefore controlled the flow of play. He didn’t start because ultimately his commitment lay with his club side in his own county championship. In spurning 20 years of commitment from Eamonn O’Hara for 20 minutes of commitment from James Killcullen Kevin Walsh made a huge mistake. On Sunday he compounded that mistake further by sitting James Killcullen on the bench until it was too late. The manager had lost faith in his convictions. 

The players can’t be held blameless for the embarrassment of the London defeat. They represent the paucity of talent in the county in general but you must wonder about all those called into the squad for the FBD Connacht league. When the pre-league cull was over not too many new faces remained and the National League squad had a grimly predictable quality about it. With only two recognized scorers taking the field on Sunday the worst case scenario emerged: a game where both Adrian Marren and Mark Brehony struggled to score. Could Walsh really have countenanced the exclusion of Stephen Coen in the face of so few alternatives up front?

The biggest error in this sorry mess was the Sligo county board waiting for Kevin Walsh to make a decision last autumn about his return. Walsh allegedly interviewed for the vacant Roscommon managers job. Kevin Wash wasn’t waiting around for Sligo at that time. Now in the wake of the worst result in our football history Sligo should not wait for him. 

Hurricane Sandy. Sligo Weekender, November 8th, 2012.

Letter from America

‘It looks like a bomb has hit the place’. That was the opening text last Tuesday week from my friend Ross Fales on the New Jersey Shore. Superstorm Sandy had spent its terrible wrath on New York and New Jersey’s coast line from mid-afternoon on Monday right through the night. Ross lives in Avon on Sea a town over from Belmar, the town I called home for 3 years. I asked Ross what he knew about the damage in Belmar. What Ross knew was not good news. 

Text messaging was the easiest and most effective way of keeping touch with my friends in New Jersey as the scale of hurricane Sandy became clear in the hours before and after the storm made landfall. With phone lines and WIFI services soon to be knocked out the written word of the text message was my connection with what was unfolding in my home away from home. The words of destruction, damage and panic were so alien to me it was easy to slip away in my minds eye and think of ravaged countries like Haiti or sub-Saharan Africa. There was a disconnect between what I was being told via text and the images of the places I had left just weeks before. Even the picture Ross sent of the sea literally taking to the streets and cascading down the road had a surreal, unbelievable quality. Tuesday brought pictures of a town called Belmar in ruins. Piles of sand encroaching on the streets. Flood waters engulfing the buildings and timber strewn around like in the aftermath of an explosion. It was hard to see where the land began and the sea ended. I have always said that there is much more to New Jersey than meets the eye but what has met the eye in the days after Hurricane Sandy is a New Jersey Shore that is now hardly recognizable from the place I left in mid August.

The Jersey Shore is iconic. I have been lucky enough to spend much of the last few years in its environs and ‘summers spent on the Shore’ are the treasured memories of New Jerseyeans and New Yorkers who vacation there and, in some cases eventually retire there. It is 217 miles of small beach towns and boardwalks and beautiful seafront. This summer I spent time in Belmar, Avon on Sea and further south in Cape May. Idyllic is a word that gets used all too often but there isn’t a better one to describe this place. Now, large parts of the Jersey Shore’s trademark boardwalks, towns, homes, businesses and beaches have been completely destroyed. The tranquility of Shore life has been attacked in a brutal fashion. Locals have spent the last few days rallying together to help the worst afflicted but the magnitude of the rebuilding ahead is often overwhelming. In the space of  a few short days the landscape of the Shore region has been utterly transformed. In large areas an affluent, picturesque symbol of the American dream has been destroyed. My friend Ross Fales, assistant vice principal at the Christian Brothers Academy high school in Lincroft, New Jersey has spent the last few days volunteering to help those in plight in Belmar. ‘I’m clearing out people’s entire lives because the water was higher than the first floor of most people’s homes’. Even in the midst of this devastation Ross recognizes how personally it could have been much worse. ‘Im just trying to help out but believe me its only a little in the grand scheme of things. I feel almost guilty that I made it out okay, I just lost power. Some people have lost their homes’.

This part of NJ has known tragedy before. Monmouth and Ocean counties encompass many of the Shore towns I’ve mentioned and lost many residents in the terror attacks of 9-11 with Monmouth alone losing 147 citizens on that day. The loss of life in NJ has been much less in this current disaster and the strength to rebuild the Shore is strong. Having heard the stories of resolve these people have shown in this trying week I am sure they will rebuild the region again. 

Almost as soon as I left the Shore for home a few months back I began to think about the next time I would see the place again and, for a few horrible days last week, I almost thought I never would.

12

Intriguing mix of Aussie Soap and LOI Fare! JJ Devaney (Published in the Sligo Weekender, April 17th, 2012)

Intriguing mix of Aussie Soap and LOI Fare!


JJ Devaney 

Wow. What a start to the game! Liam is worried because he has gotten someone pregnant and during a robbery some guy has been knocked unconscious. Then before you know it BOOM! we go live to Pat Dolan! Its amazing how ‘Home and Away’ and RTE’s coverage of the Airtricty league seamlessly came together. No time for pre-match analysis when some Australian lad has just been bashed over the head. I wasn’t sure where ‘Home and Away’ ended and Sligo Rovers v Derry started. RTE didn’t give me any time.

Neither it seems did Pat Dolan. Clearly imbued by some conspiracy brewing in the antipodean town of Summer Bay Dolan decided to write his own narrative for the Sligo v Derry game. According to Pat a mysterious ‘everyone’ had written Derry off. With the smile of a man who had just composed a plot that would do Martin Scorcese proud Dolan told us ‘I think Derry could cause an upset tonight’. Dolan clearly didn’t realize that when it comes to the league Rovers fans are more used to Shakespearean tragedy rather than Scorsese-esque intrigue. What Rovers fan has ever ‘’expected’’ to beat Derry City?

Inappropriate sun also sneaked in from the ‘Home and Away’ set as the Showground’s was bathed in a light that left RTE’s cameras flailing around like an over eager Aunty with a camcorder at a First Communion. The setting sun impaired ones vision for Romuald Boco’s inexplicable miss after Danny North’s sublime flick. The replay showed the full horror. ‘Crikey’ as Alf Stewart might say.

Co-commentator Liam Coyle regaled us with analysis that was almost as formulaic as an Aussie soap. ‘If you don’t take your chances……blah blah blah’. Boco’s miss was punished by McDaid’s penalty but that didn’t stop the bias fest from Mister Coyle. The former Derry City striker couldn’t be kept in check by the mild mannered and salient Adrian Eames. ‘North hasn’t had a look in’ opined the Coyle. Your right Liam, Danny North hasn’t had a look in. Apart from his goal. Which in the pantheon of ‘’look ins’ is pretty big. Not to mention the gilt edged goal chance he orchestrated for Boco.

Pat Dolan looked suitably smug at full time with the 1-1 draw. While down under the Showground’s main stand Joey Ndo brought down the end credits and music as he told Tony O’Donoghue how close Rovers feel they are getting to the League title. ‘We finished third one year, second last year and this year we want 1st’.  Closer each day, Home and Away.

Don't doubt the Americans love their sport

By JJ Devaney

Published in the Sligo Weekender on January 24, 2012

It’s a cold, cold night in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I like Green Bay. They play on real grass in Green Bay even though temperatures plummet to as low as -26 degrees in January. I like the way the steam rises from the collective breath of 70’000 people.

Right now my team, the New York Giants are leading last year’s Superbowl Champions the Green Bay Packers, 37-20 on what resembles frozen tundra. It’s close to 1am and its time for bed.

Next weekend’s NFC East Championship game in San Francisco will mean I don’t get to be bed until at least 3am due to the time difference but that’s been the norm since my return from the US. What was once a Sunday night institution has now become an early morning addiction. I am hooked.

I’ve always encountered a snobbish, almost sneering attitude to American sports in Ireland. It seems to be the view on this side of the pond that American Sports are just like many other pieces of American culture: brash, over hyped, over commercialized and with out the real depth of feeling that our ‘native’ sports evoke.

It stems from a belief that our American cousins just don’t care about their sport the way we do about ours. Its complete nonsense. The idea that their sport is somehow an extension of a ‘fast food’ style American culture is simply not the case. They care about their sport in America. Big time.

In my early days in the US I too fell into the same arrogant belief that US sport - and specifically the US sports fan - is much less committed than there European counterparts.

While watching one of baseball’s truly historic match ups – the New York Yankees v The Boston Red Sox- I jokingly suggested to my then girlfriend’s family that to make things interesting next time I would don the garb of a Red Sox fan.

Her father, a quiet sort of chap, briefly retired to the garden shed only to return with a garden shears and a terse but graphic depiction of what would happen should I return to his home dressed as a Red Sox fan.

Delve deeper into that rivalry and one will find stories and tales to rival any of Europe’s storied soccer teams. The Red Sox and Yankees have been ‘at it’ longer than Manchester United and Liverpool. And the scars run deep.

Baseball was the first major sporting event to return to a changed New York City in the days after 9-11. The New York Mets Mike Piazza hit a home run and Liza Minnelli sang ‘New York, New York’ at the 7^th inning stretch in Shea Stadium, Queens. ‘America’s Past time’ provided a cathartic moment that night in keeping with its long and fabled history.

That same Yankee ex-girlfriend left me with a love for the New York Football Giants as my team after our parting of the ways. God bless her.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Not only have they one of the most obsessive fan bases in American sport they are a team with a great history going back to the 1920’s when they were founded by the Irish American family the Maras.

The Giants v Philadelphia Eagles is a rivalry to match any derby on these Shores. The close proximity of the two cities has engendered a jealously and bitterness that is nothing short of delicious. Try telling those fans that they don’t care about their teams.

Its easy to disparage the NFL with its regular stoppages in play and its TV breaks for adverts during the play, but for me the game has everything. High drama, an athleticism that is both majestic and brutal and edge of the seat excitement.

I know there are many educated NFL fans in Ireland but for those of you who cast a cynical eye on all things American I urge you to stop and embrace your inner, beer drinking, tailgating, foam-hand wearing American sports fan and give it a go.

As Lisa Simpson famously said: “enjoy the excitement of the savage ballet that is pro-football”. Add it to your list of late night pursuits; you’ll be glad you did. 

Getting to know the real New Jersey

By JJ Devaney

Published in the Sligo Weekender on February 28, 2012

I’ve been writing this column about my experiences in America for some months now with one glaring omission. I haven’t written about New Jersey, the place that has been my home for the best part of the last four years.

Lately I’ve been giving New Jersey a lot of thought. Quite apart from the fact I miss the ‘Garden State’ immensely I’ve also been listening to Bruce Springsteen.

Bruce is without doubt New Jersey’s favourite son and to me he represents all that’s good about New Jersey. Often when Americans talk about New Jersey the conversation is far from complimentary.

Firstly because of its geographical location (wedged underneath NY and Connecticut and hanging out over the Delaware estuary) New Jersey has been given the moniker ‘the Armpit of America’.

It doesn’t get much worse than being compared to an armpit. Secondly industrial North Jersey is a sprawling mass of factories, refineries, breweries and power plants. If you want an idea of its ugliness take a quick look at the opening credits of HBO’sThe Sopranos as mob boss Tony Soprano drives down the NJ Turnpike accompanied by flashes of its uncomplimentary industry.

Finally the abominable MTV’s Jersey Shore. The less said about that the better. Suffice to say our erstwhile Governor Chris Christie refused MTV a tax rebate due to the producers based on shooting in NJ because he felt it painted such an uncomplimentary view of Jersey.

None of the above is the Real New Jersey. It’s not the Jersey I know and love. Granted I was a bit taken aback when I first landed at Newark airport in the aforementioned North Jersey. (It has since taken on a postmodern grandeur for me but at first sight I wasn’t overly enthused).

But New Jersey is a State of treasures rarely alluded to by the media. The jewel in its crown is it long Atlantic coastline of beautiful beaches and idyllic little towns.

I was lucky enough to live in two of those towns: Belmar and Point Pleasant. Almost every exit on from Springsteen’s home town of Long Branch along the Garden State Parkway is dotted with these beach towns.

When the summer comes an east coast migration occurs every weekend as the main thoroughfare of NJ, the Parkway, is jammed with New Yorkers and North Jerseyans as they look to escape the rat race for a couple of days.

To the west are the verdant and green hills of the Delaware valley. That famous and historic river demarcates the state line between NJ and PA (Pennsylvania).

Further North are the mountains and lakes that seems to pill over from the Poconos mountains of PA and NY State.  In the Fall the colour change of leaves in New Jersey rivals that of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The New Jersey sky has always been a fascination of mine. Sunrise or sun-set the colours that streak across the sky have an unreal beauty. It’s a cliché to say they look like someone painted them but I never fail to ask that question.

And then there is the people and their often shiny sun kissed faces. They can be loud and they are in your face just as much as New Yorkers but they are warm and kind and generous and they love to party. They even built their own version of Las Vegas in Atlantic City.

I’ve spent some fantastic times in Jersey. I’ve lived my own Springsteen soundtrack and I can even say that I’ve penned my own version of ‘’Jersey Girl’’ many times and with many different muses.

Now I am aware that many of Bruce Springsteen’s songs are thematically about escape from New Jersey; running from many of the paces I’ve just mentioned. But these themes are about the universal struggle of the ordinary man.

Bruce may appear to have some underlying issues with good old ‘’Jerz’’ but in his songs he always returns there. And in my own heart I’ve never left there.

Tactics, displays and chalkboards

Sligo Rovers FAI Ford Cup Final

Published in the Sligo Weekender on November 8, 2011.

Soccer coach JJ Devaney looks at how the three areas of the Sligo Rovers team functioned last Sunday

DEFENCE

ANYdefensive analysis of Sligo Rover’s must begin and end with the Shelbourne goal. An accomplished centre-half part- nership of Gavin Peers and Jason McGuinness certainly would not have been pleased with the manner in which Philip Hughes’ goal was created. The ball should have been cleared by McGuinness in the first instance and even when his clearance was returned, Peers would be expected to deal with what was far from a penetrating pass to Hughes. Barry Clancy’s dismissal all but ended any attacking threat from the Dublin side and allowed Rovers full-backs Davoren and Keane to become almost exclusively attacking threats as Shelbourne looked to contain Rovers rather than take them on. The sight of Davoren and Keane aug- menting the Rovers attack from wide po- sitions was symptomatic of Shels’ lack of an offensive threat after Clancy’s red card. JJ  Says: Job done by the Rovers defence. The uncer- tainty surrounding Shels’ goal will be washed away in the euphoria of victory.

ATTACK

A DIFFICULT 120 minutes for Rovers’ attack in this FAI Ford Cup final. Eoin Doyle looked isolated and out of form in what appeared to be a 4-4-1-1 formation. Blinkhorn and Cretaro were introduced to liven up Rovers’ forward line, but time and again they were thwarted by a combi- nation of excellent Shels defending and laboured approach play. The combination play between forwards that is quintessentially Rovers was absent. Most joy for Rovers was to be found from good crosses by John Russell – when he was moved wide – and Cretaro when he occupied a wide right position in ex- tra-time. A well-worked free-kick almost paid div- idends but Blinkhorn’s effort was saved by Shelbourne goalkeeper Delaney as Rovers increased the pressure on an in- creasingly embattled Shelbourne defense.

JJ SAYS: SNot a vintage Rovers performance in attack but a fighting one.  They kept going to the end.  The four perfect penalties shouldn’t be discounted either!

MIDFIELD

ANYONEwho may have doubted the im- portance of Joseph Ndo to this Sligo Rovers team had a very clear and almost disastrous riposte on Sunday at the Aviva Stadium. Shorn of Ndo’s guile, Rovers’ midfield looked one-paced and sluggish. This is by no means a one-man band, but Ndo’s abil- ity to create, cajole with skill and link midfield and attack with penetrating combinations was tangible by his ab- sence. Rovers needed that little bit of inspira- tion to prize open a solid and well-organ- ised Shelbourne defence and Ndo has so often been the man to supply it in tight affairs. Richie Ryan worked hard to be that cre- ative force, but it was the wide play of Aaron Greene and John Russell in the second-half that looked most likely to lift Rovers’ offensive malaise.

JJ SAYS: Rovers strength is their passing ability and creativity in midfield.  The fact that the free-flowing football associated with Cook’s team rarely appeared in the midfield zone meant that Shelbourne survived and were able to take the game to extra-time.

SHELBOURNE

ALAN Mathews’ team were set up to be difficult to beat. Any time Rovers had the ball they faced two perfectly in-sync banks of four designed to stifle. Clancy’s dismissal merely strengthened Shels defensive mindset. Had Clancy stayed on a more open game would surely have ensued. This was not to be and Shels clung on grimly to the bitter end, marshalled by ‘Player of the Match’ Stephen Paisley at centre- half.