Charlie from the Stands: The LOI is never boring

If you ever wanted a good advertisement for the League of Ireland, then Monday night’s fixture between title-chasing Shelbourne and in-form St Pat’s was the perfect one.

Over 167,000 viewers tuned in to watch Duff vs Kenny, a battle of two managers with their own history, face-off in a game which could prove pivotal in the outcome of the destination of this year’s Premier Division title.

And in a game which had everything from goal of the season contenders, to a red card, to missed chances, to more questionable refereeing, and of course a Damien Duff sideline spectacle, the Irish public would not have been disappointed. With Pat's running out 3-2 winners, the entertainment on show surely validated RTE’s strategy of showing a few early games and then nothing until the run in.

And what a run in we have in store. Has the title race gone from two to five contenders: Shelbourne, Derry City, Shamrock Rovers, Galway United, and St Patrick's Athletic?

Despite being a weekend in which Shelbourne were the only title contenders to come away with any points, it does feel like they were the biggest losers.

Shamrock Rovers faced Stephen Kenny’s St Pat’s on Friday, and were given a lesson in Tallaght. The result was not a major upset considering the form that the Inchicore side are in, with five wins on the bounce, and only one defeat in eight. Then, you look at Derry City’s 2-1 defeat against Drogheda United – a club that is fighting for survival.

Derry’s style of play, history of results in Drogheda, and Drogheda's recent form of four wins and three draws in the last eight meant the result didn't shock me. Having played in Weavers Park a number of times during my career as part of good and bad teams, it's a notoriously difficult place to pick up points. I described it last week as Derry’s toughest match in the final stretch, and it proved just that.

Understandably, fans will look at it as another opportunity missed and it was, but I don’t think it’s the biggest opportunity that will come Derry’s way during the run-in. There will be easier points available in the last five matches, but games are running out and Derry need to start picking up wins as it is now just one win in the previous seven league games for Ruaidhri Higgins’ charges.

However, you look at Shelbourne in a double gameweek, and with a real opportunity to create a gap between them and their rivals, and they will be kicking themselves to end it with a solitary point. A 0-0 draw at home to Sligo Rovers saw them take a point from arguably one of their more winnable games.

As Sligo visited Tolka Park, Duff and Joey O’Brien would surely have earmarked it as three points and there is no question it would have been a disappointment when they failed to score. Then if you look at the way the game transpired against St Pats, I believe Shelbourne would have taken a lot of confidence from it. Purely because at 2-0 down, few people would have seen them getting back into the game. However, two wonder strikes from Rayan Tulloch and Matty Smith made it 2-2, before Tulloch had a chance to put Shels ahead – a miss which may live to haunt them this season. Had that chance been put away and Shels won the game, they would have moved seven points clear of second place Derry City, and in doing so, put the League title firmly in their grasp. But a last gasp goal from St Pat’s Ali-Amin Kazeem saw another turn in this season, and Pat’s leave Tolka Park with three points.

After the defeat against St Pat’s, I am struggling to see where Shels will be able to take three points from in their final games. With only one win in nine matches, Shelbourne’s form is looking more like relegation form than title winning form, and it doesn't get any easier with Shamrock Rovers on Sunday. You will feel that despite the result, the fact they clawed their way back with two goals will leave Duff feeling a little encouraged, rather than stumbling through games.

My bias towards Derry City has always said that Shamrock Rovers are still not in the title race and I still believe that, so taking Galway and St Pats into it feels a stretch. There is no question that the recent form of Shamrock Rovers, Galway United, and St Patrick's Athletic means only seven points separate the top five teams with four games left for most, with Derry City having five due to FAI Cup commitments.

The run will indeed get very interesting should Shelbourne or Derry continue their poor form. You would imagine that either side would need to exert themselves soon, and put their chest out. If they don’t, it may be wide open.

Here’s what each club has left:

Shelbourne: Shamrock Rovers (A), Waterford (H), Drogheda United (H), Derry City (A)

Derry City: Bohemians (H), Sligo Rovers (H), Dundalk (A), St Patrick’s Athletic (A), Shelbourne (H)

Shamrock Rovers: Shelbourne (H), Drogheda United (A), Dundalk (A) Waterford (H)

Galway United: Dundalk (H), St Patrick’s Athletic (A), Sligo Rovers (H), Bohemians (A)

St Patrick’s Athletic: Bohemians (A), Galway United (H), Derry City (H), Sligo Rovers (A)

Dodgy

It’s a saying only Derry ones will get, but Declan McGrath is ‘getting it up the teeth’ right now. After his controversial (but correct) penalty call in The Ryan McBride Brandywell a few weeks ago, he followed that up with a few dodgy calls during the Shelbourne and St Pat’s game on Monday night in front of the aforementioned 167,000 odd viewers.

Firstly, refereeing is hard, and referees in the League of Ireland are struggling to keep pace with the development of the league. It's something that, for me, is just as big of a problem as the facilities in moving the game forward in this country. With so much money floating around the League, the speed of the game and competitiveness is increasing, and it means that refereeing decisions are becoming more impactful especially when they are wrong.

If you watched the game, you will have seen the challenge between Aaron Bolger and John Martin 35 seconds before the St Pat’s winning goal. It looks clear as day a foul by Bolger on Martin, but for some reason McGrath gives a free to St Pat’s, and they then go up the pitch and get the winner.

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Now, I want to be clear if the referees got all the decisions right then they would be in the Premier League and there wouldn’t be as many talking points for us to write about, but from watching McGrath live quite a lot this year, he seems to let a lot go (which I like) but he gets a lot of the big decisions wrong.

VAR addresses these in the likes of the Premier League, and from speaking to people within the FAI, a version of this might not be far away for the league – a development I hope we don’t see, but one which I feel may become inevitable.