Minority players could prove pivotal

It’s coming close to crunch time for the 12 clubs competing in the FAI Eircom League of Ireland, with most having just seven league games left before the season winds to a close. A total of 22 countries outside of Ireland are represented in the rapidly diversifying league this season. Fifty-six players from countries ranging from England, Scotland and Wales to St Vincent and The Grenadines, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia are lining out for Irish clubs this year.

Drogheda United are enjoying one their most successful seasons in years; the Louth club are currently perched at the top of the table, five points clear of Shamrock Rovers. Although there are plenty of potential banana skins between now and their final league tie against St Pat’s in Richmond Park on 9 November, on current form the Drogs look odds-on to maintain their position until the end of the season. The club’s success is down in no small part to Eamon Zayed. a Dublin-born player of Libyan descent.

The 23-year-old former Ireland Under-21 player made his debut in the Eircom League with current strugglers Bray Wanderers. Zayed secured a place in the Wicklow club’s history books by scoring the fastest hat-trick ever by a Seagulls player when he netted three against Dundalk within a nine-minute spell in 2003.

Zayed, who lined out for Ireland at the Fifa World Youth Cup four years ago, hasn’t been quite as prolific in what has been his first season with Drogheda. However, with eight goals in 26 appearances, he has shown himself to be more than capable of finding the back of the net, and he looks likely to be rewarded for his efforts with a league winners’ medal come the end of the year.

Five points adrift of Drogheda are second-placed Shamrock Rovers, on 48 points. Interestingly, Shamrock Rovers are the only club in the Eircom League without a single non-Irish player in their current first team squad, although they have enlisted the services of a number of soccer stars from outside Ireland over recent seasons.

This year looked to have been the year Rovers’ US youngster Jamie Duffy might have made his breakthrough into the squad, but the talented midfielder was instead loaned out to bottom-of-the-table Longford Town. However, that move looks a positive one for Duffy, who will learn a lot from his experiences of being on the starting 11 of a side in a relegation dogfight.

Eight points behind Drogheda’s tally of 53 is one of the most diverse teams in the league, St Pat’s, with 45 points. The south Dublin club is nestled in one of Ireland’s most culturally diverse areas, and its squad has come to mirror its surroundings. Pat’s boasts players such as Scotland’s Billy Gibson, Ryan Guy from the US, Englishman Billy Rogers and Czech Michal Macek. However, Joseph Ndo – last season’s PFAI Player of the Year, given the award by his fellow professionals for his contribution to relegated Shelbourne’s league winning campaign – also looks likely to be a key figure, should his new club rally at the closing stages of the competition.

Pat’s struggled somewhat while Ndo was on the sidelines, and rumours suggesting the midfielder was set to leave the club abounded before he made his long-awaited return early last month. However, the former Cameroon international and World Cup veteran will have to be at his battling best and pray that the teams around Pat’s slip up if they are to have any hopes of snatching the title from Drogheda.

Three points behind Pat’s but with a game in hand are fourth-placed Cork City. Cork have had a mixed season so far, with the legal wrangle over new signings, former Irish international duo Garret Farrelly and Colin Healy, coming to epitomise the club’s mixed fortunes. The signings looked to be a massive coup for the Munster side until Fifa stepped in and prevented them from playing. Soccer’s world governing body cited a rule stating that if the pair took to the field for Cork, they will have exceeded the maximum number of clubs players are permitted to line out for in a one-year period from June to July – the row left Healy and Farrelly sidelined for four months.

Meanwhile, as Cork’s glamour signings warmed the bench, Englishman and club captain Dan Murray proved key in steering the club slowly up the table. Cambridge-born Murray moved to Turners Cross from Peterborough United, originally on loan, during the 2002-03 season. The move was quickly made permanent and the player’s leadership skills earned him the captaincy when he was still just 21 years old. The no-nonsense central defender with an eye for a goal is arguably Cork’s most influential player, and if the Leesiders somehow overcome the deficit between themselves and the three clubs above them, Murray will be in line to take much of the credit.

This year’s new-look FAI Eircom League of Ireland structure holds that the last placed premier team will be relegated to make way for the first division champions. Furthermore, the premiership team that finishes second-last will face a two-leg play off against the team placed either second or third in the first division for a premiership place the following season.

Third from bottom and fighting to keep themselves clear of the drop zone are Galway City, on 23 points. Like St Pat’s, Galway have a massively diverse starting line up, with club captain Wesley Charles, from St Vincent and The Grenadines, being the pick of the bunch.

The 6'3", 16-stone giant has been bossing Galway’s back line since signing from Bray Wanderers in 2006, and despite a sometimes alarming dip in form, his club looks likely to remain safe. If not, the Caribbean colossus, with 86 caps international caps to his name, will probably move on to pastures new – which is something Galway can ill afford.

In the relegation play-off place are Bray Wanderers, on 20 points. Romanian player Andrei Georgescu, former Welsh youth team keeper Steve Williams and rival for the number one jersey, Australia’s Chris O’Connor, have all played their part in Bray’s difficult season.

One chink of light on the gloomy horizon has been the arrival of Nigerian-born Ireland youth team international Emeka Onwubiko. The speedy teenage centre-forward has been used sparingly at times, but has made an impact on a number of occasions. His influence on the team has been steadily growing; he scored for the Seagulls in their recent league game against Galway United in the Carlisle Grounds. The massively important goal gave Bray a much-needed 2–1 win and a continued hope that they can dig their way clear of relegation.

Wallowing at the foot of the table are the out-of-sorts Longford Town. They got off to a reasonably good start to the season, but over recent months it’s just all gone wrong. Some at the club could be accused of accepting their fate as a future first division side, but English midfielder Mark Rutherford isn’t among them.

Rutherford has chipped in with his share of goals and has set up still more over the course of the season. And a slim squad due to injuries has meant that he has been forced to play centre-back on a number of occasions, proving his versatility and importance to the squad. If Longford are to survive – and it’s a big ‘if’ – a lot of the kudos will have to go to the Birmingha