Nearly Men, Yet Again
Champions League, 2nd Qualifying Round – 22nd July 2009
Bohemians: 0
Red Bull Salzburg: 1 (Jezek, 87)
(Red Bull win 2-1 on aggregate)
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Joseph Ndo beats his marker against Red Bull Salzburg
So near, so far, so very League of Ireland. Bohemians came within three minutes of becoming only the second Irish club side to reach the final qualifying stage of the Champions League on Wednesday night, producing a hard-working and tactically astute performance that was cruelly undone by a late defensive lapse. In Jason Byrne, Glen Crowe and Cameroon’s Joseph Ndo, Bohs were able to boast three players with international experience as well as one who must be close to a first cap in Brian Murphy (watched from the stands by Ireland goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly), yet once again the best and brightest the League had to offer came up agonisingly short. Not since Shelbourne clashed with Deportivo in 2004 has an Irish side made it to the brink of the Champions League proper, although wins in recent years over the likes of NEC Nijmegen and Malmo, as well as draws against Dynamo Kyiv and Hertha Berlin, have counted as highlights amongst an otherwise queasy assortment of reversals.
Results like Wednesday’s tend to elicit reactions of either patronising head-patting (“sure isn’t it great to even get this far”) or bleakest despair (“thus far shall we go, and no further”). Each is understandable in its own right – yes, sandwiched between the twin titans of the GAA and the English Premiership, the dogged persistence of a functioning Irish club scene is an achievement in itself – and yes, Irish clubs, with their yo-yo finances and ill-advised patterns of investment, are often their own worst enemies. And yet recent history has shown small but significant steps towards progress that belie such fatalism. Continue reading
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