Hot Press Patronises League of Ireland Football
July 5, 2007 at 12:04 am 5 comments
The current edition of Hot Press magazine continues the Irish media trend of patronising League of Ireland football. In an article celebrating glorious Irish sporting achievements of the past thirty years, they included only one League of Ireland moment (Shelbourne losing a UEFA Cup game) and ignored the following ten real achievements. >>>
Real Achievements
- Shamrock Rovers winning four leagues in a row from 1984-1987, including three doubles in a row from 1985 to 1987
- Bohs beating Glasgow Rangers in the UEFA Cup in 1984
- Derry City winning the treble in 1989, after reinvigorating the league with their traveling support
- Non-league St Francis beating Bohs to reach the FAI Cup final in 1990
- Brian Kerr winning the league with St Pats in 1990, having to rebuild the team from scratch, and winning the league again in 1996
- Bohs knocking Aberdeen out of the UEFA Cup and beating Kaiserslautern away in 2000 then going on to win the double that season
- Shelbourne knocking Reykjavik and Hajduk Split out of the Champions League before drawing with Deportiva La Coruna and Lille in 2004
- Cork City knocking Djurgardens out of the UEFA Cup in 2005
- Linfield winning the first Setanta Cup final in 2005
- Derry City knocking Gothenborg and Gretna out of the UEFA Cup before drawing with Paris St Germain in 2006
Glasgow Rangers
Out of all of these, the only ‘glorious achievement’ that Hot Press noticed was Shelbourne losing a UEFA Cup game to Glasgow Rangers in 1998.
They chose this because ‘Shels had won, in a manner of speaking’. Actually, Shels had lost, in a more accurate manner of speaking.
Ironically, even if Hot Press had restricted themselves to the extremely narrow category of games between League of Ireland sides and Glasgow Rangers in the UEFA Cup, they could have chosen the 1984 game in which Bohs beat Rangers 3-2 at Dalymount.
They could have chosen this because ‘Bohs had won, in a manner of speaking’.
Roy Keane
They could even have fitted it in instead of Manchester United beating Juventus in 1999, which they deemed an Irish sporting moment because Roy Keane was playing for Manchester United.
I’m sure that Roy would have approved of that choice.
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That\'s Ireland 
1.
John Cav | July 5, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Hot Press is a bum rag, in a manner of speaking.
I would also include St Pat’s 0-0 draw with Celtic in Parkhead a few years ago. And Shelbourne’s more recent draw with Deportivo. Great nights.
2.
Michael Nugent | July 6, 2007 at 12:02 am
Yes. Which reminds me, Dundalk also drew with Celtic in the late 70s or early 80s. Perhaps Celtic become overawed when they have to play real Irish teams.
3.
John Cav | July 6, 2007 at 1:16 am
Was Athlone Town and Inter in the last thirty years? Not sure, but still worth a mention.
4.
John Cav | July 6, 2007 at 1:23 am
Allow me to correct myself, it was AC Milan. Considerable d’uh.
And it was 32 years ago. The ’75/’76 UEFA Cup. A 0-0 draw in St Mels Park, and an unfortunate penalty miss which would have won the Town the game.
5.
DC | July 6, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Poor John Minnock – he scored the goal that got Athlone through to face Milan in the next round, but he will never live that penalty miss down. His young lad still plays for Finn Harps.
The Town held out for 70mins in the San Siro, eventually conceding late goals and losing 3-0.
My favourite anecdote is the Milan supporters shouting “f*** the queen” into megaphones as The Town took to the pitch at the San Siro, in an attempt to intimidate the team. I’m sure it confused them more than anything!
I also recently read that Milan refused to swap shirts after the game, as they didn’t wish to be seen accepting shirts which contained their rivals’ black and blue colours.