Pundits Liam Brady (left) and Richie Sadlier during last night’s Republic of Ireland Vs Portugal World Cup Qualifier

Shay Connolly writes:

Am I right in imagining Laim Brady’s mindset to be that how could Stephen Kenny be any good, sure he only plied his trade in the League of Ireland. Sure one must come from one of our two colonisers, England or Rome to manage Eire.

After what you came up with Liamo, with your beloved Trapottoni, when I used to etch Xs and Os on my arse with a carving knife just to deflect from what I was watching, I find some real value in this Dunne Stores team. Are you looking for a Brown Thomas brand manager. Will a Dunne Stores or Pennys’ brand never be suffice “a Liam”.

“Should we extend the contract for Stiofán after the final match on Sunday,” the host asks.. “Nah,” says Liam not so Óg, and I paraphrase: “let’s hold off a bit until we see the friendly games coming up and see will the Dunne Stores bags rip. I mean it’s not like Tubridy or Joe Duffy where we have to secure their contracts in case CNN grab them. This is different. Sure where would Stiofan go, like. Longford Town?”

So for me, what Liam was harping on about in the post-match interview, when all wrapped up was that we have a Yellow Pack manager, that we could get beaten 6-1 by Germany at home (just like Trap) and we need a few more friendly games when we are blooding new players to decide where our future public money goes. What we need is to spend more public money on getting a Brown Thomas manager to manage a Yellow Pack team..

But I’m still not sure what Liam wants other than maybe a Brown Thomas Manager for a Dunne Stores team. Spell it out Liam and please don’t bore us to tears for over half an hour after we had earned a more than deserving draw against one of the World’s top teams.. Has the value of our TV licence investment not depreciated enough over the past number of years.

Shay Connolly is a writer/songwriter, a Ringsend resident and a former Dublin Minor Hurler.

Pic: RTÉ