Newsround

***This week sees the introduction of new laws in an effort to tackle the growing scourge of time-wasting. FIFA has brought them in for the World Cup, but they will be applicable immediately in ongoing competitions such as the League of Ireland. Referees can now give players a five-second countdown for throw-ins and goal kicks. Delaying on a throw will be punished with the throw being given to the other team instead, while a goalkeeper deemed to be time-wasting on a kickout will see a corner being awarded to the opponent.

Substitutions have long been used as a way to “wind down the clock”, but players must now leave the field within ten seconds or else their replacement will be forced to wait a further sixty seconds to enter the game. Being reduced to ten men for a minute or more late in a game could be very costly so expect to see players jogging promptly to the line when they are called ashore. There’s an attempt to cut down on injury stoppages too. If a physio is called on for treatment, then the player must leave the pitch for one minute, although this will not apply for goalkeepers and apparently not for head injuries either.

***The return to action also sees players’ disciplinary records starting afresh. Any yellow cards picked up in the first half of the season are wiped clear in an amnesty so nobody should be at risk of a suspension for five yellows for quite a while.

 

Tommy Lonergan (17) on duty with the Republic of Ireland in Zagreb

***One important piece of news that some fans may have missed over the break was the rearrangement of Waterford’s away game in Galway next month. With renovation work taking place at Eamon Deacy Park, Galway’s next four home games have been moved – the latter three to Pearse Park and this week’s clash with Dundalk, controversially, switching to Turner’s Cross in Cork. The date has also changed, so the Blues will now visit the Galway county GAA stadium on Saturday the 25th of July at 5pm rather than that Friday night. 

***While most of their teammates were sunning themselves around the Mediterranean, two Blues were on the road playing international football over the past fortnight. Sam Glenfield won his fifth Under-21 cap for Northern Ireland on the 3rd of June when he played 63 minutes in a 4-0 defeat to Portugal in Estoril. Tommy Lonergan spent eight days with the Republic of Ireland Under-21s for a camp in Croatia. He earned his sixth cap at that grade on Tuesday when he played 68 minutes in a 0-0 draw with Qatar’s U23s. Having scored five goals in May, Lonergan can count himself unlucky to lose out to Dundalk’s Daryl Horgan for the league’s Player of the Month award.

***There was good news for a couple of former Blues strikers in recent weeks. Noel Hunt has been appointed as one of five full-time International Lead Coaches by the FAI. The Waterfordman, who is currently studying for his UEFA Pro Licence, will be joined by John Cotter, James Scott, Chelsea Noonan and Keith O’Halloran in the role as part of a restructured coaching department for the international underage structure. 

***Meanwhile, Ronan Coughlan has signed a new two-year deal with Fleetwood Town. His two-and-a-half seasons to date at Highbury have been interrupted by a serious Achilles tendon injury, but he returned in April to feature in five of the last six League Two matches. The hero of Waterford’s promotion-winning season in 2023 turns 30 this October. 

 

Noel Hunt has joined the Republic of Ireland underage set-up

***Some interesting news from The Brandywell yesterday has seen Mark Connolly announced as Director of Football for Derry City. The 34-year-old centre back was one of Jon Daly’s key transfer targets for Waterford last winter. A sizeable offer was made to the Clones native, but he chose to stay closer to home with Coleraine instead and won the Irish Cup with Ruaidhri Higgins’ Bannsiders last month. He will hang up his boots now after a great career and seek to lift Derry from a very disappointing – even chaotic – season to date.

***With the World Cup underway, two Premier Division clubs are due a six-figure windfall bonus each. Pico Lopes (Cabo Verde) and Joseph Anang (Ghana) are the first two players ever to represent the League of Ireland at a World Cup. Others have featured in the tournament either before or after their time in the LOI, but never before has a player gone while active in the League. Their clubs – Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic respectively – will be awarded approximately €125,000 each in compensation for their missing players, but that figure will rise if they progress past the group stages. Rovers will be without Lopes for their visit to the RSC next weekend as the ‘Blue Sharks’ will be in-between games with Spain and Uruguay. Ghana would need to make the last sixteen, at least, in order for Anang to be absent for St Pats’ trip to Waterford on the 10th of July. 

***We have a name change in the First Division as Treaty United will become Limerick FC from the beginning of next season. Treaty entered the league in 2021 after Limerick were refused a First Division licence the previous year, but Limerick, under the stewardship of chairman Pat O’Sullivan maintained a token presence in the academy leagues. Many local fans were reluctant to get behind the new entity, but this move should help to bring unity to the League of Ireland community on Shannonside. Limerick have been present in senior football since 1937 under various guises as Limerick FC, City, United and Limerick 37 before the advent of Treaty United and now a return to Limerick FC from 2027.

***Finally, breaking news today that Damien Duff has accepted a long-rumoured job as assistant coach to Keith Andrews at Brentford. This will bring an end, at least temporarily, to Duff being linked with every vacancy or potential job in the League of Ireland. Andrews defied the doubters to have an incredibly successful first season in charge of the Londoners despite the club selling a slew of key players. Both he and Duff have been heavily linked with the Waterford manager’s job in the past, but will be busy with English Premier League football for the foreseeable future.