Please allow me to introduce myself…

Dia dhuit, as we would say from the home country, but for the rest of you, that’s probably a hello.

A little bit about myself before I move onto the interesting stuff. My name is Eugene, I’m still relatively new to the blogging experience, with a few articles on Soccerlens underneath my belt, so taking up control of a separate blog is all fresh ground to me, it will be a learning experience along the way, but I it will be of some worth to one and all. I’ve followed the national side for the better part of 10 years now (It took me until the age of eight to realise that international sides didn’t have a transfer market, so I’m a bit of a slow starter) and there have been plenty of ups and downs along the way, from the unbeaten campaign and elimination of Holland to get to Japan and Korea in 2002, to the last 11 seconds in Macedonia two years earlier which ultimately cost us a place at Euro 2000.

Right now we find ourselves at a bit of a juncture, in that we’ve failed to qualify for the European Championships once again, our World Cup group looks tricky, but not impossible, we have no manager (And every interested party is either a footballing dinosaur, useless or a handy combination of the pair), and our well of young talent that has kept the side ticking over nicely over the last few years appears to be drying up, even though the current crop of players still have enough ability amongst their ranks to encourage. So a hell of a lot could rest on whether the Irish qualify for the next World Cup or not on a number of different levels.

Through this blog, I hope to keep the readers up to date with how the key players are faring, what new talent may be breaking through the ranks and give a general outlook on how football in Ireland is faring, from grassroots level, all the way to the head offices at Merrion Square. Along the way, there will probably be plenty of complaints, plenty of praise and all too many rants, especially if we make a mess of things in Nicosia once again. But hopefully the blog will provide some entertainment for all, as the Irish set off around Europe again, trying to qualify for the big one in South Africa.

So if any of you have some suggestions for the blog or questions about any aspects of our team, the possible new manager or anything else, then feel free to send them this way, and I’ll try to write something that will hopefully answer whatever queries they are.

Slainte chugat.

Eugene