Inchicore is not a very nice place.
A suburb of Ireland’s capital, it enjoys none of the bustle of the city centre, five kilometres east, none of the charm of the Irish countryside, five kilometres south, but all of the nation’s recent recessional problems, as the boarded up shops and pubs along its main road will testify. The main feature of note is the nearby jail where the Irish revolutionaries of the 1916 Rising were executed. In other words, it is a long, long way from Southern California.
It is, then, bemusing to find Ryan Guy here, playing for St Patrick’s Athletic in the League of Ireland, some 8,000 kilometres from where he was born. The crowd chant “USA! USA!” as his shot nearly finds the net. When the PA announces that the “Player of the Game” is Guy the chants restart. He’s a popular player, one of their best, and the crowd let him know. They’re not quite sure how he arrived at this corner of the footballing world, but they don’t mind.
Guy seemed set for a bright future in California. A two-time MVP at high-school and a First Team starter at college, he was picked in the 2nd round of the 2007 draft by FC Dallas. Yet three years later Guy has found himself playing in the quagmire that is the Irish domestic league.
Despite the offer from Dallas, Guy wanted to be guaranteed regular football, and sought a contract in Europe. Turned down by most, who didn’t want to risk paying the wages of a young, unknown American, he found his way to the Emerald Isle, where he has been since, excelling, scoring almost a goal every other game, but treading water.
The League of Ireland, with just the Irish Sea between itself and the EPL, has always been up against it. The best domestic players are siphoned off by whichever English side’s scout recently enjoyed a weekend break in Dublin, resulting in a league of rejects, a league of nearly-boys.
Yet Ryan Guy, the American with the pretty hair, has placed himself at the brink of Irish domestic history.
An Irish team has never reached the group stages of a European competition; yet, with just one double-legged tie to overcome in the EUROPA qualifying round, St Pats are on the verge of doing just that. Far, far from home, and with a doubtful long-term future in the game if he remains in this league, achieving Irish soccer history could perhaps be a lifeline for Guy – a chance to show the world, and the teams he left behind back home, that he can deliver. St Pat’s loss would be most definitely any MLS side’s gain. Helping the club achieve unprecedented European glory should merely confirm that.
St Pat’s play Steau Bucharest on the 20th and 27th of August. Progressing would see the side reach the group stages of a European competition, a feat not yet achieved by an Irish side.
