TM Ireland - Trophymanager Ireland

Game of the week: Kilkenny City - Greenpark Celtic

Possibly an unlikely contender for game of the week; last season Kilkenny just escaped relegation and Greenpark won promotion to the LoI after a second division 2 title. Judging by their season goals, both teams would be happy to escape relegation although I'm sure Kilkenny will be looking to finally make some inroads into the top half of the table. Neither team had been particularly active up until this point in the transfer market recently. However this game was a pundits dream; an action-packed game with goals, sending offs, injuries and plenty of poor defending to make fun of!

This was due to be Tommy Thornhill's last game for the Cats. The experienced striker had already agreed a 112m move to the Welsh All Blacks. The ex-Lepers United striker scored a respectable 26 goals in 62 games since joining Kilkenny for 143m; but the manager had clearly decided to cash in while he still can and put his faith in KK's younger YD-generated strikers such as Scott Roche, Daragh McAlister and Leo Robertson. Thornhill has made clear, however, that he still believes he can do it at the top level, and isn't totally happy at been cast down a division while still at his peak. There was talk he might not care about this game, as he is being forced out, but he clearly wanted to show what he could still do at the top level and after 15 minutes fired past Greenpark Keeper Owen Kiely to give Kilkenny the lead. The fans love him and began chants suggesting he should stay.

San Marinese defender Alexander Bonazza didn't have the physical makeup or tackling skills to cope with Thornhill who regularly shrugged off his challenges, Thornhill escaped him again on 26 minutes but this time shot just wide. Bonazza also got booked for a bad tackle on Jack Hayes and failed to stop Leo Lancien setup Roche who forced a good stop from Kiely. Bonazza has had a respectable career, but this time he was looking more like the real San Marino defenders.

Fortunately for Greenpark, Calum Graham was everywhere. His productivity statistics throughout his career speak for themselves. It looked like his set pieces would be the best opportunity for Greenpark who didn't create much else in the opening half hour, but with the rest of the Greenpark team not matching the Machine's commitment, the attacking midfielder decided to do it himself after 34 minutes, clipping the ball into the net off the far post to make it 1-1.

Greenpark were in the ascendency and Luke Gilmartin forced two great saves from Antoine Fenwick.

KK got back into the game again thanks to some more poor defending from Bonazza. Thornhill took advantage of Bonazza's inability to head the ball on 43 minutes, rising above him to force a good save from Kiely, after Roche had crossed the ball into the box.

Who knows what Dirty Sanchez said to the Kilkenny boys at halftime but within seconds of kickoff in the second half, Greenpark's momentum was gone, and Thornhill was through on goal after Lancien had set him free. Thornhill was full of confidence and shot first time, catching Kiely off guard - his second goal of the game and KK were ahead again. The Kilkenny manager didn't know whether to celebrate the goal because the crowd saw it as him being proven wrong about selling the striker!!

Gilmartin missed another chance in the next few minutes. Although they have been consistent goalscorers in their career, you do wonder if the Greenpark's strikers are of real LoI quality. There is no question that in order to stay up they will be looking to their incredible midfield to score the lion's share of the goals and it was their two best who combined to put them level again. Gavin "Steel" O'Neill had been quiet but he came to life in the 57th minute, with a wonderful pass which set Graham through again and he slotted home the equaliser. Both Tornhill and Graham were on a hat-trick, even if both are at different points in their careers. But in an incredible turnaround, Kilkenny scored from tip-off again! Matthew Donnellan crossed for the mercurial Lancien who headed home and Greenpark heads fell yet again. Donellan had easily gotten past Thery Bouillot, who at stage looked exhausted; and 15 minutes later he went off injured. His inability to regularly last the full 90 minutes has really cost Greenpark!

Greenpark had enough chances to equalise but their forwards, particularly Gilmartin lacked composure in front of goal. Thornhill, on the other hand, continued to be a threat and he set up K.Healy who headed wide on the 72nd minute. Bonazza's nightmare continued a minute before, being verbally (and almost physically) abused by his own keeper after some more donkey imitations in defence. Finally, on 86 minutes, with Greenpark still in the game, and just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for the lad, Bonazza put the icing on the cake by elbowing Hayes in the face, and promptly saw his second yellow and then red. You get the feeling that getting sent off and putting an end to his nightmare game, was Bonazza's plan all along. He is a talented footballer on the ball, and would make a good creative DM C; but a good centre back he is not and he will have a difficult season if he continues to play there. After that, it was all Kilkenny, with Thornhill and Lancien going close in injury time.

Greenpark definitely put up a fight, but they are a team relying on the quality of a few individuals rather than a collective whole! If anything happens Neill or Graham, this could be a long hard season. Also, with Bonazza's form failing to improve in his next game, I feel a new centre back is their most immediate concern.

Kilkenny are thinking long-term with a lot of quality youths coming through, but their manager must hope that blooding some youngsters early and selling some more experienced players won't cost them their LoI status. If they do manage to stay up this season, expect them to be a force to be reckoned with over the next few seasons!! Relagation, on the other hand would be blamed on the sale of Thornhill and other experienced players (29 year old right winger Hjalte Nordby has also left recently), and the Kilkenny manager's future could be in doubt! Thornhill made an instant impact with his new team, scoring two goals on his debut in a 2-2 draw against Irish Wolfhounds. Alexander Bonazza, for one, will be delighted to see the back of him.

Manager of the Week: Paul Walsh

Perfect start to the season for Le Sharks - its too easy for them right now. With Teabag having a dodgy start to the season, its hard to see anyone stopping Le Sharks winning the league again!

Player of the week: Luke Heffernan

The right winger has exploded into life with an incredible 8 goals already, including 7 in the last two despite the fact finishing has never been his greatest asset. I've always been a massive fan of him since he burst onto the scene, and he's been a great player for Elland Rovers over the years.He has always had excellent assist totals - suddenly adding goals to his game makes him a complete player. What a shame that he isn't left sided, or different age to Andy glynn; as he deserves to play for the National Team on current form.

U21 Player of the week - Vaitautas Taškūnas

The Lithuanian looked a real threat in an otherwise struggling Crusaders side this week, creating 8 wing chances. They'll be hoping their forwards will soon have better luck converting them. He got 14 assists in Division 2 last season, and he's got the skill, size and footballing intelligence to make the step up.

Signing of the week: Innocenzo Floccari

Floccari's signing is a massive indication of Clover's intentions, arriving from one of Italy's best known sides (FC INTERVR) and has played consistently well in the Italian Division 2 in the last three seasons. 5.03 is a really good average rating for a centre back in such a tough league. He has everything you want from a defender, plus he even has good passing and he loves to get up in the opponent's box at set pieces. He is yet to turn 25, but he has already played 266 games, and is exactly the kind of player newly promoted teams need to be looking at if they are to make the difficult step up to the LoI. Clover Rovers have made an excellent start to life at the top level (including a win over me in the opening game!!) and Floccari's 293.6m signing removes some question marks about the defence. Interestingly he sold for 550m just three seasons ago - I wonder is that a reflection on the importance of age, or a decline in the transfer market???

Finally for anyone interested:

Cavan Celtic progress report -