This week in the Eircom League:
World Cup lion roars for
ShelsShelbourne
Dublin City
7.45pm Tolka Park Friday.
 After
many years wandering Joseph Ndo is ready to make his home in Dublin.
The 30-year-old Cameroon midfielder played professional football in
his homeland as well as Saudi Arabia, France, and Swit-zerland before
arriving in Ireland midway through the 2002 season after help-ing his
country reach the last 16 of the world cup in Japan and South Korea.
He says: “I didn’t know a whole lot about Ireland when I came
over first to be honest. I had been on a few trials in England with nothing
happening, so when St. Pats came in it wasn’t a hard choice to make.”
Half a dozen games into his Eircom League career Ndo scored his first
goal from midfield and began to settle into life in Ireland.
He says: “Football fans in Ireland are for the most part great fun.
The pressures are less here than in Strasbourg, where every part of your
life was watched by the media. Growing up in Cameroon we had a very relaxed
approach to life that is mirrored in Ireland.
“All we did was play football day and night. Kicking the ball around
the streets is not allowed in some of the places I have lived so its great
to see in Ireland.
Joseph transferred to Shelbourne in 2004 and won the Eircom League title
the following year.
He says: “That was my first proper medal as a footballer so it will
always mean a lot to me. The look on the fans faces when they knew we
had won was worth more than any amount of money.”
Despite living in Ireland for just four years Joseph has noticed incredible
changes.
He says: “In terms of football, the Eircom League is much stronger
now than it was then. Almost all the Shelbourne players would get game
in the Swiss League and people like Jason Byrne would be very close to
French top division standard. It wasn’t really like that when I
started, you had some excellent players, but the depth wasn’t there
as it is now.”
An example of the renewed competitiveness of Irish soccer can be found
with Shels opponents on Friday night — Dublin City.
The Vikings came up via the play-offs last season and were immediately
installed as favourites for relegation but have defied the doomsayers
with a string of impressive results. And with Shelbourne failing to fire
thus far this season this game might be a bit closer than it looked only
a few short weeks ago.
Verdict: Home win
|
