Every team needs a leader, someone who epitomises the spirit and passion of a club and its supporters. For Bohs that man is Keith Buckley, writes Tony Magner.
Aged 32 now and a veteran of over 350 games for the club, he endured the heartbreak of a year on the sidelines with a serious knee injury suffered in October 2023.
Back now and raring for the season to kick into full gear he’s as positive as always when it comes to assessing Bohs prospects for the campaign ahead. Just to add, we won’t be talking about Keith’s time out, he wants to look ahead.
“I’m delighted to be back. When you are out for so long from doing something that you love it hurts, so to be back training and competing feels pretty good! I’m ready to start but the manager picks the team and I know I may have to wait. I’ll be ready once Alan gives me the say-so! It’s just a matter of keeping up my workrate, waiting for my time and then making my impression.
“Look how well Rob Cornwall has done so far, he was immense at the Aviva in his first game back. But look, he’ll tell you himself that it takes more than a game or two to be fully in the groove. People say it’s all about getting your touch back, well I never had a great one anyway, so I must be ready to go!”
Obviously the early season buzz was all about the derby win over Rovers at Lansdowne.
While Keith acknowledges that it was a very special day, he also reminds us all that it is the same three points that are on offer tonight, like in Derry and in Cork.
“It was lovely to see how much the fans enjoyed the occasion,” he acknowledges, “and it’s amazing to think that on the same day, Leverkusen and Bayern had a smaller crowd! We were so pleased to give the fans the bragging rights but we’ve 33 more games in the league
to go. What really made an impression on me was the sight of so many families at the game all mixed together.
“I’m no fan of the GAA or the rugby but that is one thing they have over the soccer, the fact that so many families can go and sit amongst each other irrespective of who they’re following.”
While it was lovely to win that game, we then lost in Derry so if ever people needed reminding it’s not always going to be showcase occasions, flashy pitches and 33,000
crowds, that was it.
“It was a tough game, one we were very disappointed to lose because there really was nothing in it. We huffed and puffed but the bottom line is, we didn’t create enough chances to get something.
“That said, Derry couldn’t say they created much either. But they have the three points and that’s what hurts. We’re going to have plenty more tight games like that and we have to find a way to come out on the right side of them. We have a lot of new arrivals and maybe it’ll take a few games for us to gel and find our rhythm but what I will say is we have serious strength on the bench these days, I was on it myself! Whoever is in the shirt will have earned it.”
Tonight’s opponents ended last term as the form team in the country, storming to an epic FAI
up final victory and securing Premier Division football with plenty to spare.
They’ve gone full-time this term too and started with an excellent point at Richmond Park and an assured 2-0 home win over Sligo Rovers.
“Drogheda will be a tough test. People tend to overlook them and write them off and I’m sure they use that as a motivation. I can assure you that nobody in our dressing room will be speaking that way about them. We will have one hell of a tough test and we won’t get a minute’s rest. They came here last season and won and we know they are not to be trifed with.”
Targets are things that are being kept in-house. Keith won’t be talking about last season either, he is all about facing forward, but he does acknowledge readily that this term needs to be better and that the players are determined to progress the club up to where we belong, competing for trophies and European football.
“We need to be better. The aim is to be competitive in every single game and not to look back at the end of the season and have any regrets about any given 90 minutes.
“Sure, things won’t always go our way, but we need to leave everything out on the pitch. At the start of the season, every team is fresh and every player is excited, enthusiastic and keen to build momentum, but once we really get into it and we hit FridayMonday-Friday weeks, that’s when the table takes shape and the quality and depth of your squad, not just your team, come into play. Of course we should be qualifying for Europe. There are massive expectations at Bohemians, and rightly so. It’s a privilege for each and every one of us to play for a club that means so much to so many people.”
Bucko is as excited as the fans are by the winter arrivals. Competition is vital to any squad he maintains, that to be as competitive as he has mentioned, we need quality in all areas and competition for every jersey.
“Alan has brought in some top players and that should make sure that every player feels challenged,” he says.
“There’ll be no automatic starters and nobody will be able to relax and count on a shirt. Another thing that is very heartening is the experience the manager has brought in.
Lys Mousset has played at the highest levels and brings so much to the squad. We’ve seen in training how good he is and having played at the level he has, there will be so much that the lads can learn from him. John Mountney has won leagues at Dundalk and you just can’t buy experience like that. He has been around a winning mentality for his whole career, been in squads where every game has massive consequences. He knows what it takes to win.
“Niall Morahan has been brilliant since he arrived and what I admire about him is that he has been central to everything Sligo have achieved, it’s pretty much his local club, but he hasn’t rested on that, he’s come away and wants to prove himself elsewhere.”
Added to that, Rennie has brought in a clutch of exciting younger guns, something that Bucko feels is vital to any successful side
“Kian Best is a really good player too and I think he is going to be a fne addition to the side and we all know what Colm Whelan is capable of once we can get him injury free. Rhys Brennan has had a brilliant pre-season and he really is one to watch. He is so exciting, direct and quick and I think he’ll get fans off their seats.”
Add to that we have the return of Rob and James Talbot too even though he has been back in the fold for a while now. He has started this campaign in the No.1 spot between the sticks, keeping out last year’s Player of the Year, Kacper Chorazka.
“It’s a cliché to describe them as being like new signings, but it doesn’t mean it’s not true! I’ve mentioned how good Rob has been already but I am thrilled for J.T. too. Himself and Kacper will battle it out all season. We have two goalies that would get a start in pretty much every club in the league.”
With the league on the crest of a wave with that opening game, more live games on tv and an expanded loi.tv, not to mention burgeoning crowds, Keith agrees that it is vital that we ride this crest of a wave cleverly and strive to make sure we keep the league in the forefront of the public mindset.
“It’s important we all do our bit,” he says. “It’s our league, it’s what we love. Look how it has grown without real major government investment. It’s been built up by the communities at each club that love it and care about it. Imagine what a product we’d have if the government really got behind league projects.
“We’ve been the poor relations to rugby and GAA for ages, yet look at how we’ve grown. The optics of football really matters. When you think of the game at Lansdowne and how good it looked on tv if you put those same 22 players in other settings in the league, then the product doesn’t look even remotely as attractive. We have to make our stadiums places where people want to come, particularly families. It is all about growing our league for the decades to come. In 10 or 20 years I will be long gone from it! It’s about today’s kids! I remember a few of our lads up in Derry commenting on how well their new stand looked.
While I agree, how sad is it that we get excited by one stand at one ground? The league deserves more.”
Keith is keen to address the fans as they sit in Dalymount reading this tonight and it’ll be no surprise to anyone that knows him or has seen him play, that his message is upbeat, determined and yet profoundly pragmatic.
“Sometimes you ask fans to be patient. But Bohs fans have been exactly that for long enough. It’s time for us to deliver. There’s an onus on us, the squad, to give the supporters something to get excited about. There’s no other place like Dalymount when we do something to get the fans going, I’ve lost count of the amount of times opposing players have said that to me.
“Bohs fans love a team that gives everything for the shirt; the lung-busting runs, the last ditch tackles, lads wearing their hearts on their sleeves, the work rate, the goals, the passion. That’s what we have to be about. That’s what we need to give them.”