They talk about the romance of the Cup, and round three of the FAI Ford Cup is about as romantic as it gets.
Lots of love-struck non-league clubs looking for dates with the big boys. Everton's representatives hoping to shack up with their neighbours Cork City at City's gaff, Turner's Cross. That was the dream as the Italians, Marco and Giovanni, drew the balls from the drum on Monday night.
As it was, the reality for Everton was a home tie against fellow non-leaguers Carrick United.
The hope of a place in the last 16 of the competition very much alive for the Cork side, who sound like they should come from Liverpool. What would happen if they went on to win the cup and David Moyes' side did likewise in England? Maybe that's a bridge we should cross when we come to it, but I do like the sound of Everton taking on Everton in the UEFA Cup.
Such fixtures are the things of commentators' nightmares....
It was great to get a World Cup winner in Marco Tardelli, and the Irish team manager Giovanni Trapattoni doing the honours on MNS for the third round draw. I was fascinated to see Trap getting so animated while doing the draw, and he had obviously chatted with some of the non-league clubs' representatives beforehand, as he drew out their number, his reaction and that of the audience was hugely enjoyable.
I think Giovanni, (Seosamh) Trapattoni could turn out to be a real crowd pleaser in the coming months. Of course if his Irish team start to click and produce good results, it goes without saying that he'll be a crowd pleaser.
I might be accused of green and white bias, but I definitely think the meeting of Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers is the tie of the round. A repeat of the 1978 final when Ray Treacy's penalty separated the sides, after Steve Lynex was brought down by Paul Fielding which led to the penalty award by John Carpenter.
It's a decision that still upsets Sligo fans 30 years later. We received an e-mail to mns@rte.ie from Alan Cunningham from Sligo about the 1978 final, and he remembered everything about that day 30 years ago.
No doubt it will feature in our Raiders of the Lost Archive section at some stage, and if it adds an extra little bit of edge to the Hoops - Sligo cup match next month that can only be a good thing.
Incidentally, we had intended featuring the Sligo cup win in 1983 in our Raiders slot this week, but when the draw overran slightly time wise, we were forced to cut back, but never fear Sligo fans, it will be coming to your screens very soon!
Referees came in for plenty of criticism on the programme this week. Some of the decisions over the last few weeks have been bad, or as Pat Morley might say: 'If I'm allowed to use the word on TV - a joke.'
Pat has played the game. Roddy Collins and Sean Connor have managed teams at the highest level here, and all were in agreement that the decisions that we're seeing on a regular basis are not good enough in a professional league, and yet if you look at the Premier League in England, La Liga in Spain, Serie A in Italy, or even the Champions league, which is supposed to see the crème de la crème of refereeing talent in Europe, we still see decisions like the non-award of the penalty for Arsenal in the quarter-finals when Hleb was hauled to the ground in the box under the referee's nose.
A decision that probably cost Arsene Wenger's side a place in the Champions League semi-final. If mistakes like that happen at the highest level why should we not expect that mistakes will occur in the League of Ireland?
It's my job to tease issues out with the panel, not to agree with them, and I had to put it to them that players and coaches also make mistakes, everyone's human, and yet I've been known to call referees and linesmen every name under the sun. Mainly beginning with B and ending with X, or CKS, if you want to spell it that way.
The fact that there are cameras at every match nowadays does put an extra pressure on referees and their team of officials to get things right. Paul Doolin asks about accountability and it's perfectly legitimate for him to pose that question.
If one of his players isn't performing he'll be dropped. How many referees have been dropped this season? I don't know the answer, but I'd assume I'd be able to count them on the fingers of one hand. Possibly on the fingers of one finger!
One viewer, Sean Molloy, e-mailed us after the programme to pose the question about players' responsibility. He highlighted the Bray v Drogheda handball incident and said: 'Why don't the panel single out the handball as an act of cheating that should be condemned, instead of ignoring it and focusing on the referee?'
I have to admit that it's a very valid question. What is it about team games in particular, where things like a handball on the line, or not admitting that the ball had crossed the line (I'm thinking of Man Utd v Spurs a few years ago) are the norm?
Look at golf and snooker, where players call fouls against themselves even when unnoticed by the officials. What's the difference in mentality that can bring about such diverse attitudes to the game and winning at all costs? It's a wider debate for another day, but an interesting observation nevertheless.
Speaking of viewers getting in touch with us, we received a number of e-mails asking about Roddy's shoes this week!!
Funnily enough I noticed them as we sat in the studio pre-broadcast and was fairly dazzled by them at close quarters, but I checked with fashionista supreme Mr Morley, who assured me they were top of the range snake skin Bruno Maglias.
My only regret is that Roddy didn't wear his 'Going Loco down in Acapulco' short-sleeved shirt, which he'd brought to the studio, but had second thoughts about, before we went live. Maybe next time.
Dave Mooney scored a brilliant goal for Cork this week. I was a little disappointed that we didn't replay it again after the game, because we had got Igor Belanov's goal for the USSR v Belgium in the 1986 World Cup finals to play after the game also, which again got squeezed time wise.
It was a carbon copy of Mooney's strike (or vice versa). If you get the chance check it out on YouTube. Everything about the two goals are so similar it's uncanny.
After a week's holiday in Spain where Real Madrid clinched the league title, it's great to be back to the eircom League where we're not even one third of the way through the season.
I love summer soccer and can't wait for the rest of the campaign to unfold. Keep your e-mails coming in, good and bad we read, and take on board all suggestions.
It's down to Adare now for the Irish Open golf on RTÉ TV. No handballs on the goal line there, or crazy sendings-off, or officials being called bankers with a W, and I can't imagine that our reporter there Darren Frehill will be asking Padraig Harrington what his favourite humming noise is!, (If you don't get that reference have a look at this week's 60) but despite all that, it should be good.
Thursday morning, 10am on RTÉ One television. See you then.
