Over the last few days, the tributes paid to Noel O'Reilly have been fulsome.
Vincent Hogan wrote a beautiful piece in the Irish Independent that captured the essence of the man, who'll be missed by many within the game here in Ireland.
Stephen Finn, who's on the MNS production team, put together a very nice tribute to Noel for Monday's programme at short notice, including contributions from Robbie Keane and many of the leading lights in the game in Ireland.
Noel's spirit will live on at his beloved Inchicore, and no better tribute could be paid to him then for Pats to reach the group phase of the UEFA Cup.
Of course, as I write this on Tuesday morning, the small matter of Hertha Berlin and a two goal deficit stand between Pat's and the holy grail of a place in the group phase with some of Europe's leading lights.
Granted it's not the Champions League but it would still mean so much to St Patrick's Athletic and domestic soccer to get a club into the business end of the tournament.
My mind goes back to last weekends Magner's league tie between Leinster and Munster. A packed RDS and an atmosphere to savour, albeit one in which Leinster allowed Munster prevail without troubling the scoreboard operator.
What St.Pat's would do for a crowd like that. My hope is that fans from all Eircom League clubs will come out to support the Saints, as ultimately success for any club here will have a positive knock on effect, but I'm worried that the early kick-off and supporter apathy will leave the attendance way below what St Pat's are hoping for.
The fact that Johnny McDonnell's side have to overcome a two goal deficit may also play a part in persuading the wavering to stay away.
It would be great if Pat's can get the first goal and make a real match of it. The feeling of Eoin Hand, Tony McDonnell and Damien Richardson is that Pat's are capable of causing a stir, but my one dread is that Hertha score early as the tie would be beyond Saints.
We'll know the story come about 7 o'clock on Tuesday. I was interested to note coming into the city on Tuesday morning, that the AA had erected a number of those yellow signs pointing drivers in the direction of the RDS, and the St Patrick's Athletic versus Hertha Berlin game.
A sign (if you'll excuse the pun) that this game is a special occasion. Whether the RDS will be graced with the sort of crowd that the tie deserves remains to be seen. Some supporters have complained about the early kick off time, and the move to the RDS, but in fairness to Pat's, their hands were tied.
UEFA require certain basic facilities when you get into later rounds of their competitions, and unfortunately Inchicore doesn't tick enough of those boxes, so the move to Ballsbridge was forced upon the club, and the early kick off brought about by the demands of German television, who for obvious reasons don't wan't the match, and indeed cannot let the match, clash with Champions League games at 7.45pm.
The knock on effect is that we on RTE television are also now in a position to show the game live before our Champions league output on Tuesday night.
Yes some supporters are discommoded by the early kick off, but many of those supporters will also have taken time off work to travel to Sweden, and Latvia in the earlier rounds, so it strikes me as strange that they would now criticize the club for allowing a 5pm kick off, when the decision seems like a no-brainer to me.
One thing that struck me during this weeks programme was the quality of some of the goals. Boco's beautiful chipped goal for Sligo against Cobh was in the Vela and Raul class - they scored recently for Arsenal and Real Madrid with equally sublime chips.
Mark Quigley scored a wonder goal against Sporting Fingal in the Cup quarter-final replay. Kevin Deery's 30-yarder for Derry against Wexford Youths in the League cup final was another to savour, not to mention Jonathan Keane's fantastic finish for Galway at Drogheda.
If you haven't seen any of these goals have a look at this weeks programme on this website. You have a treat in store.
Some of the goals might lose a bit of impact because of the surroundings. For example Keane scored into the goal at United Park that has a wall and a housing estate behind it, which doesn't quite have the same effect as The Emirates Stadium for example, but it shouldn't take away from the quality of the strike.
Lets hope Pat's get a crowd for the Hertha game - and if you're reading this after the event, lets hope you're celebrating a great European success for the Inchicore club. If not, lets hope they've done the league proud at least!
Finally, our regular director Kevin O'Connell is back with us after a ten week sojourn in Beijing at the Olympics and Paralympics. He's a Tallaght native and very excited about the prospect of Shamrock Rovers impending move there. I've seen photos on the Shamrock Rovers official website and the FAI website as well, and the development is continuing apace.
The defeat to Bohemians will have hurt last weekend, but for Hoops supporters, there are far more important fish to fry into the future.
