The eircom League of Ireland is at the point of no return.
The impressive performance of St Patrick’s Athletic in the RDS on Tuesday only further emphasised what all of us associated with Irish professional football already knew - this is the best era in over four decades for technical proficiency, and it is far and away the best ever for physical fitness.
The combination of these two mainstays of professional football has granted eircom League clubs the opportunity to gather the most successful sequence of positive results in European competition in the history of domestic football.
In making the above statement I am not even going to contemplate mentioning the monetary issues attendant to most clubs in the League as a natural consequence of financing the above mentioned improvements. With the week that’s in it even to mention words like deposits, banks or crisis would simply encourage that mouse of yours to beam Rico's column onto the transfer list.
Instead I am going to offer for your esteemed consideration my own considerations of the on-field requirements for the next step in European competition. In doing this I must assure you that European involvement requires quite a different approach than its domestic counterpart.
In day's gone by a League of Ireland club ventured into Europe with great trepidation and small ambition.
It usually started with the management team paying a visit to the local Army Munitions expert to seek guidance on the art of laying a minefield immediately outside the penalty area.
And for the more organised club, perhaps a visit to the Embassy of India to find out how they manage to pack Calcutta with millions and millions of people to see if the same formula could be replicated across the midfield for the away leg.
In those days the centre forward for a LOI team playing away in Europe looked like a figure viewed through the wrong end of a telescope.
How things have changed.
Confidence and expectation are at the heart of preparation now and the managers and players have visibly matured both tactically and technically.
While I agree with the more open-minded amongst you that Drogheda United were a fair margin behind Dynamo Kiev in their Champion's League fixture in Dalymount Park, the fact is that they were still only the width of the paint on the inside of an upright away from erasing the dreams of the Ukranian giants.
The Drogs had the fitness levels to finish, home and away, in a most splendid barnstorming style.
Keith Fahey's display last Tuesday in the RDS proved unequivocally that he was the most skillful player on a pitch inhabited by current international footballers of various nationalities. However, I must be balanced and acknowledge other equally obvious aspects of Irish involvement in Europe.
Despite the serious advances over the past five years or so, no club had actually made the grand leap across the international divide. As well as that Bohemians disappointed many with their premature departure from the InterToto Cup while Cork City failed badly in their UEFA Cup exploits this season.
Nonetheless, there are enough signs to suggest strongly that the breakthrough is not too far away.
However, we are at the point of no return. If we refuse to avail ourselves of the opportunities afforded us over the past few seasons, then I truly fear for the future of the eircom League. The League itself must improve further.
I feel the 10-club format due to arrive next season will hasten improvements mentally and technically. That is of course, dependent on managers possessing the perspicacity to allow their players to be more outgoing and expressive in their weekly deliverances in the League. The convincing reasoning of European progression must influence even the most dogmatic manager.
European football today demands a more adventurous approach if the grand leap is to be made.
During these most fruitful and promising moments for our clubs, the irony is that to facilitate the next progressions clubs must invest further.
If St. Pat's had been more productive from the wings and in the opposition penalty area the outcome last Tuesday could have, and I believe, would have, been quite different. Hence the acquisition of three quality players to the squad is imperative if that grand leap is to be made.
This in itself will require a prodigious leap of faith from those running our top football clubs at this time of grave financial insecurity (keep away from that mouse).
If we back away, for whatever reason, and return to part-time football, all will be lost. The League will whittle itself away with ignominy and dishonour.
Credibility built up slowly but surely over recent years will disintegrate. Regret will take the place of dreams.
