Saturday just gone I made the short trip up to Sligo to meet an equally fanatical football fan and friend. On the agenda was football and beer, nothing new there, but what made this meeting different from the others was our planned trip to The Showgrounds to see the current League of Ireland Champions, Sligo Rovers take on Bohemians. I was quite unsure of what to expect, I hadn’t attended a professional/semi-professional game of football in Ireland in a very long time and like I said in a previous post, it’s not something I’m proud of and It’s something I’m looking to address.

Saturday evening in Sligo it was 20 degrees celsius, unusually warm for this part of the country and for Ireland in general but it added to the occasion and it was a smashing evening for a game of football. I really wasn’t familiar with either teams starting line ups but I was expecting Rovers’ Anthony Elding to lead the line of attack but I was informed en route to the game that he was serving a three match ban for punching an away fan in a previous game…so er ya that dampened the attacking mood a little. Still we had a game to look forward to and as you can see from the picture above the players had a green carpet to play on. I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the pitch and the newly installed stand we were sitting in.

The game was only close to three minutes old when a whipped Rovers cross was sent crashing against the post, it seemed as though we were in for a cracking game as both teams were in dire need of some points. Unfortunately it wasn’t the game I hoped it would be nor was it the game the other 2,000 football fans had hoped it would be. Rovers had the majority of the ball for the 90 minutes but the amount of lateral and backward passing was astonishing. A few Sligo players looked quite comfortable on the ball, most notably centre midfielder Joseph N’Do and I’ll get on to him in a bit, but most of the players out there looked tentative and worried about making a mistake, not the type of football that had won them the league just a few months prior. Anytime a Rovers player managed to turn and face up his man the Bohemians defence looked shaky as a new born calf, but it just did not happen enough. Rovers looked to exploit the wings with the pace they had out there but they were extremely wasteful, Kieran Dijali giving away the ball in some fantastic attacking positions.

As the game drew to an end Rovers pressed for a winner but it just would not come, Gavin Peers hit a screamer from 25 yards but it clipped off the upright and the Dubliners had hung on for a crucial away point.

As we filtered out of the ground after the final whistle I contemplated what I had just watched and time and time again my mind flashed back to the passing, touches and movement of one individual, 36 year old, Cameroon born Joseph N’Do. He oozed class for the 90 minutes, yes the 36 year old played the full 90 minutes and he made it look a breeze.

N’Do has played for a host of teams in Europe and in Asia too, but he has been plying his trade in Ireland since 2003, he is among a very small group of players who have managed to play for Dublin’s ‘Big 4’ (St. Pats, Bohemians, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne) N’Do joined Sligo Rovers in 2010 and has quickly become something of a cult hero in the town. He was a stand out player on the day and he really looked a man among boys. His composed and calculated play was fantastic to watch as he stroked the ball around the park, closed down the opposition and showed all round intelligent play. There were no tricks or flicks just calm passing and movement, it was strange to see something so simple look so magical. His audacious shot from the half way line really summed him up, he was out there having fun and it drew a rapturous cheer and applause from the crowd. N’Do was a real show man at work.

My time in Sligo was great even if the football left a little to be desired, but what I took away from the weekend was that we really and truly have a gem of a footballer playing in our league, a real entertainer. With all the negative grumbling you hear about the League of Ireland Joseph N’Do is a real shinning light.