Dundalk's Daryl Horgan who collected the SSE Airtricity player of the month award for May. Photo: Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE

It was one of the great ironies of Giovanni Trapattoni's reign – how the man who claimed "Ireland has no league" inadvertently did so much to promote it.

In his five-year-term as the Republic of Ireland manager, Trap capped 15 League of Ireland graduates – James McClean, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, Seamus Coleman, Wes Hoolahan, David Forde, Keith Fahey, David Meyler, Stephen Ward, Conor Sammon, Damien Delaney, Noel Hunt, Daryl Murphy, Stephen Quinn and Paddy Madden.

And in a league constantly fighting a credibility war, their maturation from raw, uncut diamonds into polished internationals proved a point – that if you looked hard enough, there was quality to be found at home.

So England's clubs did look, plundering the best and ignoring the rest. The Colemans, McCleans and Doyles went to finishing school, while the rest of the league went to pot, declining alarmingly from 2006 on.

This year, though, has witnessed an upturn. The standard at the top end of the league has risen and while some absolutely awful teams can still find a way into the Premier Division, the arrival of a new generation of young, skilful players offers hope.

Daryl Horgan is one of those. Named the SSE Airtricity Player of the Month winner for May yesterday, the Dundalk winger is dreaming big, believing he too can make the leap across the Irish Sea.

Yet perhaps he was dreaming a little too big when he suggested as many as 19 of his contemporaries were capable of joining him.

"You are looking at James McClean, Wes Hoolahan and Seamus Coleman and wondering, 'they made it so can I go across too?'

"What those guys achieved proves to me that we have a decent product in this country. Coleman wasn't that much of a better player at Blackpool than he was here and the same goes for McClean," said Horgan. "Yes, there is clearly a gap between here and England but because of the Premier League's hype, that gap seems wider than it actually is.

"The fact is that we have some really fine players in the League of Ireland. It's funny, because of the financial constraints, clubs have given young players a chance but because of this, the football has improved."

To date, this season has been far from disappointing. Dundalk, leading the table by three points from Cork City, have played superbly well, although Horgan was quick to point out that we are still, of course, at the halfway mark. Of the four contenders, they have the toughest task tonight, facing a Derry side who seemingly have recovered from their stuttering start. Cork, meanwhile, play Limerick at home, intent on proving they are genuine contenders for Irish football's biggest prize.

"Getting praise midway through the season doesn't matter," said Cork's manager John Caulfield. "You want to be there at the end, challenging for trophies. That is where your reward is."

For Shamrock Rovers and St Pat's meanwhile, their immediate task is to overcome the respective challenges of UCD and Bray tonight.

June may not be the month when titles are won, but it can be the time of year when they are lost.

Irish Independent