The offending penalty spot at Dalymount Park that caued the abandonment of Bohemians' clash with Shamrock Rovers

The dawn of September brings with it the start of the three-month period that defines every Irish football year.

This morning in Malahide, Martin O'Neill's squad will hold their first training session in a week building up to Georgia on Sunday. Finally, he's got a relevant fixture in sight.

It's not just O'Neill and co that are starting to feel the heat as the evenings draw in. Since the League of Ireland switched to the summer season, this portion of the calendar has come to represent the idiosyncrasies of the game in these parts.

Just as the domestic season reaches its climax, the international roadshow rolls into town, leaving everything else in its shadow.

In recent years, the defining matches of the League of Ireland title race have struggled for exposure around senior team schedules. This could be solved if the campaign was stretched out as opposed to being crammed into a narrow window.

Admittedly, the rushed nature of the Airtricity League season cannot be blamed on the organisers. This is a product of the majority of clubs being in favour of 40-week contracts for employees because that's all they can afford.

Unwelcome

Two high-profile and sudden big-match cancellations in the last fortnight have added to fixture congestion as well as delivering an unwelcome burst of negative publicity. On the airwaves and in social media land, these tales were decried as the same old story. Another Irish football farce.

Over in Abbotstown, they are frustrated by that tone and the associated belief that the game in this jurisdiction is dogged by long-standing problems. In a recent interview, John Delaney spoke broadly when he observed there were issues of 'credibility' when he took over as FAI CEO in 2004.

Increased revenue streams were put forward as evidence of progress as he painted a bright picture of the overall Irish scene. (Increased debts are a counterpoint).

Either way, this full picture has to include the health of the highest level of club football and, seven years after taking full control of the League of Ireland, the FAI cannot distance itself from its ills. Fiascos centred around a damaged penalty spot and bust floodlights present an image of poverty that shatters any talk of credibility and progress.

This is where our national heroes are supposed to ride in as the knights in shining armour and lift us from the gloom. That has always been the way. Middle-ranked countries like Slovenia, Cyprus and Belarus saw their top club qualify for the Champions League this week, so they're not engaged in an exhaustive countdown to Euro 2016 in the hope of finding a ray of light.

In Ireland, it's different. The FAI can never accuse any outlet of unfairly ramping up the pressure on the side that steps into action in Tbilisi. They have done so themselves with a series of statements linking performance on the field with the ongoing fight to deal with the substantial debt built up by the disastrous sale of premium tickets for the Aviva Stadium.

Our signpost to a brighter future is the expanded 24-team European Championships, which the FAI strongly lobbied for.

At last year's AGM, former finance director Tony Dignam made a presentation where one of the items listed under the heading of 'Future Sources of Income to Repay Debt' was the prospect of qualifying for major tournaments, with the enlarged Euros highlighted as a plausible reason to be optimistic.

Centralised TV monies are offering guaranteed levels of income, but there is a huge element of chance involved in placing huge stock on the extra places. Remember, a repeat of Ireland's fourth-place finish in their World Cup group won't be enough for a play-off.

As it stands, we're working off more or less the same core of players and they face stern opposition in the form of Scotland and Poland in the race for second behind Germany. History would suggest it will go the wire.

That's placing a lot on the shoulders of O'Neill and Roy Keane. If a League of Ireland entity presented a budget with a clause that a managerial change should bring extra prize money to meet costs, the licensing people would raise their eyebrows.

Of course, we know that a promising start in the Euros race will hook the casual fan who cares only for news from the pitch and finds the money talk boring.

They might care about player development, and the slow trickle of talent coming through, but then that debate is inextricably linked with monetary realities.

That includes the cash that is generated from the ritual exportation of any promising youths. Consider the fresh case of a Championship club which has offered a top Dublin schoolboy nursery the paltry sum of €2,500 to cover the compensation of getting one 17-year-old on board.

It was unsuccessful and they raised the offer slightly in a situation complicated by this individual's progression to a League of Ireland team who initially signed the fledgling as an amateur before reaching agreement on pro terms and lining up for a bigger transfer fee for all parties until they made a clerical error which prevented the changing of his status. Typical.

Whatever about the minutiae of that specific incident, the telling aspect is the English suitors' awareness they can chance their arm and offer a derisory fee because they are shopping in a climate where beggars really cannot be choosers.

Granted, Cork City will do well from Brian Lenihan's sale, a switch that could earn the Leesiders more than €200,000 if sell-on clauses are activated.

This still pales in comparison with the €315,000 which Conference side Gateshead received up front - with add-ons to follow - for the sale of another 20-year-old, Marcus Maddison, to League One Peterborough last week.

Over in Scotland, meanwhile, Dundee United managed to make in the region of €7.5m by cashing in on Ryan Gauld (Sporting Lisbon) and Andrew Robertson (Hull). The Scottish game has many issues, but they still have the clout and confidence to do good business and, in certain cases, keep hold of their elite performers for longer and duly reap the rewards.

Sadly, the perception of Ireland has not been changed by the exploits of Seamus Coleman, Shane Long and other cheap success stories. Across the water, they know they are acutely aware they entering a market where sellers can be happy to receive any kind of money. Those revenue streams flow at the same speed.

Maybe this is a sceptical viewpoint, but these issues are a part of the jigsaw and worth remembering as Irish minds become immersed in a fresh major tournament adventure.

Last November, when the 'dream team' was hired, Delaney spoke of how the impressive appointments could 'make Irish football great.'

There's a lot more that needs to be fixed before that ambition can be realised.

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