Bohs to link with Blackburn - January 26,
2001
Bohemians are set to become the latest Eircom League club to forge formal links with an English outfit. Hot on the heels of Cork City's deal with Leicester City, the Gypsies are to tie the net with Nationwide division one club Blackburn Rovers.
The Lancashire club has a long association with Ireland and though blue-nose manager Graeme Sounness has sparked something of an Irish clear-out at first-team level, there is a generation of young Irishmen on the verge of breaking through at Ewood.
Lee Carsley has gone to Coventry and Alan Kelly, Jeff Kenna and Jason McAteer are all looking to get away. But Damien Duff is still there; Blackburn have taken young Alan Mahon on loan from Sporting Lisbon with a view to a purchase; and Jonathan Douglas has already made two appearances with the first-team this term.
Another two Irish youngsters have been farmed out on loan and are doing exceptionally well - Peter Murphy at Halifax and Ben Burgess at Australian top division outfit Northern Spirit, where he has cracked eight goals from 15 games.
Like the Cork-Leicester link-up, the Bohemians-Blackburn deal would see the English club having first dibs on young Bohs players heading to England - like Gareth O'Connor, who joined Bournemouth at the start of this season or Gary O'Neill, who looks set to be the next to go.
The deal could also see Blackburn loaning young players to Bohemians for first-team experience.