Mayo man hopes to lead Sligo Rovers to greater heights

With pre-season training at an end and the real thing commencing this evening, Mayo man David Cawley, the beating heart of the Sligo Rovers midfield, knows he is in a position of some privilege in these current difficult times, writes Brian Gillespie.

“Pre-season is tough and as the years go by it gets tougher, but it's enjoyable. You can't complain really though. We're lucky enough to get back training and playing – a lot of people can't return to their jobs so we can't complain about it,” the Ballina native said in anticipation of the new League of Ireland season.

On a personal level, Cawley hopes to be part of as many games as he can be and help the team achieve its goal of building on last season's form.

“Hopefully we can progress a little bit more,” he said. “We've built our way up, we're back playing European football this summer, so if we can aim for Europe again and get a little bit higher than fourth in the table, that would be progress. A little run in the cup would be great as well.”

Last season got off to a disastrous start for Rovers but then Covid-19 hit and football took a back seat for a while. “We lost the first four games in 'normal' time, so to say, and went into the first lockdown in a really bad place. We were rock bottom, with no points.

“Looking at the table, everybody was probably thinking the worst and people outside of the group were probably writing us off as well with the short season and no points at all. So we knew we had to work harder to turn things around. We had a good squad and obviously Sligo Rovers is a big football club, so we knew we shouldn't be down at the bottom. Thankfully, we managed to swing it around and ended up in fourth position, which was great for everyone.”

Of course, when football returned it was to a changed environment. The biggest difference for the players was the absence of supporters. “At first it was strange,” Cawley concedes. “The first game was up in Derry and they were playing that stadium crowd noise, and that was strange. We won the game though, so there wasn't a whole lot of crowd noise!

“But yeah, it is strange. You're so tuned into the game and focused on your own game and trying to win but all you can hear is everyone shouting. You wouldn't normally hear that when you have a crowd there getting behind you.

“If you make a mistake you won't get away with it. Normally when you make a mistake you know it and you also know the manager is shouting at you, but you can kind of blindside him and pretend you cannot hear him with the crowd noise, but there's no getting away from it now!”

It's not the only thing that has changed. For instance, the logistics of getting to training and games has altered in the new reality that Covid-19 has ushered in. “Normally for training a few lads would have jumped in the one car and travelled together but they're really clamping down on that now and you have to individually turn up to training,” Cawley explained.

“You have to try and be away from each other as much as you can – no gathering inside the dressing rooms, no showers, that sort of stuff. Regarding away games, there's not a whole lot you can get away with; you kind of have to go on the team coach. In pre-season we played Galway United and Athlone Town away, and I just drove to those games.

“As the season goes on I think there could be two team buses going to away games; that's how strict it is at the moment.”

Academy

At Rovers, Mayo players such as Luke McNicholas (on loan at Finn Harps), Mark Byrne, Darren Collins and Cillian Heaney are breaking through to the first team from the academy, and it has changed the landscape at the club, Cawley believes. “It's a good set-up, and hopefully many more will make the breakthrough,” he said.

“The academy system is massive,” he added. “In the last five or six years, if you look at the first team squad a good few have come through the academy. Ed McGinty is our number one 'keeper now, and Niall Morahan has cemented his place in the team. I know the young lads coming through now could be looking up to them and thinking it can happen.”

Cawley's own experience as a teenager was much different. He spent four years in the UK after moving from Ballina Town to Ipswich Town, which gives his first-hand experience of how ruthless it can be across the water.

“In the UK, you could be on a contract and three or four months before it's due to end you could be get a random call to the office and be told you're not wanted at the end of the contract.

“It's a bit ruthless, especially when you're not from there. You just want to get in a car and go home when you get that news.

“In my last year in England I was on a pro contract. By then I was constantly playing in the reserves and trying to break through (to the first team), and it wasn't happening. The contract was due to end in June or July but I got an injury in March that season that would keep me out for five months. I was literally just counting down the days of my contract after that. I knew that by the time I got fit my contract would be over.

“Anyway, they gave me the early shout to say I wouldn't be kept. I did my work with the physio. I came home when he gave me the green light but it was the following January before I was up to speed. Sligo eventually came calling with a trial, but it was a rough few months from when I came home in May until that trial in January.”

Would he have enjoyed the Irish academy system when he was young instead of going to England? “I don't know really. Obviously I had the experience of going to England and coming back, which kind of stood to me, so it's hard to say if I would have progressed as normal if I had stayed here. It's hard to compare. I've been asked that a few times and it's hard to tell, but for the young lads coming through now it's great for them.”

Sligo Rovers kick-off their season at home to FAI Cup and FAI President's Cup holders Dundalk this evening (Saturday, March 20) at 6 p.m.