David Sneyd

TOMMIE GORMAN’S FINAL days sum up a life of devotion.

The legendary RTÉ reporter passed away in June and, right until his death, remained one of the driving forces behind Sligo Rovers’ redevelopment plans for The Showgrounds.

It was Gorman who paid a visit to a bank in the town with club chairman Tommy Higgins to help finalise some of the figures required for their application to the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund.

Afterwards, along with another co-ordinator on the project, Tom Kelly, they went for a sandwich together to pore over more details. The three men also spoke about past battles and imagined a future that would only be more hopeful should the redevelopment be confirmed.

Planning permission for the €17 million proposal had been granted by the county council last year. Now they just needed the money.

Gorman died one week later and his funeral took place 48 hours before the club made their final LSSIF submission.

“Tommie was the one giving us all the instructions. Do this, do that, get this, get that. He was the life and soul of it. He was going to the hospital the next day but he was still texting everybody that day asking how we were doing,” Higgins recalled earlier this year.

“Tommie always made sure things were done right, having everything in place to leave the club in a better place 50 years from now. He was the one who said about getting the stadium sorted because if we don’t the club would slide back the way, we had to do this for the good of the club. It was always about the good of the club for Tommie.”

Gorman had a higher profile than most but around the League of Ireland there are countless others who commit so much of their life to simply ensuring that their club survives.

What 2024 has maybe started to change is the belief that survival is the sole goal.

On 4 November, it was confirmed that Sligo would receive €16.4m from the LSSIF scheme.

Bohemians were also allocated €25m to redevelop Dalymount Park, with club chief operating officer Daniel Lamber hailing it as “the biggest news we’ve had in decades”.

He added: “It is so critical to us, to the future of the club and to the local area here, but we’re seeing the development of the league – the growth and crowds – and we’ve been at a ceiling for a number of years now.”

The glass ceiling for the League of Ireland within Irish sport – and life – has often felt more like a brick wall. One so many have been banging their heads against.

There was a brief period this summer when some of the vacuous commentary regarding Irish clubs playing in Europe – and whether any of the games warranted being shown on TV by the national broadcaster – threatened to become a dominant storyline of the year.

Instead, some of the arguments that were put forward seem to be from a different time, one when even getting to grips with increasing figures across the board clearly was not a priority while making tired assumptions.

That an innovative new broadcast deal was struck with Premier Sports highlights a shift in how things are being done.

Whether they felt compelled to watch Shamrock Rovers take on Chelsea in their last fixture of the league phase of the UEFA Conference League in mid-December remains to be seen.

They will get another chance to see the Hoops in European action in February when they face Molde in the play-off round of that competition. In between those two legs will also be Rovers’ 2025 Premier Division opener with Bohs.

It is a fixture that has been moved to Aviva Stadium in a bid to build on the momentum that has been generated around the country. However, the New Year will hopefully bring a clearer indication of the funding model – and exact figures – required to ease the burden on an overstretched and strained academy system.

On the pitch, there have been enough storylines to make a Fair City scriptwriter blush.

Damien Duff was captivating all year, and by the end it was his Shelbourne side that were crowned champions of Ireland for the first time since 2006.

The drama of that final-night win against Derry City was a fitting culmination to a top-flight campaign that enthralled.

Former Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny returned to the league with St Patrick’s Athletic and his impact became clear from the summer onwards.

The Saints reached the qualifying play-off for the UEFA Conference League and fell short against Turkey’s Istanbul Basaksehir. Nine wins from their last nine league games also saw Pat’s earn a place in Europe for 2025.

It came too late to seriously challenge for the title but that will be the expectation heading into next season.

Ruaidhrí Higgins’ departure from Derry City came on the back of a sobering end to the year, one which saw them deservedly beaten 2-0 by Drogheda United in the FAI Cup final.

That brought the curtain down on David Webster’s 17-year career, while Louth rivals Dundalk’s time in the top flight also came to an end in grim circumstances.

Amid so much of the positivity, a reminder of the perilous nature of the business came to the fore when Dundalk were only saved by extinction by an 11th-hour takeover after previous owner Brian Ainscough was prepared to walk away.

Ciaran Kilduff – who led Athlone Town to the Women’s Premier Division title – has been tasked with trying to take the Oriel Park club straight back up.

Cork City have returned after their brief stint back in the First Division, and they will have designs on making their mark rather than simply making up the numbers.

Bigger challenges also await the League of Ireland as a whole, even with record season ticket sales for numerous clubs heading into 2025.

Staying at the forefront of the conversation when it comes to funding for academies and improving infrastructure will be critical.