Mason Melia building towards thrilling end to St Pat's chapter ahead of Tottenham move

Irish Times

2 days ago

Richmond Park is the League of Ireland's Cape Canaveral – the latest rocket to be launched from there is
Mason Melia
.
We borrow the introduction from The Bard of Burgh Quay. Back in 1982, Con Houlihan was referring to Paul McGrath just before he landed at Old Trafford.
Houlihan never laid eyes on Melia, having passed away 13 years ago this month. In December,
as Ian O'Riordan noted in these pages
, Con would have turned 100.
Comparing a player to McGrath, at any point in their career, is like comparing a sports columnist to Houlihan. It is unfair, even foolhardy.
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Melia turns 18 in September. Come January he will be training down Hotspur Way alongside Richarlison and Dominic Solanke, becoming Irish football's modern test case, an unintended consequence of Brexit that prompted the best teenagers to stay home until they are legally permitted to sip a pint of plain.
'
Tottenham
have a plan for me,' he informed a handful of reporters recently. 'We'll take it step-by-step here and see how I'm feeling in January and go from there.'
St Patrick's Athletic understood the assignment,
negotiating the sort of seven-figure fee
that Shamrock Rovers now seek for Victor Ozhianvuna and Michael Noonan. It is what Cork City could have received for Cathal O'Sullivan until his cruciate ligament snapped for a second time in three seasons.
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Behind the scenes at St Patrick's Athletic's academy, where the next Mason Melia may already have arrived
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]
The past two years of impressive displays may not be enough for Melia to storm past Mathys Tel and Mohammed Kudus in the Spurs pecking order, never mind Richarlison and Solanke, but no more can be asked of the club he joined from Bray Wanderers at 14.
Last night, in Istanbul against Besiktas, Melia made his twelfth European appearance for the Inchicore institution.
'I'm still only 17 but I've played over 80 games in senior football now,' he remarked. 'I think everything has worked out the way I would like it to work out.'
He also has 20 goals and six assists.
'I've grown into more of a man. I'm feeling more physical and ready for a bigger challenge.'
Beşiktaş (a) ⏳
📸 Eoghan Connelly
— St Patrick's Athletic FC (@stpatsfc)
There will be moments to savour between now and Melia's move to London in December. On Sunday, if Shelbourne have their way, it will be his last FAI Cup game for St Pat's.
Bizarrely, St Pats versus Shels down by the River Camac is not being televised as RTÉ instead choose the Saturday night rerun of last year's final between Drogheda United and Derry City.
Melia's last game for the Saints is also scheduled to be against Shelbourne at Tolka Park on Saturday, November 1st at 7.45pm. Primetime. If the Dublin rivals are still scrapping for a European spot, an electric atmosphere will be broadcast by Virgin Media.
Both TV stations were absent from Tallaght stadium last week as Tammy Abraham plundered a hat-trick for Besiktas before half-time. Despite an impossible task, the St Pat's fireflies were a constant nuisance as Melia, Simon Power and Kian Leavy refused to accept their fate.
RTÉ slept on their League of Ireland coverage and lost it to Virgin, but by securing the FAI Cup rights until 2027 they may provide the final stop on Melia's farewell tour. A possible ending has Stephen Kenny guiding St Pat's to the decider at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday, November 9th.
The cup final is still the best advertisement for Irish soccer. If the 2025 version pairs Pats against a double-chasing Shamrock Rovers, with Melia, Ozhianvuna and Noonan on show, it would certainly capture the zeitgeist.
Or we will get a completely different narrative, like Bohs v Shels or Derry City v Cork City. Let's see how the last 16 pans out.
As the light declined in Turkey on Wednesday evening, St Pat's club photographer Eoghan Connelly captured the entire travelling party with the Tüpraş Stadyumu backdrop. Melia is among them, pointing at the match ball as if to suggest a freakish hat-trick was in the post.
'I kind of like attention,' the teenager told us. 'If you've had attention, you're doing something right. I've dealt with it since I was young, I have a good family behind me. Everyone keeps me humble. I think I'm humble.'
The son of north Wicklow, whose mother Pamela ferries him 50 kilometres to training in Abbotstown, has taken flight of late.
Mason Melia heads home for St Patrick's Athletic against Sligo Rovers at Richmond Park. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho
Last Sunday he made it 2-0 against Sligo Rovers with a header off Brandon Kavanagh's corner. Four minutes later, he powered past Ollie Denham before a scandalous rollover touch grounded Rovers goalkeeper Sam Sargeant and allowed him finish from an acute angle.
The only pity was the absence of a camera behind the goal where Con Houlihan used to stand.
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Dreams will be dashed or kept afloat tonight as the cup serves up three localised last-16 duels. Waterford go to Turners' Cross to face a troubled Cork City, Salthill face Galway United in Eamonn Deacy Park and Kerry host Cobh Ramblers at Mounthawk Park.