Ahead of this week’s First Division play-off final, LOI Talk sat down with Treaty United’s Lee J Lynch to interview him about himself, the upcoming fixture and the mentality surrounding the game.

The Interview.

Lee, great to have you on,Can you tell us a bit about where you’re from and how did you first get into football?

I’m from Limerick, and I suppose just through my family, my grandad was massive into football around Limerick and my uncle played professional from an early age himself. I suppose it was just kind of in the family, I just really kind of got into it from an early age.

Did you play any other sports growing up as a child or was it only just soccer?

Actually, rugby.The lads I’d know in football would laugh at that because of obviously my size or whatever. I loved rugby but there became a decision when I was around 14 or 15. I decided to go with soccer but I loved playing rugby. I didn’t really get into GAA to be honest but I love watching it.

Growing up, who would have been the biggest influence on your career, whether that be a player you loved watching or someone close to you and why?

As I said before probably family just because my uncle was over there and I suppose my grandfather would’ve been a big influence, he would’ve experienced that with him. And my other uncles as well are heavily involved and love the game as well so they would’ve seen me growing up playing it and it get more serious so a lot of them would’ve given advice throughout the years and everything like that. I suppose like every player they’re really close to their family. Seeing the twists and the turns, the highs and the lows of it. I’m delighted my family still go to all the games 15-16 years later and I appreciate everything that they do for me.

You have played in countries like England,Scotland, Spain, and Northern Ireland , how would the standard of football compare to here in the League Of Ireland?

I suppose it depends on, what it is. I think we’re starting to see a different taste of it now with the clubs in the League of Ireland and up north getting into the European competitions. You’re seeing when Shels played Linfield, I think Larne as well maybe last year. The leagues are getting really really strong and starting to progress really well and I think its good for everyone involved. I think the standards have gone through the roof and I think every team, not only the teams that are qualifying for Europe who are setting the standards, I think every team is trying to catch up with them and make sure they’re doing the things right and they can prepare for financial changes and they can really invest in their squad and want to go for Europe.

As far as style, the leagues differ.I think just as an individual player that can help you the older you get as you get more used to the different styles of football and that you can adapt your game to whatever your manager wants to play I suppose.

You’re one of the very few to have played for both Limerick FC and for Treaty United, what’s it like returning to your hometown club and would you notice many differences between the two?

It’s amazing to be honest. I think every player loves playing for their hometown club and obviously with Limerick we were in the Premier Division and then briefly in the First Division but I don’t really look into that side of things to be honest. I suppose where its at for me is it’s playing for my hometown League of Ireland club and that’s something I’m proud of. As I said I think every home grown player is. Obviously I’d love to set a lot of things with Treaty and win a lot of things with Treaty and look, we’re in the really early stages of a journey as a club, I’m proud to be a part of it. I definitely want to help them grow and as I said that means winning trophies and progressing and helping the younger lads coming through as well. I’m proud to be able to play a part of that an especially with my hometown club.

Having joined in the summer of last season and unluckily missing out on the playoffs last season, what would you say is different about this group this season compared to last?

I definitely think we had a change in personnel. We lost a lot of players in the off season for a number of different reasons and a lot of them were good players as well. We signed a lot younger as well this year and obviously that takes time to gel as well. I think there’s been a lot of changes through each year with Treaty but I think we were up and down again this year being honest but we’ve hit really good form towards the end of the season and the group has really come together. We’re actually in a lot more this year and I think that gels the group a lot. You’re in around each other a lot more, it brings the group a bit more together so in those difficult times you can dig in together as well.

I think we’ve hit a good form at the right time and as you said we got the play-offs this year and we’ve started well in the play-offs which is good. There’s a lot of confidence around the place and around the club.

As your manager Tommy Barrett pointed out on Tuesday night, Treaty have 1 of the youngest teams on average in the League with an average age of 21. As one of the senior figures in the dressing room, what’s your role like off the pitch in helping guide the younger lads?

I suppose it’s just helping them with the highs and lows of football because at one moment you can have a great game and the club are playing really well and the team does really well and then we might have a disappointing defeat and how you can handle that, its all about staying level headed and just making sure you’re doing your work on the training pitch and from the Monday to the Thursday and being ready for the game and especially how you can then prepare and recover right after a game. How do you recover, how do you look after yourself and I think as you said we are extremely young. We’ve a lot of really young, good players being honest and I think this is great for them as they are getting first hand experience of the First Division.

A lot of them would’ve played against Derry this year and seeing that sort of standard. If they want to be the best and play at the highest level in the country they have to set standards. We’re trying to do that at the club as well, especially in the changing room and on the pitch and on the what we are about. I think each individual can learn from that and grow. They can then bring that onto the pitch and grow and develop as a player. I suppose that’s why I’m trying to help them. Hopefully they can do well for themselves.

What’s it like to work under Tommy Barrett?

Yeah, its been great. Tommy’s obviously from Limerick himself and been around Limerick soccer a long long time as well. I think throughout my career now I’ve learned from all the managers I’ve played under. I’ve played under a lot of great managers. I try to take little bits from each of them. I have my B License a long time now but I plan on doing the A[License] really soon. I want to develop that way. I think Tommy is a great man manager and he looks after his players a lot. He has us really well organised and I think a lot of people now are taking a look at that especially with the play-off games and having to go down to Wexford. I think we’ve put in some really good performances as we’ve been really organised, really disciplined and rally efficient when we go forward.

As I said I think it’d really clicked at the right time. We’re just going with the flow of it at the moment. The next game is Bray and that’s what we are looking at. We’re not looking anything beyond this, it’s literally Bray, we’ve done our homework on them, we’ll have a game plan going into it and hopefully we can execute it like we have with other games.

Into the play off final on Sunday against Bray Wanderers,  A quick word on the semi final against Cobh Ramblers, 2 excellent performances from Treaty — Friday and Tuesday night — what do you put them performances down to?

I think we just clicked. I think it[performance against Wexford] just went into the Cobh game. There was an unbelievable crowd and atmosphere at the game at home and we needed that. They[the fans] have wanted those bigger games over the past couple of years as well and now they’re seeing it and the fans came out. I just think we were really good in the first leg. They[Cobh Ramblers] hit the crossbar as well, we had one or two good chances, I had one myself  , 1-0 on the night was enough and I suppose you were kind of worried going down there with just the 1-0.

I think we did a good job down there.  I think we were hard to break down, we hit them on a good few counter attacks. As I said we were efficient going forward. Everyone to a man was brilliant. We just got the job done down there I think.

How is everyone feeling going into Sunday’s game?

Really good being honest. We’ll do our homework on Bray and I think everyone is really looking forward to the game. Obviously, outside of us I think all the fans are buzzing. It’s obviously their biggest game. We’re just glad that we’re putting in performances that they[the fans] are proud of. Hopefully we can just do the business against Bray this Sunday.

The games between the two sides have been close this season, Treaty winning 2 and Bray winning 2 — what kind of battle are you expecting?

Yeah they have been[the games being close] and I think Bray are brilliant. I think they’ve got some really really good young players and I think they are very well set up. They keep the ball really well, they can go in behind. As you said all of our games against them have been really exciting and really close. End to end really. Who knows, it will probably be much of the same, especially with it being a final. It will be a difficult game. As I said, they’ll be a good team, we’ll do our homework and hopefully we can execute our gameplan against them and hopefully we come out winners on the day. As I said, we’ll just give it our all now. We’ll be going into the game confident. We definitely wont underestimate them[Bray] as they are a great side.

Personally, what would a result on Sunday mean to you?

Yeah, it would be massive. As I said to you previously I want to win trophies and I want to help Treaty progress. This will be a massive progression for the club. Obviously there’s no trophy behind it but it’s progression for the club and to help be a part of that and help drive that makes me proud. This is just a start where we’re at, we’re delighted to be there and we obviously deserve to be there. If we were to do it it would be more progression for the club, going into the Promotion/Relegation play-off against a Premier[Division] side. It would be a big day for the club, but look, we have to get through Bray first. It will be a difficult game. We’ll go into it full of confidence.

And finally, if you could send one message to the Treaty supporters thinking of going to the final on Sunday, what would it be?

I’ve said it before a couple of weeks ago, I’d like to just say that we’ll hope we can do you proud on the day, we hope that you are proud of us over the past couple of weeks and the performances we’ve put in for the jersey and for the club. We look forward to seeing you all there Sunday and hopefully we represent you really well and put on a great show.

The Final Word.

LOI Talk thanks Lee J Lynch for his time and wishes him and Treaty United the best of luck ahead of the match. Below you can find the details of the match this Sunday.

Where to watch: LOI TV

Kick off: 15:00 at Athlone Town Stadium

Referee: Declan Towland

Match Odds: BRAY 6/5 | 23/10 | 9/5 TREATY (PaddyPower)