Derek Prendergast is laughing as he discusses the value of LOI TV in his life.
“I’ve kids now and it’s tricky trying to tell your partner that you’re nipping out to a League of Ireland game on a Friday night when you’re not involved any more,” he says.
“But when you can watch it all from home, well, at least she’s not too p****d off!
Tonight at Tallaght Stadium, the former Drogheda United, Shelbourne, Bohemians, Bray Wanderers and Athlone Town man gets the chance to wind the clock back.
The centre-half - who played in an FAI Cup final for Drogheda - will be one of the Bangor defenders tasked with trying to put manners on the best team in the country.
No easy task, of course, for the Leinster Senior League top flight side from Crumlin, who are still in early pre-season.
“This is a bonus for us after reaching the last 16 of the Intermediate Cup. And it’s really a reward for the committee keeping the club afloat on limited resources,” he said.
“These are the days that show small clubs like ours that special occasions do come around every now and then.
“And, hopefully, from a sponsorship point of view, it gets Bangor's name out there.
“When you’re in the League of Ireland you take all of that for granted. But when you're a club that’s only surviving year-to-year, you appreciate it more.”
From Hanlon’s Corner, Bohs were Prendergast’s local top flight side but he was a Shels fan growing up having played schoolboy for Stella Maris, who were tied-in with them.
So playing his part in Shelbourne’s promotion in 2019 is, naturally, one of his career highlights.
But at 37, Prendergast has come full circle with Bangor Celtic having started out there as a teenager before his move into League of Ireland.
“I had four or five years with Bangor before going to Bray and it’s still the same manager now, John Scott,” he said.
“There’s one player still there and then past players have taken up managerial roles between the Saturday and Sunday senior sides.
“I’m a northside lad, so they’re not my local team but even though we’re a Crumlin club, we’ve had a few homes.
“It was Nutgrove when I played first, then Greenhills and Bangor are going through a transition now, trying to get a home with the Transport Club as a possibility.
“But I just love playing football. We’re playing at the highest level of the Leinster Senior League and I’ll keep going until my legs stop.
“We’ve got a lot of young players and a lot of them are League of Ireland fans, so they want to test themselves tonight even though we’ve only had two pre-season games.
“We're realistic and we’re not looking to win the FAI Cup. But we'll learn a lot from this game which will only benefit us in our own league campaign.”
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