Eircom League

eirebhoy

This is my first season supporting the Eircom League so I have a lot of catching up to do. I am supporting Pats and I have read the wole 70 pages of the league guide in the Star and watched the TV3 preview last night. Loads of Transfers during pre-season:
http://www.elevenaside.com/transfers/

It should be between the top 3 of last season to have a realistic chance of winning.
I'm looking forward to Friday.:)

Fixtures:
Fri. 19 March Cork City v Dublin City Turner’s Cross 7.45 pm
Fri. 19 March St. Patrick’s Athletic v Derry City Richmond Park 7.45 pm
Fri. 19 March Shelbourne v Shamrock Rovers Tolka Park 7.45 pm
Fri. 19 March Waterford United v Drogheda United R.S.C. 7.45 pm
Sat. 20 March Longford Town v Bohemians Flancare Park 7.45 pm

Big Ears

could some1 post on what T.V. coverage we have for this year ?

If so i would be very appreciative .

eirebhoy

All I know is the Eircom League Review will be on a Monday night. No nothing about the matches.

BTW-Boh's will be seeded in the qualifying round for the UEFA cup.

NightStrike

I'm going to say Shels for the title, Dublin City to be relegated with UCD, Dundalk and Finn Harps coming up (not in any particular order)

DerekD Goldfish

Yeah I can wait ive been so desperate for competitive action ive even been watching the premiership now and again. Hopefully pats will do well this season altough im not that sure about some of our transfers altough that assue centre half looks decent and jimmi lee jones is a decent foward.

jank

Cork city for the title breaking the capitals dominence on it

eirebhoy

Originally posted by NightStrike
I'm going to say Shels for the title, Dublin City to be relegated with UCD, Dundalk and Finn Harps coming up (not in any particular order)

Take UCD out and Bray in and I'd go with that.

NightStrike

Originally posted by eirebhoy
Take UCD out and Bray in and I'd go with that.

You think? They're without Eamon Zayed so I think they'll be in the mix in the end. Finn Harps were unlucky last year and with Noel King in charge from the start this season I think they'll do it. Dundalk have bought well in the pre-season with good signings such as Bennion and Geoghegan so I'd fancy them too.

KdjaCL

Pats will win everything (preseason optimism can border on insanity).

TV coverage same as last year, they show what they want when they want.
But hopefully the games on 1st are decent ones they the ones that count.

kdjac

Seaneh

I don't know who will win the ELPD but I do know that with 3 automatic promotion places for the first division this year Athlone have thier best for the froeseeable feture to get promoted, and IF they get promoted, we can start next season in our nice new stadium, which should be ready by then .

NightStrike

I only reckon Athlone will be mid-table. Martin Reilly is a bit past it imo and that'll show over the course of this campaign I reckon.

Seaneh

Good thing he is gone to kildare county and we brought in Murphy from Longford, a young fast striker to play along side Moran.:D

KdjaCL

Originally posted by NightStrike
I only reckon Athlone will be mid-table. Martin Reilly is a bit past it imo and that'll show over the course of this campaign I reckon.

Said that about 6 years ago, decent player shame his entire career will be remembered for his miss in Celtic park in 86th minute to win CL game vs Celtic.
I sure he got over it

kdjac

cournioni

I think that Derry City will do well this year they've made a few good signings in the summer. Longford will do well also. They will both really push the Dublin clubs. Dundalk will be promoted this year too.

Johnny_the_fox

Yep... Derry City... have signed decent players this time round... *fingers and toes crossed we will win*

Sheep men - Finn Harps :eek: .. *should* get up this year..

KdjaCL

Are 6 Derry players suspended for 1st game of season?
Oh i love new seasons everyone is great and so full of optismism until we reminded how crap our team is after 3 games or so.

kdjac

Johnny_the_fox

Originally posted by KdjaC
Are 6 Derry players suspended for 1st game of season?
Oh i love new seasons everyone is great and so full of optismism until we reminded how crap our team is after 3 games or so.

kdjac

Yep..

Gary Beckett (1 game)
Clive Delaney (2 games)
Eamon Doherty (1 game)
Peter Hutton (1 game)
Ciaran Kelly (1 game)
Paddy McLaughlin (1 game)

AngelofFire

Rovers! the only good hoops in europe.

hopefully we can sort out the stadium situation. if we can get it finished we will be prosperous. we`ve a massive fanbase the tallaght stadium will be a fortress.

Healio

Originally posted by NightStrike
You think? They're without Eamon Zayed so I think they'll be in the mix in the end.

yeah but we got kevin grogan out of retirement he is going to be super this year.

NightStrike

I think Dublin City are a certainty to get relegated from the Premier Division. Apart from the disadvantage of being the promoted club, they have lost a good number of players and replaced them with a string of players from Kildare County. Now nothing against Kildare but they're not Premier Division standard and if I recall correctly a lot of Kildare's squad came from the minor leagues in Kildare.

SteM

I can't see past Shels or Bohs to be honest. I think Shelbourne will win it they've got the top striker in the country and have bought in a very promising partner for him from Rovers. They've lost Geoghan and the Bakers but if Wes has a good season and they can settle their defense they'll retain.

_blank_

I think Shels will win the eircom League.

About their defence: They went through part of last season without one of their best players missing, that being Kevin Doherty.

I went to a few games at the tail end of last season, I'm not a big eircom League fan by any stretch of the imagination, but of what I saw, they played better with him in the side. He never panicked on the ball, and was cool headed throughout. If they can keep him fit, they will do well. That is the problem though, he is more injury prone than Darren Anderton.

SteM

With Fitzpatrick coming in to partner Byrne that will mean that Jamie Harris can be used as cover in defence though. I though he looked a bit shakey when he played there towards the end of last season but I'd like to see him given a run in the side as a defender to see if he can make a spot his own.

Did you hear theres been a ticket increase in Tolka ths season? €10 last season to €15 (including a free programme) this season is a bit of a cheeky price hike!

_blank_

Originally posted by SteM

Did you hear theres been a ticket increase in Tolka ths season? €10 last season to €15 (including a free programme) this season is a bit of a cheeky price hike!

Jaysus...thats a bit steep...cheeky bastardos!

LizardKing

Shels or Bohs ... Hopefully Shels though ... come on the Real Reds

brendy_eire

Originally posted by Johnny_the_fox
Yep..

Gary Beckett (1 game)
Clive Delaney (2 games)
Eamon Doherty (1 game)
Peter Hutton (1 game)
Ciaran Kelly (1 game)
Paddy McLaughlin (1 game)

We're also missing Alan Murphy apparently, and we've a few injuries. We'll still give Pats a fair oul fight of it. 0-0 I reckon.

As for the league, can't see past Bohs and $h€l$. Reckon Bohs will do it.

NightStrike

First game in the First Division was tonight, Dundalk beat Sligo Rovers 1-0 with Stephen Geoghegan scoring.

_blank_

Well done Geogheo

cournioni

Come on Dundalk!

KdjaCL

2 page post on EL on boards /me faints


kdjac

_blank_

I was gonna go down to Tolka tonight...but when I heard on here that they were charging €15 in I thought no way josé...it wont be worth that much, I thought €10 last season was bad enough.

galwaydude

my team galway utd shouldnt be that far of the pace this season for promotion considering the amount of good players we brought in over the last month.Heres hoping for a good season.ye 15 euro is a bit of a joke and there me thinking i would head down to tolka park and see a few shels and dublin city games, im not a fan of either team just a fan of soccer and they seem to be making a big deal of it this season and fair play to TV3 for their weekly coverage, more than RTE ever did.
My tip for divison one is finn harps, followed by bray and then hopefully galway for the last place but will be tight with dundalk, kildare,UCD and Sligo all stenghtening as well.And then for the premier i think cork might just sneak it as they have so much quality up front and john o flynn is back and added with fenn, o callaghan and young kevin doyle, they will push bohs and shels pretty close.And finally longford as a dark horse.

cournioni

Originally posted by seansouth
I was gonna go down to Tolka tonight...but when I heard on here that they were charging €15 in I thought no way josé...it wont be worth that much, I thought €10 last season was bad enough.

And people say Cavan people are mean...

_blank_

Originally posted by PORNAPSTER
And people say Cavan people are mean...

Oi....I just started a new job, and havent got paid yet...thats the only reason I'm shying away this week...unless I go in the guise of a student...mmmm...maybe!

How much is it for students to get into the game?

LizardKing

Not sure if this is true but I think its €15 in for big dublin derbys etc. and €12 for the games against the smaller teams ... I won't mind spending €15 tonight to see rovers get beat ...

P11 Comms

Great to see so many people on this broad care about the EL. I am a Bohs supporter myself and with the addition of Grant in the squad, they hopefully will not blow it like last season. I am really looking forward to this season now that the summer thing has settle down. I think the EL supporters making all the noise, passion and colour at Ireland home games has won the league a lot of new freinds. Just because RTE does not care about Irish soccer does not mean it is any good. Look at the coverage the AIB rugby league gets in papers like the sunday tribue and yet they ignore the EL even though you get more people at a single EL match than all the AIB weekly fixtures put together. It really is a disgrace when you think about it.

I hope a lot more of you who support British football also find a EL club to support as well. It is your country afterall. Slagging off the Eircom league beacuse it is not as good as the Premiership is daft, it would be like people in Ireland supporting Germany instand of Ireland becuase of thier UEFA rankings. There is enough room for people in Ireland to support foreign and their local EL club. This is normal behaviour for football fans in many smaller European countries such as Norway and Denmark. Nice to see that more and more Irish football fans are realising that soccer not just something that happens on TV in foreign countries.

Seaneh

I have decided that if Athlone win comfortable tonight I am going to bet ˆ20 on them getting promoted.

NightStrike

4-1 win seems comfortable to me

KdjaCL

1-1 with Derry awful match.


kdjac

DerekD Goldfish

Hopefully eireboy wont be scared away after that dodgy match there not all that bad. on the plus side new signing ndo looked handy.

cournioni

Originally posted by seansouth
Oi....I just started a new job, and havent got paid yet...thats the only reason I'm shying away this week...unless I go in the guise of a student...mmmm...maybe!

How much is it for students to get into the game?

Calm down... I'm only ribbing ya.

Big Ears

3 pages :eek: :eek: :eek: , keep it coming

galwaydude

good win for cork last night, the usual suspects scored
well done athlone on yer big win, keop it going, my own team galway just about won though they totally dominated the game kilkenny's keeper had a blinder.Its good for the league that the country teams remain competitive as nobody's wants an all dublin league which is basically what it is at the moment!!!!! so come on cork , derry, waterford and longford, drogheda doesnt count as its practically dublin , so many ex pats live there lol, only messing

NightStrike

Maybe Eircom League should have its own forum? I know its soccer but lets face it the majority of "fans" on this board don't follow the Eircom League and it might help to have a few decent chats between fans every now and then.

Anyone agree with my idea?

galwaydude

thats a good idea as im sure there are alot more league of ireland fans out there, much better than supporting liverpool at the moment( personally)

KdjaCL

Since i registered here this the longest EL thread i ever seen.
I dont think it should have its own forum www.foot.ie is a whole website of forums about EL check it out its not bad.

Its more fun to post here and clog up the "Who shot GH threads" LOL

kdjac

jank

from http://www.eirways.com/citynet/ about the cork city vs dublin city

Cork City kicked off the 2004 League season on the right note tonight, when they beat newly-promoted Dublin City 3-1 at a drizzly Turner’s Cross to go top of the table. The game was delayed by 15 minutes to allow the estimated 6,000 crowd into the ground.
The crowd also saw the return to action of John O’Flynn (pictured right), the star striker returning from his injury which had kept him out of the game since September. Just five minutes into his return, the 21-year-old was already causing trouble for the Vikings defence. Providing the first glimpse of a potentially devastating strikeforce, O’Flynn played a neat one-two with new signing Neale Fenn but the ‘keeper foiled O’Flynn’s attempt on goal.

Eight minutes later, he had City in front. Full-back Danny Murphy, signed only this week, spotted O’Flynn’s run and played a long ball up from the back. O’Flynn chested the ball past keeper Robbie Horgan, before slotting into an empty net. The game failed to maintain the buzz of the opening 15 minutes, and little chances came either way before half time, bar a 25-yard effort from Fenn which went wide of the post.

In the second half, Fenn finished off a great move to score on his debut, and put City in control. Fenn had featured heavily in pre-season games for his new side, scoring twice. City fans will have been impressed with the ex-Waterford striker’s solid performance tonight.

Just one minute later, a Keith Foy free-kick was fumbled by Michael Devine, and Gary O’Neil picked up the pieces and headed in Dublin City’s first Premier Division goal. The revival was short-lived however, when George O’Callaghan (left), despite failing to impress for most of the game, finished off Neale Fenn’s handywork fifteen minutes from the end.

Pat Dolan, who had been building up excitement for the game in the local media during the week, was later sent from the touchline by referee Jim O’Neill, after a disagreement with fourth official Aidan O’Regan.

A convincing win, in a game where Dublin City never looked like threatening, will be seen as an ideal start to the 2004 season. City have been installed as third favourites behind Dublin sides Shelbourne and Bohemians, but with the exciting signings of Neale Fenn, Danny Murphy and the currently injured Stephen O’Flynn, players and fans alike will be quietly confident of upsetting the odds come November.

healy001

with the price hike this season, it will be interesting to see if the crowds will show up for the games.

with the league improving steadily however more interest could develop especially when the teams start playing to progress in europe. its only a matter of time before an irish club will represent the league in the later stages of european competition. i might even put my money on shels getting to the third prelim round of the champions league this year. they are starting to look like a real force in the league.

im really looking forward to this season, hoping that shels will win again! jason byrne is sure to be a top scorer again, looking sharp last night.

as or the first division and whos will get promoted, i would back finn harps, ucd and bray for promotion. unsure who will go down in the premier but dublin are likely candidates

eirebhoy

There is a topic on Foot.ie about what RTE showed on Network 2 when they could have showed a match:

7.00 THE SINBAD VOYAGE: Tim Severin builds a great arab ship sewn together with coconut rope.

8.05 SAHARA WITH MICHAEL PALIN: Michael reseaches Timbuktu

9.00 GIMME GIMME GIMME: Sitcom about flatmates looking for an ideal man

Madness!

eirebhoy

Originally posted by healy001
im really looking forward to this season, hoping that shels will win again! jason byrne is sure to be a top scorer again, looking sharp last night.

Not if John O'Flynn stays fit. I'd love to see Cork in a bigger competition than the iter-toto as O'Flynn is top class and its only a matter of time before he gets an international cap IMO.

galwaydude

i aggree john o flynn is by far the best striker in the league and surely worth a cap for ireland, I aint a cork city fan but i think they will win the league, anyways shels are just arogant as they have become the man utd of ireland in the last few years and will be good if the title didnt remain in dublin for a change, better for the league in general, im sure loads wont agree though