EL and First Division Pre-Season Friendlies.

MrJoeSoap

Weds 25th Jan

Institute of Technology Tallaght v Shamrock Rovers, St James’ Gate, 7.30pm

Thurs 26th Jan

Dundalk v Shelbourne, Oriel Park, 7.30pm

Sat Jan 28th

Limerick v Shelbourne CANCELLED

Derry City v Finn Harps, The Brandywell, 7pm

Tues 31st Jan

Crumlin United v Shamrock Rovers, Pearse Park, 8.30pm

Fri 3rd Feb

Galway Utd. v Shelbourne, Terryland Park, 7.30pm

Limerick v Dublin City, Hogan Park, 7.45pm

Sat 4th Feb

Longford Town v Athlone Town, Flancare Park, 7.30pm

Wed 8th Feb

Longford Town v Shamrock Rovers, Flancare Park, 8pm

Thurs 9th Feb

Dundalk v St. Patrick's Athletic, Oriel Park, 7.45pm

Fri 10th Feb

Athlone Town v Bohemians, Golden Island Park, 7.30pm

Sun 12th Feb

FC United v Galway Utd, (venue: Wycombe Wanderers’ training ground), ko TBC

Tue 14th Feb

Galway Utd. v Cork City, Terryland Park, 7.30pm

Dundalk v Drogheda United, Oriel Park, 7.45pm (Jim Malone Trophy)

Shelbourne v Shamrock Rovers, Tolka Park, 8pm

Weds Feb 15th

St Patrick’s Athletic v Finn Harps, Richmond Park, 7.45pm

Fri 17th Feb

Galway Utd v Bohemians, Terryland Park, 7.30pm

St Patrick’s Athletic v Kildare County, Richmond Park, 7.45pm

Sat 18th Feb

Cork City v Finn Harps, Bishopstown, 12pm

Sun 19th Feb

Athlone Town v Dublin City, Golden Island Park, 2.30pm

Thurs 23rd Feb

Dundalk v Longford Town, Oriel Park, 7.45pm

Fri Feb 24th

St Patrick’s Athletic v Shamrock Rovers, Richmond Park, 7.45pm

Sat 25th Feb

Athlone Town v UCD, Golden Island Park, 7.30pm

Dundalk v Dublin City, Oriel Park, 7.45pm

Tue 28th Feb

Longford Town v Limerick, Flancare Park, 7.45pm

Thurs 2nd Mar

Dundalk v Bohemians, Oriel Park, 7.45pm

Fri 3rd March

Finn Harps v Sligo Rovers, Finn Park, 7.45pm

St Patrick’s Athletic v Limerick, Richmond Park, 7.45pm

Sat 4th March

UCD v Shamrock Rovers, Belfield Park, 2.30pm

Galway Utd v Longford Town, Terryland Park, 3pm

---

Match reports please!!

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I will do a brief report tomorrow night of the dundalk game , einz are you going ? Also Kdjac get your arse to oriel park on teh 9th of feb.

Dr. Dre

Oh yeah, Oriel park is where it's at tonight. Looking forward to seeing the new squad. We need to perform this season, especially in light of recent details about the new FAI league format.

[Edit] PS, see ye in the upstairs bar at half tiime!

super_furry

A very, very experimental Rovers side lost to 2-1 Tallaght IT last night. Rovers fielded two different sides in each half and Tallaght IT had several U-21 Rovers players amoung their numbers.

Töpher

Sarge wrote:

I will do a brief report tomorrow night of the dundalk game , einz are you going ? Also Kdjac get your arse to oriel park on teh 9th of feb.

Nein, couldn't go. Can't find out the score now either, bah!

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Dundalk Fc Vs Shelbourne

Well it was a cold cold night at oriel park, Where we seen premier division challengers shels and 1st division challengers Dundalk play, Its started off well with both sides having their fair chances, Jason Byrne looks really rusty lads he needs to start getting the head down, glen Crowe was out marked by Simon Kelly.

There was very few familiar faces in the Dundalk side and I have to say that it was refreshing to see the new talent that we have, we look good and strong and never looked out of debt, people will however say that shels didn’t try them people where not at the match

Shels fielded a full squad with the exception of a young guy on the wing number 21 looked great lads have no idea who he is. Ollie Cahill believe it or not played well and he looked impressive. Ndo played the first half and is worth the entry fee alone.

Shels won the match 2 nil and I was happy with the way Dundalk played major improvement from last season and a squad that has only been together for a week , they have to be the bet to win the 1st division this year. All in all enjoyable game and good to be back watching my football, I was getting withdrawals and was sick of going to newry to watch the so call football

Roll on the next game J

Slash/ED

Was the left winger blonde? Could be Tyrrel, who spent last season on loan with Bray and was exceptional for them.

And strange you talk about Ndo, have we got him on loan from Pats or something? Didn't he definitely 100% sign for them a month ago!? Surely!?

KdjaCL

Slash/ED wrote:

And strange you talk about Ndo, have we got him on loan from Pats or something? Didn't he definitely 100% sign for them a month ago!? Surely!?

Your minding him for us, if he was still with us he would be at the Nations cup......:)


kdjac

MrJoeSoap

http://www.shelbournefc.ie/news.php?id=229 wrote:

Pre-season 2006 has begun - by Gareth Penrose

A little over two months has passed since Shelbourne finished up the 2005 league campaign with an away victory against Bohemians in Dalymount. In the intervening time, Wesley Hoolahan has departed for the Scottish Premier League. Glen Fitzpatrick, Kevin Doherty, Alan Cawley, Ger Rowe, Derek Pender, Curtis Fleming and Hussain Yazdani have been released. Greg O’Halloran has joined from Cork City and Sean Dillon, a long term target of Pat Fenlon, has joined from Longford.

Pre-season began tonight against Dundalk FC in Oriel Park. Dundalk finished mid-table in the First Division last season but has since recruited John Gill as their new manager and he has been busy in the transfer market bringing 13 new signings in.

Steve Williams made a welcome return after missing the final months of last season with a broken finger. Heary, Rogers, Hawkins and Cahill started at the back, with Greg O’Halloran making his first appearance in a Shels jersey, partnering Alan Reynolds in the centre of the field. David Tyrell and Joseph Ndo completed the midfield line-up with Jason Byrne and Glen Crowe up front.

The first half was all about missed chances. Jason Byrne was guilty of missing two certain goals, firstly side footing the ball wide of an open goalmouth after 8 minutes and then on 29 minutes he successfully beat the offside trap, before uncharacteristically hoofing the ball over the bar when scoring seemed easier.

His strike partner had the ball twice in the net in the first half, but on both occasions, he was deemed to be offside. Dundalk had their chances in the first half, the best of which fell to Trevor Vaughan on 22 minutes, with a free kick that Williams saved well.

The halftime break saw Dundalk make 11 changes and they donned their green third kit replacing the black jerseys wore in the first half. Shelbourne introduced Crawley and Gary O’Neill for an impressive David Tyrell and Ndo.

5 minutes into the half, Jason Byrne missed his hat trick of chances, this time skewing the ball wide with only the keeper to beat. Peter Hynes for Dundalk then saw his shot run inches wide of substitute Dean Delaney’s goal. Jamie Harris and Sean Dillon replaced Rogers and Hawkins and a couple of minutes later, the deadlock was broken.

Glen Crowe’s diagonal run into the box and subsequent chip over the keeper rebounded off the upright and Jason Byrne was there with the simplest of finishes to put Shels one up.

Almost from the restart, Paul Marney tested Delaney but his powerful shot was aimed to close to the Shels net minder, who saved comfortably. The game was wrapped up in the 86th minute when Gary Deegan cut the ball back to Brian King who calmly slotted his shot low into the Dundalk net. 2-0 was the final score.

Shelbourne’s game against Limerick which was due to be played on Saturday has been called off so the next game is Friday 3rd February away to Galway United.

Decent win for what sounds like a rusty Shels. Jayo had his customary three misses as well as his customary goal. Good to hear Tyrell played well, could be a decent player to have in the squad now Wes is gone.

Galway up next, before Rovers at home.

Töpher

Don't forget the Chinese!

Dr. Dre

Sarge wrote:

...game review....

Jesus, I don't know about that Sarge. I would say there is more pace in the team than I've seen in a while, but as for being confident - I think it's WAY too early to tell. The whole using 22 players thing doesn't ever make sense to me, Gill should have put out his strongest side and experimented that way. I'll be looking for a lot more in our next friendly.


[edit] Also Sarge, check out the thread on orielweb entitled "Town Scum" - unreal.

MrJoeSoap

Galway 0-3 Shelbourne last night.

Our three star strikers scored - Byrne, Crowe and HARRIS!

Roar

we won 10-0 against the mighty Cahir Park today.. hatrick for the Behanator, Denis Behan.. this will truely be the year of the Behan!

MrJoeSoap

Cork 10-0 Cahir Park
Cork 4-0 Kinsale

eircom League champions Cork City sent out an ominous warning to prospective challengers for their crown by firing in FOURTEEN goals in two pre-season friendly games over non-league opposition at the weekend.

Damien Richardson’s side met Cahir Park and Kinsale on consecutive days to begin their preparations for the defence of their title.

And they piled in ten goals against the Tipperary men on Saturday before taking a 4-0 win over Kinsale 24 hours later.

Denis Behan got the ball rolling with two goals in the first ten minutes against Cahir, and while the home side held out until half-time at 2-0, four goals in the first ten minutes of the second half set Cork up for a double-figure win.

George O’Callaghan, Dan Murray, Joe Gamble and Roy O’Donovan were the scorers as Cork raced into a 6-0 lead before Behan completed his hat-trick and Neale Fenn opened his account.

O’Donovan and Gamble struck their second goals of the evening to make it 10-0 before the finish as a strong City line-up showed no mercy to their opponents.

At Kinsale on Sunday, City were again in goalscoring form, despite manager Richardson taking the opportunity to rest several of those on duty in Tipperary the previous day.

John O’Flynn opened the scoring and Jamie Nolan made it 2-0 before O’Donovan – one of those asked to play for the second day in a row – made it 3-0 at half-time.

Paul Connell, a teenage Australian trialist, made his mark with Cork’s fourth goal, while Kerry Gaelic footballer Paul Galvin and James Cummins, a former Cobh Ramblers player, also tasted the action in the second half.

Limerick FC 2-1 Dublin City

Limerick FC continued their build-up to the 2006 eircom League First Division season with victory over Premier Division newcomers Dublin City at Jackman Park on Saturday.

Limerick had been due to get their pre-season programme under way against big guns Shelbourne last weekend but that game had to be called off due to the referees’ seminar.

And they started brilliantly, putting the game beyond the reach of their top flight opposition inside ten minutes.

Kevin Waters, making his debut after moving from Waterford United, and former St Patrick’s Athletic striker Paul Rose were both on target for the home side to leave the Vikings reeling.

Last season’s top scorer for Dublin, Robbie Collins, gave his side a lifeline midway through the second half, but Dermot Keely’s side were unable to force an equalizer.

Cobh Ramblers 0-1 Waterford United

Waterford United put thoughts of a winter of upheaval to one side for an afternoon at least to take a 1-0 victory over Munster rivals Cobh Ramblers at St Colman’s Park on Sunday.

The only goal of the game came from Gavin Doyle midway through the second half.

But it could have been different had Cobh made the most of their first-half chances.

Willie Bruton, back at the club after spells at Waterford and Cork City, missed three decent openings, while Robert Brosnan saw his effort saved by blues keeper Jimmy Fyffe.

David Breen, who left Waterford for Cobh since the end of last season, made an impressive debut for the Cork side against his former club.

On the other side, new Waterford boss gave games to several trialists, including defenders Ryan Purtell and Ben Watson and striker Paul Matuso.

Matuso and Doyle missed chances to extend the lead late on as Waterford finished the game strongly, while Cobh could have salvaged a draw but for Fyffe’s excellent stop to deny Bruton.

St Catherine’s 0-4 Sligo Rovers

First Division champions Sligo Rovers got their preparations for their first season back in the Premier off to the best possible start with a comfortable victory over St Catherine’s in Donegal on Saturday afternoon.

Key striker Paul McTiernan demonstrated his wellbeing with two goals for the Bit O’Red, while Sean Flannery and John Bellew were also on target for Sean Connor’s side.

Flannery opened the scoring and McTiernan made it 3-0 with goals either side of the break before teenage star Bellew capped off the victory.

Former Blackburn Rovers and Republic of Ireland youth international defender Gavin Peers made an encouraging debut at right back for the Sligo men.

Longford Town 3-1 Athlone Town

Premier Division Longford Town got the better of First Division Athlone Town at Flancare Park on Saturday night as the midlands sides started their pre-season preparations with a game in the Shane Brennan memorial match.

Longford lad Shane was on the books of Athlone at the time of his tragic death following a work accident last year.

Dessie Baker was spot on for Longford with two penalties, while captain John Martin also scored for the home side.

Baker made it 1-0 early on and Martin doubled the lead with a close-range tap-in.

Athlone’s Ian Rossiter had given his side hope with a goal on his debut to leave it 2-1 at the break, but the visitors’ resistance was ended when Baker grabbed his second spot-kick early in the second half after Martin was fouled inside the area.

Galway United 0 - 3 Shelbourne

Shelbourne’s pre-season travels continued on Friday night as Pat Fenlon’s men travelled to Terryland Park to take on Galway United. This was Galway’s first match this year and a crowd of a couple of hundred turned up to see if they could take the scalp of a Premier Division team.

Shelbourne made 8 changes to the starting line up from last Friday night, with only Owen Heary, Colin Hawkins and Joseph Ndo keeping their place. Sean Dillon partnered Colin Hawkins in the centre of defence with Dave Crawley playing left back. Jim Crawford and Ndo started in the middle flanked my Bobby Ryan and Alan Moore. Jamie Harris was given the opportunity to play upfront, with Gary O’Neill alongside.

Shelbourne began lively and within the opening minutes, a long ball by Sean Dillon was met on the volley by Gary O’Neill just inside the box. His shot looped over the keeper and was only denied by the crossbar. It was O’Neill’s strike partner however who broke the deadlock.

With the recent defensive signings by Fenlon, it has given him the scope to play Jamie Harris as a forward and it didn’t take long for the Welsh man to make an impact. After some good passing play down the left wing by Shelbourne, the ball was switched to Owen Heary on the right. His ball was perfectly delivered into the box and Harris was on hand to volley the ball into the net giving Galway keeper, Alan Gough, no chance. Harris threatened again 2 minutes later, only to be denied by a wonderful save.

Shelbourne continued to play good passing football in the first half, most notably Joseph Ndo who contributed a few nice attacking runs. The Cameroonian player has started pre-season well and Shels will hope he will carry his good form into the Setanta Cup and League.

The closest the first half saw to another goal came from Galway United player, Alan Keane. Alan Murphy delivered in a corner deep into the box and Keane’s shot beat Delaney only to be cleared off the line by a Shels player.

The second half saw Shels make no changes but that soon changed as on 52 minutes five new players came on. Dave Rogers, Glen Crowe, Jason Byrne, Ollie Cahill and Greg O'Halloran were exchanged for Dave Crawley, Gary O'Neill, Jamie Harris, Jim Crawford, and Alan Moore.

It wasn’t until Shelbourne made their final substitutions that more goals came. On 82 minutes David Tyrell, Gary Deegan and James Chambers were introduced for Ndo, Ryan and Dillon and the former U21 stars made an immediate impact. The first goal was somewhat fortunate however. Gary Deegan fed Glen Crowe the ball and his shot should be been dealt with much better by the Galway United sub keeper, who let the ball slip under his body and crawl into the net.

The next goal however was unstoppable. Some good work on the left flank by Tyrell released Deegan and his cross was met by a powerful Jason Byrne volley which the keeper had no chance of stopping.

Galway United did play well during the game and the manager, Stephen Lally, will surely take plenty of positives from the game.

Shelbourne will be away next week as they are heading to their Training camp in Marbella where they will take on a Chinese side.

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Dundalk VS St Pats

i left 5 mins before the end it was 0 - 0
boring game , no report.
end of.

KdjaCL

I left 10 minutes before and my god that road (m1) was the best thing about tonight.


1st half Pats dominated, Dundalk nearly got the ball as far as the Pats box twice. I mean nearly there number 7 has to be seen to be believed, hes rugby player and built like one. Rutherford left him for dead by walking past him.

Keegan and Quigley up front for 1st half, Keegan won everything in the air, Molloy wide right and rutherford wide left look dangerous but the CBAness of it all meant not a lot happened. Foley and Mulcahy in the middle were fairly solid seeing Dundalk barely got past the halfway line. Back four was fairly solid with Darragh and Caffrey as CBs.

6 changes at half time and another 2 more shortly after (and C Foley and Armstrong still injured, we have a lot of players) Pats started well with Molloy moving up front, and tbh he was our best player. Looked a lot more skillful than last time he was with us, didnt run when he didnt have to and made space very well.

Game petered out after the incident with both teams not really arsed, Vaughan threw a punch after stupid tackle by him, if it was league match both would walked.

Marney played for Dundalk 1st time i have seen him since he left us, odd.
Its also minus 1 and what the hell is that smell when you cross the fancy bridge

All in all we have a lot of 1st team players, hope JmcD knows his best 11. Looks like we be playing a 442 with a variety of options.

kdjac

20 Times 20 Times

KdjaC wrote:

what the hell is that smell when you cross the fancy bridge

kdjac

smell of success , pats arent ued to that

KdjaCL

Sarge wrote:

smell of success , pats arent ued to that

eh yeah , got a pic of Number 7 ?


kdjac

20 Times 20 Times

KdjaC wrote:

eh yeah , got a pic of Number 7 ?


kdjac

haahah

KdjaCL

Sarge wrote:

haahah

Ahh no full shots
Couple of Dalk fans were going "awwwww" everyime he got the ball , like that guy who shows up every week for his pub team but is awful but everyone goes "awwww" when he doesnt give the ball away or wins a tackle.



kdjac

20 Times 20 Times

Ask and you shall receive He isnt a first team regular :rolleyes:

MrJoeSoap

Sarge wrote:

Ask and you shall receive He isnt a first team regular :rolleyes:

You can't have many "regulars" left at this stage, the amount of wheeling and dealing Gill has done since taking over!

marky4

Waterford united continued their pre season preperations with a hard fought three nil over the Waterford Junior League's Oscar Traynor team at Ben Wadding Park.

However the match was not without incident as robust tackles were the order of the evening and the Blues finished the game with ten men after goalkeeper Jimmy Fyffe was ewd carded for retaliation.

Mike Kerley was handed the perfect start when his side went one up after just eight minutes. John Flynn, a trialist from Bunclody in Wexford, got around the right back Brian Mallon before crossing low into the area where a defensive mix up saw the ball end up in the net off another defender.

The frantic pace saw action at either end with Conor McDonald hitting the side netting from a free kick by the Junior side while Flynn played a neat ball over the defence for Gavin Doyle to chase but the goalkeeper Derek Hearne got there first to deny the Blues frontman.

The game exploded on 25 minutes when Fyffe was the subject of a late tackle by Thomas Fitzgerald and the United's netminder retaliation earned him a red card while Alan O Shea had to be sacrificed for replacement goalkeeper Shane Dunphy to come into the side.

Kerley made a number of changes at half time and again midway through the second half and the game seemed to b peetering out untl a great run by Ian Fraher ten minutes from time saw him uphended just outside the penalty area and he made no mistake with the resultant free kick, slotting it to the bottom corner.

Another trialist Lloyd Colfer who played with Bray last season capped off an excellent evening for the Blues when he curled a wondful effort to the top corner with two minutes left

WATERFORD UNITED
J Fyffe, J Hayes, D Young, C Deans, R Purtell, S Grant, A Polewczak, P Marsden, J Flynn, G Doyle, A O Shea

gimmick

Cork City 3 - 0 Limerick

Good solid performance, though it was apparent City never left 1st gear, as they were 3 - 0 up in 15 minutes. This was more or less Citys first eleven, and supposedly Limericks as well. If the latter is true, I fear for them.

Cork City 4 - 0 Kildare DL

A few trialists on show here, Darko Bakic got 2, some Bulgarian got one (aside from that he was absolutely appauling), and Bryan McCarthy got yhe other. This was Citys second string.

MrJoeSoap

Shels v Rovers in Tolka on Tuesday, have to say I'm really looking forward to it.

Was playing Astroturf with some mates on the local pitches earlier, had just told the couple of the eL fans amongst them that Kearney had signed for Shels. Right on cue, Liam Kearney and Richie Baker appeared and were doing some work on their fitness on the GAA pitch next to us. Asked them if they wanted a game but I think Nutsy has them under orders to stay fit and healthy (playing against Pats/Bohs fans isn't recommended!). Either way, it was good to see the lads take the initiative onto themselves by training on a day off, hopefully they'll be fully fit and raring to go come the first Setanta game. Also good to see Baker and Kearney get a bit of a bond, we need a bit of team spirit this year.

20 Times 20 Times

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Shels v Rovers in Tolka on Tuesday, have to say I'm really looking forward to it.

Was playing Astroturf with some mates on the local pitches earlier, had just told the couple of the eL fans amongst them that Kearney had signed for Shels. Right on cue, Liam Kearney and Richie Baker appeared and were doing some work on their fitness on the GAA pitch next to us. Asked them if they wanted a game but I think Nutsy has them under orders to stay fit and healthy (playing against Pats/Bohs fans isn't recommended!). Either way, it was good to see the lads take the initiative onto themselves by training on a day off, hopefully they'll be fully fit and raring to go come the first Setanta game. Also good to see Baker and Kearney get a bit of a bond, we need a bit of team spirit this year.

Same thing happened to me a couple of years back at the dundalk college pitch , when garry haylock and a few otehr dundalk players turned up we asked them did they want a game and what do you know , they played i had to mark martin reilly

Töpher

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Also good to see Baker and Kearney get a bit of a bond, we need a bit of team spirit this year.

Aye, that bench'll need some compatriots on it!

MrJoeSoap

Shelbourne 3-0 Shamrock Rovers

On quite possibly the most disgusting night of the year so far weatherwise, I wasn't really expecting much in terms of a skillful and entertaining game, and I didn't really get it to be honest. Shels started with Deano in goals, Heary and Crawley in their full back slots, with Dillon and Pinnochio in the centre. In midfield we started with Kearney wide left and Cahill!!! on the right. Crawford and O'Halloran started in central midfield with the deadly duo of the Barrel and Gary O'Neil up front.

Started a bit slowly, Kearney was getting some rough treatment on the wings and had to go off (I can see the smiles in Cork as they read this!) after only a few minutes. It only looked like a precautionary measure, and I'd expect him to be back for the Glens match on Monday. Anyway, Alan Moore replaced him and switched wings with Cahill.

1-0... Gary O'Neill capitalised on some woeful defending and came out on top after a collision with Barry Murphy in the Rovers goal to pass the ball into the empty net from the edge of the box. Typically tenacious and committed O'Neill, deserved the goal for effort alone.

2-0... After some decent work on the left, the ball found its way out to Alan Moore about 20 yards out to the right of the goal, and Moore curled it deliciously into the top corner, giving the keeper no chance. Great goal. 2-0 up after about 25 minutes and coasting. Rovers looking fairly woeful.

3-0... A little more time passed, still in the first half however, when O'Neill broke down the right flank and crossed along the ground to where Crowe finished really well under the body of Murphy. The keeper will be disappointed but the Shels front two linked up very well. Another nice goal.

The rest of the match wasn't great, very scrappy in the middle of the park and Dean Delaney made two very good saves to earn himself a good clean sheet. Shels finished the game (for about the last half hour) with 9 men after O'Halloran and Crawley got themselves stupidly sent of for repeatedly poor tackling on the slippy surface, both for two yellow card offences. Very poor decision making by two players who should know better, Crawley especially considering he was on a yellow card and had already seen O'Halloran walk for a similar tackle. Hopefully Dillon (who wasn't entirely convincing today) will get a chance to make the left-back spot his own now, with Scouse and Hawkins in the centre. Left-back really is our weak spot at the moment.

Ratings:

Delaney 8
Heary 7
Hawkins 7
Dillon 6
Crawley 5
Cahill 6
Kearney 5
O'Halloran 6
Crawford 7
Crowe 6
O'Neill 8

Subs:

S. Byrne 7
J. Byrne 6
Moore 7
Rogers 7
Harris 7
Reynolds 6

PS - I can't see Rovers doing too well this season, some of their passing (even to players within 5 yards) was atrocious.

PPS - Shels have launched a new "podcast" service for anyone who cares.

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MrJoeSoap wrote:

Shelbourne 3-0 Shamrock Rovers

On quite possibly the most disgusting night of the year so far weatherwise, I wasn't really expecting much in terms of a skillful and entertaining game, and I didn't really get it to be honest. Shels started with Deano in goals, Heary and Crawley in their full back slots, with Dillon and Pinnochio in the centre. In midfield we started with Kearney wide left and Cahill!!! on the right. Crawford and O'Halloran started in central midfield with the deadly duo of the Barrel and Gary O'Neil up front.

Started a bit slowly, Kearney was getting some rough treatment on the wings and had to go off (I can see the smiles in Cork as they read this!) after only a few minutes. It only looked like a precautionary measure, and I'd expect him to be back for the Glens match on Monday. Anyway, Alan Moore replaced him and switched wings with Cahill.

1-0... Gary O'Neill capitalised on some woeful defending and came out on top after a collision with Barry Murphy in the Rovers goal to pass the ball into the empty net from the edge of the box. Typically tenacious and committed O'Neill, deserved the goal for effort alone.

2-0... After some decent work on the left, the ball found its way out to Alan Moore about 20 yards out to the right of the goal, and Moore curled it deliciously into the top corner, giving the keeper no chance. Great goal. 2-0 up after about 25 minutes and coasting. Rovers looking fairly woeful.

3-0... A little more time passed, still in the first half however, when O'Neill broke down the right flank and crossed along the ground to where Crowe finished really well under the body of Murphy. The keeper will be disappointed but the Shels front two linked up very well. Another nice goal.

The rest of the match wasn't great, very scrappy in the middle of the park and Dean Delaney made two very good saves to earn himself a good clean sheet. Shels finished the game (for about the last half hour) with 9 men after Crawford and Crawley got themselves stupidly sent of for repeatedly poor tackling on the slippy surface, both for two yellow card offences. Very poor decision making by two players who should know better, Crawley especially considering he was on a yellow card and had already seen Crawford walk for a similar tackle. Hopefully Dillon (who wasn't entirely convincing today) will get a chance to make the left-back spot his own now, with Scouse and Hawkins in the centre. Left-back really is our weak spot at the moment.

Ratings:

Delaney 8
Heary 7
Hawkins 7
Dillon 6
Crawley 5
Cahill 6
Kearney 5
O'Halloran 6
Crawford 6
Crowe 6
O'Neill 8

Subs:

S. Byrne 7
J. Byrne 6
Moore 7
Rogers 7
Harris 7
Reynolds 6

PS - I can't see Rovers doing too well this season, some of their passing (even to players within 5 yards) was atrocious.

Good report , i can't see crawley holding down a first team place this year but who else you got to replace him ?

MrJoeSoap

At left back we could play Dillon or O'Halloran, even Ollie Cahill did decently there at the end of last season. ANYONE but Crawley!

Even other than getting sent-off he was fairly woeful today.

20 Times 20 Times

Long time ago when dundalk used to play football , the players would be passing it around then david would get the ball next of all after some great passing , he justs blasts the ball up field ! He also cant take on players

MrJoeSoap

Yeah he has been our weak link for a while now, and any team with a bit of cop on will try to expose it. We could even play Scouse at left back and leave Dillon in the centre if needs be, but Dillon and Hawkins obviously won't have the partnership that Scouse and Hawkins have built up from last season.

Time will tell I guess..

Töpher

It was O'Halloran and Crawley, though Crawford can't have been far away from getting one, and was substituted Seems the 2 sent off will be out for the first league game of the season, if the Stuart Malcolm (CHF) precedent is anything to go by. With the other suspensions carried over, that leaves us with 3 defenders (maybe 4, not sure if Rogers is suspended or not) and a winger capable of playing left back for the opening game against Bray! :eek:

Kearney went off injured after less than 15 minutes. While he was on, he looked to be giving it socks!

Scrappy game, mostly unentertaining, but if we moaned we'd get told it was about the fitness! Weather like tonight really makes you appreciate the switch to summer soccer!

speriamo

Dont know how Crawford stayed on the pitch tbh. Also Fenlon sprinting from his dugout to moan to the ref after Crawley was correctly sent off was ridiculous and he was rightly given dogs abuse by the Rovers support.

We looked a bit lightweight but it has to be remembered that we are a first division side playing against a premier side. The gulf was clear. Shields was a bag of tricks.

For entertainment it was oily and jason byrne getting a good slagging:D

gimmick

Galway Utd 0 - 1 Cork City

John O Flynn scored. Poor game by all accounts. The appauling weather didnt help matters either.

I can't see Rovers doing too well this season, some of their passing (even to players within 5 yards) was atrocious.

You cannot gauge how well/poorly a team will fair from pre-season games.

MrJoeSoap

I had Crawford on the brain for some reason, I knew it was O'Halloran though (changed it after re-reading), he had that puppy-dog face as he walked over to the dressing rooms!

You cannot gauge how well/poorly a team will fair from pre-season games.

Its kinda hard not to judge with some of the diabolical passing last night. They'll do alright but I'd say 3rd or 4th at best. They mightn't even beat Pats on Friday week!

Töpher

speriamo wrote:

For entertainment it was oily and jason byrne getting a good slagging:D

The new and improved Poland song, probably aptly titled All The Way To Sweden, got one hell of a chuckle from myself

Ollie the Bouncer was great craic!

MrJoeSoap

Nine men, we only need nine men, we only need nine men!

KdjaCL

Ah feck forgot we were playing Harps tonight, cba getting dressed so ehh match report.

We were deadly and everyone else wasnt.


kdjac

Slash/ED

Ndo has already been announced MOTM, a source has informed me. Pity you missed it...

Jonny Arson

Slash/ED wrote:

Ndo has already been announced MOTM, a source has informed me. Pity you missed it...

I also heard he scored a solo effort running past 6 players! What a return to Pats for Joey. I'm sure Shels are really regretting selling him now.

applehunter

Just saw St. Pats beat Finn Harps at the stadium of ****e.

Pats were the better team but not by much. Trevor Molloy got a good winner when a long header from the back split the centre backs and he was on hand to volley home.

Lee Roche was suprisingly poor for Pats. They played him on the right wing.

Finn Harps certainly have pace up front but are a bit lightweight.

Hard to judge on this performance but I wouldnt imagine Pats will be challenging.

MrJoeSoap

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

I also heard he scored a solo effort running past 6 players! What a return to Pats for Joey. I'm sure Shels are really regretting selling him now.

Yeah, I actually saw him at Tolka last night wearing his old tracksuit so he clearly still has feelings for the club. Pity he had to go, but thats football. :rolleyes:

KdjaCL

It sucks when you have to sell players doesnt it lads? Sadly Pats wouldnt pay for him

Seemingly another decent showing from Molloy.

kdjac

KdjaCL

Pats 0 Kildare 0
........................
.........................



Pats off to Spain today and it looked it last night, some of the players had sunglasses on they were that arsed. Molloy again the best player on the pitch but god awful game. Ground looks odd without the shed.


kdjac

gimmick

City 1 - 0 Finn Harps

Pretty much a reserve side out there, though Flynn and Fenn started upfront. Denis Behan came on half way through the 1st half and played centre half.

Fenn scored.

Bateman

KdjaC wrote:

Pats 0 Kildare 0
........................
.........................



Pats off to Spain today and it looked it last night, some of the players had sunglasses on they were that arsed. Molloy again the best player on the pitch but god awful game. Ground looks odd without the shed.


kdjac

Couple of people reckon that the club are trying to make the ground look as crap as possible (tractor in the Shed, muck hill behind the goal ) so that fans will subconsciously begin to favour a move to Tallaght.

KdjaCL

Bateman wrote:

Couple of people reckon that the club are trying to make the ground look as crap as possible (tractor in the Shed, muck hill behind the goal ) so that fans will subconsciously begin to favour a move to Tallaght.

More like spend as little as possible so when we move the investment in Richer was small.

Anyone who was sacked/****ed out for the club is saying we moving and plans afoot a long time to do so. Anyone still in the club denying everything and pointing to the 600K investment as a sign of things to come (thats the grant money).

But we are going to tallaght whether we like it or not, unless as pointed out if Fianna Fail dont win next election, no way in hell we getting the 20 million. So if still in Richer in 2 years time we be staying there.

kdjac

KdjaCL

Chkalovets-1936 Novosibirsk 1-0 St Patrick's Athletic,
Antequera Golf Hotel, Antequera, Andalucia, Spain
Wednesday 22nd February 2006, 4:20pm (local time).

A second half penalty was enough to separate the Saints from their Russian first division opposition in today's friendly which marked the end of the four-day intensive training session in southern Spain.

http://www.stpatsfc.com/news.php?id=655

Tonight
Pats 3 Rovers 0
Keegan
Foley 2



kdjac