RTE Setanta Cup preview

KdjaCL

Setanta Sports Cup 2007
Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:16
For the third year in succession, the Setanta Sports Cup kicks off the season for clubs south of the border. And, just like they did in the past two years, both groups look too close to call.

From an eircom League point of view, the major talking point ahead of the tournament is the inclusion of St Patrick's Athletic at the expense of Shelbourne. The loss of Shels from the competition is a huge blow considering the excellent talent the club had at its disposal for the last couple of years. They would have had an expectation of walking their group this time and ultimately lifting the trophy - but we'll never know what might have been. The break-up of a fantastic team has sent shockwaves around the football community and is a warning to all other clubs.

On the plus side (perhaps not for Shels fans!), many of those fine players will appear in the tournament for their new teams. It's a big step up for The Saints (they're the only debutants in this year's competition) but with new signings on board, including ex-Shels duo Gary O'Neill and Joseph Ndo, they should give a good account of themselves.

Pat's are in Group 2 along with Cork City, Portadown and Dungannon Swifts, and if they come out with enough chalk on their cue then they should really be considered as table toppers. But as the only Dublin club in the tournament, they have a lot of expectation to live up to. Chairman Andy O'Callaghan has rightly called on Dublin soccer fans to come out and support his team in the tournament. They do it for European games, so why not for a situation like this? A bumper Richmond Park crowd would be like a 12th man.


Cork City (the only eircom League side to appear in all three Setanta tournaments so far) always seem to start the Setanta Sports Cup short of some of the talent that got them there. This is no different, with Alan Bennett and Neale Fenn just two of their key players to leave. They may very well struggle in this group but the addition of Gareth Farrelly to the squad may come in handy.

The two Carnegie Irish League sides should pose a threat to our two sides in this group. Portadown are very much in contention in the Carnegie Irish Premier Division at present - but it has to be remembered that they only took three points from Group 1 last time out, a group that included Cork and Dungannon. They will look to the likes of Gary McCutcheon for goals, while John Convery and Keith O'Hara will be among those minding the house in a strong Ports defence that has been mean all season.

Dungannon are lower down the league table than Ports but they have great fighting spirit and should do well here again, having garnered four points and gained many new supporters last year. They've had an up-and-down season so far, but have talent in abundance at Stangmore Park with Rory Hamill and Rodney McAree to name just two.

Group 1 really is the group of death this time and picking a table topper from it is very difficult. Defending champions Drogheda United are joined by Derry City, and Belfast's finest, Linfield and Glentoran. Drogs were surprising winners of the second holding of the competition, having won the FAI Cup several months earlier. They actually finished six points behind beaten finalists Cork City in Group 1 last year, with just three wins from their six games. They will work off very much the same panel but have made some superb close season signings in former Shelbourne favourites Ollie Cahill and Stuart Byrne.

Derry City are in a similar boat, having retained the majority of the top stars from last season and supplemented them with some shrewd new signings along with new boss Pat Fenlon. A key man again for The Candystripes will be Pat McCourt: it's hard to describe class but you know you've seen it when you see him play. His ongoing omission from the Northern Ireland international set-up is downright scandalous.

Of the Irish League sides, Linfield may be the bigger threat and with each hosting of the event, their players become more and more familiar to southern fans. They've been on fire all season long and have talent all over the park. The name check of potential danger is long: Mouncey, Mulgrew, Ferguson, Thompson, Gault, McAreavy. it goes on and on. Beaten finalists last time, they'll be looking to go one step further.

Cross city rivals Glentoran finished bottom of Group 2 last year behind Linfield, Shels and Derry, and will be looking for a vast improvement on that. They will find it difficult, though, in such a tight group. Michael Halliday, Paul Leeman and Gary Smyth are among the men to watch out for, while two familiar names in Glentoran's squad are Willo McDonagh and Kevin Grogan.

PREDICTIONS

Group 1
1st: Linfield
2nd: Derry City

Group 2
1st: St Patrick's Athletic
2nd: Cork City

Mark O'Neill-Cummins

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2007/0220/setantacuppreview07.html

4 more days till starts,doo dah doo dah 4 more days till footbal starts doo de doo dah day

Cant wait for the game on monday but cant see us just turning up and playing well, so hoping for a draw with us showing signs of promise. Cork be handy enough we usualy only need 9 men vs them and our recent record against them is very good, so my wins are hopefully Cork home Dungannon home and away, ports away and 2 draws with Cork and Port, 14 points should get us out of the group

Our squad for it:

OFFICIAL SQUAD REGISTRATION FORM
Club Name: St Patricks Athletic FC
Squad No. First Name Surname Position Date of Birth
1 Barry Ryan Goalkeeper 29.08.78
2 Stephen Brennan Defender 20.03.83
3 John Frost Defender 20.05.80
4 David Mulcahy Midfielder 28.01.78
5 Darragh Maguire Defender 06.02.76
6 Colm Foley Defender 30.05.79
7 Alan Kirby Midfielder 08.09.77
8 Keith Fahey Midfielder 15.10.83
9 Gary O’Neill Forward 30.01.82
10 Mark Rooney Forward 13.12.82
11 Mark Quigley Forward 27.10.85
12 Eamonn Lynch Forward
14 Michael Foley Midfielder 09.03.83
15 Anthony Murphy Midfielder 01.08.72
16 Stephen Quigley Defender 13.01.85
17 Luke Fitzpatrick Midfielder 23.01.86
18 Joseph Ndo Midfielder 28.04.76
20 Brendan Clarke Goalkeeper 17.09.85
21 Sean O’Connor Midfielder 21.10.83
22 Vincent Arkins Forward 18.09.70
23 Ryan Guy Forward 05.09.85


Club Colours First Choice Second Choice
Jersey: Red/White Wine/Blue
Shorts: White Navy
Socks White Navy
Manager: John McDonnell
Coaches: Liam O’Brien/Mick Byrne/Robbie Horgan
Physio: Christy O’Neill/Karen White
Doctor: Matt Corcoran
Kit Manager: Philip O’Neill

Possible 11 for monday night.

Ryan
Quigley1 Foley Brennan Frost
Guy Ndo Fahey Foley Kirby
O Neill

kdjac

eirebhoy

Drogheda United v Linfield
Glentoran v Derry City
Dungannon Swifts v Cork City
St Patrick's Athletic v Portadown

Drogs match on Setanta. Easy choice I suppose.

eirebhoy

I'm really looking forward to this tomorrow. I always do look forward to the start of the Irish season and my interest starts to fade midway through.

KdjaCL

eirebhoy wrote:

I'm really looking forward to this tomorrow. I always do look forward to the start of the Irish season and my interest starts to fade midway through.

Odd that i get the same feeling watching Celtic, little scottish team scores and deservedly leads for most of match then Celtic jammy in 2 late goals and win. Every game that


kdjac

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KdjaCL wrote:

Ryan
Quigley1 Foley Brennan Frost
Guy Ndo Fahey Foley Kirby
O Neill

kdjac

Eh, that's twelve players.



Seriously though, why the hell would O'Neill play up by himself? He definitely needs a partner up with him.

Big Ears

seansouth wrote:

Eh, that's twelve players.



Seriously though, why the hell would O'Neill play up by himself? He definitely needs a partner up with him.

Who are they gonna put with him.............Arkins .
Presumely at home Rooney or Quigley would be up there with O'Neil though .
I'm not sure about O'Neil being able to lead the line on his own either .

applehunter

Looking forward to this year's cup.

Cant make it to the North tonight but Im going to try and make Richmond Park. From a betting point of view its hard to call because the south are short on game time.

_blank_

Is there a link to the fixtures somewhere.

I might pop along to Richer myself at some stage for a match.

I'm dying to see some proper live football again.

My arse is getting sore from the barstools.:cool:

eirebhoy

Pats are 6/5 to beat Portadown. Their away results last year were poor.

Dungannon 1 - 1 Portadown
Drogheda United 4 - 0 Portadown
Cork City 3 - 1 Portadown

I think I'll have a small punt on Pats.

eirebhoy

Pats are 3 up.:eek: Ndo, Kirby, Kirby.

applehunter

Main thing to come from tonight's game is nothing new.

When on song, Joseph Ndo is a class act.:)

Good crowd for a Monday. Dont know what the story is with behind the goal. Are they planting grass or what. What a waste!:rolleyes:

Berns

Glentoran 0-1 Derry City
St Pat's Athletic 3-0 Portadown
Dungannon Swifts 0-0 Cork City
Drogheda Utd 0-1 Linfield

From BBC Site, Nice results for Derry and St Pats Dam Linfield :mad:

redzerdrog

drogs were terrible in the first half but were by far the better team in the 2nd we could have had a bagfull it just wasnt to be and linfield won but if they win this cup i will eat my hat, jocks and anything yas want they are were terrible imho. alan "porn star" kelly didnt help things he was fooking ****e and never gave us a thing for the match.

_blank_

redzerdrog wrote:

drogs were terrible in the first half but were by far the better team in the 2nd we could have had a bagfull it just wasnt to be and linfield won but if they win this cup i will eat my hat, jocks and anything yas want they are were terrible imho. alan "porn star" kelly didnt help things he was fooking ****e and never gave us a thing for the match.

I watched the game and on balance, I felt Linfield deserved the win. The goal was very well taken.

I think that injury yiz got early on affected yiz.

Painful to see Ollie and Stuey in that jersey

Closest Drogs came to scoring was that Cahill effort that went just wide, Byrne was quiet. When Grant came on he looked well up for it, and maybe should have started.

You are right about that Kelly though, shíte ref.

KdjaCL

Jesus that was easy

We started to gel and destroyed them, 1st 20 odd minutes we struggled to find passes but once we start finding players we tore them apart. I was fairly shocked that he played the 4 3 3 right from the start.

Ryan
Quigley1 Foley Brennan Frost
Murphy Foley Kirby
Ndo Fahey
O Neill

But in fairness Portadown are awful, shockingly bad. In the 2nd half Ndo was taking the piss out of Collins. The area was cleaned and all the **** ****ed out to create a cliff like border to stop Pressman getting near the chipper Also the railings were painted by a fe polish lads who did all the work around the ground.

Some ugly scenes after the game and in McDowells from both sets of fans, no violence just sectarian chanting and a lot of police with dogs, PSNI had informed gardai some known troublemakers where travelling down, they threw ice cubes in McD.

kdjac

BrianCalgary

Any highlights anywhere on th enet?

Particularly the Derry City match?

KdjaCL

Dunno odd no games covered, there was only the pats camera man at Richmond, so our goals be online shortly.

http://foot.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=54089

kdjac

KdjaCL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sAeR6_-1kM

Derrys goal.

kdjac

SectionF

seansouth wrote:

When Grant came on he looked well up for it, and maybe should have started.

You are right about that Kelly though, shíte ref.

Grant always looks well up for it, and actually is always well up for it. IMO he's an honest player who gives his all, but that doesn't necessarily translate into goals. Drogheda looked toothless up front.

redzerdrog

SectionF wrote:

Grant always looks well up for it, and actually is always well up for it. IMO he's an honest player who gives his all, but that doesn't necessarily translate into goals. Drogheda looked toothless up front.

I agree we were toothless up front rastilla was shocking, barret got injured of never got a chance, o keefe wasnt too bad but we only looked any way dangerous when fabio came on. all this while we had Zayed sitting in the stands.