Football This Weekend

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Premier Division

26 Oct 2007
Galway United -v- Derry City
Waterford United -v- Drogheda United

27 Oct 2007

Shamrock Rovers -v- Sligo Rovers

FAI Cup Semi Finals

26 Oct 2007
Bohemians -v- Cork City

28 Oct 2007
UCD -v- Longford Town

First Division

25 Oct 2007
Dundalk -v- Limerick 37

26 Oct 2007
Finn Harps -v- Kildare County
Shelbourne -v- Cobh Ramblers

27 Oct 2007
Athlone Town -v- Monaghan United
Kilkenny City -v- Wexford Youths


Semi Final weekend, as Bohs entertain Cork City. This should be a good match, and I reckon City will win, and actually go on to lift the cup.

The other match is very intriguing, and I reckon College will have too much for Longford, who will probably be concentrating on Premier Division Survival.

Galway United will be looking for the win when Derry City visit Terryland Park, as they are sitting just outside the relegation battle, but I think a draw is on the cards here.

New champions Drogheda should have too much for Waterford, but a combination of celebrations in Louth and desperation in Munster could see an upset. I don't think so though. Drogheda for the win.

In the First, Dudalk will be loloking for the three points tonight, as they push for automatic promotion, but in reality their challenge is gone. They'll finish second or third. Dundalk will be strong enough for L37, and win.

Harps and Cobh both play on Friday as the battle for the title continues. Leaders Harps entertain Kildare County, and should be good enough for the three points. Cobh will travel to Drumcondra confident of getting the three points from a Shels who have nothing left to play for, but will be looking to finish as far up the table as possible, with fourth a real possibility if L37 fail to win in Oriel tonight.

It could still go either way at the top of the First, and it's getting exciting.

On Sunday the bottom four play each other, as Athlone host Monaghan, I think Athlone are too strong for Monaghan, and Wexford Young Boys will beat Kilkenny City to leapfrog them from the bottom of the division.

telecaster

Some more previews here

gimmick

After City last 2 performances, I expect nothing other than a comfortable Bohs victory tomorrow night. 2-0 at least.

KdjaCL

Have to want a bohs win, realisticaly its suits Pats if they win the cup.



kdjac

SectionF

Think we can win it if we keep up our form.
Hope Harpal starts: he's given us another dimension since he's come back.

MrJoeSoap

I'll more than likely be at Tolka for the first time in a long long while tomorrow. The last time I was there I thought it would be the last time I was ever there. We won some class of a trophy...

An emotional return to a ground where I spend many's a Friday night!

Come on the Shels!! (Can anyone give me a brief guide to the team now? )

Pighead

DesF wrote: »

In the First, Dudalk will be loloking for the three points tonight, as they push for automatic promotion, but in reality their challenge is gone. They'll finish second or third. Dundalk will be strong enough for L37, and win.

Harps and Cobh both play on Friday as the battle for the title continues. Leaders Harps entertain Kildare County, and should be good enough for the three points. Cobh will travel to Drumcondra confident of getting the three points from a Shels who have nothing left to play for, but will be looking to finish as far up the table as possible, with fourth a real possibility if L37 fail to win in Oriel tonight.

It could still go either way at the top of the First, and it's getting exciting.

Yeah would agree with that alright. Realistically all hopes of 1st or even 2nd place disappeared last week with a 2-1 loss gaianst Cobh. Pretty much accepted 3rd place now and it looks as though we'll be playing Cobh in the playoff. Not looking too promising for d'town.:(

MrJoeSoap

Bets for tonight are Dundalk to win (at 1/2) and under 2.5 goals (at 5/6). My luck has been out the last few days so I'm not that confident any more!

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MrJoeSoap wrote: »

(Can anyone give me a brief guide to the team now? )

GK

Tony O'Dowd - you know him.

James Hussey is his understudy, he's alright standard for the first division, can be a bit unsure at times.

The defence is better now than it was before the window.

The first choice is

Defence

Alan Murphy RB - Solid, leaderlike qualities, good organiser. Can get up and down the wing and combines well with James Chambers when he plays on the RW. Can also fill in in the middle of the midfield when Jimbo is out.

Alan Keely CH - Dermo's son. Strong in the air, and seems to like the rough and tumble too. Solid, but prone to the odd mistake with the ball on the ground.

Stuart Malcolm CH - Tough Scottish lad. An excellent defender who wouldn't look out of place in the Premier. Likes to go forward with the ball.

Mark McCulloch LB - Absolute gem of a LB. Tenacious, likes to get forward and always tries to link up with his LW or the midfielders. Can swing a decent ball crossfield too.

Other defenders

Aidan Collins hard not to put him in to the middle of the defence, but the Malcolm Keely partnership edges it for me, and for Dermot Keely too seemingly. He's a great lad. We have three quality centre backs imo.

Sean L'Estrange, back up RB. Not seen much of him, but he's nowhere near as good as Murph there. He seems to like going forward. He was with Shels' U21 in 05, but moved to Kildare County in Feb 06.

Niall O'Reilly, back up RB. Was a starter until Murph got into the team. I think he had a falling out with Dermot Kelly though, he has only been featuring for the 21s since the summer. Decent player, if not a little small in stature.

Brian Gartland, CH. Great prospects for this fella, he's a good young CH, and I'd love to see him in a Reds jersey for a good while. Plus, he'll always be a legend, he scored our first goal this season, at the New Stand end of Tolka in the 2-2 with Kildare in the first game. He sent off Jules and Andy in Boardeaux's game before last Xmas in the league. Remember?

Noel Haverty, on loan from Pat's. Biggest waster to ever pull on a Shelbourne jersey. Shíte player (hi kdjac:p)

Midfield

Jim Crawford CM he's a Red, he's a Red he's a Red, Jimmy Crawford he's a red. He Hates Money. More injured than not, but he oozes class and composure while the young lads around learn from him.

Mark O'Brien CM, A bit lightweight, but very good on the ball. Has been my MOTM a few times this year. Not afraid of a tackle either, but because of his size, he can lose out from time to time. Is the more creative of this midfield pairing.

James Chambers RW, the lad is a Shelbourne Legend. Simple as that. Best player in the division by a mile.

Left wing has been a problem for us all season.

Glen Lacey LW, seems to be a Keely favourite for the position, can be a bit of a headless chicken.

Kieran Harte R/LW, decent player, understudy to Chambers on the RW really, which means when he plays on the left he has to cut back to get crosses in with his right foot.

Alan Reilly RW, Not a footballer in any shape or form. Can't run because of his weight, can't pass, and the players seem to know this, as they won't pass to him. I watched him for the whole first half of one game. He recieved the ball three times, passed it backwards once, and lost it twice. No place for him at Shelbourne next season, or in the LSL, or the Astroleague for that matter.


Strikers

Mark Leech, Quality. Hopefully he wants to stay. Great at holding it up and bringing the midfield or his strike partner into play. Perhaps should have more goals, but still, great player.

Anto "Bisto" Flood, Gangly, hard to mark, scores for fun. Work rate is a bit dubious, but he's always worth a goal. Don't know why Dundalk let him go. Works well with Leechy up top.

Mark Rooney, I like this guy, always looking for the ball, not afraid to take a man on. Is behind the pecking order of Leech and Flod, but a very able deputy.

Ciaran Quinn, haven't seen too much of him.

There are a few other lads on the fringes, but that's the majority of players who've been playing in the last couple of months.

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By the way, you've been back for ages, and this is your first game? For shame.

I'll be in the Ne Stand tomorrow I think, where you gonna go?

KdjaCL

DesF wrote: »

Noel Haverty, on loan from Pat's. Biggest waster to ever pull on a Shelbourne jersey. Shíte player (hi kdjac:p)

thankfully you dont manage a decent set of players

Republic of Ireland Under-19 manager Sean McCaffrey has announced his 18-player squad the upcoming UEFA Championship, first phase qualifiers which will take place in Portugal from November 1st - 6th.


McCaffrey has included two home-based eircom League of Ireland players in the panel. They are Ian Bermingham of UCD and St. Patrick’s Athletic defender Noel Haverty, who is currently gaining experience on loan with Shelbourne.

kdjac

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KdjaCL wrote: »

thankfully you dont manage a decent set of players

That's fairly harsh on the lads tbh.

John_C

DesF wrote: »

FAI Cup Semi Finals

28 Oct 2007
UCD -v- Longford Town

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A special 'STIG' / 'One F in Longford' joint issue is on sale for 2 euro with all proceeds going towards Cystic Fibrosis Ireland.
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MrJoeSoap

DesF wrote: »

By the way, you've been back for ages, and this is your first game? For shame.

I'll be in the Ne Stand tomorrow I think, where you gonna go?

Yeah I've missed the last four home games since I got back, was broke and job-hunting. Employed again now, and not too far from Tolka, happy days.

Will be in the New Stand as well, what are the crowds like these days?

raheny red

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Will be in the New Stand as well, what are the crowds like these days?

Suicidal

Pighead

Dundalk lose 2-0 at home to Limerick (1st home defeat all season) and their season is ending with a whimper rather than a bang. Hopefully this is all some sort of masterplan by Gill to lull Cobh into a false sense of security for the upcoming play off match.

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Pighead wrote: »

Dundalk lose 2-0 at home to Limerick

I'm genuinley shocked at that.

Pighead

Any Drogs fans know if Fabio's back for tonights match?

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Pighead, Gill really went to town on last night's performance.

Scathing stuff, it has to be said.

http://www.dundalkfc.com/News/071026_Gill.html

“It’s not good enough…they should be embarrassed…I’ve defended them when I feel they’ve needed to be defended, but I’m not going to defend the indefensible…a few of them have signed their own P45s...the departure lounge is filling up fairly quickly and waiting for the button to be pressed.” -

“There are no excuses. It wasn’t good enough, it wasn’t good enough all over the park. When you start a game as sloppy as that, it’s very hard to turn it around. I’ll take responsibility for certain things, I took a huge amount of responsibility for last Saturday, but I’m not going to put my name to that; they’ve been told in no uncertain terms.

And on it goes.

Fair play to him for that.

Wow.

Pighead

Seen that alright Des. Can't imagine wenger or Fergie coming out with statements like that! Fair play to him.

Wasn't at the game but heard it was our worst performance of the season. McCauley was at fault for both goals and was hauled off after less than 25 mins. I imagine he's one of the lads heading for the "Departure Lounge".

Its gonna take some unbelievable managerial skills by Gill to get that team to beat Cobh in the playoff in a few weeks time. 21 Points from the last 15 games tells its own story.

KdjaCL

Where do you when you released from Dundalk???


Shels



kdjac

Pighead

KdjaCL wrote: »

Where do you when you released from Dundalk???


Shels



kdjac

Where do you go to, when you want advice on how to construct a sentence properly?

Not to KdjaCL

Pighead

KdjaCL

Pighead wrote: »

Where do you go to, when you want advice on how to construct a sentence properly?

Not to KdjaCL

Pighead

Where do you go when you want to watch a decent football match?

Not to Oriel

kdjac

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KdjaCL wrote: »

Where do you go when you want to watch a decent football match?

Not to Oriel

kdjac

That's why he didn't go I'd imagine.

KdjaCL

Cork 1 up

Well on top too


kdjac

KdjaCL

Cork well in control , at least they learned something from monday night


kdjac

KdjaCL

2-0

kearney again nice finish.


kdjac

KdjaCL

jesus Cork scored more goals vs Bohs tonight than US the top fekcin scoring team in the entire league did all season in 4 games.

Bohs bottled it bigtime but Cork earned it they outplayed Bohs all over the pitch.


Guess when you cant bring the bus sit back in a 451 Bohs are just ****. Kinda wanted bohs to win but if you play like that you deserve nothing.



kdjac

galwayrush

excellent win got Galway tonight.:cool: not safe yet, but almost.

MrJoeSoap

Shels 1-2 Cobh

€15? Nah.

SectionF

Deserved win for Cork. Hard to stomach watching your team bottle it, but that is exactly what they did, or at least some of them did.
Don't think I've ever seen so many misplaced passes as in that second half.

Jonny Arson

fair play to Cobh, deserved win despite a poor first half from them. they are a seriously average team punching far above and beyond their weight with only 3 defeats so far this season. if they do go up i'd fear for them, if they do end up facing Longford or Waterford in a play-off i think they will be beaten easily

and John Gill has kindly saved me from typing my thoughts on Shels' 2nd half ''performance''..........

John Gill wrote:

“It’s not good enough…they should be embarrassed…I’ve defended them when I feel they’ve needed to be defended, but I’m not going to defend the indefensible…a few of them have signed their own P45s...the departure lounge is filling up fairly quickly and waiting for the button to be pressed.” -

:mad:

Roar

thought we were superb in dalymount park tonight. out played bohs from start to finish, and played some superb football as well.

leon mcsweeney got man of the match for playing in his natural position of right midfield.. the sad fact is, if gareth farrelly was available for selection, then leon wouldn't have started.. he has to start the remainder of our games now, and on the right hand side.

delighted with the win, but the manner of our victory has made me even happier

Jonny Arson wrote: »

fair play to Cobh, deserved win despite a poor first half from them. they are a seriously average team punching far above and beyond their weight with only 3 defeats so far this season. if they do go up i'd fear for them, if they do end up facing Longford or Waterford in a play-off i think they will be beaten easily

and John Gill has kindly saved me from typing my thoughts on Shels' 2nd half ''performance''..........

:mad:

there's no way cobh are a "seriously average team".. they've consistently proved over the course of this season that they are, along with harps, the best team in the division, scoring the second highest amount of goals, and only conceding 16 goals in 34 games.. and on the vast majority of times i've seen them this season they've played some cracking football too.

they may have been poor last night, but if they were and still able to beat you, doesn't say much for shels does it?

gimmick

Amazed by Citys performance last night. From to off we were by far the better team, and Bohs didnt have a good spell of longer than 3 or 4 minutes at any stage. All the players were outstanding last night.

Final now. Hopefully it Longford as at least they will bring some fans.

I need to point out also how crap supporters Bohs are. Noise for about the first 5 minutes, then they got on the manager and players backs. Not to mention they didnt even come close to selling out a home semi final. Connor has brought them from being a mediocre make weight into a decent side in less than a season, and they still aren't happy. BIG CLUB my arse. Notorious Boohoo boys indeed.

SectionF

gimmick wrote: »

I need to point out also how crap supporters Bohs are.

Nice to see you so magnanimous in victory.

gimmick

Stating a fact dude. The Bohs fans last night showed more hate to their team than love.

Ronan|Raven

Butterflies kicking in now. Early start to get the train to that awful place known as Dublin

Going to be a very close game against UCD. Have a few first teamers out due to being cup tied so will be interesting to see what lineup goes out. Should be a good crowd up from Longford with a bit of luck the result will go the way I want.

Ticket.. check!
HipFlask .. check!
optimism.. check!

KdjaCL

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

Butterflies kicking in now. Early start to get the train to that awful place known as Dublin

Going to be a very close game against UCD. Have a few first teamers out due to being cup tied so will be interesting to see what lineup goes out. Should be a good crowd up from Longford with a bit of luck the result will go the way I want.

Ticket.. check!
HipFlask .. check!
optimism.. check!

oh right you on beer all day?

may join if you are


kdjac

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KdjaCL wrote: »

oh right you on beer all day?

may join if you are


kdjac

What time is the game?

Hmm, this could be a good prelude to the Beers later.

kdjac, I sent a PM to you...

Ronan|Raven

Could be done, have to get train now but should have an hour or two in town before the game. KDJAC, you have my number I have lost yours.

DSB

Good luck UCD.

gimmick

It will be bad for the final if UCD get to it? How many fans would they bring? 15? Maybe a 24 seater coach?

John_C

gimmick wrote: »

Maybe a 24 seater coach?

Those new 46A busses can hold nearly a hundred so we'll probably hop onto one fo them.

KdjaCL

Longford win 1-0


well done



kdjac

Jonny Arson

i thought it was a harsh result on UCD, i thought they deserved at least a replay but Longford's resolve won out it in the end and well done to them. can they save their Premier Division status by keeping their performance level up for their two remaining league matches though?

Roar wrote:

there's no way cobh are a "seriously average team".. they've consistently proved over the course of this season that they are, along with harps, the best team in the division, scoring the second highest amount of goals, and only conceding 16 goals in 34 games.. and on the vast majority of times i've seen them this season they've played some cracking football too.

from what i've seen of them they are an average team punching above their weight, i've been far more impressed with Harps and Dundalk and I even think both of them would go straight back down if they go up this season. Cobh (like Longford) have great resolve and organisation, they got three points on Friday without playing particularly good, they've been the only consistent side over the season and as a result they deserve their league position and fair play to them. however, in the overall context i don't think much of them as footballing side but that's the first division, it's a poor league, any side can go up if they apply themselves properly over an entire season.

Roar wrote:

they may have been poor last night, but if they were and still able to beat you, doesn't say much for shels does it?

eh? i said Cobh deserved the win, i said Shels were sh!te in the second half. Cobh are a better side than Shels, that's a fact.

Ronan|Raven

Ooh. I have a distinct ringing sensation in my head but it was worth it