LOI: League of Ireland Fixtures (Week 10), Apr 24-25

dreamers75

Sligo have 11 decent players who seem to be playing their own little game, would hate to say they are playing to get the manager sacked but something not right. They are not a team with a purpose or plan.


Handy enough in the end, Greene has just fit right in there.

Seen bits of the Cork match didnt look too bad, Cork playing kick ball hard kick man hard again.....seen someone where tonight they a "great footballing side"...lol Nope. Dundalks midfield wont be stopped but that back four can be got at.

Ronan|Raven

Great game between Cork and Dundalk. Fantastic atmosphere too.

Longford won 3-0 away in Drogheda. Putting a bit of space between us and the bottom 3

dreamers75

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

Longford won 3-0 away in Drogheda. Putting a bit of space between us and the bottom 3

Longford ***** btw..... ruined my bet.

NIMAN

overshoot wrote: »

wining at home to shels could put us 12pts clear of them... this position feels weird... it has to go wrong....

Well done to harps, and Kevin McHugh.

Good result. The dream is still alive.

tastyt

Great atmosphere in cork but dennehy at the back is an absolute liability and not just because of the stupid tackle for the peno. Himself and Bennett will really struggle with pacey forwards this season.

Also I thought cork played a lot of high long passes in on top of the front line, which in itself isn't an issue, but if they are gonna play that style they should have signed a big target man who's great in the air at the start of the season.

Towell and McMillan were class for dundalk

The_Kew_Tour

Well done Dundalk a professional win on scoreboard on the field and on the time wasting(I'm not being sarcastic BTW) Can't have any complaints. Dundalk did what they had to do, and City could not respond.

We may have deserved a point, but in reality Dundalk could have scored least 1 more too. The team to beat.

Miller was shocking.

ShamoBuc

Photo-Sniper wrote: »

Sorry I worded the part about Miller wrong.

By no means was he the best on the pitch tonight. I mean in general, LOI standards of football, Miller generally stands out with the quick thinking feet and head movements.. The kind of football you play at Celtic and Man Utd for instance.

He played a stormer against Derry 3 weeks ago and then he was the best on the pitch.

Dundalk deserved it.. they will be hard to beat. I do think Cork are the only ones who can do it though, dont think Rovers are strong enough for the task.

Thought Miller was average at best. Needed to put his stamp on the game but Dundalk's midfield bossed the important parts of the game. Our midfield was not close enough to the fowards on a few occasions, but I think miller will have a big season for city.

Just saw the clip of Peter Collins before the match ' how do you think cork shítty...cork city will.....:pac:

dreamers75

tastyt wrote: »

e they should have signed a big target man who's great in the air at the start of the season.

Swap you Kilduff for a empty packet of crisps.


Fairly sure the empty packet will at some point be blown into the other teams box. He just doesnt get us yet

doncarlos

Load of cork fans waited to throw objects at the dundalk players when they were leaving the pitch. Load of stuff raining down.
After all the complaints about our fans after the game in oriel will they be as quick to criticise their own??
Could/should be a massive fine.

Hammer Archer

Ah the joys of division 1 referees. Apart from the ridiculous penalty award (which was Cobh's only shot on target) a Cobh player goes down with a leg injury in the UCD half, Cobh play on but lose it in their defence and O'Neill goes through one on one only for the referee to stop the play for the injury. The guy didn't even need any treatment.

Same old story for us. Dominated possession but have no finishers to kill off the game. Dire game on the cards in Tolka next week.

The_Kew_Tour

doncarlos wrote: »

Load of cork fans waited to throw objects at the dundalk players when they were leaving the pitch. Load of stuff raining down.
After all the complaints about our fans after the game in oriel will they be as quick to criticise their own??
Could/should be a massive fine.

Was in Shed but left straight after game.

If it stuff like coins etc then yes we should be punished. Although never seen worse then load of boos even in the bad times few years back.

GLaDOS

Fantastic result for Bohs up in Derry, especially after going 1 down early on. Delighted for Griffin to get the winner.

dreamers75

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

If it stuff like coins etc then yes we should be punished. Although never seen worse then load of boos even in the bad times few years back.

get 6900 people into match you are ****ing nailed on going to get retards, its grand they wont be back until next game vs Dublin club/Dundalk

Pinturicchio

Watching the Cork - Dundalk match on TV in the pub in Galway made me wish I was there. Brilliant advertisement for the league. I cannot wait for our trip to Bray tomorrow now.

anncoates

anncoates wrote: »

Tonight will more than likely be cagey.

Shut up, Ann.

Ferris_Bueller

Good to see Turners Cross packed tonight, looks good on the TV when there are two decent teams playing in a full stadium. Dundalk are definitely the team to beat again this season, tonight when they went 2-1 up and last week against Rovers when they went down to ten men they looked very solid defensively, will be interesting to see how they get on in Europe this year.

Towell has such a knack of being in the right place at the right time, brilliant player but is he good enough for an international call up? I'm not so sure. You could argue he might be better than someone like Paul Green but he's not the same type of player. Is he better than the likes of Hoolahan, Quinn, Hendrick? I doubt it. Although if he keeps up this form who knows, reminds me of Fahey before he went to Birmingham in the way that he stands out every time you watch him play.

See Sean Thornton got sent off for Drogheda tonight, anyone know how he has been getting on this season?

dreamers75

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

See Sean Thornton got sent off for Drogheda tonight, anyone know how he has been getting on this season?

he cant run.

Captain Havoc

One thing that stood out for me tonight was how bad Cork were at set pieces.

Pinturicchio

Sean Thornton was fairly ****e in Terryland this season anyway. He spent most of the match arguing with his own goalkeeper.

It's only a matter of time until Towell is in the Ireland squad.

dreamers75

Pinturicchio wrote: »

It's only a matter of time until XXXXXXX is in the Ireland squad.

Love that line, until the player in question does whats needed to be a professional they aint ever getting in the squad and rightly ****ing so.

if they are good enough to go proper professional they would be there, but they are not so they are in the LOI.

Forrester, Fagan, Towell, other players......there is a reason they are here and not abroad.

Photo-Sniper

dreamers75 wrote: »

Love that line, until the player in question does whats needed to be a professional they aint ever getting in the squad and rightly ****ing so.

if they are good enough to go proper professional they would be there, but they are not so they are in the LOI.

Forrester, Fagan, Towell, other players......there is a reason they are here and not abroad.

This is a great point. People can bang on about Towell all they want but he's not exactly up against any gods on a football pitch is he? Even compared to David Meyler who I don't rate at all, Towell would struggle abroad or against teams like Germany, Poland etc

Corholio

Very impressed by Dundalk tonight, a team that knows a system and goes out and plays it to perfection. No complaints about the loss at all, Dundalk were better in most areas of the pitch. Whatever about Towell getting the 2 goals, Shields was terrific and seemed to be everywhere. Our midfield just never got going and struggled to carry the ball forward, Gearoid is definitely missed in that regard. Starting 3 defensive midfielders and then not even bringing on either Holohan or Djilali was really disappointing to be honest, this mindset won't be competing with Dundalk anytime soon.

justshane

He's the fittest player in the league

dfx-

Photo-Sniper wrote: »

This is a great point. People can bang on about Towell all they want but he's not exactly up against any gods on a football pitch is he? Even compared to David Meyler who I don't rate at all, Towell would struggle abroad or against teams like Germany, Poland etc

why would you ever just throw him or anyone in against Germany or Poland straight off? Especially if there's Gibraltar away and Georgia at home to start with..

flas

Drogheda the worst team I have seen this season yet,we played 2 up front and punished them big time.kevin o'connor brilliant for us again!

And for the people saying towel would look ordinary against germany!!?? Xavi and inestia look ordinary against that german team In full flight, towel would hold his own in our group of players!

monkey9

Sligo are in serious trouble unless they get rid of Heary. It was clearly a bad move from the start and the team look genuinely clueless.

monkey9

MD1990 wrote: »

Richie Towell deserves an international call up imo.

He failed on trial at Cardiff earlier in the year. Not necessarily a sure thing.

White Horse

Thrilling game at Turners Cross.

I wonder will John Caulfield now realise that you can attack and play football away from home.

I also wonder will some self proclaimed LOI 'experts' now accept that David McMillan is a quality centre forward.

A_Sober_Paddy

monkey9 wrote: »

He failed on trial at Cardiff earlier in the year. Not necessarily a sure thing.

Well didn't they decide not to buy him, he was still under contract at oriel I thought when he went on that trial

MD1990

monkey9 wrote: »

He failed on trial at Cardiff earlier in the year. Not necessarily a sure thing.

I know that. But he went at a difficult time where his fitness would be well off the rest of the Cardiff players most likely. He will be at a championship club soon enough.

srfc d16

dreamers75 wrote: »

Forrester, Fagan, Towell, other players......there is a reason they are here and not abroad.

Has anyone ever said Fagan should be in the Ireland team?
I would say the same about Forrester but people probably have because he has scored a few nice goals.
I don't think Forrester or Fagan would be able to get in to a championship team whereas I would be pretty confident that Towell would. He is a better player than either of them

irish_goat

Disappointing at the Brandywell last night. Bohs had 3 chances and scored 2 of them. Thought Derry were the better team but we're missing someone up front who can put the ball in the net. Didn't help when Fats was taken off on a stretcher either.

Bohs players all started falling to the ground to waste time at the slightest touch as soon as they scored their 2nd too. Think their keeper spent a good 3 minutes faking an injury when no one had even made contact with him.

Omackeral

Some crazy scorelines at the minute. Bray have lost 0-5 at home to Galway and Limerick are 1-0 up vs Shamrock Rovers.

Mushy

Normal service has resumed

dreamers75

srfc d16 wrote: »

Has anyone ever said Fagan should be in the Ireland team?
I would say the same about Forrester but people probably have because he has scored a few nice goals.
I don't think Forrester or Fagan would be able to get in to a championship team whereas I would be pretty confident that Towell would. He is a better player than either of them

I would disagree.....but he and Forrester are in the LOI for a reason which was my point.

If they were mentally sound (notice i didnt say good enough) they would be professional footballers in England. But they are not they are basically semi pros in the LOI.

BOHtox

irish_goat wrote: »

Disappointing at the Brandywell last night. Bohs had 3 chances and scored 2 of them. Thought Derry were the better team but we're missing someone up front who can put the ball in the net. Didn't help when Fats was taken off on a stretcher either.

Bohs players all started falling to the ground to waste time at the slightest touch as soon as they scored their 2nd too. Think their keeper spent a good 3 minutes faking an injury when no one had even made contact with him.

Must have been taking lessons from Ger Doherty so

major bill

If anyone had of told me at the start of the season we would be 3rd in the league going into the last game of the 1st round having only conceding 1 goal away whilst not losing I would have laughed and ridiculed them!!!

what a season so far

*well 4th on goal diff but ya get the drift*

Zebra3

This season is not going as planned but as expected.



If it's possible for that to make sense.

overshoot

Couldn't help thinking how much a loss Connolly has been to ye last night. Just never felt we would concede... Altho wasn't sure we were going to score either!

9pts clear of 4th... Our best start ever in D1 and best since the early 80s including the premier... 1000 there last night too.
I thought we would challenge at least the promotion spots... Never expected this!

monkey9

dreamers75 wrote: »

I would disagree.....but he and Forrester are in the LOI for a reason which was my point.

If they were mentally sound (notice i didnt say good enough) they would be professional footballers in England. But they are not they are basically semi pros in the LOI.

Forrester is just going to be a top quality LOI player over the next fifteen years like Killian Brennan rather than making it in England.

CHealy

Dundalk were much better than us Friday night, so kudos to Kenny and his staff for assembling such a quality grouping of players. They are much quicker and stronger than anyone else I've seen, who is the fitness coach there? Whoever it is s/he deserves to be known.

Clueless tactics again by Caulfield, didn't have a clue what to do when we were 2-1 down. I believe given we went behind so early in the second half, with the players we have, we should have been more than capable of snatching at least a draw, but same as last season, it wasn't to be. If fear we won't beat Dundalk for a long time now, it must be in the players heads now after Friday.

I have not seen a crowd like that in Turners Cross since we won the league in 2005. There was close to 8000 in the ground, no doubt about it. It was very sad to hear of season ticket holders being refused entry because of a Guard on a trip. There was also no need for Guards with dogs and batons to be placed around the ground. This was a LOI match between two teams who do not have a history of trouble with each other, not the Belgrade Derby, but I'm sure the lads will enjoy spending their overtime money. Funny, I sometimes go watch the Cork hurlers who can attract crowds of 40 thousand, and I've never once seen the public order at a GAA game, however this seems to becoming a regular occurrence at LOI games, particularly in Cork and Dublin.

Anyway, I hope the Dundalk fans enjoyed the football experience given to them, long way to go but I can't see who else is going to step up and challenge ye, it sure as hell won't be us.

10green bottles

Graham Byrne is the strength & conditioning coach at Dundalk.Think he was at Bohs a few years back or was it Pats?

White Horse

10green bottles wrote: »

Graham Byrne is the strength & conditioning coach at Dundalk.Think he was at Bohs a few years back or was it Pats?

Graham in head of fitness at DCU and also works with the Irish Olympic athletes.

"I was at Bohemians for a couple of years before and it was a bit of a token gesture. It was almost as though they wanted a strength and conditioning coach because it looked good in the match programme."

Good interview below from a couple of years ago.

http://www.dundalkdemocrat.ie/sport/soccer/better-faster-stronger-1-5379455

People are mentioning Dundalk's strength, speed, and fitness. However, don't overlook Dundalk's injury record. Dundalk players hardly ever have muscle injuries.

“The horrible side of the game is prehab and injury prevention. No player likes doing it but it works. Prehab is all about flexibility and keeping players out of the physio room.

“If I’m doing my job right then there won’t be too many players in the physio room with hamstrings, groin strains and back injuries so you could say that my job is to put our physio out of a job”, he joked.

MD1990

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish/2015/0427/697030-cork-boss-rues-attendances-for-dublin-clubs/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Caulfield talking about the attendances in Dublin. Makes some good points.

White Horse

MD1990 wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish/2015/0427/697030-cork-boss-rues-attendances-for-dublin-clubs/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Caulfield talking about the attendances in Dublin. Makes some good points.

He is right, of course. Even if his motive was to have a pop at the Dublin journos he was speaking to at the time.

Pighead

What a win by the mighty Dundalk on Friday night. A draw would have been satisfactory but I knew that we wuld win that midfield battle and the victory was there for the taking. As has been mentioned our fitness levels are so impressive with Towell, Shields and Horgan showing tremendous desire to close down Cork players anytime they had the ball.

That's five wins in a row and six without defeat against Cork which is a ridiculously good record against a top three club. Towell on course for twenty league goals and player of the season if he keeps this form up. I was sure Horgan would win it this year but Towell's performances this month have been unreal. Nice of limerick to do us a favour as well. Could this be the year when we finally win back to back league trophies. So far so very good. Bray next up for the Champs.

anncoates

MD1990 wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish/2015/0427/697030-cork-boss-rues-attendances-for-dublin-clubs/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Caulfield talking about the attendances in Dublin. Makes some good points.

Won't begrudge any cub their latest time in the sun and I'm delighted about Cork's attendances (and fair play to the effort they put in to advertise) and hope they last but all this tub-thumping can get a bit self-righteous.

Give Cork a poor season or two and they'll shave about half that attendance off, even more, just like everybody else. Happens to all of us and the country teams are worse for sports bandwagons IMO.

Actually, given how bad we were the last 2 seasons and the vibes, I thought we were doing well to keep our average attendances to what they were.

Plus Cork are the only Premier club in the second largest city in the country. He can deny that, but's it's a big contributing factor.

Pighead

anncoates wrote: »

Won't begrudge any cub their latest time in the sun and I'm delighted about Cork's attendances (and fair play to the effort they put in to advertise) and hope they last but all this tub-thumping can get a bit self-righteous.

Give Cork a poor season or two and they'll shave about half that attendance off, even more, just like everybody else. Happens to all of us and the country teams are worse for sports bandwagons IMO.

Actually, given how bad we were the last 2 seasons and the vibes, I thought we were doing well to keep our average attendances to what they were.

Plus Cork are the only Premier club in the second largest city in the country. He can deny that, but's it's a big contributing factor.

Was thinking this myself. Easy to knock other people's attendances when you're flying high but you can bet all the poster campaigns in the world won't get too many extra punters through the year if the team are producing rubbish football on the pitch.

dfx-

There's a whiff of making the headlines be something else or talking about something else instead of Cork's defeat to that.

The_Kew_Tour

I agree, if things dont go right on the pitch the then crowds will not go, simple.

But, we do seem to be getting quite a big number and we dont play like Barca every week either. See quite few people from other countries living in Cork going to games now too. We even had a Polish section on Friday.

Only time will tell, but if we keep competing we could find ourselves in much better position going forward even for the guaranteed bad periods.