FAI Cup Final 2015 Cork City v Dundalk 8th November k.o. 3.30pm

...so looking forward to this, haven't been to an FAI Cup Final in 10 years when huge numbers of Cork City fans travelled up to what turned out to be a bitter disappointment. Missed the win 2 years later.

With the 2 biggest clubs in the country reaching the final this year, it could be a very tight one, though the head says Dundalk are just that bit better.

So how do you see it? Winner? Score? Classic or not? Big crowd? Who will turn out to be remembered in the way John Ryan or Johnny Glynn made their mark in cup finals?

Gavin "shels"

Dundalk should beat Cork handy enough imo, but it's a Final. Think this will be my 10th or 11th Cup Final in a row.

Gavin shels

Gavin shels wrote: »

Dundalk should beat Cork handy enough imo, but it's a Final. Think this will be my 10th or 11th Cup Final in a row.

Kudos.

Most memorable? Presume one of the Derry - St Pats?

Gavin "shels"

Deleted User wrote: »

Kudos.

Most memorable? Presume one of the Derry - St Pats?

Shels being robbed by Mr. Winter in 2011. Memorable up till around 11pm or so in the Regency Hotel...

gimmick

I fear Dundalk have regained any sharpness they may have lost once they were confirmed as Champions. Hard to see past them next week but in a final who knows.

tastyt

What attendance are ye lads expecting??

Any chance of 35 k + ??

tastyt

tastyt wrote: »

What attendance are ye lads expecting??

Any chance of 35 k + ??

Doubt it, but presume 25k on the cards.

ShamoBuc

Pretty confident the crowd will be between 20 and 25k but the weather will have a huge effect on it.
Hard not to see Dundalk winning this one, a scoreline of 2-1 could well happen.
City haven't beaten Dundalk in 3 years I think but we have to beat them sometime and no better place than a cup final !!

Captain Havoc

I know it's a cliché but cup finals are won on the day but Dundalk have been just brilliant all season so I'll say it's a double. I think the crowd will be around 16k, despite having some great finals recently it just doesn't attract the neutrals, I hope I'm proved wrong. Still no premium tickets on ticketmaster, I don't understand why it took them so long to release the first lot of tickets either.

topmanamillion

Really looking forward to this will hopefully be a cracker.

Hopefully caulfield gives the likes of denehy and miller free reign to express themselves. I think if they sit back and don't give Dundalk anything to worry about then they'll be torn apart on a big pitch.

I'd say Miller is relishing probably his last chance to play in Landsdowne Road.

Pighead

Captain Havoc wrote: »

I know it's a cliché but cup finals are won on the day but Dundalk have been just brilliant all season so I'll say it's a double. I think the crowd will be around 16k, despite having some great finals recently it just doesn't attract the neutrals, I hope I'm proved wrong. Still no premium tickets on ticketmaster, I don't understand why it took them so long to release the first lot of tickets either.

Not a chance it will be as low as 16K. Sure we've already sold 7500 through the club alone. With another week to go we're well on course to bring over 10000. Attendance will be about 25K I'd say.

Amirani

Captain Havoc wrote: »

I know it's a cliché but cup finals are won on the day but Dundalk have been just brilliant all season so I'll say it's a double. I think the crowd will be around 16k, despite having some great finals recently it just doesn't attract the neutrals, I hope I'm proved wrong. Still no premium tickets on ticketmaster, I don't understand why it took them so long to release the first lot of tickets either.

The ticketmaster delay is strange.

Omackeral

Captain Havoc wrote: »

I know it's a cliché but cup finals are won on the day but Dundalk have been just brilliant all season so I'll say it's a double. I think the crowd will be around 16k, despite having some great finals recently it just doesn't attract the neutrals, I hope I'm proved wrong. Still no premium tickets on ticketmaster, I don't understand why it took them so long to release the first lot of tickets either.

I'll be going for the first time as a neutral. More to see Dundalk and the Aviva itself rather than City, to be honest.

monkey9

I'll be heading to this myself. Looking forward it. Republic of Ireland season ticket holders can use their ticket to access the Premium level.

White Horse

Dundalk have had the edge on Cork for a couple of seasons. It doesn't mean that the outcome is a foregone conclusion. While Dundalk will be favourites, Cork have more than enough quality to win. I do wonder whether Caulfield will shackle them as he has frequently done.


As for the crowd, it's looking like 10,000 - 12,000 from Dundalk. Cork, having a vastly higher population, would be expected to exceed this. However, you have to factor in the distance and that it is a Gah rather than a football place.

monkey9

White Horse wrote: »

Dundalk have had the edge on Cork for a couple of seasons. It doesn't mean that the outcome is a foregone conclusion. While Dundalk will be favourites, Cork have more than enough quality to win. I do wonder whether Caulfield will shackle them as he has frequently done.


As for the crowd, it's looking like 10,000 - 12,000 from Dundalk. Cork, having a vastly higher population, would be expected to exceed this. However, you have to factor in the distance and that it is a Gah rather than a football place.

I reckon there'll be about 25,000 there.

I think Cork might sneak this. Obviously, Dundalk are the better side, but it's a cup final and sometimes cup finals don't make any sense.

topmanamillion

monkey9 wrote: »

I reckon there'll be about 25,000 there.

I think Cork might sneak this. Obviously, Dundalk are the better side, but it's a cup final and sometimes cup finals don't make any sense.

I've been caught out before vastly over estimating the attendances at FAI cup finals. I think both teams should bring 7-10k with them. Then you're depending on the neutrals showing up and that will depend heavily on things like the weather and if there's anything good on telly that day.
With a couple of ex internationals and some of the leagues best players on show you can only hope for a good advertisement for the league.

howiya

Amirani wrote: »

The ticketmaster delay is strange.

Anyone know why the tickets on ticketmaster are so ****? I know they're only a tenner but I'd still rather have a decent seat

White Horse

howiya wrote: »

Anyone know why the tickets on ticketmaster are so ****? I know they're only a tenner but I'd still rather have a decent seat

The FAI don't want too many there.

It might give the impression that there is interest in the league and that might force them to spend money and time promoting it. Or God forbid watching the games.

The FAI are only interested in the English leagues.

pmasterson95

White Horse wrote: »

The FAI don't want too many there.

It might give the impression that there is interest in the league and that might force them to spend money and time promoting it. Or God forbid watching the games.

The FAI are only interested in the English leagues.

:rolleyes:

Omackeral

I'd love a high scoring draw with extra time and for Billy Dennehy to miss a sudden death penalty and bawl his eyes out.

Tomagotchye

This on tv at all?

monkey9

Tomagotchye wrote: »

This on tv at all?

It'll be on RTE 2.

major bill

I think Crowd will be much higher than previous finals, I go every year and bring another 10 or 12 with me seems to be alot of neutrals around the premium level, add in the support from Dundalk and Cork I'd say 26,000.

As for the match, can see it been a tight affair with Dundalk doing the Double.

SantryRed

I can see the crowd pushing 30k. You're probably looking at 10k alone from either side, and then when you factor in a lot of neutrals. Once the weather is nice I'd be surprised if there isn't at least 30k.

topmanamillion

2004 Longford Town V Waterford United Lansdowne Road 9,676
2005 Drogheda United V Cork City Lansdowne Road 24,521
2006 Derry City V St. Patrick's Athletic Lansdowne Road 16,022
2007 Cork City V Longford Town RDS 10,000
2008 Bohemians V Derry City RDS 10,281
2009 Sporting Fingal V Sligo Rovers Tallaght Stadium 8,105
2010 Sligo Rovers V Shamrock Rovers Aviva Stadium 36,101
2011 Sligo Rovers V Shelbourne Aviva Stadium 21,662
2012 Derry City V St. Patrick's Athletic Aviva Stadium 16,117
2013 Sligo Rovers V Drogheda United Aviva Stadium 17,573
2014 St. Patrick's Athletic V Derry City Aviva Stadium 17,038
2015 Cork City vs Dundalk Aviva Stadium

Those are the attendances from the last 10 finals. The standout attendance was at our final with Shams. But that attendance was swelled by it being the first game at the redeveloped ground so alot of people came to have a look around.
I think the 05 final against Drogs and Cork is actually a good marker. Both were title challengers and Cork had an excellent side similar to the current Dundalk side. That final brought in 24,500 and I think a similar one for this final would be a good turn out. Unfortunately I can't see 30k + materialising.
When you consider the PD averages an attendance of 12k a week to double that at one game is not to be sniffed at.

Pighead

topmanamillion wrote: »

Those are the attendances from the last 10 finals. The standout attendance was at our final with Shams. But that attendance was swelled by it being the first game at the redeveloped ground so alot of people came to have a look around.
I think the 05 final against Drogs and Cork is actually a good marker. Both were title challengers and Cork had an excellent side similar to the current Dundalk side. That final brought in 24,500 and I think a similar one for this final would be a good turn out. Unfortunately I can't see 30k + materialising.
When you consider the PD averages an attendance of 12k a week to double that at one game is not to be sniffed at.

Agree with that. Hard to see the 30k mark being broken. Maybe a bit over 25K. 12k from each side roughly and maybe 3 or 4k neutrals. Arsenal and Liverpool playing around the same time as well.

Gavin "shels"

No tickets on Ticketmaster?

Captain Havoc

Gavin "shels" wrote: »

No tickets on Ticketmaster?

There are yeah.

White Horse

All lower level tickets sold by Dundalk.

Now selling three upper blocks in the East Stand.

gimmick

Talk down these parts that we only have 3000 sold :eek:

White Horse

gimmick wrote: »

Talk down these parts that we only have 3000 sold :eek:

I heard that but don't believe it.

It's a long journey from Cork and the winning expectation is probably lower. However, I'd be amazed if there aren't about 10,000 Cork fans on the day.

Darkglasses

Anybody seen premium tier tickets for sale?

White Horse

Darkglasses wrote: »

Anybody seen premium tier tickets for sale?

On Ticketmaster. €30.

homerjay2005

are Fai season ticket holders free to enter for this?

Pighead

homerjay2005 wrote: »

are Fai season ticket holders free to enter for this?

Yep.
http://www.fai.ie/ireland/tickets-membership/faqs

CHealy

gimmick wrote: »

Talk down these parts that we only have 3000 sold :eek:

Believe me when I say that this is rubbish.

Edit: And just in the last few minutes City have confirmed they have secured a second train from Cork. I think its going to be a fantastic occasion for LOI football. Seems like the entire town of Dundalk will be there and things are really starting to get going here on Leeside, and the countrys top 2 teams going at it once again, its just a pity the FAI see us as the problem child.

gimmick

Ya, I seems a bit wrong alright. But that being said, everyone who I am going with doesnt have a ticket yet, so it could be a case that loads are just being lazy in buying tickets and may not even buy until the day.

A Brad Maddox Guy

Someone at the club made a mistake and gave me and a mate kids tickets, didn't notice at the time. Club have recommended we bring them back but the only seats they have left are much worse than what we have I think. Does anyone know if we'd have a problem getting in on the day with the tickets we have despite clearly not being children?

White Horse

CHealy wrote: »

its just a pity the FAI see us as the problem child.

They want to keep it that way too.

Captain Havoc

CHealy wrote: »

FAI see us as the problem child.

I believe they do but not in the way I think you mean. I think the FAI does well to promote the league, it's the clubs that aren't either smart enough or bothered enough to promote the league. Any time I've been to an Ireland match, I see advertising for the league either on the TVs inside the stadium or on the pitchside hoardings, where I saw the cup final advertised. RTE have to take on the league as part of the deal to show international football, RTE reportedly offered money not to show it. I know someone will mention John Delaney's salary or his penchant for the odd knees up, which I feel deflect from the real issue of the clubs failure to market themselves effectively. Don't get me wrong, I don't have the answers either but I think the clubs need someone to promote themselves.

The criticism I will lay at the FAI's door is that they should have a league of Ireland marketing manager, not a company, not someone who has 47 million other tasks to do but someone for twelve months of the year helps market each club (either by guiding or working with existing marketing dept.), the league and liaises with sponsors. I think Cork City have done a great job in this regard and I think it's part of the reason for their great attendances. Market's field was full to brim last night and I'd say the health and safety officer was sweating a bit. This to me shows a club with great potential but just isn't reaching it, if half or even a third of the crowd that was there last night showed up every week Limerick would be alright.

gimmick

A Brad Maddox Guy wrote: »

Someone at the club made a mistake and gave me and a mate kids tickets, didn't notice at the time. Club have recommended we bring them back but the only seats they have left are much worse than what we have I think. Does anyone know if we'd have a problem getting in on the day with the tickets we have despite clearly not being children?

I wouldn't risk it anyway.

hufpc8w3adnk65

gimmick wrote: »

Ya, I seems a bit wrong alright. But that being said, everyone who I am going with doesnt have a ticket yet, so it could be a case that loads are just being lazy in buying tickets and may not even buy until the day.

I'm going but have no ticket for game ,train or bus

White Horse

Ticket sale figures doing the rounds at the media day in Oriel Park.

Dundalk - 7,897
Cork - 3,768

Lovely Bloke

doesn't matter a bit how many are sold at this stage - how many LOI fans get tickets days before a league game?

CHealy

White Horse wrote: »

Ticket sale figures doing the rounds at the media day in Oriel Park.

Dundalk - 7,897
Cork - 3,768

Not sure why that figure is been thrown around for City's ticket sales, but I can tell you as a fact that its alot higher than that. Not as many as Dundalk yet but not too far behind.

Paz-CCFC

Captain Havoc wrote: »

RTE have to take on the league as part of the deal to show international football, RTE reportedly offered money not to show it.

I don't disagree with your general point that clubs don't do enough to market themselves (particular as a union), but has there ever been a shred of evidence to support the above? It's something that I've seen a few times (usually, the figure usually put at €5M), but never I've never seen anything to actually back it up. I vaguely remember RTÉ outright denying it, but can't find anything on it. It seems like something the FAI are all too happy not to correct, as it paints them in good light. Seeing as the Irish League have a substantial six figure deal to stream their matches, LoI TV deals are clearly lucrative. I really doubt that the FAI are therefore taking a hit just to have matches shown.


Cup Final shaping up to have a big attendance. Was thinking 20,000 would be a great crowd, but maybe we might push into the high 20s. 30k would be a great crowd, but it'll probably fall short. About 10-12k for each side, a few thousand season ticket holders and a few more neutrals?

White Horse

CHealy wrote: »

Not sure why that figure is been thrown around for City's ticket sales, but I can tell you as a fact that its alot higher than that. Not as many as Dundalk yet but not too far behind.

I got the impression that is the figure the media were given in Cork yesterday.

topmanamillion

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

I don't disagree with your general point that clubs don't do enough to market themselves (particular as a union), but has there ever been a shred of evidence to support the above? It's something that I've seen a few times (usually, the figure usually put at €5M), but never I've never seen anything to actually back it up. I vaguely remember RTÉ outright denying it, but can't find anything on it. It seems like something the FAI are all too happy not to correct, as it paints them in good light. Seeing as the Irish League have a substantial six figure deal to stream their matches, LoI TV deals are clearly lucrative. I really doubt that the FAI are therefore taking a hit just to have matches shown

http://www.balls.ie/football/audio-john-delaneys-thoughts-on-the-league-of-ireland-754/138649
It came straight from Delaneys mouth.

"I remember them (RTÉ) offering €4 million in negotiations not to cover the League of Ireland at a meeting and I said no, we want a highlights show every Monday night and we want live football."

I take your point about the Irish league. I believe they got £500k from betfair I think to stream their games. I think this was a one off payment and they'll probably be getting lesser figures from now on. But it is still a substantial amount of money and there's no reason the League of Ireland (surely a higher profile league?) can't do a similar deal.

The clubs need more cash. It's that simple and clubs focus a lot on getting people in but there's a lack of imagination when it comes to opening up other revenue streams.
I think clubs need to work together to be more attractive to sponsors.

I think the league needs to have a serious look at TV. It should be used as an advertising tool and to do that we should only put on high profile games. Putting on Bray v Pats in the Carlisle grounds on a wet Friday night is doing nothing for the league.

If we could get 10 quality LOI games on TV every season where there's good football, big crowds, good facilities and something at stake in the game. That would do much more to attract new supporters and raise the profile of the league. At some point those 10 games may well have a value to TV stations.

Lovely Bloke

How do you guarantee "good football" for the TV game though? I mean you could stick Dundalk Cork on, or whatever, probably the two best footballing teams in the league, and get a turgid 0-0 on the night. Usually when "there's something at stake" neither team wants to lose, so risk taking is minimised. We've all seen the games in the EPL between two supposed powerhouses of the game end up as dull dishwater draws, it happens here too.

Also, to single out the Carlisle for looking bad on a wet night is ridiculous, there isn't a ground, or more importantly, a camera angle in any ground in the league that could possibly make a tangible difference to how grounds look on wet nights.

There is also this snobbish undertone to your whole post where you seem to be suggesting that only the best teams should be on TV, at the same time calling for the teams to work together to become more attractive for sponsors - well do you think a team like Bray would attract better sponsors by not being on TV? Totally illogical.

monkey9

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

How do you guarantee "good football" for the TV game though? I mean you could stick Dundalk Cork on, or whatever, probably the two best footballing teams in the league, and get a turgid 0-0 on the night. Usually when "there's something at stake" neither team wants to lose, so risk taking is minimised. We've all seen the games in the EPL between two supposed powerhouses of the game end up as dull dishwater draws, it happens here too.

Also, to single out the Carlisle for looking bad on a wet night is ridiculous, there isn't a ground, or more importantly, a camera angle in any ground in the league that could possibly make a tangible difference to how grounds look on wet nights.

There is also this snobbish undertone to your whole post where you seem to be suggesting that only the best teams should be on TV, at the same time calling for the teams to work together to become more attractive for sponsors - well do you think a team like Bray would attract better sponsors by not being on TV? Totally illogical.

I wouldn't imagine conditions will look good up at Finn Harps on Friday, but I'd love to watch play off. I wish that was live on TV.