Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

Drumpot

Got soaked on way to shels game so ran into Abra Kadabra with my son for shelter. Haven’t had abra in ages, enjoyed a nice taco fries and burger.

Good game with really good goals as well.

hardybuck

Waterford will do well to keep Marc Bircham.

They could be a team who get a cup run going.

kksaints

Disappointing result. Quite simply Rovers were the better team after the first 30 minutes.

dfx-

A cathartic win.

I don't understand Pats recent performances against Rovers under SOD. They have Benson, King, Burns, Forrester, Coughlan etc but were hopeless from open play. Burns' rabona out of play when 3-1 down was an odd choice. It was the same on the opening day and for very large parts of the game in Richmond...

You can see why the teams draw a lot, but this time Rovers hammered them. Watts three great assists, Gaffney very good, Towell anonymous.

chopperbyrne

Gaffney was immense.

DvB

Having watts back and fit enough to last the 90 has been a huge boost to Rovers, for all the headlines earned by others he really is the key man in this team.

Gaffney must be the hardest front man to mark in the league for a defender too, his touch is superb and works his socks off from start to finish... been great for us.

Dillonb3

If Dundalk get past Vitesse we'll play either:

Laci/Anderlecht

Stade Rennais

FK Vojvodina/LASK Linz

Spartak Trnava/Maccabi Tel Aviv

Ferris_Bueller

Saw somewhere that Rovers will play one of the losers from this lot if they get through to the playoff round (Europa League 3rd round);

Omonia Nicosia/Flora Tallinn

NS Mura/Zalgiris

FC Kairat/Aleshkert

Lincoln Red Imps/Slovan Bratislava

Baku/HJK Helsinki

Dillonb3

Red imps or flora talinn would be the best ones

johnnyryan89

When you dress like Atletico Madrid, but also play like Atletico Madrid. Great 4-1 win for Treaty over Athlone last night and all four goals were top drawer.

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117686160#Comment_117686160

Couldn't see either of them getting through their ties with Omonia or Slovan.

Shams have a glimmer of hope even though the likes of Baku are no mugs (beat Qarabag to the league).

Can't see Bohs or Dundalk going any further against the 2nd best team in Greece and 4th in Holland. Think Dundalks luck with draws ran out there seeing as they were the seeded side drawn against a Dutch team.

pgj2015

How did Liam Burt end up in the LOI? he looks too good for the league. some man to run with the ball.

Dillonb3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117688040#Comment_117688040

Its the losers of those ties they can get drawn against

Darkglasses

Jack Moylan now has 3 goals in 5 games for Wexford, some loan signing for us and a super attitude. He'll go far

DrumSteve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117693038#Comment_117693038

Suppose when we lose half our team each year we need a plan b.

Gareth Keenan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117693097#Comment_117693097

Or even a Plan SKB

Gavin "shels"

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117684729#Comment_117684729

We were so poor, to take the lead twice and let it split. Huge games coming up and we'll need a major kick up the arse! Play like we didn't against UCD in the Cup & Cobh on Friday that 9 point lead will be gone in a flash.

Cape Clear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117692690#Comment_117692690

What's his background?

Darkglasses

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117700628#Comment_117700628

Think Malahide United are his old club, on loan to us from Bohemians

Amirani

Regardless of what happens from here, that's a great first half from Bohs to be 1 up against PAOK.

ben.schlomo

Super stuff from Bohs so far, hopefully they see it out tonight and go away with the advantage.

Francie Barrett

Unreal result. PAOK looked really rusty and not really committed, some of their subs going off looked knackered. Take nothing away from Bohs though, they were outstanding. It's a shame they didn't keep a 2 goal lead though.

kksaints

Some performance from Bohs tonight. Tired a little in the last 20 minutes but was probably one of the best LOI performances in Europe after Dundalk's 2016 European run until then.

Ferris_Bueller

Fantastic result, well done Bohs. Will be a tough task to close the tie out in Greece next week but I would have given them next to no chance before tonight, so who knows what will happen. It would be a really great achievement to get two of our clubs to the playoff round and would give lots of reason to be optimistic about the new Conference League going forward.

The_Kew_Tour

Well done Bohs.

The game should be on TV though.

artanevilla

We actually beat them playing football too, this wasn't backs to the wall grab a goal from a set piece fare. No fear. Everyone was immense, Ross Tierney unbelievable.

DrumSteve

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117702655#Comment_117702655

Every single player on that pitch deserves immense credit along with Keith and the management team.

They played as they needed to and had no fear whatsoever from PAOK. It gave me a particular just how wound up Talbot made them.

Be interesting to see how we approach the 2nd leg though.

artanevilla

Four games on the trot won in Europe. First time in Irish football history it's been done. Keith Long's record in Europe is W4 D2.

Let's hope it doesn't turn into a moral victory and we get the job done in Greece though the weather is incredibly warm over there at the moment.

chopperbyrne

The goal for PAOK is huge. Bohs players are not going to be used to playing in those conditions, but a two goal cushion would have helped so much.

Hopefully they do the job though, and Dundalk and Rovers do too.

If a team makes the group stages, are RTÉ obligated to show them?

adaminho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117702955#Comment_117702955

https://twitter.com/VirginMediaIEPR/status/1422537958448680966?s=19

Virgin media

irishmanmick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703053#Comment_117703053

Yeah cos Virgin Media will show a LOI team over whatever also ran prem team made it to the group stages of EL / ECL.

Bohs were unbelievable last night. Like another poster said, it wasn't backs to the wall stuff, we played some really good football and had other opportunities to score as well. Every played well but I thought Ciaran Kelly was just immense at the back. Won everything.

artanevilla

Considering Virgin Media ran that as headline news yesterday on their news programme and made no mention of the match that was on in our national stadium what night you wouldn't think they'd give a ****.

GLaDOS

VM have a gazzillion sports channels, so they can stick it on one of them,won't be FTA though.

GLaDOS

https://twitter.com/IndoSport/status/1422862348063232004

....

dfx-

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703239#Comment_117703239

The national broadcaster for the country has to show the group games of the national representatives...TV3 were stuck in 2011...

It's not an unbelievable result for an in-form Bohs side to win that game. The days of surprising wins in Europe should be over, beit ties or legs. The manner of the performance is surprising but only those who think that LSL teams or lower league Scottish teams could win the LOI would find it unthinkable. And that's mad, but we knew that anyway.

Scales rumoured to be off to Celtic for a six figure sum. I'd be biting their hands off, plenty of cover there...

chopperbyrne

Virgin made that announcement hours before the Bohs match, and didn't show it.

artanevilla

From the Indo:

"It's believed that Bohs had even offered to forego their domestic revenue from the streaming service and offered the rights to the home games at the Aviva to RTE for free."

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117704007#Comment_117704007

I think you are completely wrong about the surprising aspect. I find it laughable that you think Bohs beating PAOK isn't a surprise. You are either overestimating the LOI or underestimating PAOK.

Amirani

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117705590#Comment_117705590

Some bookies had Bohs at 7/1 to win before the game.

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117705590#Comment_117705590

Or a Shams fan 😄

It was a great result. Fair play. I have my doubts they'll be capable of bringing it home next week due to the heat but I wish them the best.

eire4

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117705590#Comment_117705590

No question Bohemians beating Stjarnan and Dudelange fair enough good results but not shock results. However there is no question Bohemians beating POAK who finished runners-up in the Greek top flight is without doubt a major upset. As I said above probably Bohemians best result in European football and biggest upset since beating oldco Rangers 3-2 at Dalymount in 1984.

dfx-

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117705981#Comment_117705981

it seems like I'm the one overestimating Bohs more than their own fans...

I didn't say it wasn't a surprising result. It was surprising to see how well they beat them. Second in the Greek top flight or not, they were soundly beaten. It's time that we start seeing some of these teams for what's on the pitch on the day, not the ranking (same for games where Irish teams are expected to go through - Teuta tomorrow could be a very tough side, could be awful).

And if they get well beaten next week, so be it, but the heat isn't an excuse or reason anymore. It will be down to how PAOK react.

chopperbyrne

Rovers have a stream that can be purchased for €10 on LOITV tonight. Will apparently be a five camera setup.

Despite their claim of showing every match involving an Irish team, Virgin are not showing it.

shanec1928

people surprised about national broadcasters not showing games, when they cant even bother to give games a mention on the news. our games with FH wernt mentioned yet they selectivly mentioned certain games \ had interviews etc.

overshoot

The lack of interest from rte is clear, any games are their by obligation. Production for an LOI game compared to showing an u20s rugby match is way behind, no promotion then they use poor viewing figures as a reason as if they don't play a part in them.

Did proper laugh at 2fm a few weeks ago, sports news rounded off with Dundalk and harps have just kicked off and the sports news presenter and DJ moved into a chat about how they missed football now the euros was over and the premier League was only a few weeks away. Irony completely lost on them

Dr. Bre

I suppose rte excuse is the Olympics are on. But who wants to watch dressage over European football !

JPup

Just looking at the format of the Europa Conference League. Sorry if this has been discussed before, but it's very unusual. Whether Rovers win or lose their tie against this Albanian team, they go through to the playoff round. Is that right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%9322_UEFA_Europa_Conference_League

That's how I'm interpreting it anyway. If they win they play a team from the Faroe Islands, and if they lose they play the winner of Linfield and a team from Luxembourg. If that is correct, they have a great chance of qualifying so. Odd sort of a format though, isn't it? You go through to the next round whether you win or lose.

GLaDOS

No, if Rovers lose they're out. The losers in the playoff tie are losers from the Europa League 3rd round, who then drop down to the conference league.

JPup

Ah yeah. That makes much more sense! Thought i must have been reading it wrong.

howiya

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117708736#Comment_117708736

To be honest I'd rather a club make a few bob from streaming their game rather than giving RTE or Virgin or anyone else free content. If RTE or anyone else aren't willing to pay for it then the clubs should do their own thing.