Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

CSF

Hard to remember playing worse opposition than Bray tonight

Ohmeha

Easiest 90 minutes for Shels this season, if sometimes I think the standard of Premier Division is bad Bray reminded me what actual bad is in the First Division. I have alot of respect for Pat Devlin but he has turned that Bray/Cabinteely team into a trainwreck don't know how he hasn't had a polite nudge from the Cabo board to kindly retire now or GTFO

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119405491#Comment_119405491

2 sides to that coin. The fact there isn't a cat 4 football stadium outside of Dublin is a fairly damning indictment of the lack of investment in the sport. The UEFA regulations aren't all that daft, they're a set of standards and difficult to argue with them being high considering how well Europe pays. Still glad its in the Showgrounds, there was about 7 or 800 seats in the difference so not a massive amount so the right call was made.

adaminho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407124#Comment_119407124

Isn't Thomond Park a cat 4 stadium that has hosted internationals?

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407169#Comment_119407169

It’s a rugby stadium, topmanamillion specifically said football stadium.

its embarrassing the level of quality of football stadiums in Ireland, the absolute bare bare minimum is all that exists here. The poor men of Europe when it comes to the game….despite being a very rich country.

im happy Sligo get home advantage but a part of me would like UEFA to have rejected the appeal so that it would do more to highlight are complete dearth of facilities

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407124#Comment_119407124

The regulations are fairly daft to have at the 3QR stage of the conference league given the teams involved, and UEFA giving Rovers a derogation to host it sort of proves that. The current rules and regulations, which haven't been revisited and relaxed since they introduced a 3rd tier european competition, are so OTT they are handing out derogations to sides every year now and will continue to do so until they change the requirements I'd say. No need to require a cat 3 stadium until the playoff round when you get the big sides from the top 4 leagues involved.

In the past Rovers have hosted Rosenborg and Molde, two bigger Norwegian teams, at the showgrounds without there being any issues because it happened in the 2nd round of qualifying. If UEFA weren't as understanding, or Tallaght wasn't facing having to host 3 games in 3 days, they would have forced the game to be moved across the country to host a game against a smaller Norwegian side who compared to Rosenborg or Molde wouldn't demand any more away tickets or bring any extra media to justify the cat 3 requirements as they stand.

Cat 2 is perfectly acceptable from the 1st round to the 3rd in the conference league when you look at the sides involved imo. There's also far too big a gap between cat 2 and cat 3 capacity requirements. cat 2 is 1,500 seats and cat 3 is 4,500. I'd say there are dozens of sides around Europe who are well above 1.5k but a bit below 4.5k.

I agree it's fairly damning we don't have any other cat 3 stadiums. I hope our stadium upgrade becomes a reality in the next decade.

joeysoap

No cup surprises this year. Yet anyway.

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407356#Comment_119407356

I see where you're coming from, alot of these requirements are aspirational from UEFA particularly in a third tier competition and the dispensations prove they see it that way too. But it's no harm having them to show clubs like ours what the gold standard is. We need a bit more of that kind of aspirational thinking in these league rather than the "a good LOI ground" sh1t talk. I hope so too but personally don't see where €17 million (probably considerably more now as it was costed 6months ago) is coming from but I wouldn't bet against the club pulling it off. The league has long since passed the sh1t or get off the pot stage with infrastructure. If Harps can pull off their modular designed one that could be a template other clubs could follow. It's very similar to Wimbledons stadium which they built on the cheap too.

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407715#Comment_119407715

I am hopeful, but the league has to get better at badgering and lobbying for funding like the other sports. Connacht Rugby need €30m to redevelop the sportsground and the government approved €20m of public money for it about a year after they released plans. I'm sure it also helps that the greyhound folks also use the facilities. They are experts when it comes to getting public money.

Dundalk for example should have been all over the Louth GAA plans to ensure they were involved in anything built. It's disgraceful that up to €15m of public money will go into a stadium in Dundalk but Dundalk FC will have to stay in the kip they are in now 15 minutes away. Louth does not need 2 separate stadium developments.

The Harps plan looks good. I heard them talking about it on the radio last week and it looks like it's finally going to happen for them. I believe they need to put €500k into it themselves but I think they are already working towards raising that money through things like the mega draw.

RedCardKid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407806#Comment_119407806

Louth GAA don't need a ground at all. They could tour the better club grounds and go to Dublin for big games .... sure isn't it an amateur sport.... sorry forgot, that is reserved for a professional sport that actually does something to advertise the local area and country. Maybe a few TDs should visit Noord Holland or Gelderland in the Netherlands.... people don't know Rovers, Bohs or Pats are, they do however know Dundalk and watch their results ... the wee Irish club that gave Alkmaar and Vietesse a run for their money.

Louth GAA played a blinder .... a TD who walked away from FG very silently, then got elected as an independent and just happens to be the chairman of the county board. It was very much a case of .... DFC have billionaire owners, let them pay and build it, sure we are only amateur living off the generosity of the fans ...

Louth (better said Dundalk) councillors, Senators, TDs, MEPs over the years have claimed to be fans and love the sport and club, never have they publicly lobbied for improvements let alone a new ground. A local former minister holds a key role in the "new FAI", a current local TD was very loud when it came to downing JD and locals have sat at various levels of FAI, UEFA and LOI ... not a thing was done for Oriel. Like many things in Ireland ... all about you scratch my back and I will scratch yours, sure didnt JD survive for years with politicians etc. supporting him.

Rant over!

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407806#Comment_119407806

Connaught are fortunate to be ran by a governing body that promotes and supports the sport they govern. Connaught/IRFU realised out of the 4 provincial stadiums that the Sportsgrounds was the poorest and set about improving it. Imagine where we'd be if the FAI functioned similarly.

It wouldn't be a bad idea for the FAI to employ a board with a remit of going after capital funding and delivering infrastructure. A massive problem with new LOI infrastructure is for the most part clubs are ran by volunteers, its then up to these volunteers to chase multi million euro funding. With the best will in the world its just over their heads. .

Did you smash it

Irish governments do not spend money on grand projects for public enjoyment, it’s just not the done thing. Irelands facilities in any sport are not up too much apart from golf and horse racing and that’s because they turn big profits for the public purse or they are privately funded.

the FAI haven’t a sponsor and only recently have a marketable senior mens team. The IRFU have a had a marketable product for 2 decades and AIL grounds aren’t anything special that I know of so it could be argued they have far less to support and prop up infrastructurally than the FAI.

I’ve felt for a while that an Irish supporters trust that directly invest in projects in need is what’s needed. Not sure the solution gets solved any other way. The government will always think small time when it comes to sport.

Gavin "shels"

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119401546#Comment_119401546

Shels said he'd left and no mention of it being a loan deal which is a bit odd... he never got a look in with us at all bar one or two games - played well in the Bohs game.

As for Bray away, things seem very bad out there not to mention them forking out mad money to bring in Manguard Security, must of easily been 20 of them and no more than a couple of hundred home fans! 3-0 was modest, game looked dead and buried early on.

TheCitizen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119404318#Comment_119404318

What happened with Shkupi and Dinamo Zagreb. According to reports Zagreb won 3-2 on aggregate but Shkupi went through? Did Zagreb field an unregistered player or something?

ben.schlomo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119409986#Comment_119409986

Thanks for that. Had heard ye had released and we'd announced a loan alright, strange one.

Bray are an absolute clusterfcuk. Someone just needs to remove Devlin, think that would solve a lot of the issues.

Oat23

All this talk from Scotland about Motherwell's loss being embarrassing for their league. I think what is more embarrassing is the fact Livingston gave up 3/4 of their stadium to Rangers yesterday for the opening match of the season live on Sky Sports. 9.5k seater stadium and there was about 7k Rangers fans with the home fans all in the one stand surrounded by away fans on all sides. Livingston subbed off a player in the first half and he was loudly booed by most of the stadium. At home.

Talk about tinpot -

https://www.clippituser.tv/c/rqawdn

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410391#Comment_119410391

That game was in CL qualifying so Shams face the loser (Shkupi) in the Europa League.

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119409420#Comment_119409420

I'm not sure if thats true, plenty of other sports in this country have modern facilities.

Just a point I would make here is when the sh1t was hitting the fan with JD the government admitted grassroots/LOI was underfunded. They put the blame on the FAI not chasing funding. If you're getting big money for capital infrastructure your organisation will be open to more scrutiny and obviously JD and co didn't want that for fear the party would end. It was easier for JD to go on tour to ballygobackwards fc with a car full of €5,000 novelty cheques.

There's a story from a midlands junior club who were upgrading their changing rooms and they'd fundraised the majority of it but were a bit short. They decided to get in touch with the FAI to see if they'd help them over the line. The email came back and the FAI agreed but on the condition the club would give JD all the praise, say he was instrumental from start to finish and he'd be there to cut the ribbon for the cameras. They naturally told them where to go. That sums up the FAIs approach to infrastructure improvement.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410564#Comment_119410564

Debatable I would say if Irish facilities in other sports are modern outside of golf and horse racing.

the Irish athletics championship is in Morton stadium, is that modern?

croke park is not really modern anymore, pairc Ui caoimh is the GAA’s newest stadium, when it was inspected by the 2023 rugby World Cup bidding technical committee; they said it was a long ways off being a venue capable of hosting any World Cup games.

killarney, thurles, portlaoise and Connacht ones are large stadiums but basic and no where near modern by international standards. Others like Navan and newbridge are holes in desperate need of investment.

the amateur boxing championships still happen in that place on the south circ? It’s not modern.

The basketball is played in that venue in tallaght, I’ve never been there but it’s very small.

car racing’s base is mondello, not modern at all, the opposite.

theres a good few other big sports we make no effort for : netball, Olympic handball, track cycling

ireland is weak almost across the board for sport infrastructure. Apart from the golf and the horses.

even at a grassroots level, schools in mainland Europe regularly have high quality pitches fully marked and netted that you can walk in off the street and have a kick about. Here’s one near me, don’t think that’s the case in Ireland

TheCitizen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410479#Comment_119410479

My bad, of course yes. They must be decent to have run Zagreb close.

joeysoap

The ground in Clones is actually called ‘ John Delaney Park' 😶

must have paid for it using his own money 🙄

Dr. Bre

Cup holders out

Oat23

Not a good day for the Europe participants. Pats and Sligo both out.

I knew Dinny would score as soon as I saw him getting ready.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119413109#Comment_119413109

Maybe hard to lift yourself for a cup game after playing in Europe and doing so well?

Perhaps a few players too worried about picking up a knock that might ruin their chance of playing another euro round?

ben.schlomo

Whatever about Waterford that's a shock result from Wexford. They're a decent side on their day but going up to Sligo and winning is some result for them. Hopefully they celebrate for a few days as we have them Friday night.

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119413388#Comment_119413388

We made 6 or 7 changes and 3 or 4 of those were lads from the academy, but more importantly we're still sh*te. The Motherwell games were good, but apart from that it's the same crap we had under Buckley.

dfx-

A couple of not hugely unexpected 'shocks' from FD v Europe sides, but from non league against league opposition, the gap is bigger than ever with barely a goal scored. Even UCD easing past.

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119414112#Comment_119414112

The Junior game is in rag order, difficult to believe its ever been in a worse state. OK they are out of season but a lot of the LSL teams (traditionally where the upsets came from) are hanging on to their existence by a thread never mind being able to put it up to part-time/semi-pro/full-time pro outfits.

The USL is a 7 team Donegal league and 2 of those are Derry and Harps' reserve sides.

The FAI have now kicked the can down the road on a 3rd tier, officially until 2024 but it looks dead in the water presumably because there's no intetest/clubs aren't able to operate at that level. If intermediate clubs are struggling to operate in Dublin/Donegal/Cork centric Intermediate leagues, a national third tier league isn't going to happen.

Charliebull

European results are papering over a lot of cracks including in my opinion (and this won’t be popular) the manager

NIMAN

Yeah was surprised to see UCD win so easily against Cockhill.

They would be considered a very good outfit up here, and are serial winners of the USL.

I even thought there was a potential shock on the cards.

Hammer Archer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119414276#Comment_119414276

We generally have way too much ability for non league sides. Think the only time in the last 10 years that we've lost to a non league side was when we were preparing for the Europa League. Every other time its been a comfortable win.

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119414267#Comment_119414267

Reminds me of Jeff Kenna at Pats in 2009. Out of his depth and absolutely awful in the league but caused a few shocks in Europe which kept him in the job a few months longer.

I want it to work for Russell but the signs are not good. He's playing the same football as Buckley but expecting different results. I hope he changes things up now that he has brought in some of his own players.

Darkglasses

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119413547#Comment_119413547

There won't be a strawberry picked in Wexford today.

ben.schlomo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119414590#Comment_119414590

Good to hear it.

Hammer Archer

STOP THE COUNT!

Liberta Per Gli Ultra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410670#Comment_119410670

I wouldn't place too much value on the opinion of a group of inspectors for a World Cup bid, rugby or otherwise. You don't judge the utility of a stadium on the basis of whether or not it has the approval of a bunch of visiting suits, who are more likely to be counting corporate boxes and usb ports than they are seats and terraces.

That's not to argue that we live in a country where the people who control the resources of the state appreciate the value of sport and invest in facilities on principle. We almost certainly don't live in one of those countries (if they exist) and the lads who've been in charge for the last century (the Blueshirts and the Prostitute Party) have shown on many occasions that they know the price of land and the value of nothing.

An Ciarraioch

Samuel Aladesanusi of Kerry FC has been called up to the Irish U19 squad for a 30-man UK training camp ahead of the European Championship qualifiers:

https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/mu19-mohan-calls-in-players-for-uk-camp

Of course, still another three months of work to be done off the pitch before their licensing fate is decided, but as in all sports, the main focus of youth teams is getting a number of players who would be ready for senior level, and the signs seem positive in that regard.

joeysoap

drogheda against Rovers intriguing.

An Ciarraioch

FAI Cup last 16 draw:

Bonagee United v Shelbourne

Derry City v Cork City

Drogheda United v Shamrock Rovers

Galway United v UCD

Lucan United v Bohemians

Malahide United v Waterford FC

Maynooth University Town v Treaty United

Wexford FC v Dundalk

Would a Galway win really be considered an upset? Elsewhere, Wexford must quietly fancy their chances with home advantage, while Maynooth appear the only non-leaguers with a faintly competitive tie.

Dr. Bre

Rovers will play ferencvaros or Qarabag in the next round if they get past the Macedonian team

NIMAN

I think Bonagee Utd won't make it easy for Shels.

Oat23

Dunajska Streda of Slovakia or FCSB (Steaua) of Romania if we get past Viking.

Pats will face Brøndby or Basel if they beat CSKA.

Hammer Archer

If I'm reading it right, if Shamrock Rovers lose to Shkupi, they'll face the winners of Ballkani (Kosovo) and Klaksvik (Faroes - who Dundalk beat a few years back) in the Conference League playoff. Rovers really should be making the group stages of the Conference League at least with that draw.

NIMAN

Will there be fixture chaos in the LOI if any of our teams make the group stages?

Dr. Bre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119419251#Comment_119419251

Yes and if they beat shkupi they guaranteed group stages of conference if they lose the next Europa tie

Gavin "shels"

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119418944#Comment_119418944

Any ex LOI or Irish League lads with them?

Seems Donegal lads on Twitter think the game will be in their own pitch - maybe a Sunday afternoon too!

NIMAN

They have Tony McNamee (Barry's brother) playing with them. He got a couple versus Pike Rovers.

Also they recently signed the Black brothers from Finn Harps, and have ex Harps midfielder Michael Funston too.

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119419264#Comment_119419264

No. We will be withdrawing to focus all of our efforts on winning the conference league.

trashcan

Still gutted about Pats going out of the cup, though I always feared it was a possibility, given the European game. Have seen some say in hindsight that Clancy should have gone with his strongest team, but I think that is very much with the benefit of hindsight, and the starting line up seemed reasonable enough at the time. Really, we were just unlucky that we got Waterford, and not a non league team. Ah well. I suppose the odds were against us going all the way again this year. Let’s hope for a couple of big nights against CSKA.

Liberta Per Gli Ultra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119419034#Comment_119419034

The club that currently holds the right to call itself Steaua is in the second division, and the fact that they are playing in Ghencea and seem to have the majority of diehards on their side suggests that they may end up winning more than just the legal battle.

It's a mess of a situation that can be traced back to a dodgy privatisation and unlikely to be fudged easily while the owner of FCSB is around.