Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

GLaDOS

A wild night of results all round

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122151583#Comment_122151583

He was definitely weaker in recruitment but there's different expectations now compared to when he was sacked with us in 5th place. He ticks alot of boxes and he's a higher caliber manager than Russell.

Baraclough wouldn't see us relegated, leave Russell there long enough and he absolutely will relegate us.

CSF

We probably deserved the win against Waterford without being especially amazing.

ben.schlomo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122151613#Comment_122151613

Yep, we were scutter from 20mins to 80mins. We just went long at every opportunity and stopped what worked early on.

Then we went 3 up top and pushed players forward from 80mins. Ye went very deep. We won 3 headers to score the equaliser and your deep line allowed Walshy to be onside to steer home a shot that was otherwise going wide. We absolutely robbed those 3 points, probably our second worst performance of the season.

NIMAN

Another shock defeat for Rovers. Doing their best to keep the league interesting this season.

Massive match now at Tallaght on Monday.

PGE1970

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122151664#Comment_122151664

We invited that when Kev went five at the back. Bisha should have squared to Pierrot on 90 mins and game over.

Five minutes later, you're 3-2 ahead. Your lad up top (Walsh?) put some shift in and Brendan Clarke made a worldy save in the first half.

You're a typical Caulfield/Ollie side; not exactly pretty but you're in no danger of relegation and you'll be very happy with that.

We lose Weir and Cann next month and they're huge losses. Dundalk won tonight so the gap had narrowed.

In my opinion, Sligo are the worst side that we've played all season and if we finish ahead of them (big if), then we'll stay up as the First Div seems to be poor bar Cork.

I'd fancy the PD side in a play-off this season.

Randomfriend

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122151651#Comment_122151651

Not a fan of any of the clubs involved, but Drogs will keep churning out results, and Dundalk are a basket case but have the individual players to go on a run, definitely a possibility Sligo get dragged back. How long is McGinty there for?

ben.schlomo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122151741#Comment_122151741

Ya that chance was 90 seconds before we equalised, it was a turning point. Only noticed now that we made 6 substitutions in the game, assuming one of our two HT ones was a concussion sub.

Walshy never stops, he'll miss chances but he'll take some and he just hassles defenders for.90+ mins. A club legend at this stage, 5th most appearances and likely to be 3rd by season's end.

The Golden Miller

Jarvis is starting to look interested again. Coming into form now. The whole team starts to look more potent when he's on it and running at defenders. He's coming into form and looking very dangerous once again. Bad news for the rest of the league.

Still don't know how he left two defenders for dead from a standing position, and just drifted through them. Was magic.

And he loves the open space in Tallaght. That could be the game he really hits form. Tormented Rovers in Tallaght last season.

The Golden Miller

As for the game, we score first we win. Kept conceding first in recent games with school boy errors and had to chase the game, but when we go ahead, very formidable.

People have us wrote off, but if we get the first goal in the next few games, could string a run together. Our defence is a wall. Rarely feel on edge when they're confident and a goal up. We're a well drilled, hard working unit. We won't be moved from top spot as easily as many think.

kksaints

Disappointing result and Kenny must be well aware now of the task he has ahead of him this season. Too many underperforming players and in some cases players who might not be at the level required for a side with European aspirations let alone title challenging ones. There were signs of changes to the style of play at times particularly in the first 15 minutes but Derry were probably the better side of the rest of the 1st half. Again we started the 2nd half well and had some half chances but Derry had enough quality with a super pass from McElaney and McMullen well timed run leading to the winner. Possibility of offside but I'm reasonably sure Redmond at right back was playing him on. Never really looked like equalising bar some decent wing play by Alex Nolan. Have to say I thought Derrys midfield was very good tonight, Diallo, O'Reilly and Patching were well on top after the 1st 15 minutes.

Hodors Appletart

Just in after Tolka

We played well first 20 or so then Waterford settled into the game.

Second half Jarvis was back to his best, just looked unplayable. But we still had no actual end product until Boyd came on, and what a finish.

It was just after word went through the Riverside that Derry were in front, so the place went mental

Still top, and a nice gap back to Rovers.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122152018#Comment_122152018

People haven't seen the real Jarvis yet. Magic

fatbhoy

Rovers were very disappointing again. When the big guns came on late in the second half we looked more composed and created chances. Farrugia creates chances and is a key player in my view, as does Burke. Jack Byrne is currently a shadow of his former self, but likely to get his sharpness and a bit of form back, although I think his best days are behind him because his hunger to get better is gone (he seemed to have that the first time he came to Rovers, presumably that hunger was to engineer a move back to bigger things in the UK or elsewhere). Also, he's much too one-footed, trying stupid passes with the outside of his right foot that should be left footed passes. Aaron McEneff looked promising when he came on, although he seemed rusty too.

The problem is that there are a lot of very average players getting starts lately: Nugent, Noonan and Kenny. They simply aren't good enough for this club. Kenny is shocking: how Celtic gave him a 5 year contract is beyond me. Granted, he gets a few goals, but his misses are laughable. Aaron Greene seems to have gone off the boil after a great start. Trevor Clarke isn't doing it: seems to be a very limited player to me; perhaps Joey Barton was right?

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122151753#Comment_122151753

McGinty's loan is up at the end of June but I think I read in the paper the other day that he'd like to/be open to extending it. Should probably be cheering for Oxford in the playoff final later today in that case. Promotion to the Champ probably improves the odds of them extending it.

Denham and Hartmann's loans are also up in the summer. Denham is OOC so we might be able to sign him permanently. Hartmann is apparently leaving and won't be extended again.

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122151651#Comment_122151651

The situation calls more for the guy who replaced Bara than Bara in my opinion but I don't think John Coleman is realistic in our current financial situation. Bara might be the best we can do.

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122153101#Comment_122153101

Coleman did a quality job for us. We were in a similar situation to now when we got Adams and Coleman to manage us. I'd be happy with someone like them again. It would be an attractive job for an out of work English league manager until the end of the season, steady the ship here and get back into lower league management again. Surely the likes of Mata and Hartman leaving has freed up wages for an English league manager to bring a few pros over with him similar to what Adams did. The problem now is any cash from fundraising is going to go into the stadium plans and not the first team.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122155006#Comment_122155006

Is Hartmann defo heading back or is someone likely to come in for him here?

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122155134#Comment_122155134

Loan is up the end of next month, rumours he could go sooner. We'll probably be in the European lucky dip loan market again.

Patrick2010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122152371#Comment_122152371

Aaron Greene has been our best player in the last month

Oat23

Odd discovery of the day: There's an Instagram reel showing Anto Breslin intentionally stepping on Kailin Barlow's foot the other week that has over 20 million views. What a strange LOI thing to go viral.

Randomfriend

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122155585#Comment_122155585

This is probably a stupid question, but how did he end up here anyway? and then end up staying for so long after the registration mishap? Bundesliga to Ireland is a rare pathway! Seems to have a very high ceiling if he can fulfil his potential.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122158420#Comment_122158420

Sligo have eyes everywhere. Barely a nationality they haven’t had. The way to operate when they haven’t a big local market of players available to them.

Randomfriend

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122158529#Comment_122158529

I do enjoy the random internationals that crop up every year

Oat23

Dan McDonnell wrote this piece last year about the methods some teams in the league are using to scout/recruit players from overseas if you want to have a read:

https://archive.is/Z52sj

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122158420#Comment_122158420

Oatman has explained the how bit.

I'm not convinced Hartman has that high of a ceiling. He's 23 now, he's had a few games in BL2 and a good chunk of games with us and hasn't pulled up any trees. He's not going back to Leipzig to compete for a squad place never mind a starting role. Presumably they send him further down the German pyramid or to another LOI standard league and run down whatever's left of his contract.

When the registration mess up happened, I think he was even barred from playing for Leipzig reserves so stayed with Rovers until he could play again the next season.

Oat23

Hartmann has talent but there's no consistency in his performances week-to-week and he has picked up multiple soft tissue injuries over the past 18 months unfortunately. Since his contract expires next summer Leipzig won't be able to loan him out for another season long loan due to the transfer rules in Germany, so both sides will probably want to discuss a contract termination.

Randomfriend

I see, thanks lads! Yeah, this is it, he looks like he could be excellent but he's not doing it every week, if he can figure that out there's still a good career there for him. Can see why he had the ability to be picked up by Leipzig when younger at times

Luxembourgo

What a finish

Super free to tie it up, super goal to run it. Shels must be starting to believe

Hodors Appletart

Believe what?

Rovers are going to win the league.

I'm a Shels fan

kksaints

SIck after that, absolutely sick. Shels did nothing after they scored their first bar one break and then we pretty much let them walk through our backline for their winner. Even worse was that Keeley just headed over with the last kick of the match. Need a result on Friday now otherwise we going to get dragged into a relegation mess.

fatbhoy

Rovers (the real Rovers) beat Derry…the ship is being steadied, slowly. Decent game and performance from both sides. Rovers need to get their big guns back and into a bit of form. Plenty of time.

trashcan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163038#Comment_122163038

Yeah, sickened indeed. However, we only started to play after the equaliser. Too poor for too much of that game. We need to be better, and we need to compete more.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163038#Comment_122163038

I thought we were the better team throughout most of the 2nd half, until you scored, but for whatever reason we reacted terribly to both goals (losing Jarvis after the first goal clearly didn’t help) and after Pats equalised we were clinging on for dear life and thankfully didn’t have enough time to react terribly to our winning goal.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163186#Comment_122163186

Yip , we were poor again, and have generally not been great all season. How we are still 2nd I'll never understand.

No shots on target, but I'm sure Higgins will be proud of our battling performance.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163217#Comment_122163217

Will Jarvis be back for the next game. Need him and he loves playing in Tallaght

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163139#Comment_122163139

I thought we were starting to see the real Rovers a few weeks back, as everyone predicted our demise? Now they've got their first win in 5 and the real Rovers are suddenly back again? People are vastly over estimating them, they aren't as good as last year, and last year weaker than the year before. They didn't leave it this late to hit form either, and with this being their only win in 5, there's no gaurantee they've hit form yet either. How many times can you keep going to the well?

If we beat them Friday, which I expect us to do on the counter, particularly if Jarvis is playing, they'll be 9 behind us, and will continue to drop points. How confident will people be of them if they lose Friday? I think we'll do them, and if not, I think the best they get off us is a draw. We keep hearing about their big guns coming back, Jarvis returning to form is actually a bigger boost for Shels. Rover simply have no one at his level.

Shels have no reason to fear them Friday. They'll never be let do to us what they did to Derry. How they set up and we do, will play into our hands. They'll pass it sideways, forcing us back, a good defence now with 10 sitting deep, ready to pick them on the break. Ill be very disappointed if we don't at least get a point.

As I said last week, Shels had their bad patch. If anyone was to kick on and string a few wins together I felt it would be us. 2 on the bounce now and counting

Randomfriend

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163372#Comment_122163372

I do think Duff, Joey and the coaches are doing a really excellent job with Shels, maximizing their talent, incredibly organized, work harder than anyone, winning mentality is growing year on year, will be interesting to see how ye cope with Europe.

CSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163295#Comment_122163295

He’ll be badly needed because Burt can’t play against them

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163393#Comment_122163393

I think Derry and Rovers are lucky to still be in this title race. We had a bug run through the whole team that lasted 2-3 weeks. But even after the bug had gone, it not only broke our momentum, it effected the confidence and belief of the team, which lasted well beyond those 2-3 weeks. It's only in the last 2-3 weeks, we're really getting back to the level we were at in round 1. We've started to build that momentum again, and the players believe again, and I fully expect us to kick on from here, to kick on from where we left off after round 1 of games.

And in that bad patch, individual players lost confidence and form, most notably Jarvis. He's returned to form and the whole thing is coming together again

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163395#Comment_122163395

I know. He loves the space in Tallaght. Runs amok. Get him back to form, and the wins look after themselves

DvB

Until Lee Grace & Gary O'Neill are back I'd not have huge confidence in our defensive game, especially with Pohls lack of confidence always waiting to manifest itself with a brainfart decision leading to a goal.

Its well documented we've had huge injury issues (most of the team seem to be made of glass or sugar) but the defensive ones are the ones that are really the ones hurting us. We've always had players that can pose teams problems but the lack of stability at the back is the real problem. O'Neill is easily one of the most underrated players in the league & we really miss him in the defensive midfield area with no one really able to to come close to replicating what he does for the team.

It was a comfortable enough win last night but to be fair, Derry made it easy for us, they just seem like a team playing with fear of defeat rather than a desire to go & win. I've been very disappointed in them any time I've seen them this year.

Patrick2010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163372#Comment_122163372

I guess we may as well hand Shels the league title now?

PGE1970

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122163421#Comment_122163421

You drew with us (Drogheda) two weeks ago. So we drew with you at your best (by your own admission above) and we drew with you when you had a "tummy bug".

We're second last in the league for a reason but have taken points against you home and away even though we can thank a tummy bug for one of those games (and your equaliser in injury time).

Shels are having a great season and you should be delighted with that. But some of the nonsense that you are coming out with is hilarious. Rovers are having a poor season and are within touching distance of you especially if they win in Tallaght on Friday. They have a super squad and will be there or thereabouts.

I'm genuinely not sure if you are a wum or that you actually believe what you post. You must only be following LoI for five minutes if you do.

Do you want to give us a prediction as to how many points Shels will win the league by or should be just give them the trophy now?

irishmanmick

Watched both games last night at the same time (how excellent is that). The main thing I took from the games, and I know the likes of @NIMAN, you've been saying this for ages but my god Derry are terrible. Genuinely felt they were never going to score. They never even looked like they were willing to extend themselves to try get an equaliser. Can't remember a single significant chance created. For money invested there it's an extremely poor return and they were lucky Rovers weren't out of sight in the first half.

It looks like the only real challenge will come from Shels - who aren't great by any means but are getting results when it matters. I think their own challenge will fizzle out eventually, especially when you add in Europe coming up, but in fairness they have stuck to the task far more impressively than I thought they would. Friday will be a huge game on that front.

Kenny has a lot of work to do with Pats. But they are massively underperforming which isn't a terrible thing from his point of view.

CSF

People do realise that these Monday night games we’ve had against Rovers and Pats, mean we won’t have league games following our Euro games for the most part (I think cup weekend falls in there too)

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122164011#Comment_122164011

I said we're starting to see the real Shels again, it's starting to come together again. Not quite back where we were at round 1 though, but getting there.

Won't win them all of course, and Drogheda are a very good side, better than their position suggests. They had a run of games not so long ago where they could of won them all but got draws or losses, so a very good team. Still we should of beat them the last day.

Haven't been following the league for 5 minutes, but have been saying for the last 3 years Shels are the coming team and it was building to this, and got roundly ridiculed. People aren't laughing so much anymore, what I said is coming to pass, and no one else called it. So maybe I seem a bit over enthusiastic, but it's great to watch.

And even this year, our fall is predicted every week, Rovers are going to do this and that, and if anything, we're stretching that lead again. After another ten rounds we'll still be top and people will still be predicting our fall.

We'll win the league by 10+ points. I don't even have a slight doubt that we won't win it, I've never been more sure of anything in my life other than Italy winning the euros, once we signed Will Jarvis. I'm alone on that though, it's not the general consensus from Shels fans, but I'll still stick my colours to the mast!

The Golden Miller

It was over the minute we signed Will Jarvis as I said at the time!

This was in reply to Patrick2010

PGE1970

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122167593#Comment_122167593

In fairness, you've firmly nailed your colours to the mast with your ten point prediction.

I don't see anyone running away with the league this season such are the unpredictability of results.

But I admire your optimism!

topmanamillion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122168265#Comment_122168265

This years league reminds me of point to point horse racing, there's a distinct lack of skill, everyone's knackered but someone has to stumble over the line in the end.