Eircom league kick off

eirebhoy

With most, if not all, of the pre-season friendlies complete I thought I'd open a thread on the LOI to see what you hope/expect of your team, etc.

Fixtures:
Shelbourne v UCD (Wed)
Bohemians v Shamrock Rovers (Fri) - Live on RTE 2
Drogheda v Derry City (Fri)
Bray v St Pats (Fri)
Longford v Waterford (Sat)
Finn Harps v Cork (Sat)

Shels to stroll the league is a prediction that doesn't need much explanation. Bray to do worse than Dublin!

Pats have added some decent young players to the club in Ireland U-21 and midfielder Michael Foley Sheridan from Liverpool and Ger Rowe on loan for Shels. Stephen Caffrey will fill the holding role, Barry Ryan has replaced Adamson and Stuart Holt is expected to sign this week. McDonnell is also still after left back Stephen Capper. I supppose a midtable finish and a cup is the best I can hope for. BTW, Keith Dunne had a great pre-season, lets hope he keeps it up.

Slash/ED

Can't bleedin' wait for this! I've never been so excited before a season (I say that every year though). I'm delighted the Shels game is on wednesday now so I can get a good look at what the TV coverage will be like this year. Four full internationals with around 40 caps between them, with Wes Hoolahan having been on the bench at a full international match too. Shels have a quality sqaud, and with the signing of Brennan our main weakness, cover for right back, has been sorted too. It's almost impossible to predict what way we'll line up.

I think Drogheda will suprise tbh. I'm impressed by their signings, I think they're one player like Crowe/Byrne/Doyle away from being real contenders.

PHB

I was thinking of following the league this year, the build up has got me interested

Slash/ED

Who would your local team be PHB? Go down to a few games espically if you can convince some mates to go down with you, you'll be amazed how quickly you get into it.

Big Ears

I never supported an Eircom League side before , but this year I have chosen a side............Bray Wanderers , hopefully stay in the Premier and get a good cup run.

Shels to win league comfortably , anyone know what the record number of points a team has won the league by is ?

I was hopeing Cork would put up a challenge but hearing the stories coming from there it doesn't look good .

Slash/ED

With Cork it really all depends on their start. They could go one of two ways, they could either all rally behind the new manager and play out of their skins or, sulk over Dolan going and start the season terribley. After the first few games we'll know if they can challenge or not I reckon.

Töpher

Really excited about it! Plan on getting a season ticket and regularly attending Shels games for the first time in the guts of a decade None of my mates are willing to go to Irish football though (correction: willing to pay, fools ), so to them I say "fúck ya, I'll go on my own", nothing is going to spoil this season!

Edit: Why is the happy smiley showing up as ? Hahaha.

Slash/ED

Good on ya. This season sure is a good one to start getting back into Shels, you're mates are missing out

Töpher

Heh, yeah, they'll learn! The more excited about it I get the more I curse myself for falling out of the weekly attendances. When I stopped being able to get lifts out to Tolka it was too much hassle to get out there on my own as a wee lad. Rofl. I suppose at 21 I now can look past the 2 buses it requires to get there, heh Otherwise apart from the very occassional game through the years it was just the Euro games last year that I made it to. So ashamed :mad:

PHB

I live in Knocklyon in Dublin 16, so I figured it would be the team that is building the stadium, or was building the stadiu, in Tallaght, not that i know who that is

gimmick

Predictions for week 1

Bohs v Rovers 2-2
Bray v Pats 1-3
Drogheda v Derry 1-1
Shels v UCD 2-0
Longford v Waterford 0-0
Harps v Cork 1-1

Athlone v Dundalk 2-1
Kilkenny v Dublin City 1-2
Sligo v Kildare 2-2
Cobh v Limerick 3-2
Monaghan v Galway 0-3

---

Predictions for the season:
City to push Shels all the way, only for Shels to have another last day league win.

Bray and UCD to be relegated, with Finn Harps scraping survival.

SPA to be a surprise pacakage finishing 4th ahead of Bohs and behind Drogs.

Cobh to win the 1st division. Limerick to finish 2nd.

Reynolds to leave Waterford as manager first.

Kevin Doyle to get a full international call up.

Roddy to walk out on Rovers in/by July

LizardKing

Gonna Try to make it to a lot more games this season , Probably go to as many home games in tolka as possible and hopin for another longer European run ... Setanta cup should add a bit more interest to the season too ... Hopefully this season will create a few household names in the league too , and hope that shels don't win everything

thejollyrodger

Fair play for anyone that picked at team to support.

I'm quite excited about this years E.L. The standard of the league defintely has went up a bit in recent years I think its going to be a cracker. Shels have bought all the players but its not going to be a run away success. Its going to take a bit of time and a lot of hard work for the players to all fit together (just look at chelsea). Hopefully things will come together quickly.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/sport/Full_Story/did-sgJUKhlkRIv0Usg7OWirIStPSk.asp
It was also announced yesterday that a Scottish FA referee is set to take charge of the eircom League game between Cork City and Drogheda United at Turner's Cross on April 22.

The initiative is part of a new reciprocal arrangement between the FAI and the SFA which will see an eircom League referee officiate at a Scottish Football League game this season.

UEFA are backing the exchange programme which will also involve the Irish Football Association and the Football Association of Wales in the coming months.

Great to see the ref's being exchanged like that. Its going to be great experience for them and no doubt improve the standard of ref'ing here.

eirebhoy

My predictions:

Bohs v Rovers 3-1
Bray v Pats 1-2
Drogheda v Derry 1-1
Shels v UCD 3-0
Longford v Waterford 1-0
Harps v Cork 1-2

Athlone v Dundalk 0-0
Kilkenny v Dublin City 1-2
Sligo v Kildare 2-1
Cobh v Limerick 3-1
Monaghan v Galway 2-2

_blank_

I'll get in on this predictions game myself.

Bohs v Rovers 0-2
Bray v Pats 0-2
Drogheda v Derry 1-0
Shels v UCD 4-1
Longford v Waterford 2-1
Harps v Cork 4-0

Athlone v Dundalk 1-1
Kilkenny v Dublin City 1-2
Sligo v Kildare 0-0
Cobh v Limerick 3-1
Monaghan v Galway 1-2

Anyway, I'm not going to get too carried away with Shels chances, as I think we'll start off slowly, getting a settled first XI together, some experimenting, see who plays well with who. Pre-season friendlies are all very well, but pale in to insignifance compared to proper competitive league and cup games. As we all know.

I can see only two teams mounting a serious challenge to Shels title aspirations however, being Cork and Drogs. If Cork can maintain the form they showed in the last half/third of last season then they could be dangerous. However, Shels play them twice in Tolka this season in the league, and out huge crowd is like a twelfth AND thirteenth man, but I don't know if that will have any bearing on the outcome of the league or not.

I think UCD will fill the automatic relegation spot, with Bray in the playoff. Dublin City will come up.

Longford for the cup, it's tradition at this stage.

I'll be keeping an eye on the fortunes of Monaghan this season, as the bloke who sits beside me in work supports them, so I hope Shels draw them in the cup or something.

Setanta Cup kicks off tonight, with Gentoran at home to Longford Town.

Come on Longford.

_blank_

PHB wrote:

I live in Knocklyon in Dublin 16, so I figured it would be the team that is building the stadium, or was building the stadiu, in Tallaght, not that i know who that is

For the love of god no.

Slash/ED

seansouth wrote:

Anyway, I'm not going to get too carried away with Shels chances, as I think we'll start off slowly, getting a settled first XI together, some experimenting, see who plays well with who.

seansouth wrote:

Shels v UCD 4-1

That's some slow start

I'll have a crack at the old predictions too...

Bohs v Rovers 2-1
Bray v Pats 1-2
Drogheda v Derry 2-0
Shels v UCD 3-0
Longford v Waterford 1-1
Harps v Cork 2-2

Athlone v Dundalk 0-2
Kilkenny v Dublin City 0-1
Sligo v Kildare 1-0
Cobh v Limerick 3-0
Monaghan v Galway 1-2

I also think Drogs will be alot closer to the title than expected, Bohs will finish fourth with Shels, Drogheda and Cork fighting out for the title. Cork to beat Longford in the FAI cup final, and Shels to pick up the Setanta.

Tonights match will be close though. Longford are out of season and wont be fit and also have some new signings that will take time to settle. Glens are at home, on form and fit. A point would set Longford up nicely as they'll get better as they go along.

BTW if you do think Shels will run away with everything, the quadruple (League, League cup, FAI cup and Setanta cup) is 50-1. Good odds considering we're probably favourites for all four competitions, can't see it happening mind but still, good odds.

_blank_

Shels won't win the League Cup.

Slash/ED

I actually think we will, we've more chance of winning that than the FAI cup. Most teams field reserve sides in the league cup, with the size of our squad ours has to be far better than any others and could easily win it.

Roar

seansouth wrote:

Harps v Cork 4-0

.

ha ha...

cant really see anyone, including my beloved cork city make a genuine challenge for the title, if anyone does clinch the title i'll be a case of shels throwing it away as opposed to another team winning it i'd imagine...

i'm still hoping that shels will fcuk up... i live in hope...

_blank_

Slash/ED wrote:

I actually think we will, we've more chance of winning that than the FAI cup. Most teams field reserve sides in the league cup, with the size of our squad ours has to be far better than any others and could easily win it.

I'm going to go out on a major limb here.

Would you compare the current Shels squad relative strength in depth to the current Chelsea squad?

Look at Chelsea in the Carling Cup this season, effectively fielding a reserve squad, but still fielding 75%+ international players.

Shels effectively have the same capabilities. Pretty much every position on the pitch has back up by someone of better quality than what most other teams in the division have at their disposal, apart from pretty much one or two positions.

We have 5 quality strikers for instance, and I think all five of them would walk in to any Premier League team, apart from perhaps Cork's first team for maybe O'Neill, some might argue Glenn Fitz too, but he, I feel, was the basis for Jayo's goalscoring record last season, the way he holds the ball up and lays it off, he is very unselfish. I don't see Jayo and Crowe forming a partbership, and think Geln Fitz will play more games than people think.

We also have an abundance of Centre Halfs, but with Kev gone out on loan we have one less. We have three quality players competing for the two centre back positions, and even the Scouser did a fantastic job in there last season. I worry about the left full position however.

As for centre mid, I think the amount of players we have for there will cause problems later, as we see certain players not playing.

eirebhoy

gimmick wrote:

SPA to be a surprise pacakage finishing 4th ahead of Bohs and behind Drogs.

There's a lot of work to do. Here's our fixtures against the tougher teams:
Shels: a - h - a
Cork: a - h - a
Bohs: h - a - h
Drogs: a - h - a

away twice against the potential top 3, Shels, Cork and Drogs.

thejollyrodger

Tonights match will be close though. Longford are out of season and wont be fit and also have some new signings that will take time to settle. Glens are at home, on form and fit. A point would set Longford up nicely as they'll get better as they go along.

Agreed, if Longford can come away with a point they will be off to a very good start. Friendlies count for little and Glens are well into their season. Even Shels might have problems. The setanta cup is by no means certain to be won by a southern team.

***EDIT doh, yes it is:o. I just typed it without thinking .

_blank_

tjr I hate to be a pedant, but this has been bugging me for the past few days.

But it is the Setanta Cup, not the Sentanta Cup.

Sorry, no offence meant.

eirebhoy

seansouth wrote:

tjr I hate to be a pedant, but this has been bugging me for the past few days.

But it is the Setanta Cup, not the Sentanta Cup.

Sorry, no offence meant.

he has a habit of mispelling names. Hearte, Elliot and sometimes Ried come to mind.

thejollyrodger

he has a habit of mispelling names. Hearte, Elliot and sometimes Ried come to mind.

HAHAHA:D

Well you get what i mean anyway

PHB

So what team is it then

eirebhoy

PHB wrote:

So what team is it then

St Pats and UCD are the only two south side Dublin based teams in the league atm so one of them would probably be best. Pats! *cough*.

gimmick

seansouth wrote:

Harps v Cork 4-0

You honestly think Harps are going to beat City by such a scoreline???

eirebhoy

gimmick - is your nickname Gary on foot.ie?

Slash/ED

PHB wrote:

So what team is it then

Sure support Shels, go on. Very easy to get to stadium and we'll be good to watch this year, plus when we make the CL group stages you can say you were there from the start (sort of). Goto the game tomorrow and see what you make of it (You could end up leaving a UCD fan I suppose )

_blank_

gimmick wrote:

You honestly think Harps are going to beat City by such a scoreline???

No, but a man can dream, can't he?

KdjaCL

Jesus Gimmick my eyes they burn they burn wtf is that sig?


I quietly confident we will play well this season and the players will try win games, only problem or asset i see is Caffrey. He will be the heartbeat of the team as previous players in that position have been. Whether he will be as good as those before him i dunno.
Reckon we will draw on fri and most all other games will be draws.


And please for the love of god have names back on the jerseys.

kdjac

_blank_

KdjaC wrote:

Jesus Gimmick my eyes they burn they burn wtf is that sig?

Shawn Michaels and Marty Janetti - The Rockers

Do I win a prize?

KdjaC I reckon Ger Rowe might do good things for ye this season.

PHB

Well I'm a dub, so I guess it'll have to be someone in Dublinm but I'm also in Trinity so I couldn't support UCD, so it'll probably be St. Pat's.
I'll have to see a couple of games to decide

KdjaCL

PHB wrote:

Well I'm a dub, so I guess it'll have to be someone in Dublinm but I'm also in Trinity so I couldn't support UCD, so it'll probably be St. Pat's.
I'll have to see a couple of games to decide

I meet you outside the ground next week vs Bohs i have the boy so no drinkee drinkee for me.
78a79/51/51b/51c/68/69 from town all stop outside the ground.

From the San Siro to Richmond Park in 2 weeks


kdjac

_blank_

Make sure your wallet is nailed to your leg too.

KdjaCL

seansouth wrote:

Make sure your wallet is nailed to your leg too.

Sssssh the boy may need to be fed PHBs wallet was Mac Donalds for both of us

kdjac

_blank_

Not your fix no?

PHB

I have lots of exams atm unfortunately, but after that i'll take you up on that offer :P

[Jackass]

Isn't the team PHB talking about Rovers?

Anyway, i've been a supporter of the leauge only for a couple of seasons now...summer soccer is superb for the league. I was a Shels supporter from the start, so you can imagine my delight now that i've really backed a winner This will be my first season of "real" support...i plan on getting to at least half of shells home games in the leauge this season, never been before and a jersey is high on the agenda. Im really excited about the leauge this season, and i'll be dragging a couple of mates into it too I think more people should support the LOI, the standards are actually quite good. Shels to win Setanta, and Eircom Leauge, Cork win FAI cup, and Drogheda win leauge cup. Shels to get to Third round of Champo Leauge qualifiers again this season Any predictions on LOI teams in Europe? Opening game Shels 6 - 0 UCD.... They'll be off to a fligher

eirebhoy

Joey Ndo, Wes Hoolahan and Glen Fitzpatrick are injured and Jason Byrne, Jim Crawford and Dave Crawley are all suspended for tonights game against UCD (bloody Crawford, Crawley, Cawley. Will Shels ever get rid of at least one of them, they have my head mest up ). UCD are missing their first choice central midfield pairing.

KevIRL

My predictions - Shels to win it, Drogs to be v decent.

Longford to struggle I think.

As for my own team - The Blues, we are just one player shy of a v decent squad, unfortunately that player is a keeper. Eeeeek!

Pigman II

Bohs v Rovers 3-1
Bray v Pats 1-1
Drogheda v Derry 2-0
Shels v UCD 2-0
Longford v Waterford 1-1
Harps v Cork 0-2

Howabout we could set up some sort of "how many goals" sticky similar to prem in order to increase interest?

KdjaCL

1-0 UCD latest :eek:


kdjac

thejollyrodger

1-1 peno by byrne(86)

KdjaCL

"plyd well should have won jammy cnuts at it already"

Best text match report ever


kdjac

Slash/ED

He's right and all. We were bleedin' useless.

eirebhoy

My brother had €350 on Shels. He won €240 on Moscow Flyer today so its not too bad. He was going to put €700 on Shels but he has a restriction on the PP site that only allows him bet €500 on the site every 24 hours. He counts himself lucky.

Big Ears

eirebhoy wrote:

My brother had €350 on Shels.

ouch ! , oh well at least if Shels have a slow start they mightnt runaway with the league .

Big Nelly

Ok for the first time the Eircom league is starting to get me excited.....in D15 would Bohs be the closest club to support? must start going to games!! instead of vegging in front of TV listening to that muppet Andy Gray!! lol