Tonights EL ackshun

Roar

Bray Wanderers -v- Shelbourne 7.45
Carlisle Grounds


Bohemians -v- Drogheda Utd 7.45
Dalymount Park


Cork City -v- Shamrock Rvs 7.45
Turners Cross


Derry City -v- UCD 7.45
The Brandywell

St Patrick's Ath -v- Waterford Utd 7.45
Richmond Park

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shels must be seriously p!ssed off they have to play tonight, just 48 hours after the glens match.. ah shure all the better for us.. draw methinks. 1-1

we have to take on rovers, which could be a tricky one.. Roy O'donovan is suspended for us which means billy woods should come in.. i reckon a 3-0 win though..

ucd cpuld cause an upset at the brandywell (hopefully) 0-1,, fancy bohs to beat drogs, 3-0, and pats to beat waterford 2-1

Slash/ED

This is what the big squad is for. Players available for tonight who didn't start against Glentoran in either leg are Williams, Flemming, Reynolds, Ryan, Ndo, Moore, Crawford, O'Neill, Fitzpatrick and maybe Harris might be back from injury too. If anyone is tired we should be able to cope, I'd make a few changes alright and I think Fenlon will do just that. Hopefully we'll get the 3 points, we'll need them as Cork as good as have them in the bag against Rovers by the sounds of things.

I also think there's potential for an upset at the Brandywell but I fancy Drogs to beat Bohs.

EDIT - Actually for the Shels game, Baker, Crawley, Fitzpatrick and Reynolds are all suspended. So there will be changes alright.

Draupnir

Curtis Fleming back playing in Dublin and back playing for a team so close to Ballybough, its the stuff of legends. Shels have done well to get him, a lovely bloke and a damn damn good full back. If it wasnt for Denis Irwin and Steve Staunton being ever present this guy would have gotten 20/30 Ireland caps.

Bateman

I think Curtis Fleming will be too old and too slow for the eL, but then he might make up for a lot of that with his decision making and positional play. Still though, Zayed will be loving the thoughts of facing a 60 year old.

Slash/ED

Barring injury Zayed wont be going up against him.

Bateman

True enough, it's a funny thing that Curtis has signed at the same time as most of Shels' defensive injury worries are coming back to fitness.

Anyway, poor old Jason Byrne;

"I don't know what way the fixtures are worked out. We're in the swimming pool today, have no training and then it's straight into the match. I don't think that's right."
Poor old Jason Byrne will be dripping wet when he faces Bray Wanderers

:rolleyes:

Slash/ED

And so ends Shels chances of winning the league this year.

county

bray came back from 2-0 down to get a draw,pretty sad if your a sels fan

KdjaCL

Slash/ED wrote:

And so ends Shels chances of winning the league this year.

Oh to be a Bray fan


Crappy game Pats won 1-0 take that tbh, O Connor looked special...in time hopefully a player to look forward to seeing.


kdjac

thejollyrodger

i think we can say adios to the league after the bray game.

Roar

Great win for Cork City, played some good football and the goals spread around the team, which is always good. John O'flynn's volley was something else, he's really getting back to his best.

great crowd too, nice to see a large travelling support too..

Shels.. whats going on??

Jonny Arson

As a Shelbourne supporter I'd like to wave bye bye to the eL trophy and Champions League football for next season. It will be a struggle for us to even qualify for the Setanta Cup at this stage.

It's so sad now that Shelbourne are a team who are only up for Champions League matches and don't give a f**k about their domestic campaign anymore.

eirebhoy

I'd like to see Cork in the CL next season anyway. They have been doing superb in Europe the last couple of seasons and hopefully they continue that next Thursday.

DerekD Goldfish

Was at the pats game a scappy game but a win all the same

thejollyrodger

maybe shels can make better progress with the UEFA Cup

_blank_

Zane, Shels looked so good against Glentoran because Glentoran are unfit, out of season and playing amateur teams in pre-season games.

They couldn't compete with Shels for 180 minutes, but up until the sending off in the second leg, and for the last twenty minutes in Belfast they looked like they could match us.

Shels haven't beaten any of the teams in the Top Four of the eL this season. Fair enough we beat CCFC in Tolka in the Setanta Cup, but that was due to a goal that never crossed the line. And we are struggling to get results against team like Bray Wanderers and Shamrock Rovers, bottom half relegation threatened sides who last season we were beating week in week out.

It has been a case of :

Bad injuries at the start of the season meaning an unsettled back four. Also meaning out two main strikers, Crowe and Byrne, have only started gelling in recent weeks. Joseph Ndo seems to be more injury prone than Kevin Doherty.

Bad management, how many times have we seen the introduction of last seasons best centre half for Shels, arguably in the league, as a "big man up front" - that player being Jamie Harris while we have been crying out for defenders. While defenders are being deployed as strikers we have seen strikers left on the bench. What Glenn Fitzpatrick has done to warrant his treatment this season is beyond me. We brought in one of the best young prospects last season, striking wise, in Gary O'Neill, and to say he has been used sparingly would be an overstatement.

Bad Form, Jason Byrne simply has not seen the form of the past two seasons return. Stuart Byrne, for so long the Engine and Heart of the Shels midfield has only shown glimpses of that. Ollie Cahill has been woeful this season. Steve Williams looked totally devoid of confidence, probably due to the unsettled nature of the back four.

Bad Players. Dave Crawley. When we went and got our five players in the close season, left back was obviously a problem position, but no-one was brought in. Dave Rogers. How he gets a game at centre half ahead of Jamie Harris is beyond me. Even when Harris was fit he was being kept on the bench and Rogers was preferred. Unbelievable. Bobby Ryan.

Bad attitude. Alan Moore only cares about Europe.

Sorry about the rant, but once I started it was hard to stop.

gimmick

seansouth wrote:

Fair enough we beat CCFC in Tolka in the Setanta Cup, but that was due to a goal that never crossed the line.

Thats some rant Seansouth! Is Fenlons position becoming under pressure? 11 points off the top spot will be very difficult to make up, 7 behing Derry who arent dropping much either. From a neutral point of view it probably looks good that the top two are Cork and Derry. From a CCFC fans point its fecking magic.

As for our game last night, well it was men against boys. City made hard work of it, missing a penalty, and 3 or 4 one on ones. We should have been 5-6 up by half time. However 3-0 is a decent score, but could have been oh so different had the ball went in rather than hitting the crossbar from a deflected Rovers shot at 1-0.

Alan Bennet signing pull pro forms is a huge signing for City. At 22/3 he is one of the eLs best centre halves and will only get better.

The only bright light I see for Shams is their young keeper. Two absolutely world class saves again from him last night.

_blank_

Yeah, I put that in there for you

Asking me if Fenlon is under pressure?

I would have to say no, and I believe that. As already stated he has something like 5 years left at the club, so a sacking would be financially out of the question. There is also the question as to who would come in in place of him.

I'd be really unhappy if Fenlon was let go and we ended with a manager from the eL Merry-go-Round.

Anyway, the things he has done for the club. Talent like that does not disappear over night, but I think some of the balme should go to management. The second half of last season, or maybe last third, and all of this season have been bad, but I believe that all teams go through a bad patch. I have already outlined the reasons for this above, but there is something else. Eamon Collins. He came in to the club midway through last season and it is since then that things seem to have gone from bad to worse to a 2-2 draw in Bray having been 2-0 up.

No, there is no pressure on Fenlon, not internally or from fans like myself, remember we aren't Bohs. If we fail to retain the title this season then next season we simply must win it back, otherwise I think Fenlon will be under pressure, and rightly so, but not until then.

edit/
PS, a good indicator of how the fans feel is always the club's official MB's. We ahve no-one there calling for Fenlon's head, apportioning blame is one thing, but calling for his head is another. A better indication of how the fans feel is the ground on match nights. I have not heard a single whisper for Fenlon's head, let alone a call for it, despite your asking me if it happened a couple of months ago, whoever told you that is living in La-la land.

Bateman

Bad Form, Jason Byrne simply has not seen the form of the past two seasons return

Big factor. While clueless people like George Hamilton would have you believe that Jason Byrne is the league's best player, his chance/goal ration reminds me of an off-form Crowe. Around 3/1 I think, certainly not the kind of form that's going to see him put away the 1 or 2 chances you might get in Europe against a team better than Glentoran. Last season, Byrne was too hot-headed to appreciate it, but he was contributing much more to Shels IMO from a wide position, with genuine poachers like Fitzpatrick in and around the box. If Crowe keeps his sharpness and touch, I think he'll really expose Byrne for the fraud that he is.

StickyMcGinty

i'd agree with bateman on the quality of byrne, or even the lackin of quality. in my opinion he's a poor player, and is being found out week by week.

i'll be in tolka on wednesday, lets hope he pulls the finger out for the european game!

Slash/ED

He is a poor finisher but a good player, like his cousin in many ways. His ability is in getting the chances, it's not a fluke.

20 Times 20 Times

Slash/ED wrote:

He is a poor finisher but a good player, like his cousin in many ways. His ability is in getting the chances, it's not a fluke.

who is his cousin ? brian byrne ?

Slash/ED

Nah Robbie Keane. They're very similar in terms of style of play.