Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

Yup.

Nothing to do with Treaty. They've no control over pitch maintenance which is carried out by the folks who run the Market's Field and decided to dump a **** ton of sand on it over month before the season started. Not the first time the LEDP made a balls of one of the best pitches around in pre season.

Passed a pitch inspection this morning and the club asked for another inspection to happen earlier in the day with the rain coming but were told no.

Good win for us in Ballybofey. 1st half was dreadful, 2nd half was much better. Our first goal was a fantastic team move. Harps had a few chances but took none of them.

Very poor from Drogheda tonight. Sligo were very good but given the freedom of the park.

We have a CM playing CB, Georgie Poynton totally exposed at RWB in a 3-5-2 and no movement up front.

9 goals conceded in 4 games. On the plus side, brought on a 16 year old striker for his league debut.

Easy 3 points for both Derry and Dundalk next week.

Thought ye would hold on to be fair. Don't think either team did enough to win it but obviously we were running out of time to score a goal and we don't score many. We're well organised and like last week stifled the opposition and neither Derry or Dundalk created many chances. You can however see the difference in quality between Shels and those teams so great to come back and get a point.

Two soft goals at either end. No need for Shels to give away the free kick for Hobans goal. Good delivery from the set piece and Hoban did what he does best. His 100th premier division goal apparently. Pity he didn't wait till Monday but fair play to him.

Soft penalty to give away too. Thought Connolly could have dealt with it. Allowing it bounce let's Boyd in. Not much else keeper could do.

Can see progress and the new team starting to gel together. Dangerous thing to say when the next game is only two days away. Could have to correct myself Tuesday morning. Can't fault the effort though.

I thought Bohs were dangerous, especially in the second half. Their number 7, Stephen Mallon, looks tasty (the flick he did in the middle of the park in the second half, over the head of one of the Rover's lad was spectacular and worth the admission price alone almost), and they've a few other decent lads there too that impressed me on the night (Devoy, Coote...). I was expecting them to equalise. TF they didn't. :pac:

Solid win for us tonight against a UCD who are dangerous enough on the counter but are just lacking the quality to really threaten the top teams. Eoin Doyle was class tonight.

We should have been out of site against Treaty by the hour but we dropped deeper and gave away a poor goal. JC then went full chicken with his subs and we hung on for what was a deserved win. Stephen Walsh reverting to being a striker has worked wonders so far, 3 in 3 and a man of the match performance.

Comfortable win for us last night versus Drogs, despite them having 2 good shots on target in the first 2min.

Thought the visitors were poor , and we didn't play overly well but still never looked in danger.

Low point losing Michael Dufty to what looked like a serious injury only 5min after coming on. Hopefully it's not as bad as it looked but fear the worst . McEleney already out again from last night's game, and Matty Smith also injured.

Edit: news this morning that he had a fractured tibia. Terrible news for Michael and ourselves, will be a big loss. Also a loss for the league. We need to be seeing the best players every week for the reputation of the league, and we've lost one of the LOIs best for a spell.

Rovers must have brought a different class of fan to Oriel than they did to the Brandywell then.

I said last Paddy's Day and I still stand by the opinion that there should be a big league of Ireland game on TV today during the middle of the day.

The GAA have moved the club finals from Paddy's Day due to changing the calendar and they have put the schools finals on today instead. 2 games live on TG4.

Just seems like a tremendous own goal that the League of Ireland don't do something similar.

It's not an own goal by the league because it's not something they have control over.

TV companies aren't rushing out to broadcast the LOI at the best of times never mind today

The reality is that the "pure and utter sh*te" on RTE2 will get the same or better ratings as most LOI games. And there is no extra production cost involved in broadcasting Home & Away or whatever they have on.

There needs to be a game on TV every week or nobody wins here. The ratings are sh*te, which makes the broadcaster unhappy, and the league doesn't have the chance to grow because people aren't watching. I don't expect RTE to show one every Friday, but if the FAI could get TG4 and Virgin on board and let the 3 channels rotate coverage each week it would be great. Use the NT rights as bait to convince them if needed. Let Virgin and TG4 cover some men's friendlies and some underage/women's NT games as part of the agreement.

I was reminded of a good example of consistent scheduling the other day when Razor Ramon/Scott Hall passed away. It has been 25 years, but I still remember Nitro was on TNT every Friday night at 9pm. It's ingrained in my memory due to its consistency. They have to stop this crap where we get a game on RTE and then there isn't a single mention of LOI on TV until the next TV game a month later. You're not going to build any fanbase/viewership doing that.

Showing a game on Paddy's Day wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. Irish football died with Belfast Celtic and the introduction of match of the day.

The only way to bring it back is big investment in academies and modern stadium that's comfortable for the barstooler. Heightened revenue and better talent coming through then, which we could hold onto more of, not players going to UK.

The geographical spread needs to be better. I'm the only non Dublin person I know who supports a Dublin club. Anyone from Meath wouldn't touch a Dublin club due to GAA county divides. In England, county boundaries are meaningless, so people will support a club in a general vicinity, if even in another county. GAA unites the country, but in a way divides it on tribal county borders not seen anywhere else.

We should be striving to invite northern nationalist teams like Cliftonville and Distillery, and forget a united league with unionists. FAI should be pushing for a special dispensation to operate in the north, giving nationalist easier and earlier access into our football system. Belfast clubs involved also brings more interest.

Very short sighted vision generally in Irish football. FAI should of bent over backwards to bring Belfast Celtic down here, instead of watching them die. Biggest club the country ever seen. Complete waste

A draw was probably a fair result at the Brandywell tonight, but I'll take the 3pts. Top of the league.

Nice start to the season for us. Hopefully we can hang around the top 2 or 3 until we get all the injuries fit again.

Thought the defenders were very slow to get out to Patching. It didn't appear to be the greatest shot he'll ever hit either. Think keeper could have done better too (unless it took a slight deflection).

Rovers battered Sligo tonight, but some poor marking, and one misplaced pass cost us.

Could have scored six or seven on another night.

You'll have to stop shooting directly at the keeper if you want to score 6 or 7. McGinty had one challenging save to make all game which he tipped over the bar and then McDonnell scored the OG from the corner off that.

After last nights result I think the penny may be finally dropping around Tolka that dismantling the core of your First Division title winning squad after one season that you had just rebuilt after relegation in favour of a number of players who can't pass or control a football on a full-time professional setup under the belief you can somehow develop these players was a stupid idea no matter if you have Duff or Klopp or Guardiola in charge.

Sligo (A), Shamrock Rovers (H), Derry (A) next 3 games could be brutal, maybe Clarke back in goals and Griffin, Moylan and Lunney back from injury may help us