Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

yep very fortunate Gaffney

Ah ffs Gaffney is getting slaughtered tonight after he was hauled down with a rugby tackle when he was clear through, from my angle he was trying to free his foot and may have caught the Malta player fouling him

The lino and 4th official were straight in front of the Gaffney incident and obviously didn't tell the ref (who wasn't far away either) that they thought it was a red card.

Ludogorets were held scoreless for 70 minutes last night and got their second goal in injury time, highlights below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwHInOSro18

Why would he be trolling Rovers when he loves the club, the fans, and his time at the club?

You could be onto something, but I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, personally. I think he likes the club.

We've signed Rob Manley from Bray. Happy enough with that, he looks like a prototypical JC player and we needed an alternative up front.

Justin Ferizaj looks a great prospect for Rovers, lets hope if they can't hold onto him they get a decent fee like Bazunu and they don't agree some ridiculous release fee.

https://www.the42.ie/shamrock-rovers-12-5810628-Jul2022/

TEENAGE STRIKER DARA MCGUINNESS’ move from Shamrock Rovers to Stoke City has been confirmed. 

McGuinness has spent the last three seasons at Rovers’ academy, and twice played at senior level, appearing for the short-lived Shamrock Rovers II side in the First Division in 2020. 

The Mullingar-born forward has been capped at U18 level by Ireland, scoring in a 2-0 win against Hungary last year. 

“Dara has been unbelievable since coming to the Football Club in 2020″, said Rovers’ Academy director Shane Robinson. “His appetite for hard work and his dedication to train and constantly improve has been brilliant to watch. We wish him every success on his move to Stoke and hope to see him continue his development.“

Stoke have confirmed McGuinness will initially link up with their U21 side, competing in Premier League 2, which has been adjusted from an U23s competition.

Sligo 2-1 up in Wales, if Derry win it will be a great week in Europe all round

You can pretty much say that about all underage teams of club sides.

Liverpool U21s played sligo rovers in a friendly about 5 years ago. Kelleher came on as a sub for the last few minutes of that game and he's warming the bench at Liverpool and he is undoubtedly the player who has done the best out of the 17 players who played that day. Jerome Sinclaire played a couple of times for the seniors, 25 now and without a club the past year. Alex O'Hanlon is 26 and plays LSL for St. Mochtas after a few years of nothing in the LOI including a stint with Wexford. Both got double digit underage caps for their countries and would have been seen as decent prospects for England and Ireland respectively.

When the senior side can sign a player for £50 million+ in your position, its always an uphill battle. Of course the argument is Inter have far superior coaches and facilities than Shams which is true. For a 17 year old its not a bad place to be. No guarantee though but he does have lots of time on his hands and the fact he's excelling at that level is a good sign.

Tldr; its a tough old game. Being in a youth academy of a massive club gives players an advantage to a certain age but around 19-20 they need to be playing mens football. Robbie Keane often said if he had the opportunity again he would have taken a move to Wolves and played senior football from a young age rather than than the year or 2 he spent milling around the Inter youth/reseve team.

Ya that was me getting a bit foggy on his club situation 20 years ago! A quick wiki shows he left from Coventry to inter and spent a year at Inter. So ya had it completely arse ways! My bad. Now I've thought about he regretted turning down youth football for Liverpool in favour of senior ball at Wolves and having the benefit of their coaching which ties in with my point that youth football at a top club/academy is beneficial to a certain age.

What exactly did Robbie keane often say?

The problem many Irish players have had in the past is they get stuck in academy football and can't make the transition to senior football. Look at guys like Conor Masterson, Ryan Cassidy, Glen McAuley, Conor Clifford off the top of my head for example - look great at underage level but then can't make the breakthrough to mens football. But no doubt these guys got a brilliant footballing education at their clubs, but at some point they have to make the step up to mens football.

That is one of the benefits of the LOI route, in the past we have had lads like Kevin Doyle, Seamus Coleman, James McClean etc go over to England with that first team football under their belt and they could hit the ground running (slightly dated examples at this stage). I think in an ideal world, a guy like Ferizaj maybe stays on at Rovers until he is around 19 or 20 and then goes abroad with 50 senior games under his belt and is ready for first team football as opposed to academy. Even though Rovers have a great academy and are producing a lot of good players, because they are expected to win every week the young players probably aren't playing as much as they would at other clubs. Someone said Zefi could be here playing every week for Rovers. I reckon if he was still here he would probably only be playing sporadically.

Young footballer motivated by money, mad stuff

As routine a win as you get tonight in Galway. Cobh are absolutely dog rough, all over the shop at the back.

Manley got a half hour on debut and scored and created 3 chances. He already looks like he'll be a big difference maker for us. Alex Murphy got a great send off too in his last appearance before moving to the Toon.

Huge game down in Cork now next Friday. A must not lose for us, if we do then the league is Corks to lose.

Ah lads. That trip to Wales/England was one for the ages. Must have been close to 500 over and yer man from twitter who supports Wrexham showed up too (he goes by the name bootlegger). The away section was rocking for 90 mins and we probably should have won by more than we did. Looked like Nando mishit the ball due to the blinding sun for the goal we conceded (great finish to be fair) but after that we were comfortably the better side throughout and deserved another goal or two. Hopefully we finish the job on Thursday.

Went to Shels/Harps tonight and Harps really are the pits at the minute. Another goal or two wouldn't have been undeserved for Shels. What's the story with the lad from Australia that Harps brought on at the end? He was playing in the A League and the AFC Champions League 2 months ago.

Bala/Rovers highlights are here. Keena's goal was exceptional. Lots of talk about Rory Gaffney being the best forward in the league but Keena isn't far off. Hopefully it's true that we have an option to extend his contract.

I would be terrified to some young Irish players may fall victim to nonsensical self motivated sales pitches in LOI circles to turn down a once in a lifetime opportunity for a shot at playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world who also happen to be in much nicer city than Dublin, iconic stadium, better weather, better culture, better money, better education... If it doesn't work out and Zefi, Heffernan etc. are back playing LOI in 10 years time at least they won't lose sleep thinking what if

Highlights of Drogheda v Dundalk game on Drogheda's twitter account.

Worth it to see Stephen O'Donnell's tackle on Gary Deegan at around 2.30 in.

It could have been nasty but, thankfully, no harm done. Strange thing for O'Donnell to do however.

Great name !