Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

Bit disappointed Harps have gone to an AI camera with no commentary this season. Thought they'd stick with the production they had last year.

Don't think I'll be watching many games from Finn Park this season.

Everything else on LOITV working well. So nice to have the season pass back and be able to switch to a game to see a goal. Really like the new graphics package the league are using on RTE too.

Feel a bit sorry for the Cork keeper. He's had a mare today. Bad distribution and shocking for that goal.

i am working so watching the Harps game on silent and must have been distracted when we equalised before halftime. Because I was very surprised and confused when they updated the score to 1-1 on the screen ten minutes into the second half.

desperate production values compared to the last few years, I’d happily pay extra to watch it properly

Redeemed himself in the end. Thought he looked a bit rusty in general. Spilled a couple to himself earlier. Then again he'd **** all to do for most of it.

Not one home victory in either division tonight. Delighted for a late winner in Limerick, didn't get to see it though.

I have no clue how good of a finish this was https://www.instagram.com/p/Coxt4ewLk9X/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Happy with a point in Tolka.

Shels had two great chances but I thought we defended well.

Close the "miss of the season" competition. Matty Smith already has it in the bag.

As an aside, the Shels Cranberries "he's in your head, Duffer" chant is cringeworthy.

Long way to go in the season to be fair, but there was nothing in either team’s performance this evening to suggest they’ll be looking ahead of them in the table rather than behind them.

Thought with 8 starters in the team who were with us last season, we’d benefit from the continuity, but genuinely looked like a bunch who hadn’t met before.

100% faith in Duff at all times so hopefully he will make the necessary changes during the week to make sure of a completely different performance out in Inchicore.

.....

Yeah, I wouldn’t be reading too much into how bad we were. We’ll probably be much better than that and worse than that at various different times before the season ends.

And they aren't just 2 minute videos either. Hopefully 1st division ones aren't lect as an afterthought.

Matty Smith miss.

Tough game in Inchicore tonight, Derry are a very solid team, they won't lose too often. But they went negative too early in the 2nd half and were a bit dodgy at defending set pieces. Not entirely sure what to make of us, impressive for first 20 minutes without creating much, then allowed Derry some good chances one of which they scored. Didn't create enough in the 2nd half until the end when we got a load of corners which we equalised from and looked threatening from some of the others. Some of the new signings looked impressive at times.

Great to see a better version of us for the first 80 minutes before we brought out last seasons team for the last 15 mins.

Could have had a couple more but overall a really good win.

From today's Irish Times, the Dalymount/Tolka saga rumbles on:

Paywalled if you want to copy and paste the content here?

Dick Shakespeare on Dalymount Park but not Tolka: ‘If you build it, they will come’

Former FAI board member focused on redeveloping just one stadium in north Dublin as Dublin City Council assistant CEO

Gavin Cummiskey

Fri Feb 17 2023 - 17:02

Dick Shakespeare is a League of Ireland man. A UCD stalwart since the halcyon days under Dr Tony O’Neill, his reasoning for stepping off the FAI board last year had little to do with increasing the number of females governing Irish football.

Shakespeare did advocate for a woman to replace him but the assistant CEO for Dublin City Council believes he can better improve the dire state of soccer facilities in the city by focusing on his day job.

Good news for Dalymount Park, not so much for Tolka Park.

“There doesn’t need to be one stadium for everyone in the audience,” Shakespeare told The Irish Times from his office overlooking the river Liffey.

“I’ve a busy job here in Dublin City and I didn’t want my involvement in the top level of the game to be perceived as me potentially not willing to invest in other sports. As part of my remit here, the assistant chief is responsible for culture, recreation and economic services, so that includes sport.

“One of the primary reasons I didn’t stand for the board of the FAI again was I want to drive Dalymount forward.”

Shakespeare’s clear view on DCC delivering their part of the Dalymount redevelopment puzzle coincides with the Save Tolka Park campaign complaining about a year-long lack of “meaningful progress” from both City Council and Shelbourne FC, to ensure the Drumcondra stadium’s future is “not undermined behind closed doors.”

Realistically, is the reconstruction of both Dalymount and Tolka Park, two kilometres apart in north Dublin, ever going to happen?

“In my estimation, no,” Shakespeare responded. “The Save Tolka Park campaign, save it for what? And I am not being smart".

“I wasn’t in DCC when the decision was made to acquire Dalymount and Tolka Park in 2016. The City Council always held the freehold for Tolka Park but to buy out all the various leasehold interests wasn’t cheap. Dalymount was even more expensive. I think between the two of them it cost €4-5 million.

“The intention going in, from both clubs, was that it was better to have one good stadium with two clubs housed in it.”

Shels, following the supporter-led campaign, scrapped the original DCC plan to sell Tolka Park to help fund a ground-sharing agreement with Bohemians in the new Dalymount. Bohs are happy to go it alone in partnership with DCC, reviving a bygone terrace era with a four-sided enclosed ground holding 8,000 supporters.

“DDC has its funding in place for Dalymount and it all depends on what comes out of [the Government’s second iteration of the] Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). It is likely to be a €40 million project and I would expect the Government, through that fund, to come up with €20-25 million.”

And the rest can be covered by DCC? “Yes.”

Shakespeare is fully cognisant of the housing shortage and homelessness epidemic that continues to impact lives in Dublin, never mind the embarrassing state of football facilities in Ireland compared with the lowest tier of competitive European football nations.

“There are a lot of hands out. This is where hard decisions need to be taken. Originally when [the LSSIF] was mooted it was a €50 million pot and the projects that had been talked about were Dalymount, Páirc Tailteann and the RDS. It was largely the three big field sports, to improve three stadiums.

“Things are very expensive now, construction costs,” Shakespeare admitted, “although there are signs that commodity prices have moderated but you don’t really have a price until there is a tender and the market prices it.

“We are on target, specifically with Dalymount, to hit our May deadline this year to have a scheme that is designed and ready to go for Part 8 planning permission, which is the local authority applying to itself, so it is a decision of the elected members. It is a defined 20-week process, non-appealable to An Bord Pleanála, so we will get it to that point.

“We’ll have a nice tidy stadium,” he believes, “I’ve always been of the view that 8,000 stuffed to the rafters turns tickets into currency. You get a better vibe out of it than a 15,000 stadium that is a quarter full.

“If you build it, they will come.”

However, Shakespeare does not see the large-scale fund releasing €20-25 million to ensure Dalymount is finished, as Bohs hope, by February 2026.

“As it is, no. We are probably the only entity to have drawn money down. DCC got €918,000 for the design.

“We listened to Bohemian football club, and stopped listening to Shelbourne football club because they decided they wanted nothing to do with it and they were going to saddle their bags to Tolka Park.”