Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

Great goal to drag one back, Shams all over them but could've been 3-1 there

Easy win for Galway over Cabinteely anyway

Cracking game to watch at Dalymount. Hope whatever medical incident happened in the stand isn't serious and the person recovers.

Shout-out to the bus driver for attacking the ref after being ignored before the match 😆

Thought we were excellent against Rovers. With their quality they’re gonna score goals. It’s not a capitulation at all. We were the better team in the first half. Don’t think Bradley expected us to play 3 in the middle and didn’t deal with it well.

Then he changed it at HT and Rovers dominated the second.

Nah, I won’t act like I know your situation better than you. I’ve watched you once this season and it was against us when you were awful.

Maybe the similarities aren’t there and Healy isn’t up to the task. I thought he did well in a First Division with Galway and Waterford in it with decent budgets, but again, I was only following the results rather than watching the games so I will bow to the superior insight of those on the inside.

Thought Shels were fairly solid against Rovers last night and the better side in the first half. Their second goal was a clinical counter attack. But Rovers really bossed it in the second half and it was no surprise we came back and got a point. Byrne and Burke have been great the last few games and would remind you why they've both got moves abroad and Ireland caps. If Johnny Kenny was more alert/sharp we would've won the game. He had two or three half chances that you'd have said Gaffney might have scored. Entertaining game though and good atmosphere hopefully it looked good on the telly.

Unfortunately, that's the approach that has to be taken at times, when you guys had just scored 10 in your last two games, and a similar result to the Galway match could easily have been on the cards. Even if it's not showing points-wise, Kerry have certainly grown as a team in the last few games, they've gone from conceding 17 in the first 5, to 5 in the last 4, now we just need to get the balance right and have a bit more creativity going forward. Kevin Williams, Rob Vasiu, Seán McGrath, and Leo Gaxha have been the standout players so far, the biggest surprise being that Matt Keane has been fairly anonymous so far, given his experience in the division.

Don’t know how Shels keeper didn’t get a yellow card for all that time wasting in the second half. Duff certainly has Shels set up to be hard to break down. Once they went ahead with the lucky og they just defended with 10 men and Rovers build up was too slow to open them.

Second half Rovers were excellent and upped the pace completely, no idea how they didn’t get the winner. Only weak spot I reckon they have is Markus Pohm, in the second half he got several passes that just needed a decent cross but couldn’t beat the first man.

Great atmosphere though and great to see so many families there in a crowd of nearly 7000

I would honestly say Tallaght Stadium is the worst atmosphere in the league outside UCD. Best team in the league and best facilities for sure, but I do often feel like I’m at a rugby game (yes I’ve unfortunately been dragged into going to some of these against my will) rather than a LOI game.

It’s worth a mention that we are injury ravaged too. Boyd, Lukey Byrne, Gavin Molloy, JR Wilson and Coyle all real losses to a squad that would never have the ability to compete with the depth Rovers have in the first place.

Absolutely, feels different from the previous 2 seasons also. We're winning games comfortably, not resorting to sitting back deep and defending leads. We've goals from midfield that we weren't getting and we're dangerous on set pieces too. Brendan Clarke has been a huge signing though, his experience and organising is priceless.

Ah ya the beating we gave them at least taught them that you can't just play an open game against the better teams away from home. Assumed they'd go to Waterford and just try and park the bus last night.

Yeah, second goal was a carbon copy of the Derry goal, quick counter attack after a Rovers attack, it’s where you can see Rovers are vulnerable when they commit so many players forward

Yeah the Derry goal sprang to mind immediately when they scored their second last night. Shels were dangerous on the counter in fairness.

I'd sort of agree about the atmosphere in Tallaght being a bit flat although I thought it was fairly good last night. Some thoughts:

- South stand feels quite far away from the rest of the stadium. Noise doesn't travel great especially on a windy evening.

- The reality of winning 3 titles in a row is fan expectations go way up. It is harder to get excited and create a good atmosphere going when you are in that position IMO.

- Could do with creating another singing section in the East Stand IMO. South stand is selling out miles in advance for most games and it's infested with kids. I think having a second singing section would help generate atmosphere - but leave displays etc to the South stand.

What's the plan with the north stand when it's done? It would be way too big to put just away fans in surely. It looks great but I reckon it will be the least appealing stand to sit in.

Drogheda's first choice XI back tonight.

Unfortunately, that includes Colin McCabe in goal. The worst keeper in the PD.

Sligo should be happy.

He was very bad for us also

Are Shels the only club whose fans produce a currently active fanzine?

Disappointed with our point at Oriel.

Simply not clinical enough against what was a poor Dundalk side, until they made their 2nd half subs, which brought them into game. Dundalk 2nd was a shocking error on our part. Fell asleep.

We aren't playing well at all. And as bad as the pitch is at Brandywell, that oriel pitch is terrible.

It's amazing to see that we're 2nd despite the losing 3 of the first 5 games.

Yup - longest running in Ireland too. Next one out this Friday at Tolka or online (https://redsindependent.bigcartel.com/product/ri83)