Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

Jack Byrne's deterioration has been spectacular. I really hope he gets back to his previous levels. Perhaps it's due to a combination of mental and physical setbacks; I suspect so.

Let's hope so!

I'm also pessimistic about our chances tonight, especially with no Coyle, he really does make the team tick.

Not sure if Griffin is fit to play, but hopefully he is, we need the experience in there with Molloy gone.

Wonder will the President make an appearance.

The Ringsend Reds cruising!

We gifted ye two goals and missed an absolute sitter at 1 nil. Pathetic defending for both goals. Shels have been good though, bang at it, fresh, incisive and dangerous going forward.

Deserved defeat in Derry for us.

Because of injuries and the departure of the Lincoln lads, eight of our nine subs are from our u-20s.

We played with ten men for most of the second half and six of those that finished the game are under twenty.

And yet Kevin Deery, the "expert" on LoI tv, spends most of the second half having a go at Kevin Doherty and the team.

It shouldn't bother me but he is an ex-pro and should know better.

Brilliant result from the Blues and up to 3rd!

The fight for the title looks like a 2 horse race now, it could be a brilliant one as well as Shels and Derry are both excellent.

I’ll need to see a replay, but it really didn’t look like a pen to me. Yeah we went into game management mode in the 2nd half, which would be standard for us, but it tends to work. Hard to think of any points that we’ve let slip away from us late on this season, although surely we can’t keep doing that 100% of the time

Ah come on now. You were running them into the ground relative to us when they were actually winning games haha.

Rovers may well catch us, but if they catch both us and Derry (with only one 6 pointer left for them against each team), that will be a monumental swing and can only take the hat off to them.

At first I thought it was soft but a glance at the replay and I thought it looked fair enough, could be wrong as it was a glance. Would have been interesting to see how ye reacted if we hadn't butchered it.

Yeah, it would have made things a lot more nervy, but we’ve been good at managing those nervy moments this season. Kings of 1 goal victories (only our 3rd win tonight by more than a goal).

I was being sarcastic ha, they're finished, no hope they'll get anywhere close to us.

This run that everyone predicted isn't happening

For a nil all the Pats/Bohs game wasn’t too bad. We had the chances to win it. Ruairi Keating header in the first half seemed to be going in until a super save from the keeper. He had a good stop from Brandon Kavanagh late on too. We’re playing better, but need to get some wins.

Bradley doesn’t really have a clue does he? He picked two defenders tonight.

Criticising the lad (in an overall way) who has won the last 4 leagues is a bit mental to me.

Look at how England are currently playing. They have arguably the best squad in the Euros and they look like a pub team. While its a leg up just because you have the best resources doesn't mean you are guaranteed anything

He benefitted massively from both Dundalk and Cork imploding around the same time which finally, after several years of failing challenge them despite having seemingly infinite resources, let his side fill the vacuum.

I've been saying for years that they can do far better than Stephen Bradley so it's not revisionism. He's one of the most fortunate managers I've ever seen in the league.

You're actually spot on. Rovers never improved, Dundalk and Cork regressed, and Rovers then became the default top team. The points they've generally accumulated to win the league, was no better than what had them finishing 3rd before. Dundalk were winning the league with far bigger points returns. I looked it up not so long ago, Rovers won the league with an average of 2 point per game or less

I've felt Rovers are overrated myself, the way people go on about them. When we signed Jarvis, I seen absolutely no reason why we couldn't beat them. They're not actually that good, and will drop points regularly, always have.

Only Shels lost momentun in round 2 due to a bug (which had other knock on effects like loss of confidence before people ridicule that, which can be hard to get back and a few key suspensions or injuries) we've nearly won all our games, before it happened, and since we've put it together again. In theory if that didn't happen us in round 2, and we kept our form, we'd be miles ahead. We'd be ahead of Rovers on a good year for them

I’m not even saying Bradley is the best out there. I’m happily taking my manager over him and I don’t think it’s close. But I think there’s a level of respect that needs to be put on winning 4 in a row, even if there are some criticisms that can be placed on the competition.

Definitely a 2 horse race for title. And if we can be fortunate with injuries and keep more clean sheets like last night, we can give Shams a serious run for their money for 3rd spot.

McCormack and Buckley last night looked way past their peak days I'm not exactly convinced Galway need another one from Caulfield's former Cork lineage now going well into their 30's

100%, it's great to be looking up the way now

Sold for big fees eg Bazunu who got Rovers 3 million as well as lads sold to Italy and current first teamers like Noonan and O Sullivan. New Shels fans can gloat and enjoy their success, lads like myself and mates who have followed Rovers for 50 years know success is cyclical, we’ll always be there

2 nil win was a great way to get back after the break but jesus we were shaky at times, especially first half. If Dundalk had been a bit better in front of goal we'd have been in big trouble. Hopefully get some reinforcements in now with the window about to open and really make a push for Europe