I was the person here but plenty of others had mentioned it elsewhere. Good move by Dundalk as he's a terrific player
I was the person here but plenty of others had mentioned it elsewhere. Good move by Dundalk as he's a terrific player
54,321 sold - wws will never die - ***
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New blog if anyone's interested - http://loihistory.wordpress.com/
LOI section on balls.ie - http://balls.ie/league-of-ireland/
Great news for Galway United, Colm Horgan and Ryan Connolly have signed new contracts. If we could keep Jake Keegan then that would be a good base to start from but he will have offers I'm sure.
roddy collins you're a flanker you're a flanker!
I suspect Dunny was relating to a well known local journalist who often speculates on rumours that he has created himself.
Chris Shields is well appreciated at Dundalk and was a triple award winner last season
- Players' Player of the Year
- Supporters Player of the Year
- Travel Club Away Player of the Year
Chris has regularly displaced Stephen O'Donnell to the bench this season - it remains to be seen who is selected for the cup final
I'd have thought it was Finn who was keeping Shields out, even though O'Donnell plays in the deeper role when Finn is in the team.
I think Finn was going to leave anyway. He was great for the first three years with us but was worse than most under Croly. Like Kenny, maybe just wasn't the right fit but has obviously flourished in a different environment.
It helps when a player is played in their preferred position week in week out regardless of the manager. Maintaining the hunger in the squad that will be largely unchanged for 3 seasons will be a minor challenge for Stephen Kenny.
The selection headache in central m/f started when Finn arrived, as it was expected that Towell would move, he didn't so Kenny had to rotate who was best suited for certain games. Finn plays the no 10 role, and Towell is obviously the attacking MF, leaves one spot and that is usually between O'Donnell and Shields in the middle. Shields plays deeper and mops up with an incredible work rate, O'Donnell in comparison is the better passer and get things ticking quicker, scoring important goals, but gaps sometimes are left behind. Another feature of Shields huge improvement is when he comes on, he goes straight into his role, this was seen v Rovers at home, 1-0 up, but they were getting on top, Shields came on after 60 mins and changed the game.
For the cup final, I can see O'Donnell getting the nod ahead of him, but having quality on the bench is as important as your starting xi, also O'Donnell with his injuries probably will miss 5-10 games per year.
I would say possibly Shields finest display in a Dundalk shirt, was in the game v Cork in TC last April. I'm not sure there is a better player in the country now in the role he plays, but his displays in 2012 were so poor, it was almost a shock to hear SK had offered him a deal. I also can't think of a more improved player.
Last edited by oriel; 28/10/2015 at 10:42 PM.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
On the managers front Cobh Ramblers announced Stephen Henderson signed a three year contract extension with Cobh Ramblers. Good statement of intent for the future of the club.
On a surprising note second first division club this year to tie there manager to a contract longer then a one year. With the other club been Waterford (Roddy signing a two a half year contract and local coach and previous senior and U19 manager Tommy Griffin signing a new two and a half year deal as head of football operations).
O'Donnell is twice the player shiels is. I like shiels, he is a good solid option for us and is excellent at winning the ball and breaking up the oppositions play but his main weakness is when he has the ball and his passing is very poor and limited. other midfielders have to be within 10 metres of him so we play deeper as a result.
O'Donnell can do what shiels does and is 10 times a better passer of the ball too. So this allows Towel, Horgan & Meenan to push up
Long Live King Kenny
I actually said "whenever O'Donnell is available", I never specifically mentioned Cork. O'Donnell has been out injured a lot this season and last. He was just returning from injury when we played in July.
O'Donnell is quality. Shields is better. The most convincing performance I've seen from Dundalk in the past couple of seasons (I wasn't at either of the 4-0 defeats at Oriel) was the 2-1 game at Turners Cross this season. Shields was monstrous in that game.
The game last October was very close to be fair. Dundalk won 2-0 but it could easily have been 1-1.
O Donnell has not been out most of this season. Id safely say he played in about 80% of our games!
The only game we lost this season, Shields started ahead of O Donnell V Bohs!
To say Shields (very good DF, and thats it) is better than O Donnell is laughable! Id say Kenny knows more than yourself or me and O Donnell always starts when he is fit (didnt play V you on Friday as if he was booked he would miss the final)
Cork fans used to call O'Donnell "Sideways Stevie" when he played for them. They didn't rate him. Enough said.
Now one of their lot is claiming that Chris Shields is better than him. Behave
roddy collins you're a flanker you're a flanker!
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