Premier Division Assists

[JC_GUFC]

I'm going to make an effort to track the number of assists by each player this season - I don't think it's ever been looked at before so it could be interesting.

It's not official so I'm going to go with my own rules!

• Not Every Goal has an assist
• Some goals may have more than one assist
• Players fouled for a penalty scored will be credited with an assist
• I will probably add more rules as I go along!

Please feel free to correct - I'll generally be going by the Soccer Republic pictures and trusting the commentators to get the names right!

Ryan Connolly (Galway United) - 2
Eoghan O'Connell (Cork City) - 1
Kenny Browne (Cork City) - 1
Josh O'Hanlon (Longford Town) - 1 (a bit of a stretch here!)
Philip Gannon (Longford Town) - 1
Adam Hanlon (Finn Harps) - 1
Keith Cowan (Finn Harps) - 1
Nathan Boyle (Derry City) - 1
Billy Dennehy (St Pat's) - 1
John Mountney (Dundalk) - 1
Dane Massey (Dundalk) - 1 (Not sure about this at all - looked like the left back came up and played the ball forward - most sites reporting it was a back pass but from pictures the full back looks to have made the connection but not sure it was Massey - could have been Barrett)
Ciaran Kilduff (Dundalk) - 1
Brandon Miele (Shamrock Rovers) - 1

[seand]

[*]Some goals may have more than one assist

How does this work though? Does it have to be the second last pass? Does it have to be a particularly key contribution? e.g. from memory (I haven't seen Soccer Republic) Ronan Finn deserved great credit for Dundalk's first goal in Bray, he won the ball and played to it Mountney to cross. Is that good enough for an assist? How many assists in the 38-pass goal of the season for Dundalk v Pats in 2014?

I've never heard of a player fouled for a pen being credited with an assist, but then I'm not big into tracking assists.

Of course the answer to the above and any other questions is that you're making it up as you go along!

[nigel-harps1954]

Some goals more than one assist? I'm not sure that works at all. The assist for the goal, for me, is the player who passes directly to the person who scores. I'm not sure how two people can claim that one.

[JC_GUFC]

Well there could be a scenario where a goalkeeper catches a cross and boots the ball downfield and ball is flicked on for a goal. Keeper deserves some recognition for his part.
It's not going to be a very regular occurrence.
I didn't award assists for a few of the goals this weekend. Galway's equaliser and the free kicks.

As for assists for penalties, I agree, I've never seen them given before but if a striker is through on goal but is brought down and wins a penalty, that, in my opinion, should be an assist!

Anyway SeanD instead of picking holes in it please tell me who the Dundalk player is!!

[nigel-harps1954]

In that case though, the assist goes to the player who flicks it on. It's a good spot by the goalkeeper to pick out that player, but I wouldn't credit them with an assist if someone else is the person who diverts the ball into the path of the player who eventually scores.

[Town Legend]

You should gauge by the way the FA Premier Fantasy League does it. Whoever passes it to the goalscorer is only credited with an assist. Whatever player is taken down for a penalty and its scored gets an assist unless the scorer is the player who won the penalty.I think if a ball is crossed in or passed in but a defender clears it to the goalscorer its not an assist for the original ball.

On their website they have the rules up there and how scores are credited. Ice hockey is the only sport I know of that gives more than on assist for a goal.

[Dodge]

Fair play JC. Agree with your loose rules too. Assists aren't stats, just opinions.

Looking forward to seeing this build up

[JC_GUFC]

On their website they have the rules up there and how scores are credited. Ice hockey is the only sport I know of that gives more than on assist for a goal.

Thanks,
Will take a look.

It shouldn't be taken too seriously but it wouldn't be foot.ie without a few people being outraged!

[Town Legend]

Best of luck with it. It'll be tough to keep track of for the season but sure it's worth a shot!

[gufcfan]

Good stuff JC, although I think you'll find that nobody is ever credited with an assist unless they gave the last pass or touch of the ball. Possibly not fair, but it's too subjective to be compared like for like across a season or whatever.

No harm to keep a record, but for stat keeping, I can't see it ever catching on because of the above.

[WoodquayBoy]

It's a cracking idea and I agree there can be more than 1 assist - a fella goes on a 40 yard run, passes inside to team-mate who 'merely' flicks it on to guy who scores. The guy on that 40 yard run deserves an assist

[seand]

Seeing as we're making it up as we go along where do we stand on assists for ogs? Cross into the box, defender heads past own keeper.... assist for the cross or not? And what about a shot from Player A parried by the keeper or blocked by a defender and followed up by Player B.... assist for Player A or not?

[PartySaint]

Graham Kelly for Pats the other night with the assist JC.

[passinginterest]

Seeing as we're making it up as we go along where do we stand on assists for ogs? Cross into the box, defender heads past own keeper.... assist for the cross or not? And what about a shot from Player A parried by the keeper or blocked by a defender and followed up by Player B.... assist for Player A or not?

Both count as assists in my book. On the more than one assist for a goal option, I think if you're counting a pass/run that's not the last one before the goal is scored you need to go with the ice hockey model and count it as a "secondary assist". It will be interesting to see these stats build up. Hope you can keep it going. I always kept appearance/goal stats for my own team when I was playing but assists were just too hard to keep track of.

[McNasara]

Nice work, it will be very useful for punters who follow your league but are far from you. Thanks again!

By the way, do you (LOI followers) have the PD match stats (corners, shots) available somewhere?

[PartySaint]

Billy Dennehy, Conan Byrne and Ian Bermingham with the Pats assists last night

[JC_GUFC]

Thanks lads.
I haven't given up on this. Just on holidays.

Needed some help with the Wexford v Dundalk goals last Monday.

[Dodge]

Pats v Rovers
1) Graham Kelly (corner) Darren Dennehy (flicked on)
2) Mark Timlin

[Sam_Heggy]

Tony McNamee cross, flicked on by Packie Mailey and a stunning right footed volley from Damian McNulty into the top corner for Harps goal.

[JC_GUFC]

Updated after week 5 - have 2 episodes of Soccer Republic to get through


Barry McNamee (Derry City) - 4
Ryan Connolly (Galway United) - 3
Dane Massey (Dundalk) - 3
Billy Dennehy (St Pat's) - 2
John Mountney (Dundalk) - 2
Brandon Miele (Shamrock Rovers) - 2
Jason Marks (Bray) - 2
Andrew Lewis (Bray) - 2
Darren Meenan (Dundalk) - 2
Daryl Horgan (Dundalk) - 2
Mark Timlin (St Pat's) - 1
Ian Bermingham (St Pat's) - 1
Eoghan O'Connell (Cork City) - 1
Kenny Browne (Cork City) - 1
Kevin O'Connor (Cork City) - 1
Stephen Beattie (Cork City) - 1
Danny Morrissey (Cork City) - 1
Karl Sheppard (Cork City) - 1
John Dunleavey (Cork City) - 1
Josh O'Hanlon (Longford Town) - 1
Philip Gannon (Longford Town) - 1
Adam Hanlon (Finn Harps) - 1
Keith Cowan (Finn Harps) - 1
Nathan Boyle (Derry City) - 1
Ciaran Kilduff (Dundalk) - 1
Colm Horgan (Galway United) - 1
Graham Kelly (St Pat's) - 1
Mark Quigley (Bohs) - 1
Harry Monaghan (Derry City) - 1
Ronan Curtis (Derry City) - 1
Paul Murphy (Wexford Youths) - 1
Conan Byrne (St Pat's) - 1
Gary Shaw (Shamrock Rovers) - 1
Darren Dennehy (St Pat's) - 1
Dean Jarvis (Derry) - 1
Gary Shanahan (Galway United) - 1
Kurtis Byrne (Bohs) - 1
Regan Donelan (Sligo) - 1
Packie Mailey (Finn Harps) - 1
Chris Shields (Dundalk) - 1
Padraig Cunningham (Galway United) - 1
Dean Kelly (Bray) - 1
Eric Molloy (Wexford) - 1