Rovers naivety beat themselves tonight - scored two fantastic goals but gave away 4 through schoolboy defending. I thought Benson was way offside for the second?
Ref bottled it on ruck- O'Donnell pushed/punched Bradley in the back so should of been a red , instead ref took easy option and gave each side 2 yellows.
Over the season Rovers have been accused of being a dirty side on account of 9 reds- Duns showed tonight how 'cute' a side they are as all their back 4 took turns to kick lumps off Clarke and Shaw particularly and the likes of O'Donnell continuously conned the ref for frees - that's not a whinge it's a compliment and they played some decent ball also , once we get street wise (which we will) then we'll be well able to compete with Duns/Cork.
Good luck to Duns in the final- think it's the first time ever the same sides will be finalists three years in a row.
Well done Dundalk,best team in Ireland again this year but well done Rovers, our time is coming if we can hold onto our emerging talent and get 3 more quality players in the close season we will be there or thereabouts, the team died with their boots on tonight and thats why there is special bond now building with the fans.
10161997.jpg.....Originally Posted by Kingswood Rover
I made the same point on the way home. Dundalk were on the rack. Rovers won the toss for extra time and choose to play with the wind. It's one thing playing into the wind in normal time but it's much harder in extra time with so many lads carrying injuries.
The scrap took the momentum away from Rovers. If any team was going to score in the second period of extra time it was Dundalk. Rovers were already thinking about penalties.
There is a lack of discipline at Rovers and it costs them in the big games.
However, it is curlish to dwell on the negatives. It was a titanic battle of a game and both sides put everything into it. It's just a pity it wasn't on TV.
Rovers just ran out of legs and died towards the end it seems. Dundalk are SO good at getting the ball out of tight spaces and switching ball to opposite wing etc. Decent game for the neutral watching on streaming, some very well taken goals but others very poorly defended. Rovers have something decent building, but Dundalk seem to be a few seasons more developed than them, and in the end it told.
What an evening!
Credit to Rovers for really putting it up to Dundalk tonight. There was a period in extra time when I would gladly have taken penalties as I feared that Rovers would over run us. Finn and Clarke confirmed that they are both top class players, while Bradley yet again showed his indiscipline from the sideline.
Stephen O'Donnell scored a wonder goal to cap a brilliant performance and the guile, energy and intelligence from all over this team was remarkable.
Clarke thought it was a rovers throw so went to take it. I donnell jumped on top of him and had his arms around his neck so Bradley's pushed him of clarke, he didn't try stop a quick throw.
Players gave it everything, We've definitely come on a lot since last year. Disappointing result but a very enjoyable game, had everything you want in a semi final.
Cork vs dundalk in November is becoming an annual thing now. Amazing that it's happened 3 years in a row now. The top 2 teams over the last 4 years, the best team from the first half of the season vs the best from the second. I don't fancy it going to extra time again this year, but if it does, then I hope the 90 minutes is more entertaining than the last two.
My mistake. He didn't stop a throw, he pushed a player...
And no punishment. And the yellows for the players were bizarre too.
Ye have the players, but ye're going nowhere with him as the manager. He talks about discipline issues and follows up by thinking there's any situation where it's ok for him to push players.
The performance by the Rovers players last night was the most disciplined I've seen from them. There were a few mistimed tackles from both sides but nothing stupid.
The only indiscipline was from the bench and it probably was the turning point in the game.
You never know, he might winning the football equivalent of the lotto next season and get a Sean Maguire, like caulfield did.Then he might be proclaimed as a great manager
Cracking game,in the windy conditions.
Rovers missed a clinical striker like McMillan up front, and we have a $hite keeper.
Cest la Vie.
O'Donnell really should get his vertigo seen to. Its causing him to fall on the ground a lot.
Would assume that dundalk will have too much for a toothless cork side in the final.
He wasn't suffering from anything when he ghosted in down the left and headed the ball over your keeper to make it another glorious night in Tallaght for Dundalk!
We have had more magical nights in Tallaght since it opened than you have
Yeah cos he didn't do anything before Snea Maguire, like take us frmo 6th to 2nd in a single season, 45 minutes away from winning the title, with Mark O'Sullivan as our main striker. I suppose he got lucky there too?
It was a tremendous game to be at. Hugely entertaining stuff. O'Donnell was immense; a really towering performance from him. The brawl certainly affected Rovers more than Dundalk - the momentum was with the Hoops at the time. Bradly needs to set a better example. He very possibly cost Rovers the game.
Had Shams won last night, would they have taken the European cup place or would that have gone to the league spot?
Cracking entertainment. I thought Dundalk should have wrapped it up in normal time, but we weren't clinical enough. The schemozzle came from nothing, two Rovers coaches/managers got involved when Clarke tried to stop O'Donnell taking a throw and next thing you know there's more handbags than Louis Vuitton. Ironically enough the unnecessary silliness, led by Bradley, disrupted Rovers only real period in the ascendancy and Dundalk found another gear to win.
Undoubtedly Dundalk, like all great teams, know how to play on the edge sometimes, the likes of O'Donnell is not afraid to draw a foul. That said, Connolly was fouled 5 or 6 times before he was eventually forced off injured (and he went to ground unnecessarily another 3 or 4 times!), the second successive game he was targeted. Apart from that and one bad tackle early on by Finn on Gannon I thought it was generally a tough but fair match. Dundalk are ludicrously well served in attacking midfield, McGrath was excellent, Connolly will be one of the stars of the league next year with a year of Kenny coaching him, then there McEleney, Benson and Duffy.
Hard to see Rovers bridge the gap with Bradley at the helm. They've a good squad and are an attractive proposition for good players that become available, but the long ball tactics do Rovers a disservice. Roberto Lopes is a good defender but no more a midfielder than I am. Genuine question.... what to Rovers fans think of Bradley as a manager?
Last edited by seand; 11/10/2017 at 9:49 AM.
They would have taken a European spot, but that would go to the league if they finished in the top 4, which looks highly likely. Now it's guaranteed that 4th spot gets Europe.
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Even if Rovers had won last night they wouldn't have been 100% guaranteed a Euro place, as cup runners-up to Champions League qualifiers no longer get the cup spot- it reverts to the league. Even before last night we knew that the top 4 would get Europe.
Excellent match played in quite windy conditions from the second half onwards. Thought Rovers were on top for one period only, the first half of ET, and they scored their first against the run of play. In saying that bad mistake by Rovers keeper for Dundalk's equaliser and very poor marking for Benson to make it 2-1. I couldn't believe the amount of space McMillan was afforded for the 3rd goal, but what a finish by O'Donnell to win it with the 4th.
I was worried when the rumour finally came out that McEleney would miss out, but what a match McGrath had, he was everywhere and complimented the MF perfectly, definitely his best in a Dlk shirt. Connolly got booted out of it, but to be fair Dlk also dished it out a bit. Id agree with previous comment further up that Dlk are masters of managing out games, and O'Donnell can win himself a free at times when he needs to, usually when he loses the ball, but that's experience. I was also thinking Id have preferred to have had the replay away rather than drawing away then back to Oriel Park, we seem to play brilliantly in Tallaght in the big games, only poor performance in recent seasons was 2-1 defeat to Rovers earlier in the league and maybe v AZ last Dec.
McMillan is a perfect striker, scoring with his head and feet, I think he's on 23 now for the season, all comps.
Tough one for Rovers to take, no doubt about that, but hopefully it will be a decent final now, a great day out for both clubs.
#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).
I was clearly just assuming that their cup pedigree would shine through!
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