Relegation 2008

[GalwayFrancis]

With five weeks to go til the end of the season, lets see why this season could be the closest relegation battle for years with four and possible five teams liable to go down. below I've listed the five remaining fixtures for each team (six for galway and bray).

Cobh Ramblers:
Fri. 10 October St. Patrick's Athletic v Cobh Ramblers
Sat. 18 October Cobh Ramblers v UCD
Fri. 31 October Bray Wanderers v Cobh Ramblers
Sat. 8 November Cobh Ramblers v Bohemians
Fri. 14 November Derry City v Cobh Ramblers

UCDD:
Fri. 10 October Shamrock Rovers v UCD
Sat. 18 October Cobh Ramblers v UCD
Fri. 31 October UCD v Bohemians
Fri. 7 November St. Patrick's Athletic v UCD
Fri. 14 November UCD v Galway United

Finn Harps::
Fri. 10 October Cork City v Finn Harps
Fri. 17 October Finn Harps v Sligo Rovers
Fri. 31 October Drogheda United v Finn Harps
Fri. 7 November Galway United v Finn Harps
Fri. 14 November Finn Harps v Shamrock Rovers

Bray Wanderers::
Fri. 10 October Bray Wanderers v Derry City
Fri. 17 October Galway United v Bray Wanderers
Fri. 31 October Bray Wanderers v Cobh Ramblers
Fri. 7 November Bray Wanderers v Drogheda United
Fri. 14 November Sligo Rovers v Bray Wanderers
**game to be played against Shamrock Rovers - date yet to be decided

Galway United::
Sat. 11 October Sligo Rovers v Galway United
Fri. 17 October Galway United v Bray Wanderers
Fri. 31 October Derry City v Galway United
Fri. 7 November Galway United v Finn Harps
Fri. 14 November UCD v Galway United
**game to be played against St. Pat's - date yet to be decided

At present the table is as follows (with Bray and Galway with a game in hand)
Bray - 29
Harps - 24
UCDD - 20
Cobh - 20
United - 19

My prediction to go down is: Cobh, Ucd and Harps

[finnpark]

Yeah Galway will stay up.

Harps, Cobh and UCD will go down.

We have the most diffult run in by a long way. UCD have small chance of staying up too but it seems to be between Galway and UCD now. As far as I hear the Harps players don't even want the club to stay up now. We will probably lose every match.

[GalwayFrancis]

no offense to you or harps, but what you just said brings music to my ears

now i just gotta get on to boyle sports to see what odds they'll give my for galway to stay up and to win the cup... would be worth a fiver or if its pay day maybe a tenner.

[sligoman]

Bray won't be involved.

Harps
--------
Galway
UCD
Cobh

[The Rebel Ram]

Form Table (Last 6 weeks) Pld Pts Avg
1 Bohemians 6 18 3.0
2 St Patricks Athletic 4 9 2.3
3 Cobh Ramblers 5 8 1.6
4 Sligo Rovers 6 8 1.3
5 Drogheda United 7 9 1.3
6 Derry City 4 5 1.3
7 Galway United 4 5 1.3
8 Shamrock Rovers 4 4 1.0
9 Finn Harps 6 6 1.0
10 Bray Wanderers 4 3 0.8
11 UCD 5 3 0.6
12 Cork City 5 5 -1.0

Cobh on their best run of the season, can't see them get much at Pats next week but deff out of all the other games. Never underestimate a club fighting for survival against a club with nothing to play for and only seeing out the season (Bohs and Derry by time we meet them)

[The Rebel Ram]

All that said though, Cork aren't supposed to be fielding a great team at the weekend so I think Harps will be too far ahead to catch.

The only other thing is what points deductions are going to be implimented to Cork, Harps, Drogs????? If any????

[robertob]

Bray is out of race. But between the others it could give an interesting battle. However Finn Harps has the best chance to stay up. If they get 4 points of the last games they will win the relegation race. Ok, Galway, Cobh and UCD have just a little chance, but to little in my mind. It would me surprise if Harps would going down, really.

[Mr A]

The only other thing is what points deductions are going to be implimented to Cork, Harps, Drogs????? If any????

Why do you leave Cobh out of that equation but include Drogheda? Seems like wishful thinking to me.

[finnpark]

If Bray take their eye off the ball they could be pulled in too along with Harps and Cobh

[Schumi]

Bray are safe. I'd still expect Harps to stay up although their run-in is tough. They've been able to pick up wins in games I wouldn't expect. We have to beat Cobh and Galway and probably pick up another three or four points from the other games. Hopefully Bohs will have won the league when we're playing them and still be hungover. :eek:


Form Table (Last 6 weeks) Pld Pts Avg

12 Cork City 5 5 -1.0 LOL. Cork with an average of -1 points per game with their deduction included. :D

[John83]

Three matches stand out:
Sat. 18 October Cobh Ramblers v UCD
Fri. 7 November Galway United v Finn Harps
Fri. 14 November UCD v Galway United

The results of these may determine the order of the bottom three. Harps should have enough to stay clear, but might not. UCD just got their first win in ages, so the race is on.

[Sam_Heggy]

Yeah Galway will stay up.

Harps, Cobh and UCD will go down.

We have the most diffult run in by a long way. UCD have small chance of staying up too but it seems to be between Galway and UCD now. As far as I hear the Harps players don't even want the club to stay up now. We will probably lose every match.

Bull, Ive spoke to most of the players and they allwant to be playing Premier football next season.
Players have been offering their free time to help out the club with fundraising, PR work and anything that may be of use. So I really don't see where your statement comes out of.


I spoke with Paul Hegarty after the Bray game and I said we look to be pretty much safe, he said not a chance yet, he believes Cobh have the best chance because of the games they have.
He predicted they would beat Rovers, Bohs and Bray plus possibily a draw with UCD.

Its going to be an interesting few games ahead, If I had to predict I would say the bottom 3 will remain the same but it will be closer than it is now.

For the record, Bray have been easily the worst side we've played all season, they could be drawn into the bottom 4 yet.

[bellavistaman]

Bull, Ive spoke to most of the players and they allwant to be playing Premier football next season.
Players have been offering their free time to help out the club with fundraising, PR work and anything that may be of use. So I really don't see where your statement comes out of.


I spoke with Paul Hegarty after the Bray game and I said we look to be pretty much safe, he said not a chance yet, he believes Cobh have the best chance because of the games they have.
He predicted they would beat Rovers, Bohs and Bray plus possibily a draw with UCD.

Its going to be an interesting few games ahead, If I had to predict I would say the bottom 3 will remain the same but it will be closer than it is now.

For the record, Bray have been easily the worst side we've played all season, they could be drawn into the bottom 4 yet.

Bohs and possibly bray, to stay up we HAVE to beat UCD and Bray, a point off pats and bohs or a win off one of them could keep us up.

I'm quitely confident we'll stay up, but harps have to be favourite to do it

[Sam_Heggy]

Bohs and possibly bray, to stay up we HAVE to beat UCD and Bray, a point off pats and bohs or a win off one of them could keep us up.

I'm quitely confident we'll stay up, but harps have to be favourite to do it


Macca I know ye are confident of beating Bohs, title won and a few other factors to add into it means ill be making a few quid off the bookies that day.

[JC_GUFC]

Cobh on their best run of the season, can't see them get much at Pats next week but deff out of all the other games. Never underestimate a club fighting for survival against a club with nothing to play for and only seeing out the season (Bohs and Derry by time we meet them)

Very true but the fact is that apart from the 4 of us (Bray are safe) no-one else is really playing for anything in the league.

In many ways UCD and Galway have the best fixtures in that we're playing 2 of the bottom 4 sides. United obviously have the advantage of a game in hand, when we were originally due to play Pat's they were playing very well and we'd have almost certainly lost. Now there's even an outside chance that we go to Richmond Park and win!

Taking the matches game by game though and I think next weekend UCD and Galway have the best chance of getting results.
The week after Galway have a very winnable game, while UCD play Cobh and Harps have a good chance of beating Sligo at home.

At the end of the day though Harps have the points in the bag and looking at the last day of the season they're at home to Rovers which I would expect them to win and I think they'll just stay up.

[bellavistaman]

Macca I know ye are confident of beating Bohs, title won and a few other factors to add into it means ill be making a few quid off the bookies that day.

Ah sammy you'll only make money by bckiung the draw me thinks, hopefully derry will have **** all to play for too, heartless performance by then will go down well with bella

[sligoman]

Harps have a good chance of beating Sligo at home.Really? Have they replaced their whole defence recently then?:confused:

[finnpark]

Really? Have they replaced their whole defence recently then?:confused:

Nah, we have paid off a few Sligo players and the ref :D

Thats why we have no money left ;)

[A face]

I want either Cobh or Galway to stay up, and it will be either of them i think. Cobh because its like another home game for us, Galway for the good of the league imo.

[sligoman]

Galway for the good of the league imo.Why, in your opinion, are Galway good for the league?

[SalvadorSanchez]

Why, in your opinion, are Galway good for the league?

Cause we're the leagues best bluffers and can bombard anyone into submission with DVDs and information packs!!!
seriously though, when we hit trouble with the salary cap we were upfront about it, we released or sold good players like Gary Deegan, Wes Charles, Derek O' Brien and Mark Leech in the transfer window in an attempt to manage our finances, it's a bit hard to take to then see other clubs wait until the transfer window closes before taking action, and by default retaining players and forcing huge wage cuts on them.
We're by no means perfect but we've done a lot of good work like the ground development, bringing through local players and if we had dealt with the team management issues better we would probably be better off now as per points and by extension gate reciepts and finance.
If we do go down it'll be because we shipped far too many soft goals and played with one of our better midfielders out of position as a makeshift centre back and played with our best striker on the bench for far too long. We've no magically right to Premier Division spot and no-one here thinks that we do.

[holidaysong]

I think Cobh might just stay up.

[pineapple stu]

Our win against Drogheda was the first time all season we've played like a UCD side normally does. If we can keep that up, we may stay up. If we go back to the way we were, we'll probably end up bottom. Think survival is Harps' to choke on though.

[bellavistaman]

Think survival is Harps' to choke on though.
Thats it in one really.

[shep]

I hope Cobh stay up,they deserve it after being written off all the time

[jinxy lilywhite]

I'd like to see UCD rather than Harps stay up. If we get promoted I'd fancy us to be better than UCD. Harps would be a different prospect though and you wouldn't which Harps you'd be facing. The other two I've nothing against Cobh but I don't think they've been out of the bottom 3 all season so you can't expect them to miraculously beat the drop. Galway well I just don't like them but more importantly they have a cup distraction that could cost them a few points from now until the end of the season.

[bellavistaman]

Galway well I just don't like them.

ha ha brilliant

[superfrank]

Bray have been terrible of late. We could easily get dragged into the relegation battle. That said, two wins would be enough to keep us up, imo.

Bray's run is down to a lack of motivation. The same thing happened last year. In August, we won away to Galway and then we relaxed. We were only saved from the relegation playoff on the last day.

I think of the bottom four, Harps will probably stay up.

[bellavistaman]

Hopefully yere lack of motivation will still be there in 3 weeks. We owe ye for the robbery on us last time anyway

[thischarmingman]

they have a cup distraction that could cost them a few points from now until the end of the season.

Galway fans: FAI Cup winners medal & relegation or bow out in semis & stay up?

[jinxy lilywhite]

Believe it or not I blame our cup success for our relegation in 2002. We dropped important points in games leading to the final and the semi final. We where relegated that season by a single point. Cup runs are nice and great fun but i'd certainly swap that for premier status for next season

[Finlay Harp]

Harps to stay up by a point;)

[Olander]

Galway fans: FAI Cup winners medal & relegation or bow out in semis & stay up?
stayup

no contest

[KBurke]

Galway fans: FAI Cup winners medal & relegation or bow out in semis & stay up?

Personnally I'd pick the cup win. Successes like that are very rare especially for us so i'd take a cup win, european football and the chance to sort ourselves out in the first division. Be good to win promotion to shut a lot of people from a certain county up.:p

[Patrick Dunne]

Galway United 2009

Premier Division and back in Europe taking over where Longford left off, improving the co-efficients of Andorra and San Marino.

[jebus]

UCD vs Galway on the last day :eek:

[CuanaD]

Galway United 2009

Premier Division and back in Europe taking over where Longford left off, improving the co-efficients of Andorra and San Marino.
LOL :D

seriously, its great for the league to have such a close race - no team has given up yet. IMO its still in Galway's hands as they have the game in hand plus they have to play 3 of the other bottom teams - 9 points from those 3 games could see them safe really (I said COULD, not WILL).

With the title race probably over this weekend, this could give the opportunity for RTE to concentrate on the relegation race for the last few week's live games - should make for good TV :ball:

[Longfordian]

Galway United 2009

Premier Division and back in Europe taking over where Longford left off, improving the co-efficients of Andorra and San Marino.

:o. The away trips should be good though.

[The Rebel Ram]

LOL :D

seriously, its great for the league to have such a close race - no team has given up yet. IMO its still in Galway's hands as they have the game in hand plus they have to play 3 of the other bottom teams - 9 points from those 3 games could see them safe really (I said COULD, not WILL).

With the title race probably over this weekend, this could give the opportunity for RTE to concentrate on the relegation race for the last few week's live games - should make for good TV :ball:

I wonder will they? Will probably be meaningless Bohs games.........

Lets hope they see some sense......

[holidaysong]

I wonder will they? Will probably be meaningless Bohs games.........

Lets hope they see some sense......

With the title race over in the premier they should show Waterford vs. Dundalk in two weeks time from the first division.

Like a relegation battle match, they probably won't..

[Mr Maroon]

Galway fans: FAI Cup winners medal & relegation or bow out in semis & stay up?
Bow out in semis & stay up. Without a doubt.

[Mr A]

They're showing Harps V Sligo in 2 weeks.

[foxx92]

stay up! then we could rebuild our squad and win the league!:)

[thischarmingman]

Bow out in semis & stay up. Without a doubt.
I understand the financial implications of going down and the fact that every team wants to play in the top division, and maybe it's just the romantic in me but to win a major trophy is surely a great honour and something that will go down in the club's history. You've won the FAI cup once, back 27 years ago, you're now 2 games from what would be a famous vistory. The glow from winning a cup would help you through next season. :)

(Obviously, I hope you don't win it.)

[superfrank]

Bray got a point tonight against Rovers. 2-0 down with 25 mins to go and we pulled them back. It should pick the lads up now and hopefully we can start picking up points again.

[Mr Maroon]

I understand the financial implications of going down and the fact that every team wants to play in the top division, and maybe it's just the romantic in me but to win a major trophy is surely a great honour and something that will go down in the club's history. You've won the FAI cup once, back 27 years ago, you're now 2 games from what would be a famous vistory. The glow from winning a cup would help you through next season. :)

(Obviously, I hope you don't win it.)
Staying up is much more important to me. The Cup would be a bonus really.

[sadloserkid]

UCD vs Galway on the last day :eek:

Might toddle along to that myself.

[GuisaSaigon]

You've won the FAI cup once, back 27 years ago
17 years ago, Jesus! I was feeling old for a minute there! 17 years is long enough though.
I'd still take Premier division football above an FAI Cup win. We've had enough of the joke that is the 1st division in our recent history to last a lifetime.

[WoodquayBoy]

I'm with KBurke on this, win the Cup, go down and come up 'properly'. I thinlk whatever we may achieve in the futre in the Premier Division will be sullied by some because of the manner in which we found ourselves. We have one major trophy to our credit out of 31 years in the league. I'd like to see us double that, go down and rebuilt the club aorund local players like Alan Keane, Seamus Conneely, Jonathan Keane, John Russell and, hopefully, a striker who (A) looks like he gives a sh*t; and (B) can score!

[thischarmingman]

17 years ago, Jesus! I was feeling old for a minute there! 17 years is long enough though.

Sorry, slip of the finger. :p