Rovers vs Shamrock

[jamie m]

Really looking forward to this one. After the positive result and display on Saturday i think we should be going into the game with a good bit of optimism. All the lads put in good performances especially imo Amond, Dillon, Blinkhorn, and Doyle and we have plenty of good options on the bench.

With (hopefully) a really big crowd and of course the Turner situation in the background it should be a fantastic night. Will there be any posters available for people to put up in their local areas? Really important to get a good turnout to cheer the lads on and set down a marker for the season with a good result. Reckon 2-1 to Rovers, Amond and Dillon with the goals.

[Scram]

Rovers are playing themselves?

[red_away]

Shams will be a totally different proposition to c'ville - there wont be the space for all the nice tricks and mistakes that happened on saturday night and shams will punish some of the slack defending that we were guilty of.

[CarrickFan]

How much can we read into last Saturdays team selection when it comes to the Shams match?...especially in midfield,is Conor going to be a regular this season?...most positions pick themselves but centre midfield and left back im not sure about...Keane did well and Ventre was ok but u have to take into account the opposition...would much rather see Conor in there.

[Guts&Glory]

I am frothing at the mouth thinking about this game, good crowd of Shams down and I cannot wait to see Blinkhorn get at Murray, wouldnt be susprised is the donkey gets sent off. 2-0 Blinkhorn and Amond

You really should have got that tetanise shot after that young one you were with in Toffs. ;)

[kkontour]

what time is KO?
Nothing on rovers website yet

[avvenalaf]

I am frothing at the mouth thinking about this game, good crowd of Shams down and I cannot wait to see Blinkhorn get at Murray, wouldnt be susprised is the donkey gets sent off. 2-0 Blinkhorn and Amond

How dare you refer to Blinkhorn as a donkey.

[sligored]

what time is KO?
Nothing on rovers website yet

7.45 on ticket

[MMVIII]

Cannot ****ing wait for this. The off season is far too long for my liking. Don't know how its going to play out really. I don't think Shams are the "brilliant team" people are making them out to be and I think we are capable of beating them. Heart says 2-1 Rovers, head says 1-1.

[rovers100%]

i think almedia looked a bit rusty at times against cliftonville and their little number 9 made him look awkward. i thought we looked ok in the centre but nothing special. ventre was ok without ever doing a lot. i still feel we need real bite in there and someone with an engine.
amond looked good and shows he knows where to be inside the box to take chances. ryan actually impressed me he made some lovely passes but shams will be a total different game. if we stay tight at the back we can win but we must get stuck in and rough shams up. i would like to see us a bit dirtier this year as last season teams walked through us at times.
but it is positive to see us play so fluently last sat even if they had thier second string out. we should have won 6-0 really. looking forward to seeing the partnership up front blossom. hopefully amond sinks them dirty sham tramps

[srfc1928]

i think almedia looked a bit rusty at times against cliftonville and their little number 9 made him look awkward. i thought we looked ok in the centre but nothing special. ventre was ok without ever doing a lot. i still feel we need real bite in there and someone with an engine.
amond looked good and shows he knows where to be inside the box to take chances. ryan actually impressed me he made some lovely passes but shams will be a total different game. if we stay tight at the back we can win but we must get stuck in and rough shams up. i would like to see us a bit dirtier this year as last season teams walked through us at times.
but it is positive to see us play so fluently last sat even if they had thier second string out. we should have won 6-0 really. looking forward to seeing the partnership up front blossom. hopefully amond sinks them dirty sham tramps
Spot on Rovers100%

This game has come too soon for Almeida. Would rather see Keane in there or Foran.
As for the centre mid, O'Grady has to come back in.

Cant wait for this one. Jeez I hate shams.

[Rasputin]

What most impressed me in the Cliftonville game was the performance of Richie Ryan, outstanding IMO.
Such a turn around from last season where he was desperate.
For the Shams game im going to have to call a draw 1-1, of course hoping for a win.

[forza rovers]

what are the odds for amond to score the winner?that would be brilliant

[Fivesilver]

what are the odds for almond to score the winner?that would be brilliant

Pretty slim, I'd say.

[De Town]

what are the odds for almond to score the winner?that would be brilliant

You're nuts if you think that will happen...

[redbuli]

as far as team selection goes, i imagine Cook will put try and put out the same team as the Cliftonville game, by the sounds of it Ryan did well in centre mid and will start against Shams, .. important game, our home form last season was really poor so a win opening day would set the tone for the season

[CarrickFan]

Surely he cant play Ventre in midfield if he wants to play football and try to win the game..maybe use him left back and switch Keane to right back.

[Brian Boru]

I think we will win. ?1-0. We have the second best team (to Bohs). We should finish above the Shams. A strong start - unlike the last two seasons- is absolutely vital! Red Army....

[bingoballs]

i think almedia looked a bit rusty at times against cliftonville and their little number 9 made him look awkward. i thought we looked ok in the centre but nothing special. ventre was ok without ever doing a lot. i still feel we need real bite in there and someone with an engine.
amond looked good and shows he knows where to be inside the box to take chances. ryan actually impressed me he made some lovely passes but shams will be a total different game. if we stay tight at the back we can win but we must get stuck in and rough shams up. i would like to see us a bit dirtier this year as last season teams walked through us at times.
but it is positive to see us play so fluently last sat even if they had thier second string out. we should have won 6-0 really. looking forward to seeing the partnership up front blossom. hopefully amond sinks them dirty sham tramps
Have to agree about Ryan in fairness to him, and I have been critical of him in the past. He looks to have lost some weight too. I'm afraid Ventre offers little in midfield though and we wont be beating shams if he features there!

[Well Red]

I think we will win. ?1-0. We have the second best team (to Bohs). We should finish above the Shams. A strong start - unlike the last two seasons- is absolutely vital! Red Army....

Cannot completely agree that we should finish above Shams but no harm in being optimistic. Dont forget the ref factor that has always favoured the Hoops, from the youngest Sligo supporter to the oldest we all remember all the decisions that wrongly went to Shams. Not referee bashing but my mind is cluttered with wrong decisions over the years in this fixture.

[dong]

I think we will win. ?1-0. We have the second best team (to Bohs). We should finish above the Shams. A strong start - unlike the last two seasons- is absolutely vital! Red Army....

I hope you're right man.
We have a team capable of beating the Ferret heads but over the course of the season they probably have better depth in their squad.

[Brian Boru]

Cannot completely agree that we should finish above Shams but no harm in being optimistic. Dont forget the ref factor that has always favoured the Hoops, from the youngest Sligo supporter to the oldest we all remember all the decisions that wrongly went to Shams. Not referee bashing but my mind is cluttered with wrong decisions over the years in this fixture.

Example : That cup game in the early 00s in Tolka Park when the ref awarded the penalty but inexplicably didn't send the Shams guy off. We were in the first division. We could probably start a thread about the decisions.

[Redkenrover]

Will we have a new jersey for the match on Saturday or are we changing this season?

[LondonRover]

I'm sure that someone on here said that we're sticking with the same home shirt this year.

[Mayo Red]

Can't wait for this game, I'll go with my head and say a 1-1 draw, it'd be great to beat Shams though! Hopefully the team gels fairly quickly over the first couple of games with all the new signings and we get the campaign off to a good start.

[red_away]

I dont feel as confident about the shams match as some on here, c'ville were very poor and shams wont allow all the space that we had on saturday and draw would be a good result - I also dont think the squad has the quality to challenge for second place either!

But what do i know....i just want to beat the shams b45t4rd5!!!!!

[gustavo]

Team news

Sligo Rovers have injury doubts over three players heading into their opening game of the Airtricity Premier Division against Shamrock Rovers on Saturday, kick-off 7.45pm.

New signing Gary McCabe has a hamstring knock, while Gavin Peers has a knee injury and Matthew Blinkhorn is also struggling.

Rovers started their campaign in the best possible fashion last Saturday by beating Cliftonville in the Setanta Cup 3-0 in the Showgrounds.

Padraig Amond scored his first goal for the club in the match and the Carlow man, along with Eoin Doyle, faces his former club in the highly-anticipated clash.

Supporters are advised to enter the ground early as a large crowd is expected.

http://sligorovers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=870:three-doubtful-for-bit-o-red&catid=13:news&Itemid=246

[prodsc]

Buttimer refs- he's one of the better ones AFIK, not in my Black book...yet!!

[avvenalaf]

Tell that to Derry fans, he robbed them in the 2008 Cup Final, its a real pity those Derry fans didnt get at him in The Showgrounds last season

Jesus, bad enough to get robbed once.....................

[redbuli]

Team news

Sligo Rovers have injury doubts over three players heading into their opening game of the Airtricity Premier Division against Shamrock Rovers on Saturday, kick-off 7.45pm.

New signing Gary McCabe has a hamstring knock, while Gavin Peers has a knee injury and Matthew Blinkhorn is also struggling.

Rovers started their campaign in the best possible fashion last Saturday by beating Cliftonville in the Setanta Cup 3-0 in the Showgrounds.

Padraig Amond scored his first goal for the club in the match and the Carlow man, along with Eoin Doyle, faces his former club in the highly-anticipated clash.

Supporters are advised to enter the ground early as a large crowd is expected.

http://sligorovers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=870:three-doubtful-for-bit-o-red&catid=13:news&Itemid=246

disappointing if peers and blinkhorn dont recover in time, anyone have an inside track on their chances

[Mayo Red]

Buttimer refs- he's one of the better ones AFIK, not in my Black book...yet!!

But as you know he wouldn't recognise your Black book anyways even if he saw it, the colourblind muppet. I hope our red stripes don't clash with their green hoops tomorrow night is all!!;)

[srfc1928]

But as you know he wouldn't recognise your Black book anyways even if he saw it, the colourblind muppet. I hope our red stripes don't clash with their green hoops tomorrow night is all!!;)
Mightened be a bad thing, we might get a few decisions !!!!!!!

[und2015]

What is Blinkhorn "struggling" with?

[gustavo]

What is Blinkhorn "struggling" with?

An injury presumably








:D

[Sean South]

An injury presumably
:D

http://oldcoyote.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/tumbleweed_004.jpg

[Fivesilver]

Anyone going to tweet this one for the exiles?

[Fivesilver]

Big if . . . :p

[und2015]

Results from today for those who don't already know:

Bohemians 1-0 Sporting Fingal
Bray Wanderers 0-1 Dundalk
Drogheda United 0-3 UCD
St. Patrick's Athletic 2-0 Galway United

Of course, none of this will matter if we go undefeated. ;)

[srfc1928]

Really looking forward to this now.
Hopefully we have a large turnout even though the build up was pretty low key.
A win tomorrow night would go some way of putting to bed the cup final.
I hope the players realise how much the fans want us to beat this shower of ba$tard$.

[dublinred]

Agree lets beat the current shams franchise.

[sligorover]

The Battle of the Rovers kicks off the 2010 Airtricity League campaign at The Showgrounds, as Sligo Rovers host Shamrock Rovers.

Always an eagerly anticipated fixture, extra spice is added to this encounter by the fact that two of Sligo’s attacking players – Eoin Doyle and Padraig Amond – were signed from the visitors.

Hoops manager Michael O’Neill knows that a tough match awaits his side as they look to get 2010 off to a good start.

“Our away form last year was excellent, but we’re expecting a very tough game up in Sligo,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that as no away game is ever easy in this league.

“That’s the way it’s been since I arrived at Rovers and I know that this season will be no different. Having said that, we’re all eager to get going and looking forward to the challenge.”

The Dubliners travel west without suspended duo Craig Sives and Pat Sullivan, while last season’s top scorer Gary Twigg is ruled out through injury. http://www.airtricityleague.com/index.php/matchzone/premier-division/match-reports/165-series-1/1832-preview-sligo-rovers-v-shamrock-rovers


No Twigg? Sorted.
If Peers and Blinks are playing I'd be very confident. Nice to see Cook has some tough decisions to make, the team picked itself for most of last season.

[Fivesilver]

http://www.airtricityleague.com/index.php/matchzone/premier-division/match-reports/165-series-1/1832-preview-sligo-rovers-v-shamrock-rovers


They call that a preview? Grand if it was on a Shams fan site. Quote and squad update from one team. I know journeying beyond the Pale into the Heart of Darkness is a terrifying prospect, but how difficult would it be to pick up the phone?

[apo11o]

This should be 1 of the games of the season, Sligo to win 2-1.

[redbuli]

1-0 get in there, times like this wish i wasn't exiled..

[Fivesilver]

1-1.

Many thanks for the tweets.

[redbuli]

thanks for twitter and extratime updates,much appreciated.. sounds like a fair result on the run of things.. 2,900 was a good crowd as well, how many shams fans turned up

[Real Rover]

Buttimer refs- he's one of the better ones AFIK, not in my Black book...yet!!

Well he's sure in there now!

[redarmyfaction]

I think I know the referees reason for giving the penalty, I just wonder what his excuse is.

[Blowin_Rover]

Good first game for the lads, hard fought, but very encouraging ,fair play to the lads..thought the referee was a total burke and was too influenced by the appeals of Shams for any slight challenge,well done to the forza boys for the banners.1579

[CarrickFan]

Where to start....god i fu%king HATE O Neill and Shams........we started very well and deserved to be AT LEAST 1 up by the time Doyle scored...They came into it 2nd half..without ever looking too dangerous....but the whole game was overshadowed by an unbelievable man of the match performance for Shams by the referee...i will have to reserve judgment on peno until MNS but it should have been a free out for a foul on Keane in the lead up...Shams players handled the ball on 5 seperate occasions duting the match and not one free awarded..and most annoyingly everytime we jumped to contest headers(Blinks and Keane particularly)it was a free against but not when a Shams player did it(including once where Murray i think had two hands on the back of Blinks)...i could go on but i wont..sat behind the away dugout for a change to see O Neill in action..whinging moaning cheating git.

P.S.....well done to the FORZA lads on the excellent banners and atmosphere but i think even they most die hard Ventre fans amongst ye have to see this team will go nowhere with him playing in midfield.