Tonights Latest-Tuesday 2nd Nov

[WoodquayBoy]

Big brother
Karl is the younger brother actually. Thought we deserved the win (thought I would say that!!), think Barry Ryan had 1 save to make in the 90 minutes. Seamus Conneely was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch, should won by more but for Derek missing a couple of chances. Still, won't write Bray off in the play-off yet, if they can just sort out their attack, or maybe tonight was an exception rather than the rule. Bray fan escorted off the pitch by the Gardai (but not arrested by the looks of it) after running on at the final whistle to confront Hancock over another woeful refereeing display, though what the particular gripe was I don't know as Mitchell was sent off for being the last man when he fouled Sheppard

[Magicme]

Home from the game. Gutted. :(

Mons deserved the win no questions. I hate Philly Hughes so much but he's good at what he does. Stonewall peno turned down then philly dives for a free kick that he sticks in the top corner. There's no justification in appointing a Monaghan based referee for such an important game with monaghan playing. Only three games in the country tonight and they send him. It's a joke. Not sour grapes at all, we werent good enough but some of his decision were laughable. 2nd goal definitely offside and the free at the end was a joke too.

Anyway, good luck to Mons against Bray.

Thanks. Your goal was offside, we weren't give a blatant hand ball and he did us no favours. Have to say ur fans were fantastic tho.

[monutdfc]

Home from the game. Gutted. :(

Mons deserved the win no questions. I hate Philly Hughes so much but he's good at what he does. Stonewall peno turned down then philly dives for a free kick that he sticks in the top corner. There's no justification in appointing a Monaghan based referee for such an important game with monaghan playing. Only three games in the country tonight and they send him. It's a joke. Not sour grapes at all, we werent good enough but some of his decision were laughable. 2nd goal definitely offside and the free at the end was a joke too.

Anyway, good luck to Mons against Bray.
3rd attempt to post, so I'm keeping this short...
...I can understand your annoyance about the ref's appointment, but it did not affect the result
I'm totally biased but it was never a penalty, 2nd goal was well onside and admittedly Sean Brennan (not Philly) appeared to go down a bit easily for the free-kick that led to the 3rd (but what a free from Philly)
Fair play to the Waterford fans who applauded our lads off the pitch after their warm-down
So proud of the Mons tonight, some super performances

[MMVIII]

Bray looked like they were never going to score tonight. They were very shaky at the back all night. Jake Kelly was probably the pick of the bunch for Bray. Bet his man on numerous occasions but his final ball, like all of his teammate's, was very very poor. Galway were ok, Sheppard played well as well as O'Brien (as much as it pains me to say it). Poor game in general though. Good crowd but heard a few, when I sat in the new stand at the beginning, say they were given free tickets. And that was from a few different groups of people. (Im not trying to insinuate anything happened en masse here). Bray fan seemed to be getting arrested last time I saw it. Took a swing at a steward, for no apparent reason. There was also an elderly man complaing to the guards about him being hit by the same fan, so I'd say it was to do with this rather than the ref, who was absolutely terrible tonight.

[The Lilywhites]

Whether or not he was fair, it is a joke that a Monaghan ref was sent to Waterford to referee a game involving Monaghan.

[Stevo Da Gull]

Karl is the younger brother actually.

Oops, my mistake.




Bray fan escorted off the pitch by the Gardai (but not arrested by the looks of it) after running on at the final whistle to confront Hancock over another woeful refereeing display, though what the particular gripe was I don't know as Mitchell was sent off for being the last man when he fouled Sheppard


Bray fan seemed to be getting arrested last time I saw it. Took a swing at a steward, for no apparent reason. There was also an elderly man complaing to the guards about him being hit by the same fan, so I'd say it was to do with this rather than the ref, who was absolutely terrible tonight.

:eek: Not what you want to hear at all!

Judging from the radio commentary the officials had a poor night but were totally unbiased. Also every report seems to suggest that we created nothing on the night, and you can't blame officials on that.

[passerrby]

ya we hate to see him doing our games he never gives us anything and tonight was no exception. we earned the win by the way he is from donegal and is stationed in carrickmacross as a garda i think so really is not from monaghan.

[blue til i die]

ya we hate to see him doing our games he never gives us anything and tonight was no exception. we earned the win by the way he is from donegal and is stationed in carrickmacross as a garda i think so really is not from monaghan.

As ive already said, i've no qualms with the result, fair play to ye, played very well, but its all them little 50-50 decision that all went your way that people get annoyed over. I know he's from Donegal alright and monaghan-based thats fair enough, but the fai appointing him to such an important game with the team from where he is based is asking for trouble, especially when there was a huge amount of referee's clearly not doing matches tonight. If it was a waterford-based referee people would be asking the same questions as to why he was appointed.

[Magicme]

I agree and we would have preferred a different ref but it wasn't up to us. Our lads did what they had to and went out and won So I am happy but feel waterfords fans pain.

[christo]

I like how Waterford fans are annoyed a Monaghan based ref was appointed because he would be biased towards Monaghan and Monaghan are annoyed that a Monaghan based ref was appointed because he would be biased towards Waterford...

Anyway, was a nice trip down (didn't realise that it was motorway the whole way), good to see a match again and whatever people are saying about Philly's free, I enjoyed his diving header from the low cross from little Barry Clancy :D

[Stevo Da Gull]

Derek o'brien almost scored one of the goals of the season...but he missed! Bray were fairly muck tbh, monaghan should beat them.

I'm not saying that Monaghan won't beat us, but I will say that by all accounts I've received that performance was far from what we've usually seen over last couple of months and far from what we expect from ourselves in the next two games.

Not trying to take credit away from Galway though, not the first time they've beaten us at Terryland this season and the better team won on the night.

[blue til i die]

I DEMAND A REPLAY!!!









Anyone have john delaneys number? :D

[Candystripe]

I reckon Paul Mc Laughlin was the best ref we've had home or away for a few years.

Can see him doing plenty of premier games next season.

Well done Mons and good luck against Bray.

[trevy]

Monaghan deserved their win and were much better. We were very flat. What a change from Saturday nights 2nd half performance. Free kick for 3rd Monaghan goal was very soft and looked like WJ Kiely was tripped on edge of box in 2nd half but can't complain with result. Good luck in play off final.

[geezer]

Good crowd but heard a few, when I sat in the new stand at the beginning, say they were given free tickets. And that was from a few different groups of people. (Im not trying to insinuate anything happened en masse here). quote


Yes 18 bray fans got free tickets, As a united fan i wasnt impressed with this . If i go to bray i insist on paying in to support the clubs. Bray requested they get in 18 free just before the game no guest list or anything and the powers that be in Galway let them in. funny thing is the powers that be wouldnt let any galway fans in for free, season ticket holders or otherwise. Karl & David Shepards family came down from Dublin & they paid in, bought raffle tickets and programmes they didnt have this "entitlement" feeling that they should get it free. They like most fans done the decent thing

Its the mentality of those usually involved with clubs that expect to get in free at nearly all grounds they visit. They are usually the biggest moaners when players and staff dont get paid, they take take take. im also sure if you check out who the 18 were they were probably net takers from the league club and officials, not the lads that travel regularly to bray away games. it would be worth your while asking that at the bray agm

[Youths4Ever]

I like how Waterford fans are annoyed a Monaghan based ref was appointed because he would be biased towards Monaghan and Monaghan are annoyed that a Monaghan based ref was appointed because he would be biased towards Waterford...

Anyway, was a nice trip down (didn't realise that it was motorway the whole way), good to see a match again and whatever people are saying about Philly's free, I enjoyed his diving header from the low cross from little Barry Clancy :D

enjoyed the header myself and spotted the kildare county top :)

Monaghan where by far the better team on the night creating much more going forward. I thought that number 9 for mon showed some very good touches on a tricky night. For waterford paul murphy and the number 30 where good. Mon free for third goal was a little soft but still a great free. As for willie john on the edge of the box he delay time was a bit slow if had of gone down quicker would have gotten the free.

The ref performance was one of the better ones I have seen this yr (does not say a lot I know) the linesman on the old stand side had a few dubious decisions alright but still a good performance by officials.

[WoodquayBoy]

P.S how hot is Salthill's physio? :)
Very!!!

[pineapple stu]

Amazing result for Monaghan given their recent slump; some recovery to seemingly hammer Waterford away.

Worrying result for Cobh; I'm sure they'd strengthen if they do come up, but not a good omen to lose at home to a Salthill side who are probably one of the weakest teams the LoI has seen in a long while.

Vaguely surprising result in Galway. Arguably Monaghan have the upper hand for the play-off now.

[JC_GUFC]

Amazing result for Monaghan given their recent slump; some recovery to seemingly hammer Waterford away.

Worrying result for Cobh; I'm sure they'd strengthen if they do come up, but not a good omen to lose at home to a Salthill side who are probably one of the weakest teams the LoI has seen in a long while.

Vaguely surprising result in Galway. Arguably Monaghan have the upper hand for the play-off now.

Great win for Mons, given the teams' respective form going into the game there looked like only one possible outcome but that's 4 times in 4 that Monaghan have beaten Waterford this season. There away form has been excellent too.

Not sure Galway's win was as surprising as you make out. Our recent bad form coincided with Barry Ryan missing about 5 games, I don't think it's any coincidence that we started leaking goals and looking shaky at the back when he was out.
Last night we had everyone available apart from Ciaran Foley and proved that we're worthy of our place in the Premier.

Bray were very disappointing last night and I was surprised they had Jake Kelly on the wing instead of up front. In the second half they moved to a more 4-3-3 when they brought on O'Neill for Chris Shields but overall we were comfortable and should have scored a second. Gary Dempsey had a poor game too and with Mitchell's sending off (quite harsh) they'll be stretched at the back for the game in Monaghan. I suppose the good news is if Colm Tresson plays he'll just be up against Philly Hughes so pace is not a necessity!

[pineapple stu]

Not sure Galway's win was as surprising as you make out. Our recent bad form coincided with Barry Ryan missing about 5 games
That's true I suppose; it just looked like Galway's form (and morale) had gone the same way as Monaghan's, while Bray's revival made them seem more like Waterford (granted, with a dip at the end which many have overlooked), yet Galway hey still managed to pull a big result out of the bag.

[stann]

Monaghan well deserved their win alright, doubt you'll find any Bues fan who'd say otherwise.

Strange three goals we conceded, from our point of view something poor about each of them, from the Mons' something great.
First was down to a very uncharacteristic error, but Lynch was quickest to react. Twice.
Genuinely think the second was well offside (hopefully will see on the Blues blog) but a super goal nonetheless. Lovely move, swift and incisive. Kind of goal you almost don't mind conceding. Almost.
Third was never a free, but what a free kick!

Gutted though, with the result, with the performance, and the fact the lads did so well over the last month to get themselves back into second. Maybe it was just a game too much, who knows.
No doubt though the best team on the night won. Would like to see them finish the job now.

[hoops1]

Cant help but feel that Bray shot themselves in the foot. They put in a huge effort against us, so much that 2 of their players got cramp. Admirable but not very smart.

[gufct]

Bray looked like they were never going to score tonight. They were very shaky at the back all night. Jake Kelly was probably the pick of the bunch for Bray. Bet his man on numerous occasions but his final ball, like all of his teammate's, was very very poor. Galway were ok, Sheppard played well as well as O'Brien (as much as it pains me to say it). Poor game in general though. Good crowd but heard a few, when I sat in the new stand at the beginning, say they were given free tickets. And that was from a few different groups of people. (Im not trying to insinuate anything happened en masse here). Bray fan seemed to be getting arrested last time I saw it. Took a swing at a steward, for no apparent reason. There was also an elderly man complaing to the guards about him being hit by the same fan, so I'd say it was to do with this rather than the ref, who was absolutely terrible tonight.

There were Free Tickets been given out on Local Radio all day Monday & Tuesday as GBFM gave fantastic coverage of the game after Sundays Hurling Finak was over. The crowd was over 1600 counting kids and the amazing amount of Blazers Bray had.

Huge Credit to Noel Connolly and the Ground Staff who worked a miracle in getting the pitch playable as we had a deluge from 3am the night before upto about 2 hours before Kick Off. This detered the fairweathers and probaly knocked about 500 of the gate. Biggest Home Support all year as Bray had 100 at most.

[marinobohs]

Should probobly apoligise to fans of Bray and Waterford for putting "kiss of death" on them by tipping them to win last night :( (did warn ye)

[legendz]

When was the last time Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Cobh were all in the same division?
Cobh have a lot to do after last night to make it happen for next season.

[Schumi]

Should probobly apoligise to fans of Bray and Waterford for putting "kiss of death" on them by tipping them to win last night :( (did warn ye)

As revenge for the damage they did Bohs this season I am 110% (if not more :mad:) tipping Galway to win by 5 clear goals in the play off.
You're really on a bad run, it's Bray that are in the play off. :)

[SwanVsDalton]

Congrats to Mons, sounds like they deserved it on the night and, for me, deserved it over the season. Seems the common thought on who is going to be in the Premier League is shifting after a couple of surprise results. Still think it's Bray's too lose but would love to see Mons in the Premier.

[marinobohs]

You're really on a bad run, it's Bray that are in the play off. :)

cheers Schumi, darn FAI and their pesky weird playoff system......... (post amended to not look quite as stupid :))

[Roo69]

Fair enough.

Bray came out of the blocks very fast actually and made the galway defense look shaky. But from about the 10th minute on hardly strung 5 passes ogether which was a pity. Especially with the surface so skiddy, it was always gonna be hard to get on the end of the long ball over the top. Joke of a yellow card for sheppard ( I think?) when he scored the goal that was offside, he clearly hadn't heard the whistle. All in all the officiating was fairly poor.

I think you are fairly spot on there.

1st 10 minutes Bray looked much better, came out of the blocks really fast and probably should have had a peno from the blocked shot but after that we were just very poor, the lads looked jaded.

Galway were just as bad, scored a very poor goal from their 1st attempt on goal, offered very little other than that in the first half.

Bray came out a little better in the 2nd half and had more of the ball but did absolutely zero with it, another shout form a hand ball in the box was about as good as it got, Ryan didn't have one save to make in the 2nd half.

Obviously as we tried to push on Galway caught us on the break a few times and should have killed the game off, especially when O'Brien blazed over.

The ref had a shocker of a game, Sheppard should naver have been booked and he got the 2 red cards completely wrong, he made a terrible game even worse.

At present, i'm not looking forward to Monaghan, but i don't think we can play as poorly again, well i'm praying we can't ! If we play anything near like we did last Friday against Rovers then we should comfortably beat Monaghan

[Mr A]

Actually I thought Sheppard knew well the flag was up, he seemed to look over that way but then carry on regardless. Very debatable of course.

But having seen that happen I could scarcely believe Derek O'Brien's stupidity in repeating the same thing and getting himself sent off.

[christo]

enjoyed the header myself and spotted the kildare county top :)

Monaghan where by far the better team on the night creating much more going forward. I thought that number 9 for mon showed some very good touches on a tricky night. For waterford paul murphy and the number 30 where good. Mon free for third goal was a little soft but still a great free. As for willie john on the edge of the box he delay time was a bit slow if had of gone down quicker would have gotten the free.

The ref performance was one of the better ones I have seen this yr (does not say a lot I know) the linesman on the old stand side had a few dubious decisions alright but still a good performance by officials.

I also saw the Youths top at the end

I was impressed by 9 a bit but thought he was a bit afraid to have a go and tried to do a bit much when in the box where on the other hand Philly just shot when he got a few yards which got the corner for Lynches goal.

Yeah that linesman was a bit dodgy all right, a few goal kicks when it should've been corners and such

Curious as to who people think was offside for the second goal, cos I reckon Barry was onside, not sure about philly though

[Fermoy Blue]

Congrats to Mons, sounds like they deserved it on the night and, for me, deserved it over the season.

Don't ya love this kind of logic...Mons finished 4 pts off 2nd place and deserve it over the season while Waterford finished only 3 points off Derry and inflicted 2 defeats on them...don't think they deserve to be Champions over the season...Fact is Monaghan deserve it on one play-off match last night. Wouldn't fancy the team who finished 7 points off top spot in First Division to beat Premier team over 2 games tho!

[passerrby]

my first reaction was barry was offside but was to far away to be sure thought philly was on but again could not be sure, felt the free that sean got was a bit soft, but the outcome was deserved ,far and away the better team on the night and no hoofball eh frosty.
spotted a couple of kildare county jackets cheering on the mons much appreciated.

[SwanVsDalton]

Don't ya love this kind of logic...Mons finished 4 pts off 2nd place and deserve it over the season while Waterford finished only 3 points off Derry and inflicted 2 defeats on them...don't think they deserve to be Champions over the season...Fact is Monaghan deserve it on one play-off match last night. Wouldn't fancy the team who finished 7 points off top spot in First Division to beat Premier team over 2 games tho!

Sorry but for eight weeks towards the end of the season I wasn't fervently praying for Waterford to slip up over all others and then hoping Derry could overhaul them at the top the league...

Mons were the most consistent, and dangerous, challenges Derry faced for the title. Waterford struggled for consistency right up until it was too late and then managed to lose form again just in time for the play-offs. Unlucky and all that but nothing wrong with the logic.

[osarusan]

Mons were the most consistent
Given that Waterford finished above Monaghan in a competition with a structure designed to reward consistency, I don't know how you can say that.

[SwanVsDalton]

Given that Waterford finished above Monaghan in a competition with a structure designed to reward consistency, I don't know how you can say that.

Didn't say that. I said this:


Mons were the most consistent, and dangerous, challenges Derry faced for the title.

The wonders of selective quoting....


I...know how you can say that.

[pineapple stu]

I think what cost Waterford promotion was the slump they had when O'Callaghan was playing. So in fact, they were very consistent outside of that one slump.

And on that topic, I was over on the Brighton forum earlier reading up on Gary Dicker and saw this great comment:


Dicker is the player George O'Callaghan ought to be, if he wasn't a ****nut.
Love it!

[dfx-]

Cant help but feel that Bray shot themselves in the foot. They put in a huge effort against us, so much that 2 of their players got cramp. Admirable but not very smart.

I can think of many words more critical than admirable...

Probably will drop into the Carlisle grounds next Monday. Pleased for Galway after their services to the league this season.

[JC_GUFC]

But having seen that happen I could scarcely believe Derek O'Brien's stupidity in repeating the same thing and getting himself sent off.

I and I'm sure the other 1430 people present weren't...

[Dillonman]

Magicme, Im driving a car load of town fans over on Friday for the match, if you want us to cheer ye on, then we are expected a free mon dog each!:p Looking forward to this game now!

[MMVIII]

I can think of many words more critical than admirable...

.

Why? Because they didn't bow down and let ye win comfortably? I really don't understand this logic. Reeks of a very "big club" mentality.

[Kildareman]

I also saw the Youths top at the end

I was impressed by 9 a bit but thought he was a bit afraid to have a go and tried to do a bit much when in the box where on the other hand Philly just shot when he got a few yards which got the corner for Lynches goal.

Yeah that linesman was a bit dodgy all right, a few goal kicks when it should've been corners and such

Curious as to who people think was offside for the second goal, cos I reckon Barry was onside, not sure about philly though

We'll see if Barry was on or offside when we see the video.
When will you have it ready Christo? Hope the musics good!! :)

[Lim till i die]

I thought Bray were really tepid, didn't seem to be a hell of a lot of urgency about them, even towards the end.

Danny O'Connor had a feckin shocker in the middle.

Would still fancy them to beat Mons though, there's a few of them with quite a bit about them.

Also was that Galway left full a youngfella?? He had a real "Kick it as hard as you can, ask questions later" attitude. :)

[Olander]

I thought Bray were really tepid, didn't seem to be a hell of a lot of urgency about them, even towards the end.

Danny O'Connor had a feckin shocker in the middle.

Would still fancy them to beat Mons though, there's a few of them with quite a bit about them.

Also was that Galway left full a youngfella?? He had a real "Kick it as hard as you can, ask questions later" attitude. :)

Good on ya for going to the game. I saw fans from sligo rovers, shamrock rovers, bray (obviously :p) and st pats.

The left back is a local lad called stephen walsh. he is only 20 yo.

[osarusan]

Didn't say that. I said this:



The wonders of selective quoting....Fair enough, wasn't trying to misrepresent you, we just have different opinions of how we view a consistent challenge.

[Magicme]

I can think of many words more critical than admirable...

Probably will drop into the Carlisle grounds next Monday. Pleased for Galway after their services to the league this season.

Make sure you come over and say hello, been ages since saw ya last!

[bluemovie]

I hope for the sake of his carbon footprint that the referee travelled home on the Monaghan team bus on Tuesday. Will he get a free pint or two in his local? Only in Ireland!

I know Mons wouldn't have wanted him refereeing. It's not their fault, it's the FAI and Referees Department. Absolutely crazy. The club appealed as soon as they heard he was reffing, but it was rejected. Why throw this into the mix when there were loads of other refs available on the night? Imagine anyone from abroad looking at the fixture - Waterford United v Monaghan United, Referee: P.McLaughlin (Monaghan). It just wouldn't be tolerated anywhere else. Yet again the league is a joke. Why an inexperienced ref for such an important game either?

I'd love to be a bit more gracious to Monaghan. I was one of the fans applauding your team off and it's nice to see ye doing well. We were crap on the night as we always are against Mons (ye must think we're atrocious based on our displays against ye), but it was difficult to build momentum. It's not as if there was a red card or Mons were given a penalty - it was just a series of smaller things. Just when we'd seem to be applying pressure by winning a corner, they'd signal a goalkick. WJK's legs were taken at 2-1, but I'd say it was just outside the box. Still, ref waves play on. I had a great view of the second goal and Clancy WAS offside. I think we all agree the third was never a free, but those happen all the time. In fairness to Philly, I knew he'd score both. Once the cross went in, I said "He's got it" and I said he'd score the free too. It didn't ever look like it'd be our night with even some of our best players making mistakes and ,well, it was a play-off and we don't do play-offs!

It's much of a muchness to me who's promoted - I'd miss my Mon Dogs, but they used to do great chicken soup in Bray and they're two of my least hated clubs so best of luck to both. Now where's that map to Drom again?

[passerrby]

one has to wonder what the mindset is of the person who appointed him is and while i dont think he had a bad game overall I think it is unfair on both clubs as well as the ref himself. there must have been other options.

[bluemovie]

Exactly. You really do have to wonder about someone who appoints a ref for a game without thinking "Hang on a minute, doesn't he live in the same place as one of the teams?" Then again, who is it that decides that Alan Kelly is the top ref in the Premier Division and Graham Kelly is the top ref in the First? Would it be their father by any chance?

[Dodge]

Alan Kelly is clearly the best ref in the premier. No question at all.