LOI Series 5/6. Thurs 28/3 - Tues 2/4

[Town Legend]

Cobh 2-1 Longford

[Town Legend]

Cobb 3-1 Longford

Game Over!

[sligoman]

Abroad this weekend, anything available to follow Limerick-Pats tonight?http://www.ustream.tv/channel/st-pats-live-commentary

[Longfordian]

3-3 in Cobh now. Ten left.

[nigel-harps1954]

Up to 48 goals in 16 games in the First Division. 4 goals a game average. Mental stuff.

EDIT: Make that 49! Well done Longford.

[Town Legend]

Limerick 0-1 Pats
Cobh 3-4 Longford

looks like my defeatist attitude worked! Great result coming from 3-1 down with an injury ravaged squad!

[sligoman]

Great win for Longford (http://postimg.org/image/mrnmvygnn/)

[Longfordian]

What a win. Delighted with that, was happy to take the draw in the circumstances.

[Jofspring]

Pats better in possession of the ball but created nothing decent in front of goal bar one long range shot that hit the crossbar. We were slow in possession but missed two sitters. Didn't think it was a peno, didn't think our player even came in contact with the Bermingham and actually thought bermingham was going to be booked for a dive.

[TonyD]

Pats better in possession of the ball but created nothing decent in front of goal bar one long range shot that hit the crossbar. We were slow in possession but missed two sitters. Didn't think it was a peno, didn't think our player even came in contact with the Bermingham and actually thought bermingham was going to be booked for a dive.

So, no change there then. Our lack of punch in front of goal is very worrying. Still, at least we got the points tonight. Good win.

[Jofspring]

So, no change there then. Our lack of punch in front of goal is very worrying. Still, at least we got the points tonight. Good win.

Had one long range shot hit the crossbar bit other than that nothing really.

If we were more clinical infront of goal I think we would have won despite a poor performance. Curran gave ye're centre halves the run around but had no support.

[thomas72]

The chance Stephen Bradley missed for limerick was shocking horrendous miss.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Very disappointing night.

I think Limerick's inexperience at this level, compared with Pats anyway, got shown up big time tonight. Our backline was caught in possession so many times, our midfield struggled to make an impact, and the forwards were isolated and frustrated. Our gameplan was very obvious for most of the 90: Get the ball down the right, and it didn't work.

Good view of the penalty decision from where I was, and I think it was a dive. Hit the ground just as the defender was behind him. Maybe MNS will sort it out, but I'm fairly sure there was simulation.

Buttimer, Christ, he's easy to hate. Every time a Limerick player had a long ball aimed at him he was getting pulled around. Plenty of hand balls missed. Looked like the Pats keeper handled outside the area. Lack of advantage for Limerick at times. Curran booked when it seemed he'd missed the player he "tackled". Four times in the second half a Pats player went down "Injured" and ate up time. Enraging to watch (Here's a thought, apropos of that: if a player goes down "injured" and has to go off the field, how about he has to stay off for a full five minutes, just to get a really thorough check from the physios? We'll see how many lads are really hurt then).

Pats passed it a lot better than us, but probably overused the Forrester option, by the second half he wasn't getting anywhere. They weren't great in the last third, but far better than us up the other end. Gamble had a very poor 90, lots of errors, very slow looking. He held up the ball the most out of anyway, as we screamed for any bit of urgency from the terraces. I lost count of the number of times Curren received the ball to his chest and then was surrounded and had no one to play it to. Limerick just seemed so, so hesitant to play in any offensive way, constantly waiting, considering, passing it back and back and back.

Poor Galbriath on the left had a miserable night. He had so much space at times but only twice in the second half was an attempt made to "switch" the play to him quickly, and both times the ball was straight to a Pats player. He was threatening when going forward, so we should use that avenue more.

But can't complain about the ref or how Pats seemed fairly impotent, because we had two sitters in either half. Curran and Bradley, clean through, needing just to sidefoot it home from 8 yards, and they fluffed their lines. Unforgivable to be frank. Easy, easy chances. Bradley especially just walked it to the keeper. Also, I think we must have been a bit light, because it took ages for changes to be made and they were hardly offensive in nature when they happened. I think we lacked something out there tonight, the kind of thing that Rory Gaffney gave us last year in the FD. We had a fair few injuries/suspensions I suppose, but we should be able to deal with that kind of thing.

I think this game is a bit of a wake-up call for the team, we've been playing well against some of the lesser sides of the division, fought well in Sligo, but we we got a lesson tonight from a more confident, experienced outfit. Shams to come on Tuesday, so could well be three defeats in a row. I don't have any fears of relegation for Limerick, but it is clear that we are nowhere near at the level of the best teams yet.

Decent crowd I suppose, given the cold. Looked like a bit of trouble in the away section for a time, a lot of guards suddenly turned up there in the second half, hope everything was ok.

[AlanOB]

Same problem for us in the first half tonight that we had in the last home game against UCD - too narrow in attack, with both wide men looking to come inside and play between the lines. Neither full back is really good enough to provide the width effectively. It seemed particularly short sighted not to keep Galbraith wide on the left, as the full back behind him (Nzuzi) was right footed. In fairness, the management recognised this, and in the second half he broadly did stay on the touchline, but without O'Leary there was no-one to distribute it to him. Twice Rainsford and Bradley had chances to switch it to him but misplaced their long passes.

Pat's were smarter than UCD. Recognising that we have a band of three looking to play between the opposition banks, they dropped McFaul in there to play as an anchorman. As such, young Darragh Rainsford, playing in the number 10 position was anonymous. It was only when Shane Tracy was swapped with him in the second half, that we managed to thread a successful through ball. Bradley missed the one-on-one (Clarke saved).

Apart from the penalty that Pats scored, and the aforementioned Bradley effort, there was only one other clear chance in the game - a long punt in the first half that deceived the Pats defence and fell to Curran. Again however, Clarke came to the rescue.

A sense therefore that we left it after us as we had the better chances. Pats were the better side in possession however, with Bermingham and Forrester a potent combination down the left. By and large they shut a predictable Limerick attack down, and this was reflected in the fact we brought on centre back Aaron Browne to play as the lone striker for the last 5 minutes. He did have a headed chance from a corner that he could have converted though in fairness.

One positive - Curran, as the lone striker, was fantastic with his back to goal. But again there was no-one giving us any verticality and making those matching runs in behind. The onus mainly fell on Rainsford in this regard due to his positioning behind the striker and, as mentioned, he was extremely poor all night. I think Bradley's chance was the only time anyone made an effective forward run past Curran. Very poor.

[Roo69]

Conclusions from last night -

The Unmentionables aren't a great team, but they have Jason Byrne.
We're not a great team, but we have Dave McMillan.
I'd therefore suggest Dave McMillan for Ireland, but people don't seem to like UCD forwards playing for Ireland.
Even in the coldest late-March on record, Bray is still exactly as cold as it always is, which is quite interesting.
Darren Quigley is very funny when being sent for a ludicrous decision.
We're like Arsenal at times. In the bad, "why shoot when I can walk the ball into the net oops I got tackled kind of way"
On that basis, our ineptitude up front (Dave McMillan aside) balanced out the ref's ineptitude in giving us the penalty and a draw was fair.

Most bizarre aspect of last night was our opponents putting a winger in nets to face the penalty instead of bringing on their sub keeper. I think they claimed he needed the half-time break to warm up, so he wasn't ready to come on yet. Even given the penalty was about the last kick of the half, it was an utterly bizarre decision.

We were pretty poor with 11 v 11 but UCD are just an awful side, easily up there with the Galway side from a few years ago with being one of the worst i've seen in LoI.

There was 2 things wrong with the sending off... 1. UCD player was offside to begin with and 2. Quigley got the ball, just an awful decision that stopped us from winning the game.

When we went down to 10 men we dominated the 2nd half for long periods, in saying that UCD went on the counter attack 3 times and should have scored 3 times but for awful finishing. The amount of chances we created (must have been 5 or 6 gilt edged chances) was quite amazing seeing as we were a man short, dissapointed not to have won the game, extremely dissapointed.

And yep why they didn't bring on our sub keeper for the peno was one of the strangest decisions i've ever seen

[dong]

I thought all discussion about Bray was banned on here?:D

[pineapple stu]

Just checked the video there; he was on alright. There was a Bray player about 20 yards infield playing him on.

Don't agree that ye dominated the second half either. We looked far more dangerous than ye on the attack; it was only in the last ten minutes (basically from the goal on) that Bray really started to get on top. I think our start has gotten to our players' confidence, and you could kind of see the last 10/15 minutes happening from a long way out.

In saying that, if we keep improving over the season the way we've improved over each game so far, we'll end up league champions. Though that's more an indictment of how bad we were against Derry and Limerick in particular than anything else.

Not looking forward to Monday.

[Strawberry]

Not looking forward to Monday.

Don't see why not. We're always awful over there.

[SeanDrog]

Don't see why not. We're always awful over there.


Well to be fair your side are on fire regardless of past experiences vs UCD, you never know in football but Sligo have to be serious favourites to take home all three points.

[bullit]

Monday and Tuesday Matches in case you missed them-

Monday:
Premier

Derry City v Bray Wanderers 3pm

Drogheda Utd. v Cork City 3pm

ShelbourneFC v BohemianFC 7pm

UCD v Sligo Rovers 7.45

Tuesday:

St.Pats.Ath v DundalkFC 7.45

LimerickFC v Shamrock R. 7.45

Betting basket best odds-

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/other/ireland/premier-league

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Well to be fair your side are on fire regardless of past experiences vs UCD, you never know in football but Sligo have to be serious favourites to take home all three points.

We've an awful record in Belfield. We were unbeaten going there in the middle of last season and got deservedly beaten. I remember in the programme there a few years ago someone welcoming us to the ground and thanking us for the 3 points in advance.

[adamd164]

It's a lot to ask that we had Rovers away on Friday night and now Drogs away tomorrow afternoon, less than 72 hours later. Sligo are in a similar position.

But that's what you get when clubs insist on shortening the season so minimize contract lengths.

[Sam_Heggy]

We've an awful record in Belfield. We were unbeaten going there in the middle of last season and got deservedly beaten. I remember in the programme there a few years ago someone welcoming us to the ground and thanking us for the 3 points in advance.

Well I have ye -1 and Derry in a double for tomorrow so let's hope you're wrong.

[pineapple stu]

We've an awful record in Belfield. We were unbeaten going there in the middle of last season and got deservedly beaten. I remember in the programme there a few years ago someone welcoming us to the ground and thanking us for the 3 points in advance.
Well, I bloody hope so - I think ye kick-started our last two seasons - but from what I've been reading and seeing, Elding should be good odds for a hat-trick for starters. Dunno what's happened us this season cos we haven't lost anyone mad crucial on last year (Corry's gone, but we started winning games once he left)

[PartySaint]

A draw would have been a fair result on Saturday night IMO. Limerick created some good chances and had more of the ball.

Absolutely no trouble in our section whatsoever, everyone was just ****ed and a few people had some bad falls.

It was the best away trip I've been to in all my years supporting Pats. 2 of our fans organised a train down for us and we were picked up at the train station in Limerick and brought to and from the ground.

The hospitality and professionalism from Limerick F.C was brilliant. They have a great set up down there, everyone I dealt with from the man selling tickets, to the security guards, to the people at the bar were extremely welcoming and friendly. A credit to the club and the best away experience in the league. Long may it continue.

[lawman]

great match report. had absolutey no view of the penalty incident but couldnt believe it when it was given. papers say a push?? and me playing up buttimer all along. conned me to i think. maybe MNS will finish him at this level if hes wrong. cost me 30 euro cos i had no score draw.

wont be ta thomond until after half tim on Tuesday. picking up friends at dublin airport so anywhere i can get updates as i drive? 1 passenger has an ipad.

[bluewhitearmy]

great match report. had absolutey no view of the penalty incident but couldnt believe it when it was given. papers say a push?? and me playing up buttimer all along. conned me to i think. maybe MNS will finish him at this level if hes wrong. cost me 30 euro cos i had no score draw.

wont be ta thomond until after half tim on Tuesday. picking up friends at dublin airport so anywhere i can get updates as i drive? 1 passenger has an ipad.


http://www.extratime.ie/

[Ezeikial]

It's a lot to ask that we had Rovers away on Friday night and now Drogs away tomorrow afternoon, less than 72 hours later. Sligo are in a similar position.

But that's what you get when clubs insist on shortening the season so minimize contract lengths.

Do you think that includes your own club?

[Flexy]

Derry 1 up Rafter 26 mins

[Flexy]

2-0 derry Rafter again

[bullit]

drogs 1 cork 1 drogs score with oblig pen

[El-Pietro]

3 late goals in 8 days. Sickened.

[oriel]

I think this was drogs 5th penalty awarded in 6 lge games. Cork will be raging they couldnt hold on for a win so late in another game.

[juan]

Saw the peno on mns. That has to be softest peno I've ever seen given.

What was the Bray keeper at for Rafters first goal?

[adamd164]

Absolutely sick after that game, twice in one weekend. Having said that, we didn't deserve to win either game. We had no threat whatsoever on the wings or up front today, our goal came from a brilliant strike from a midfielder.

I'd always give a manager the season, but the pressure will start to mount on Tommy Dunne this year I feel.

[dong]

Absolutely sick after that game, twice in one weekend. Having said that, we didn't deserve to win either game. We had no threat whatsoever on the wings or up front today, our goal came from a brilliant strike from a midfielder.

I'd always give a manager the season, but the pressure will start to mount on Tommy Dunne this year I feel.

I would have thought he has done a good job and built a decent side there to be honest. Without splashing big cash either by the looks of it.

[bullit]

Oblig Shels red card,Ian Ryan.
Shels 0-1 Bohs

[SkStu]

Shels 0 - Bohs 1 Full Time.

Get in. Big three points there.

[bullit]

**ELDING IS SH*T** :D

Sligo 2 up v UCD,goals from......... not from Elding !! (Greene & Cawley)

[freewheel30]

Finishes 3-0, Greene with another.

Was there meant to have been an interview with Elding somewhere during the week, saying he came to Sligo on advice of Danny North? North possibly regretting that now :cool:

[Jofspring]

Finishes 3-0, Greene with another.

Was there meant to have been an interview with Elding somewhere during the week, saying he came to Sligo on advice of Danny North? North possibly regretting that now :cool:

Ya he was on the way to us till he got a call from North telling him to come to Sligo instead. Everything was pretty much ready to go barr his signature.

[SeanDrog]

I was looking at sligo's league form from last year (nerd I know) and they had nothing like the run they are on at the moment. In fact they only won 17 games last year but have 6 under the belt already this year. The title destination is looking ominous already. Good squad and a good manager.

I'm still waiting for limericks big win - maybe tomorrow will be their night.

[bullit]

Seen a re-tweet earlier saying that Jeff Kenna is to be the new manager at Waterford.Any truth in this blues fans?

[Sean South]

I hate everything about UCD. Horrible dull soulless place that just drains the life out of you. From the guy on the PA that sounds like he's on his death bed, the terrible location for a ground with nothing near it, no character, the boring rugby types they seem to attract to games. No community spirit there it dosen't feel like a football club at all. Everything just sucks the life out of you. Horrible just horrible. Good result though.

[SeanDrog]

Dundalk are 15/4 to win tomorrow and pats are evens (PP), good value on Dundalk as I think Oats are flattering to decieve so far this season. Dundalk might have confidence from putting back a 2 goal deficit against the drogs . I think this game is too tough to call despite the bookies odds favouring Pats / think I'll stick clear of this one.

[SeanDrog]

Sorry pats are 3/4.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Ya he was on the way to us till he got a call from North telling him to come to Sligo instead. Everything was pretty much ready to go barr his signature.

He has talked to us long before he spoke to Limerick. It was only when talks with us stalled initially that Limerick came into the equation.

I'd say he's looking forward to welcoming that UCD centre back to the Showgrounds in 11 games time. Was none to happy with the what he was saying to him during the game.

[Sean South]

He has talked to us long before he spoke to Limerick. It was only when talks with us stalled initially that Limerick came into the equation.

I'd say he's looking forward to welcoming that UCD centre back to the Showgrounds in 11 games time. Was none to happy with the what he was saying to him during the game.
I hope the racist scumbag gets what he deserves

[Dalymountrower]

That must be the worst Shels team in living memory, having said that, Bohs no better than them in the second half

[monkey9]

MNS cleared up the peno incident nicely at Thomond. Definite penalty. Absolute stupidity by the Limerick lad.