League of Ireland in Europe 2015

[White Horse]

Cork look like a bunch of Gaelic players playing football for the first time.

[MeathDrog]

This has been hard to watch. Still time for a goal to win it mind.

[osarusan]

Jesus, they capitalise on a 2 on 5 situation.

Horrendous defending is right.

[nigel-harps1954]

Oh well..hard luck Cork.

[patrickccfc]

What a joke this has been

[Dunny]

Sweet suffering lord....next goal wins,dont think Cork have anything left though :(

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

FFS - Geysir will never shut up about this

[MeathDrog]

Cork look like a bunch of Gaelic players playing football for the first time.
Bit of a melee. Fits the narrative.

[Hitman]

Bit of a melee. Fits the narrative.

Shemozzle.

[patrickccfc]

Should've put this lot away in the second half instead we just sit back absolutely ridiculous a man up and we play like we've had a man sent off

[MeathDrog]

KR the much fitter team after playing a man down for well over an hour. Amazing.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

This lot took off a defender when they needed a goal. Caulfield takes off a striker.

[placid casual]

correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt bill dennehy the top scorer at cork...

dopes.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

This lot took off a defender when they needed a goal. Caulfield takes off a striker.

There is a reason why there is a preponderance of Scottish managers in the top 4 tiers of English football and not a single Irish born manager.

[ger121]

Their sides are solid enough. Even the side that went out, drew 2-2 in Slovenia. Wales nearly had 2 sides in the next round bar a 95th min goal.

[Dunny]

Their sides are solid enough. Even the side that went out, drew 2-2 in Slovenia. Wales nearly had 2 sides in the next round bar a 95th min goal.
Aye,felt really sick for Bala earlier.10 seconds from glory.

[disgruntled]

If I was'nt a Cork fan I would have switched this off an hour ago.
Awful ****e from City.

[ger121]

Aye,felt really sick for Bala earlier.10 seconds from glory.

Win away in Malta and a draw in Zagreb to boot. Really shows up our teams who have been poor tonight bar UCD.

[paul_oshea]

They deserved that. That's woeful.

[nigel-harps1954]

Cork are an absolute f*ckin disgrace. They have been nothing short of terrible. Such negative sh!te.

[White Horse]

How will Caulfield answer for his rubbish tactics? Will he blame the Dublin media?

"Ah look it..."

[Acornvilla]

Cork played the exact same **** when I watched them in Limerick. Caulfield has a short shelf life going forward methinks. He's not going to change, and Cork will never win anything with this mentality.

[cob655]

Cork were shocking, far too defensive!

[MeathDrog]

I'd say the Cork board are sickened that Caulfield directly cost them over 200k tonight.

[patrickccfc]

I cannot believe I'm writing this after watching us lose that game. Everything going out way at half time the onus on us to go and put the game to bed we were in the dream position away from home. Tactically that second half was a horror show and from then on we never looked like getting back into it. Did we deserve to go out? An emphatic YES unfortunately

[osarusan]

That last passage of play summed up what I saw - dawdle over a throw in, finally throw it to the keeper McNulty, who slices a ball horribly wide of the penalty area, and it's eventually hoofed in from halfway.

Just looking at their winner again. That defending was simply criminal. The one thing the frontman wanted to do was hold it up for a runner, and he was allowed to do so.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Some amount of money ****ed away there.

[ciaraa]

Pathetic from cork. Nearly happy they are out after that performance.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Caulfield looks like he spent more time deciding what to wear than he did on tactics.

[ger121]

Watching that 2nd half and ET was awful. Cork made an average side down to 10 men look like World Beaters. I'd be well ****ed off if I was a City supporter.

[Straightstory]

To be one nil up at half time against ten men and still manage to lose is pretty pathetic. Sounds like a complete loss of bottle from Caulfield. Anyway - well done UCD!

[Lim till i die]

Wholly predictable fare in Iceland tonight.

Caulfield and his "football" are a stain on the league.

Very little bang being got for the Langer buck these days.

If he was a Jackeen the pitchforks and torches would have been out long go.

[SPXcyan]

How are Cork second in the league? our league must be truly abysmal !

[brendy_éire]

How are Cork second in the league? our league must be truly abysmal !

It is.

[OldNassau]

Cork were absolutely abysmal tonight in the second half. The manager must not have a clue in relation to playing 11 v 10. He allowed the team to retreat against ten men instead of putting them on the back foot. Any manager worth his salt would have put players on the tram lines and stretched the opposition to chase the ball. ABSOLUTELY AWFUL

[disgruntled]

On behalf of all City fans I apologize for that embarrassment.
No skill.
No tactics.
No pride.
No clue.
S***e football like that doesn't deserve to succeed in any league.

[ger121]

Can someone answer a question for me. According to Bert's site, we got nothing towards our co-efficient from tonight's matches. I always thought it was the score after 90 minutes that counted and not ET. I seem to remember Drogs and Rovers both winning in ET but only getting 0.5 awarded for the draws.

[Nesta99]

That last passage of play summed up what I saw - dawdle over a throw in, finally throw it to the keeper McNulty, who slices a ball horribly wide of the penalty area, and it's eventually hoofed in from halfway.


That 20 seconds summed up a lot about the Cork performance. 2 lads winding up to launch a long throw swapping the ball a couple of times before then a short throw in to the keeper who made a dogs dinner of the long ball in. Cork were extremely naive tonight! Caulfield's stock has dropped as much as a chinese share. He did a wonderful job getting Cork City on track, local man, ex-player, getting local talent like O'Sullivan in, limited budget but competitive due to some shrewd business and filling Turners Cross. Now people will be asking questions. The advantage now is that there is no distraction from domestic affairs both Cork and Pats.

[sullanefc]

F&&& off Caulfield. Sh!te.

[Comic Book Guy]

That's as bad a result for a loi team in Europe as any recently. Put this in perspective, Iceland's population is 330, 000, 180, 000 less than the population of co.cork. Yet their side totally deserved the win.For me it's down to the coaching. How else could a side a man up, a goal up lose so abjectively? How can the game in this country eradicate the culture of negative hoof ball? What are we doing so wrong that can't be changed?

[Acornvilla]

I think that's the sort of situation Dundalk and Rovers would have had no bother dealing with, even pats too, Rovers would have won 1-0, pats and Dundalk would likely have exploited the space and gotten another you'd hope.

Not sure the result is totally indicative of Irish football, more so JC.

[TheBoss]

Some more "Stats for Nerds" after this weeks games: [*Cork City includes data from its previous incarnation]


Cork City
Cork City's last 7 European games: LDLDLDL
The last time Cork City scored an away goal was also in Iceland against Valur in 2007.
Not too much more really!


Shamrock Rovers
The last time Shamrock Rovers scored at least 3 goals in European competition was in 1998 against Altay [TUR] in a 3-2 win. But the last time they won by at least 3 goals was in 1982, in a 4-0 win against Fram [ISL]. 6th occasion that they have scored 3 or more goals in a game in Europe. Also the 35th time a LOI side has scored at least 3 goals in match.
Shamrock Rovers' first win in Europe since their famous victory in Belgrade against Partizan [SRB] in 2011. [[I]10 games since then] Also, their first win in Tallaght since 2011 aswell this time against Flora [EST]. [7 games since then]
Shamrock Rovers now hold the record for most goals scored at HOME for LOI side, they overtook Bohemians' total of 30 by now totalling 32 themselves after their 3-0 victory over Progrés.
It will be the first time Shamrock Rovers will play a team from Norway.




P
W
D
L
F
A


LOI v Norway
15
3
2
10
12
28




St. Patrick's Athletic
St. Pats now on a run of 8 consecutive European matches without a win, 2 draws and 6 defeats. They played sides from Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Lativa.
Last 4 HOME games for St Pats has seen 4 defeats, 1 goal and conceded 12. Before this run, they only lost 2 HOME games from 14 games conceding 9.


UCD
First time UCD have progressed to the next round of an European competition and in doing so also become the first Irish 2nd Tier side to qualify for the next round.
Despite conceding 2 goals, UCD concede on average 1.00 goals per game [6 goals in 6 games], the best average among all LOI sides in European competition history.
UCD become the first Irish side to lose a team from Luxembourg, HOME or AWAY.
Now that UCD are playing a Slovan Bratislava, it will be the 4th occasion that UCD will play a team from a country whose home jersey is predominately white. [England, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Slovakia]




P
W
D
L
F
A


LOI v Slovakia
4
0
1
3
5
9


LOI v Slovan Bratislava
2
0
0
2
3
5




Other
LOI sides are now 4 matches in a row without winning against an Icelandic team despite the fact that LOI sides have scored at least 1 goal in each of those matches. Last win by LOI side was in 2011 when St. Pats defeated IBV by 2 goals to 0.
After UCD's and Cork City's 2-1 loss, it means that LOI sides have now lost by that scoreline more times AWAY [[I]18] than at HOME [17]
I used this stat last week but just to refresh, everytime a Latvian side defeated a LOI side in either the first or second leg, they went through on all occasions and it continued after Skonto's [LVA] progression.
Biggest margin of defeat for LOI side against Latvian opposition [2-0].
F91 Dudelange's first goal v UCD was the 1,000th goal conceded by a LOI side in Europe. English sides scored the most with 96!

[Spudulika]

I have had the absolute p**s taken out of me this morning on live radio after confidently predicting that we'd have 4 teams in the next round of qualifiers. I said Cork would nick a goal and win. The UCD would draw (at worst) and go through. And that while it would be tough, Pats just needed a goal. Sat up watching the Cork match and they looked absolutely scared stiff. I know we can be hard on the manager, players etc, but before half-time it was already looking very ominous.

Proud of both Rovers and UCD, hope that Dundalk will at least keep the tie alive to the 2nd leg (but it will be tough) and that at least 1 of the 3 gets another round out of them.

[White Horse]

To think that many fans thought that it would be UCD who would embarrass the league.

Pats may have lost but Cork were embarrassing.

[oriel]

I only saw the second half of the Cork game, but the lack of speed in their play was just awful. I was screaming out for a central MF guy to win the ball, then play it out to the wings and for the side to advance into attack, at one stage with 15 mins left they were on an attack and not a single player was close to KR's box.

No urgency at any time for the 75 mins I saw and they got what they deserved, nothing. Real shame, as this could have been one of the bigger European nights for an Irish side if they had got a good draw in the next round with a close to full house at Turners Cross.

Based on last night, it is indeed amazing to see how they are 2nd in the league.

Massive congrats again to UCD, as for Pats, they seemded to have been beaten fair and square over the two legs and just came up too short, however I would have expected a better fight.

On to next week now, with 3 more in action and Dundalk entering the fray on Wed night away to BATE, a mix of very worried and a wee bit hopeful for our chances.

[geysir]

The mini rebel army were brilliant, unfortunately their team Cork City played with a spineless, gutless philosophy. This is not about football talent, this is about the way they were set up to play. After O'Sullivan brilliantly set himself up to score a fortunate goal and KR deservedly down to 10, not playing well with hardly a chance created, who would have thought what would happen next.
In the end it was just desserts for the locals who put in a serious shift to totally dominated the rest of the game, with 10 men for 75 minutes and utter dismay at Cork's feeble efforts to play football.

goal celebration
http://img.visir.is/apps/pbcsi.dll/storyimage/XZ/20150709/IDROTTIR01/150709051/EP/1/8/EP-150709051.jpg?maxw=649a



http://www.mbl.is/tncache/frimg/dimg_cache/e730x487/8/23/823231.jpg

[Straightstory]

The mini rebel army were brilliant, unfortunately their team Cork City played with a spineless, gutless philosophy. This is not about football talent, this is about the way they were set up to play. After O'Sullivan brilliantly set himself up to score a fortunate goal and KR deservedly down to 10, not playing well with hardly a chance created, who would have thought what would happen next.


Everybody who has any experience of League of Ireland football.

[Real ale Madrid]

Thanks Geysir for putting up those pics - made me smile.

Won't be doing much of that today.

[White Horse]

Fair play to the Rebel Army who sat through the game in Iceland.

Caulfield and the players should club together and refund the money it cost them.

[D24Saint]

Ahh the highs & lows of football , sadly a soul destroying night we we poor over both legs and deserved what we got, both refs were shocking but that's a minor gripe as we just didn't show up last night bar a spell in the first half.