11th-14th March Fixtures

[sulywaterfordfc]

Premier Division
FRI: Bohs - Sligo Rovers
FRI: Derry City - Cork City
FRI: Dundalk - Finn Harps
FRI: Galway United - Bray Wanderers
FRI: Longford Town - St. Pats
FRI: Shamrock Rovers - Wexford Youths


First Division
FRI: Athlone Town - Shelbourne
FRI: UCD - Cabinteely
FRI: Waterford United - Limerick
SAT: Cobh Ramblers - Drogheda United


Premier Division
MON: Wexford Youths - Dundalk
MON: Finn Harps - Shamrock Rovers
MON: Sligo Rovers - Galway United
MON: St. Pats - Bohs
MON: Cork City - Longford Town
MON: Bray Wanderers - Derry City

[Mr A]

Would it not have made more sense to play that second series on either St Patrick's day or Easter Monday?

Anyhow, Dundalk should be fun. Hopefully we can keep the score down.

[nigel-harps1954]

Harps to win 3-2. 250/1.

It's going to happen.

[oriel]

Would it not have made more sense to play that second series on either St Patrick's day or Easter Monday?

Anyhow, Dundalk should be fun. Hopefully we can keep the score down.

St Patrick's Day wouldn't work as there are games on Fri, would mean moving them out to Sat/Sun, but Easter Mon would have worked.

[Mr A]

Could have done St Patrick's Day and then had a league 'Family Day' or something like that on the Sunday and encouraged clubs to get lots of kids in. But yeah, Easter Monday would be easier.

[nigel-harps1954]

I think a St Patrick's Day list of fixtures across the league could potentially become a big thing here if it were worked properly. Similar to the boxing day fixtures in the North and across the water.

[White Horse]

The Guards would love it. Lads getting tanked up during and after the parades and then heading to the ground for a football match.

Then again, think of the overtime.

[nigel-harps1954]

You say that as if nobody gets tanked up before matches anyway on buses or in the pubs before the games.

[brendy_éire]

Would it not have made more sense to play that second series on either St Patrick's day or Easter Monday?

This is the LoI. Away you with your logic and well thought-out ideas. We get along just fine as were are.

If we play anything tonight like we did in Ballybofey last week, we could be on the end of a pure hiding from Cork. It's been slashing it down all day here, maybe that'll wreck the pitch and stop Cork playing. Probably not though.
Cork -1 is 11/5, which is tempting, whilst Cork -2 is 6/1. Great value.

I'd be interested to see how Pats respond against Longford tonight. Equally, how Galway do against Bray, to see if they can keep up that level of goal scoring.

[sulywaterfordfc]

Is it me or is today dragging out like hell?

[oriel]

A lot of clubs will point out they have excessively long travels too over this weekend, pity the league couldn't have made the Mon night games to be (where possible) closer travel. A few examples are Dundalk are away to Wexford on Monday, Rovers travelling to Donegal same night, Finn Harps also home late tonight and Cork are in Derry tonight, but think they stayed over last night, still considerable travel for Cork not getting home til 6am or so tomorrow, hope they wont be too tired for Mon night !

[D24Saint]

I expect a better performance in Longford tonight but wouldn't be over confident I'll take any sort of win then on to Bohs on Monday.

[outspoken]

Is it me or is today dragging out like hell?

Longest day ever

[joey B]

Are away fans allowed in Dundalk's bar??

[D24Saint]

From my experience most older fans are alright but not groups of lads.

[White Horse]

Are away fans allowed in Dundalk's bar??

Yes, for games where there is no history of agro between the fans. The club usually says whether the bar is open to away fans on social media but I've seen nothing posted yet.

As D24Saint says, just go up in 1 and 2s.

[thomas72]

Limerick fc 1up away to Waterford robbie Williams

[thomas72]

0-2 Limerick Aaron greene

[Jofspring]

Waterford 0-3 Limerick Ht

[patrickccfc]

We're one down in Derry

[Nesta99]

Corks troubles on the road continuing? Seems as predicted that Harps while organised well Dundalk were still in the old 2nd gear. Youths and then Cork in Oriel unless they beat Longford are putting themselves in catchup/ stalk terrority very early on where others dropping pints are key?!?

[Lim till i die]

First Division Champions 2016 Limerick FC never got out of neutral during a training session at the rsc tonight.

I kind of wish we would stop conceding charity goals but I suppose it's nice to be nice. Afterall we might aswell build up some good will during our Nationwide First Division Champions Tour 2016 or I suppose it's all a bit pointless really.

[White Horse]

Corks troubles on the road continuing? Seems as predicted that Harps while organised well Dundalk were still in the old 2nd gear. Youths and then Cork in Oriel unless they beat Longford are putting themselves in catchup/ stalk terrority very early on where others dropping pints are key?!?

Harps worked hard but had very little up front. Their main threat is set pieces but Dundalk are so good at defending those.

I thought we didn't control possession as well as normal. Resting O'Donnell left a big hole in midfield and Shields had one of his rare off nights.

McEleney is slotting in nicely and will score a lot of goals.

[joey B]

Harps not disgraced well beat but I'm happy with the effort shown,Scully was definitely fouled in the build up for the second goal

[placid casual]

Rovers were absolute gash, and do not look to have improved one iota from last seasons side.
other than Brando, its a middle of the road team with no pace, constant sideways passing and players who look unfit.

still, on a happy note , looks like sligs are confirming my predictions of them going down.

[oriel]

Thought Dundalk were a little flat tonight, laboured through the match at times, crossing was poor especially in the fist half, overall we found it hard to get our flowing game going, 3-0 was a decent win though so its hard to be criticial.

It's always good to start off with a win in your first home game, but a lot of players under performed. I think resting Gartland and O'Donnell was a good idea especially as it gave Barrett a chance at centre half and also to see what other options there are in MF, although this was the area where we were quiet enough tonight.

Finn Harps to their credit kept their shape, and stuck with Dundalk for most of the match.

[Kingdom]

Kurtis Byrne with a peach for Bohs tonight. Bohs were poor overall tonight. Never really got the ball down on the ground. Referee was very poor.
Sligo to be fair to them looked decent, and tried to play football. Roberts is going to be a handful.

[Longfordian]

Conor Powell playing the captain's role tonight and ensuring that we played the second half with ten men. The second yellow a ridiculous tackle apparently. Sounds like we didn't too badly all things considered. Shame we have Cork away on Monday so we'll get feck all from that either.

[Dodge]

Longford started OK and should have been 1 up after a couple of minutes when Haverty was left unmarked in the box but had his shot blocked. Did very little after that though and Pats were on top for most of the game

Sending off was for 2 yellows and both absolutely deserved. Ref was rubbish all night but gave both teams some iffy decisions

In the second half. Longford played very deep and Pats took their time going forward. Goal was well worked. Longford stayed very very defensive until about 5/10 to go and then had a bit of a go. Restricted to shots from distance though

[nigel-harps1954]

Didn't expect too much from tonights game to be honest.

Dundalk were able to step up a gear when they needed to. Harps done well in patches but silly mistakes cost badly.

Without jumping on the bandwagon too much, or too late, the pitch in Oriel...holy christ..I'd take the mudbath that is Finn Park over it anyway.

EDIT: The pitch took it's toll on Harps anyway. Ciaran Coll taken to hospital in Drogheda with what appears to be a serious knee injury simply from landing down on the ground after jumping. Could potentially be career threatening, the same knee he done his anterior cruciate ligament, missing the entire 2010 season for.

[blueblood]

First Division Champions 2016 Limerick FC never got out of neutral during a training session at the rsc tonight.

I kind of wish we would stop conceding charity goals but I suppose it's nice to be nice. Afterall we might aswell build up some good will during our Nationwide First Division Champions Tour 2016 or I suppose it's all a bit pointless really.

Ha ha ha thata great reporting!!!

[Dalymountrower]

Kurtis Byrne with a peach for Bohs tonight. Bohs were poor overall tonight. Never really got the ball down on the ground. Referee was very poor.
Sligo to be fair to them looked decent, and tried to play football. Roberts is going to be a handful.

Fair summary.Pitch was crap too.Sligo have lots of fat blokes and will easily finish mid table if/when they get fit.

[CraftyToePoke]

Indeed.

I would also like to congratulate all involved with Limerick FC on sealing the Div 1 title tonight.
Granted, there are a couple of games remaining but lets not pretend those are anything but a procession to be enjoyed now.

To give this some imagery, Limerick FC are presently an eight foot, skeletal grim reaper, in a Limerick replica top with a massive stainless steel titanium tipped penis spraying molten lava everywhere while the rest of the Div 1 villagers search in vain for someplace to hide.


God Bless.

[Kingdom]

Fair summary.Pitch was crap too.Sligo have lots of fat blokes and will easily finish mid table if/when they get fit.

I didn't want to say it, but yes I thought a few Sligo lads looked slightly paunched alright.

[oriel]

Didn't expect too much from tonights game to be honest.

Dundalk were able to step up a gear when they needed to. Harps done well in patches but silly mistakes cost badly.

Without jumping on the bandwagon too much, or too late, the pitch in Oriel...holy christ..I'd take the mudbath that is Finn Park over it anyway.

EDIT: The pitch took it's toll on Harps anyway. Ciaran Coll taken to hospital in Drogheda with what appears to be a serious knee injury simply from landing down on the ground after jumping. Could potentially be career threatening, the same knee he done his anterior cruciate ligament, missing the entire 2010 season for.

I've said many times before I'm not a fan of our pitch but I think the appearance at times looks a lot worse than it actually is. It generally provides for a decent game, also there is no argument that it contributes to injuries, this has been proven in our limited injuries and very little visiting team players being injured.

That said I would much prefer a return to grass.

[Charlie Darwin]

The Guards would love it. Lads getting tanked up during and after the parades and then heading to the ground for a football match.
If you had it at 3pm I'd say you'd minimise that. Guards would probably welcome a few thousand people going to stadiums and not drinking for a few hours.

Poor performance from Rovers but got a bit of luck (couple of great saves from Murphy) and won out in the end. No point panicking yet as we're two from two with no goals conceded, but hopefully a much bigger performance in the two games next week.

[dundalkfc10]

Didn't expect too much from tonights game to be honest.

Dundalk were able to step up a gear when they needed to. Harps done well in patches but silly mistakes cost badly.

Without jumping on the bandwagon too much, or too late, the pitch in Oriel...holy christ..I'd take the mudbath that is Finn Park over it anyway.

EDIT: The pitch took it's toll on Harps anyway. Ciaran Coll taken to hospital in Drogheda with what appears to be a serious knee injury simply from landing down on the ground after jumping. Could potentially be career threatening, the same knee he done his anterior cruciate ligament, missing the entire 2010 season for.

Dundalk have got more injuries in 2 years on grass than Oriel so don't go blaiming the pitch!

[Louth4sam]

Without jumping on the bandwagon too much, or too late, the pitch in Oriel...holy christ..I'd take the mudbath that is Finn Park over it anyway.

EDIT: The pitch took it's toll on Harps anyway. Ciaran Coll taken to hospital in Drogheda with what appears to be a serious knee injury simply from landing down on the ground after jumping. Could potentially be career threatening, the same knee he done his anterior cruciate ligament, missing the entire 2010 season for.

There is no substitute for a good grass pitch but some in the league are a disgrace. Brays and Corks are two I've seen this season already. I'll take a high bounce off a pitch any day than constant bobbles and ball getting stuck in long grass.

I guarantee Harps were able to pass the ball a lot better in Oriel than they were in Ballybofay.

As for the injury. Can you explain to me how the pitch caused it?

[Ezeikial]

Without jumping on the bandwagon too much, or too late, the pitch in Oriel...holy christ..I'd take the mudbath that is Finn Park over it anyway.

EDIT: The pitch took it's toll on Harps anyway. Ciaran Coll taken to hospital in Drogheda with what appears to be a serious knee injury simply from landing down on the ground after jumping. Could potentially be career threatening, the same knee he done his anterior cruciate ligament, missing the entire 2010 season for.

I think the responses to your pitch post so far have been considered and measured

Kinda like how an unstable psychiatric patient is approached



PS Don't forget there is an exclusive Oriel Park pitch and facilities thread for full-on venting

[Town Legend]

Ref was desperate last night. Powell was correctly sent off but he let a Pats player off without a yellow for a tackle similar to Powell's first yellow and then just before Pats goal Josh was taken out of it by the last defender and ref bottled it and didn't even give a free! But earlier he deemed a slip by a Pats defender was worthy of a free. But these things shouldn't surprise me with our match officials. As I said in previous posts we'll struggle to score in a lot of games this year. Pats are only a shadow of lasts years team, I don't think they'll be up to much this year. On to Cork Monday night.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Kurtis Byrne with a peach for Bohs tonight. Bohs were poor overall tonight. Never really got the ball down on the ground. Referee was very poor.
Sligo to be fair to them looked decent, and tried to play football. Roberts is going to be a handful.

Brilliant goal. Totally out of place with everything else that was happening in the first half with both teams just lumping the ball. We were much the better team second half but similar to last week didn't create a huge pile. Couple of big home games for us this week.

[White Horse]

Without jumping on the bandwagon too much, or too late, the pitch in Oriel...holy christ..I'd take the mudbath that is Finn Park over it anyway.

EDIT: The pitch took it's toll on Harps anyway. Ciaran Coll taken to hospital in Drogheda with what appears to be a serious knee injury simply from landing down on the ground after jumping. Could potentially be career threatening, the same knee he done his anterior cruciate ligament, missing the entire 2010 season for.

I don't mind people having a pop at the pitch, but blaming it for a freak injury is pure ignorance.

The record of injuries on the Oriel Park pitch prove your allegation is without foundation.

[Yossarian]

Good result for us last night and we still had a couple of gears to go up. Nice to see a bit of rotation aswell and being able to leave O'Donnell and Gartland out. I thought the ref was poor for both sides aswell, nearly blowing up for a free for every challenge though to be fair he played a good advantage for McEleney's goal.

[nigel-harps1954]

Jesus lads, relax, its a reoccurence of a serious knee injury Coll had before. He landed heavy on a hard surface and damaged his knee.

Whether or not there's previous or not on the pitch is irrelevant.

[Ezeikial]

Jesus lads, relax, its a reoccurence of a serious knee injury Coll had before. He landed heavy on a hard surface and damaged his knee.

Whether or not there's previous or not on the pitch is irrelevant.


Most seem quite relaxed Nigel, despite your obviously ridiculous original contention that Colls knee injury was caused by the pitch


(But my guess is that you always knew that what you were saying was bull**** and were trolling for a response)

[nigel-harps1954]

Trolling is such a cruel word.

[SwanVsDalton]

Deservedly lose to Harps, deservedly beat Cork - deeply weird start to a season.

[Nesta99]

Cork fans very conspicuous by their absence!

[MattB11]

The Oriel Park surface is a disgrace we'd of beaten them soundly last night if it wasn't for it, just wait till we play them on the Ballybofey bog patch.

[D24Saint]

scintillating stuff in Longford last night.We deserved the win after a decent second half display albeit against ten men.The first half was very even with Longford having a few good chances. We are a work in progress the midfield will kill us this season as we are lacking serious quality in that department.