League of Ireland in Europe 2016

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Amateur decision making by Horgan and then a well played ball out on the left to Massey and he's glacially slow to react to it.

[Jofspring]

Am I hearing Dundork?

[osarusan]

Dundork look comfortable enough but don't look like creating anything either.

[Jofspring]

I reckon Legia are hoping Dundalk tire and make mistakes. They aren't really pressing.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

McEleney catching the eye.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

How did Pazdan not get booked for that?

[redarmyfaction]

Stadium filled out a bit after KO, should have sold all tickets a €10 like the cup final. Dundalk playing well Legia happy to sit back and knock it long down the channels.

[patrickccfc]

Not bad so far. Legia haven't had a clear shot. Horgan almost getting through was dundalks best opportunity so far. There's a goal for them here if they push on a bit in the second half. Nothing special about legia so far

[paykanti]

Very encouraging 45 minutes, less so to do with Dundalk's performance and more to do with the fact these boys are a shambles of a side. Could do with one or two goals in the second half but just keep the focus up and don't make any mistakes and the clean sheet looks good.

[DannyInvincible]

Very comfortable first half. Stadium has filled up a bit as well. Or the lower tiers have anyway. So far, so good.

[BonnieShels]

Crowd at the beginning affected by Port Tunnel traffic.

Really enjoyable first half. There's a goal here for them.

[redarmyfaction]

Dundork can win this but need to come out all guns blazing if they are serious about progressing.

[bennocelt]

they havent scored in 7 games, def a chance for dundalk here

[paykanti]

Harsh but fair, I guess. Come on now, push for the goals.

[patrickccfc]

That was a very harsh decision to give the penalty. He was facing away from the ball when it hit his arm.

[TonyD]

Harsh but fair, I guess. Come on now, push for the goals.

I dunno. His back was turned so definitely not intentional. Harsh, I felt. Tall order for Dundalk now. They'd been doing very well too.

[osarusan]

Dundalk really struggling to offer any threat.

They really need a goal to have any chance in the second leg.

[paykanti]

Intentional or not, it stopped the progress of a shot on goal, not that I have any clue if the rulebook works off intention or not. Legia look more likely for the second, ominous times, chuck Finn on.

[DeLorean]

I think there are basically two considerations when it comes to handball decisions:

a) Was it deliberate?

or

b) Was the arm/hand in an unnatural position?


I would answer no to both of those questions so I think it was very harsh.

[patrickccfc]

Legia having more of it now and more of a threat going forward. Definitely need to get a goal to bring over there.

[patrickccfc]

Ugh what a sucker punch that was

[paykanti]

Rip. :(

[BonnieShels]

Poxy!

[Jofspring]

Awful sucker punch for Dundork.

[bennocelt]

Ah pity, feck it.

One thing that is annoying is Rogers kick outs...........can he not leather a ball? Anyway..

[pineapple stu]

Harsh way to end it, but Legia were far the better side without needing to look any good.

Not an embarrassment for Dundalk by any stretch of the imagination - but they'll maybe be disappointed not to have created a chance until the 89th minute.

Still, was always about the Europa League I think

[DannyInvincible]

Penalty decision was a shocker but that second goal has killed it. 1-0 was still retrievable. Raging at that. Was a bit sloppy to lose possession and Rogers could maybe have made himself a bit bigger.

[legendz]

Hard luck Dundalk. 0-1 was doable to turn around. Penalty terrible decision. When the game went into injury time I suspected Legia would get a second. Very cruel. Desperate bad luck.

[TheBoss]

In honesty it was disappointing performance from Dundalk. They hardly threatened a pretty average Legia, who for me are a level below BATE. They just did not turn up on the night.

[Lim till i die]

Ireland's Shame

[D24Saint]

Tie over, got unlucky with the harsh peno against them and the sucker punch at the end.Thought the ref let legia off with a lot but Dundalk put in a creditable performance overall.

[TonyD]

Tie over, got unlucky with the harsh peno against them and the sucker punch at the end.Thought the ref let legia off with a lot but Dundalk put in a creditable performance overall.

Would agree with that. Dundalk unlucky not to get a penalty themselves too. Overall Legia shaded it, particularly second half. Dundalk performed creditably, but just didn't cause Legia enough problems. Horgan and McEleney were good in patches (McEleney would be a top notch player if he was a bit stronger I think) and McMillan worked hard.

I think teams need to be reaching this level more regularly before we will have a real chance of progressing. It's all incremental steps.

Edit. Isn't Tony O'Donoghue a huge step up from Peter Collins too ? Far better as a presenter.

[redarmyfaction]

I remember when Dundalk beat us 2-1 in the Showgs last year, they were awarded a penalty, when a cross hit Alan Keane square on the shoulder, from about 4 yards away, never, ever, ever a peno, the ref couldn't see it, but all the Dundalk players claimed for one, and it was given purely on the claims, total gamesmanship and a disgraceful decision which could have cost us relegation. The wheel turns.

[Lim till i die]

Having Alan Keane should have always been a punishable offence tho. :good:

[ger121]

Just back from the game. Even 1st half. Nobody had a clue what happened when the penalty was awarded. Knocked the stuffing out of Dundalk and took them a while to get going. Legia stepped it up after going ahead and were dangerous down the right for a lot of the 2nd half. Was in the 6th row behind Horgan when he was shaping up for that shot. He had a lot more time than he thought and was an excellent chance. 2nd goal was just the icing for Legia. EL it is so! Best for us all:)

[geysir]

Fck it.
A shíte penalty goal could be painfully tolerated but the 2nd goal was a pox.
LW played a good patient game, a disappointing night for Dundalk's CL hopes, but not bowed.

[total hoofball]

That second goal kills the tie for me. Good effort from Dundalk but they didn't do anywhere near enough in the final third to secure a draw. Missed opportunity, Legia were marginally the better side but are nothing special and beatable but to overcome 2 goals away from home is stretching it

[brendy_éire]

I think there are basically two considerations when it comes to handball decisions:

a) Was it deliberate?

or

b) Was the arm/hand in an unnatural position?


I would answer no to both of those questions so I think it was very harsh.

I would have to disagree.

Boyle (because he moved his arm, along with his entire body, downwards) caused his arm to be in an unnatural position, and his arm then came into contact with the ball.
You could argue it was have been deliberate too as he must have known there was a half decent chance the ball could come into contact with his arm. It was at best very careless.

2-0 was a harsh scoreline on Dundalk though, and you'd imagine that'll kill the tie off. Even if they were to score first over there, it's still a huge ask.
Interesting to note though that Legia are playing a league game this weekend, whilst Dundalk are not. Maybe it's just a wee something that could give Dundalk an edge.

[total hoofball]

I just saw the highlights on ITV, christ that penalty decision was a disgrace

[White Horse]

I was very proud of that performance. Dundalk played some lovely football and were building good momentum until the debateable penalty that was awarded to legia.

The second goal at the death was a sucker punch. Dundalk should have accepted the one nil defeat but they keep trying to create, and paid the price.

[ToberonaTornado]

Dundalk had great spells of possession 2nd half but never pushed through which was pretty annoying .DMcM spent more times on the wing rather than in his usual CF position .McEleney was the biz and there were fleeting moments from several other players.Only fleeting though :(
Not a good night really overall and pretty disappointed in the way we played.
Drunk and away to bed.

[joey B]

Gutted for Dundalk, the penalty decision was incredibly harsh in my opinion, Boyle threw his body knee first at the ball and his hand was in the only place it could be and too give a penalty was pretty shocking at this level,the second goal which killed the tie was so sloppy however and Kenny will be pulling his hair out at how avoidable it was.

I was throughly unimpressed by Legia and a little disappointed by Dundalk in the final third were I don't think they worried Legia enough.

[ToberonaTornado]

Legia were 2.3 on Betfair, when I posted about it last 1.89 now, so if you lay off now to lock in a 14% return for an afternoons investment, better than the bank are giving, Or else have a no risk bet on Legia returning .41c for euro invested. Glad that you got your bet on.

Days like these ehh?

Glad you landed your stupid bet that you pished the rest of us of about.Good man

[Charlie Darwin]

I remember when Dundalk beat us 2-1 in the Showgs last year, they were awarded a penalty, when a cross hit Alan Keane square on the shoulder, from about 4 yards away, never, ever, ever a peno, the ref couldn't see it, but all the Dundalk players claimed for one, and it was given purely on the claims, total gamesmanship and a disgraceful decision which could have cost us relegation. The wheel turns.
That's some ice-cold revenge right there :D

I thought Dundalk were unlucky to be honest, but I think they'll know themselves they underperformed. Legia, while they didn't create a lot, created more and created better. Dundalk just looked knackered by the hour mark and the second goal was always a strong possibility.

Fair play to them though - they played the riskier football so you can't criticise them for not going for it.

[nigel-harps1954]

Just back home after a long trip. Traffic coming out of the city was absolutely insane with everyone travelling the same way.

Thought Dundalk were the better side in the first half. The big problem was creating any clear cut chances in the final third. Horgan wasn't at himself tonight, had a great chance with the shot from the edge of the box in the second half too which he made a meal of putting straight into the keepers hands.

Penalty knocked the stuffing out of Dundalk though, I thought it was incredibly harsh from where we were sitting, I've yet to see any replays though.

At 1-0, you'd have said Dundalk would have stood a chance of getting something from the tie, but it looks to be game over. They'll really need to go all out in Warsaw next week to stand any chance, but it's a tall order.

On another note, I thought the atmosphere was absolutely excellent. No idea how it came across on the TV but it was fantastic in the ground and the Legia fans in particular were incredible for most of the game.

I'm a bit shocked the crowd was only 30,400 or something of the like, looked to be a fair bit more once it filled up. Great occasion though despite the result.

[redarmyfaction]

Two similar but even harsher penos given on the the highlights last night in the Roma v Porto, and I think the Villarreal game. I suppose if you throw yourself in front of a goal bound shot and it hits your hand, the thinking is it's deliberate. If Rogers had stopped it like that, from that range, would he have been praised to high heavens for the amazing way he stopped it/ got his hand to it, I don't know, but I do know that the rule needs looking at, because there is are widely different interpretations of it, kudos to RTE panel for reading it out last night , they seemed very certain that Dundalk were due their penalty, but I thought that Finn clipped the defender first by backing into him.

[sbgawa]

disappointed for Dundalk but even the group stages of the CL is a major achievement.
The money from that should be enough to do the redevelopment of Oriel Park but won't be enough to eliminate all other teams chances of maybe being competitive in the league.
A strong Dundalk with a facility that might attract people to it will be good for a league that needs to be competitive

[jinxy lilywhite]

Disappointing result but I thought we played well without having a shot on target.

Penalty decision was ridiculous and we should of had one. The 2nd goal has killed the tie for us. I know we like to attack and went for a leveller but I thought so late that maybe the better option was to see out the 90 and lick our wounds at a 1 goal defeat.

Think we will win the 2nd leg. There is more to come from us. Get the next goal and who knows

[paul_oshea]

Coming from the west the traffic wasn't too bad till we hit the quays, it was brutal then and no real quicker way around it but i felt for all those coming down the port tunnel as i can only imagine what it was like. Sorry if I repeat some stuff from earlier as I was flying back this morning so it was all a bit rushed and haven't read some of the earlier posts.

So the peno, for me there are two ways you land on the ground naturally when diving or falling to the ground, you either put your hands out to take the fall, or you bend your arm - particularly when diving - at the elbow(this is what Boyle did) and use the elbow to slide and take the fall, what is not natural when diving or falling is to to put your hands by your side and see what happens, but thats what the interpretation is of the "unnatural handling of the ball" - the unnatural handling is the unnatural way of actually diving or falling to the ground, so its in no way natural. The rule should be clearer in what unnatural is with regard to how you fall or dive to the ground. For me there is nothing unnatural in the movement and its very unlucky, to make it worse the shot was going wide. If you are standing still its easy keep your hands by your side, the rules need to be clearer from a standing point and from one that sees the player who handles it ending up on the ground. I think its very harsh personally and it completely changed the game.

The refs overall performance was a bag of contradictions, he gallantly threw out a yellow for O'Donnell, and time again let them off, especially when Dundalk countered and were fouled, particularly McMillian. Their number 2 should have had two yellows as well.

I thought O'Donnell played really well, he was like a slightly slower Glenn Whelan for Ireland, but who opened his body up and looked around before receiving the pass, I thought he was Dundalks best player. Horgan was poor in the second half and hit a few too many misplaced passes, especially if potential suitors were looking on he didn't do much to help himself. I thought the two centre backs did very well yesterday, overall. McEleney or however you spell his name is a bit light and got pushed off the ball too easily too often. But there were some exquisites passes from both of them either half, real top notch stuff.

The 2nd goal killed it, but I could see what they were trying to do, its a hard call, they didn't want to give away a free in midfield, they could have dragged him back at that point but knowing that they would have not got another chance to attack. Looking back its always easier say do the technical foul and there is no goal, but the other side is better defending would have prevented the second goal.

I haven't seen much of Dundalk but what I have seen of them is they are usually a decent counter attacking team, when they got into the positions through various throughballs and over the top crossfield passes, they stopped instead of attacking their men, unsure and/or almost happy to settle for a throw in or whatever. With a little more confidence a couple of times they could have attacked the last man and something more might have come out of it, instead of a throw in or whatever and then Legia the chance to regroup. But overall what really stood out for me and the lads I went with, was Dundalk can play real good stuff in close quarters, they dont lack the technical touch, what they are probably missing is a bit like Iceland at the Euros, the quality at the top, which is required to be playing in CL group stages. Still I thought it was a great night to showcase the talent that is available in Ireland and they more than looked comfortable, they werent playing against far superior opposition regardless of what everything else off the field might show.

Football at this level, like we saw in the Euros is fine margins, and scorelines often flatter the winning team unfairly. The penalty was a big call and it completely changed the dynamic of the game. Dundalk more than held their own up to this, even if Legia were pulling them over the place up until then, they held their shape well. It's unfair but unfortunately its the way things go, its how you respond, I just dont think they had the players up top to hurt them when it mattered, a 10 and an out and out pacey striker and Dundalk would have come out with a better result.

Who were the security company last night, was it the usual ones the FAI use? THey were a shambles, people queuing and all sorts of messing, then the guys taking the paper tickets cutting off the wrong end and leaving people with no seat numbers or any information where they sat. I felt sorry for them cos there was a "rush" and people were already late etc but still it was very poorly organised. The Aviva looked and sounded great on the walk up of a summers night in August, even if everything suggested it wasn't actually a summers night.

Hopefully Dundalk don't get ripped apart over there and do themseleves justice somewhat.

[ForzaHoop]

Amazing crowd last night !
Shame the middle section was empty but it sounded great on TV and just shows the appetite for soccer in this country.
It was never a Penalty but the 2nd goal killed off the tie
they are not out of the game altogether if they play like they did against Bate