League of Ireland in Europe 2017

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Only 467 in The Showgrounds tonight

[redarmyfaction]

Only 467 in The Showgrounds tonight

Derry got the pricing wrong on that fixture.

[Kingswood Rover]

Very enjoyable game in Tallaght i have to say and at times jittery enough in the 2nd half with our Keeper pulling off one particularly good save. we stopped passing the ball in the 2nd half trying to hold on to what we got thus handing them the initiative. They took off their captain a midfielder who was on a yellow card with about 15 minutes to go and then faded allowing Rovers to finish very strong. Lopez was my man of the match. Great Crowd i would say about 4500-5000.

[JC_GUFC]

So Rovers v Mlada Boleslav next, and Cork against Larnaka, who are currently losing in Gibraltar, though they won 5-0 last week.

Tough one for Rovers; we've a very poor record v Czech teams. I'm not convinced by Cork in Europe yet, but Larnaka's not a bad second round draw.

12 matches played v Czech/Czechoslovakia clubs in Europe:
W 0, D 1, L 11

The draw was when Bohs drew 2-2 with TJ Gottwaldov in 1970!

The "4th" Czech Rep team in last season's Europa League got through the 2nd round against Levadia Tallinn on away goals. Rovers have a small chance here but would expect them to go out.

Cork have a much better chance (and not just because they're a better side)

14 matches played v Cypriot clubs:
W 7, D 2, L 5

Most recently Cork beat Apollon Limassol 2-1 on aggregate.

Last season AEK Larnaca won 3 rounds in Europe, though were 2-0 down away to Cliftonville in the 1st leg of 2nd round before going on to win 5-2 on aggregate.
They have a Spanish manager with about 15 Spanish players in their squad so could be a bit different to a typical Cypriot team.

[ger121]

Up to 36th in Co-efficient table. Like porn for anoraks it is:clap:

[DannyInvincible]

Larnaca drew 1-1 on the night with Lincoln Red Imps in the Algarve and so progress, as expected, 6-1 on aggregate to meet Cork in the next round. Not a great result for Larnaca tonight, but it's likely they weren't over-exerting themselves considering the tie was pretty much already wrapped up before kick-off.

[EatYerGreens]

12 matches played v Czech/Czechoslovakia clubs in Europe:
W 0, D 1, L 11

The draw was when Bohs drew 2-2 with TJ Gottwaldov in 1970!

The "4th" Czech Rep team in last season's Europa League got through the 2nd round against Levadia Tallinn on away goals. Rovers have a small chance here but would expect them to go out.

Cork have a much better chance (and not just because they're a better side)

14 matches played v Cypriot clubs:
W 7, D 2, L 5

Most recently Cork beat Apollon Limassol 2-1 on aggregate.

Last season AEK Larnaca won 3 rounds in Europe, though were 2-0 down away to Cliftonville in the 1st leg of 2nd round before going on to win 5-2 on aggregate.
They have a Spanish manager with about 15 Spanish players in their squad so could be a bit different to a typical Cypriot team.

I wouldn't pay much heed to an all-time LOI record against Cypriot teams though. They've improved a lot in recent years.

That said - so have LOI teams in Europe. Especially if you're harking back to the 1970s ! :D

[JC_GUFC]

I wouldn't pay much heed to an all-time LOI record against Cypriot teams though. They've improved a lot in recent years.

That said - so have LOI teams in Europe. Especially if you're harking back to the 1970s ! :D

Yeah - for sure. Of those ties with the Cypriot teams I think nearly all were from the 70s. Cork will be outsiders but not massive ones.

[micls]

Great spirit in the team tonight, as always. Seani is absolutely a different level. Best player I've ever seen for us. Perfect hatrick tonight too, caused them constant trouble. Injuries in defence are killing us though. We were woeful there tonight. Keohane not a right back, McCormack not a full back. Badly need Benno back next week.

We don't have a hope of beating Larnaca if we play like tonight, but there's something very special about this team and they have huge faith in themselves. Bring it on.

[sparky12345678]

Anyone have a list of unseeded teams that went through tonight?

Next round will be tougher bt hopefully one team gets through... Cork's chances shud be better...

[El-Pietro]

Caufield and his arrogance now his negative side taking over.

If they go through its still the old porous defence...
What are you on? Were negative and we have a pouros defence?
Our problem tonight was that we never stopped attacking! Which is reasonable when you have two defenders on the pitch

[El-Pietro]

Tough night at the cross but we win. Only the second time we've won home and away. First ever euro hattrick and Sean is our top goalscorer with 6. Two ahead of Dan Murray now.
Seani is something else. I've enjoyed watching him so much and it's sad that it's ending. Definitely our best ever player.

[Charlie Darwin]

Good win for Rovers - we were clearly the better team even if we absorbed a lot of pressure in the second half. They're the sort of team we struggle against - big, physical and direct - so delighted with the clean sheet even if it needed two top-class saves from Tomer. Don't think we have a hope against the Czech crowd but admittedly I haven't seen them and am only going on the strength of the league. Hope I'm wrong!

[DannyInvincible]

Caufield and his arrogance now his negative side taking over.

If they go through its still the old porous defence...

What is "the old porous defence" a reference to? To date this season, Cork have conceded a mere 10 goals in 19 league games and 2 goals in 2 Europa League qualifying matches. There's nothing porous about their defence this season. Statistically, they've the tightest defence in the league by a considerable distance.

[El-Pietro]

What is "the old porous defence" a reference to? To date this season, Cork have conceded a mere 10 goals in 19 league games and 2 goals in 2 Europa League qualifying matches. There's nothing porous about their defence this season. Statistically, they've the tightest defence in the league by a considerable distance.

And we;re apparently negative too. 6 goals over two legs to add to just the 54 in our 19 league games. We're somehow negative and pourous all at once. Impressive that we win any games at all with such obvious flaws.

[ToberonaTornado]

Two goals conceded by Cork in a 16 minute spell while the game was 'live' was prob what warranted the porous defence response from the op.? Cork were looking a bit dodgy at the at the back at that time.

Yis are over reacting lads.
Calm down and enjoy the win(and the co efficient or whatever you call it)

[Ezeikial]

Congratulations to Rovers and Cork

To celebrate a famous Hoops victory I am going to wear sack cloth and ashes for the weekend and try to avoid all Stephen Bradley interviews.

[Charlie Darwin]

Poor Stephen won't know what hits him when he logs on to foot.ie tomorrow.

[sbgawa]

Great result tonight.
Hope to see a full 90 minutes of bolger Doona boyd and o Connor against celtic and a performance next thursday thst keeps the tie alive for the second leg

[sparky12345678]

just to note that tough as it might be, beating the Czech crowd means you take their seeding for the third QR and have a decent shout against lower seeds and avoid bigger guns...

[Yossarian]

And we;re apparently negative too. 6 goals over two legs to add to just the 54 in our 19 league games. We're somehow negative and pourous all at once. Impressive that we win any games at all with such obvious flaws.

To be fair, it's hard to accurately judge a team when you only take a critical interest once a year.

[Yossarian]

That was two good wins last night. I thought Rovers were comfortable enough despite the couple of chances Stjarnan had in the second half. Much tougher opponents next week but you can't argue with home and away wins in the first round, doesn't happen too often. Unfortunately the less said about Derry the better.

[legendz]

At one stage I thought Caulfield was going to be eating his loose words about the opposition not going to score 3 times. Fair play to Cork for steadying the ship and responding when needed.

Fair play to Shamrock Rovers. Their players will have a decent test as they put themselves in the shop window for potential Championship offers.

Derry desperately unlucky with the tough opponent they drew. Still, Cork and Dundalk would probably have done better and those clubs are settling the standard for LoI clubs in Europe.

With the league's champion likely to have a Europa League safety net from next year, I'm hopeful, while aware of the European knockout qualifier rounds being fraught with danger, that the league can get two clubs to ELQ3 more often than not, with at least one making the playoffs. It's not beyond the league. The qualifiers are the league's level. Maintaining interest for the duration of the qualifiers, with the playoffs essentially being cup finals, will be a decent level for the league to maintain if possible.

[JC_GUFC]

Anyone have a list of unseeded teams that went through tonight?



I think of the 50 ties 12 unseeded teams qualified.

[Longfordian]

Maguire is grand and all but I can't really like a man who spells his name 'Seani'. Put an 'e' on the end man for the sake of decency.

[sullanefc]

Seani Maguire is now City's best ever player IMO. He now overtakes John O'Flynn, George O'Callaghan, Dave Mooney etc.
Last night was the best individual live performance I've ever seen. And that includes games in Old Trafford, Anfield, WHL etc. Outstanding. We'll miss him.

[geysir]

Rovers did very well leaving no doubt in this contest, though a few times depending on the goalie's excellence last night, they were always in control of the tie and even if Stjarnan got one past the goalie, Rovers looked to have enough on hand to impose themselves again.

Rovers have a more than a good chance to get past this Czech team in the 2nd round This will be the Czech's first competitive outing and they're an average bunch. I'd assume they're seeded because they've benefited from inheriting the Czech league's coefficient, not on merit.

[Philosophizer]

Rovers did very well leaving no doubt in this contest, though a few times depending on the goalie's excellence last night, they were always in control of the tie and even if Stjarnan got one past the goalie, Rovers looked to have enough on hand to impose themselves again.

Rovers have a more than a good chance to get past this Czech team in the 2nd round This will be the Czech's first competitive outing and they're an average bunch. I'd assume they're seeded because they've benefited from inheriting the Czech league's coefficient, not on merit.

I thought they made hard work of it to be honest. They had the quality to totally dominate stjarnan but they say back too much and let stjarnan come at them for the whole second half. They got a couple of lucky escapes.
Mlada Boleslav have played in Europe before. I was there a few yrs ago. They'll be a slightly higher level than Rovers but anything can happen.

[PartySaint]

Only 467 in The Showgrounds tonight

Does anyone know the smallest crowd for a home game for a LOI team in Europe?

[brendy_éire]

Disappointing but not unexpected result last night in the Showgrounds.

There's obviously a huge gulf in class between the teams, but I do think if we were better organised defensively the score would have looked a bit better. Looking at the match, it reminded me and when we played Aberystwyth a few years ago, there was that much of a difference in levels. TBF to ourselves, when a side is bringing fellas worth €3.5 million off the bench, and turning down €8 million bids for others, we haven't much of a chance really.

Our pricing for the game was all wrong too. Should have been €15, even as a pre-draw price. I spotted only two other LoI tops at the game (both Longford).

Just a note on the Showgrounds, thought the pitch was in great condition, and the main stand is nice. Just makes it harder to accept the horrible space away fans get put into there. There's Derry fans that won't go to Sligo because of the awful view/toilets, but if away fans were to be put in the main stand, they'd certainly change their mind.

[pineapple stu]

Does anyone know the smallest crowd for a home game for a LOI team in Europe?
How many were at Dundalk v Linfield in Holland?

[El-Pietro]

Disappointing but not unexpected result last night in the Showgrounds.

There's obviously a huge gulf in class between the teams, but I do think if we were better organised defensively the score would have looked a bit better. Looking at the match, it reminded me and when we played Aberystwyth a few years ago, there was that much of a difference in levels. TBF to ourselves, when a side is bringing fellas worth €3.5 million off the bench, and turning down €8 million bids for others, we haven't much of a chance really.

Our pricing for the game was all wrong too. Should have been €15, even as a pre-draw price. I spotted only two other LoI tops at the game (both Longford).

Just a note on the Showgrounds, thought the pitch was in great condition, and the main stand is nice. Just makes it harder to accept the horrible space away fans get put into there. There's Derry fans that won't go to Sligo because of the awful view/toilets, but if away fans were to be put in the main stand, they'd certainly change their mind.
I think they would have comfortably dispatched any Irish side. Perhaps we woudl have kept it tighter over the two legs but even our makeshift defence would struggle to stop them scoring at all. Thought the goals you conceded in the first leg were a mix of disastrous defending and an inability to deal with their pace and quality.

[Dalymountrower]

Does anyone know the smallest crowd for a home game for a LOI team in Europe?

Home Farm v Racing Club Paris , about 2/300

[D24Saint]

How many were at Dundalk v Linfield in Holland?

Around 2000 according to the Dundalk website.

[jinxy lilywhite]

How many were at Dundalk v Linfield in Holland?

A few hundred. Mostly locals

[oriel]

Does anyone know the smallest crowd for a home game for a LOI team in Europe?

I was in Tolka for Dundalk v Varteks in 2002, lost 5 or 6-0 in the first leg, and there was definitely well below 1000 at this game. I would say more than 467 though that was in Sligo last night, maybe not that much more though ! That was a dreadful Dundalk side, easily the worst that ever played in Europe, already relegated and would play 7 consecutive seasons in the FD.

[sparky12345678]

why were the legs reversed for the City v AEK tie?

[El-Pietro]

Domino effect - basically it came down to the fact that AEL Limmosol also play in Larnacas stadium (apparently).

[patrickccfc]

Unfortunate really, much prefer to be at home the second leg, especially since it was originally drawn that way

[legendz]

I think they would have comfortably dispatched any Irish side. Perhaps we woudl have kept it tighter over the two legs but even our makeshift defence would struggle to stop them scoring at all. Thought the goals you conceded in the first leg were a mix of disastrous defending and an inability to deal with their pace and quality.
Have Cork and Dundalk done better against similar opponents?

Unfortunate really, much prefer to be at home the second leg, especially since it was originally drawn that way
Once Cork were drawn away for the first leg, can Cork not maintain that it's kept that way with their opponents having to play the home tie in a different ground?

[brendy_éire]

Domino effect - basically it came down to the fact that AEL Limmosol also play in Larnacas stadium (apparently).

Wasn't that basically the same issue as with Levadia? How come they weren't made to use an alternative ground?

[El-Pietro]

Wasn't that basically the same issue as with Levadia? How come they weren't made to use an alternative ground?
I'm not sure, but this was dictated by UEFA. They put out a list of fixtures that would be moved in the event of... we were waiting on two Moldovan sides to win, if that had happened no switch and we'd all be off to Cyprus next week and I wouldn't be trying to figure out what to do with the flights I booked for the first leg... Tel Aviv in September maybe?
Then the first Moldovans lost to fecking Fola Esch, the second lot held out against Sarajevo, beat them on pens, but the first lot couldn't beat a Lux side, at home.

[El-Pietro]

Tickets flying out the door for the second round - almost certainly another sell out this Thursday - with the Pats league game sandwiched in between. We could have 13-15k people at the cross in 8 days. Potetnially more but the hurlers are playing in the Munster final is on Sunday so many will head to Thurles for that.

[pineapple stu]

How many were at Dundalk v Linfield in Holland?


A few hundred. Mostly locals


Around 2000 according to the Dundalk website.

Ah, foot.ie... :)

[Calcio Jack]

Home Farm v Racing Club Paris , about 2/300

Not sure where you got that figure from.... I was at that match in Tolka and there was a decent crowd of a few thousand - remember that was back in the 70s when decent crowds still attended matches- albeit if I remember correctly there was a small enough crowd at the cup final when HF won.

HF drew that match 1-1 but got hammered in the away leg.

[oriel]

Rovers played at least one euro match in Tolka at the start of the KRAM protest in Aug / Sep 1987, possibly a Cypriot side, not sure what the attendance was but it was hugely effected by the boycott. I have vague memories watching a report from RTE on this.

[DannyInvincible]

Video of Maguire's third goal for Cork against Levadia: https://twitter.com/brianrohancork/status/883061464608763908

[Dalymountrower]

Not sure where you got that figure from.... I was at that match in Tolka and there was a decent crowd of a few thousand - remember that was back in the 70s when decent crowds still attended matches- albeit if I remember correctly there was a small enough crowd at the cup final when HF won.

HF drew that match 1-1 but got hammered in the away leg.
Was at it too Paris Fans flight was cancelled, was a financial disaster for Farm,
The cup final that year had an unexpectedly good attendance of 10 k, compared to say the Rovers v Galway final 10 years later which attracted 2, 000 fewer fans.

[oriel]

Tickets flying out the door for the second round - almost certainly another sell out this Thursday - with the Pats league game sandwiched in between. We could have 13-15k people at the cross in 8 days. Potetnially more but the hurlers are playing in the Munster final is on Sunday so many will head to Thurles for that.

Was the Levadi game a sell out though? I thought I read somewhere that this was the second highest attendance of the season with slightly more at the Dundalk game earlier in the season? Nothing takes away from a brilliant attendance mind.

[White Horse]

Was the Levadi game a sell out though? I thought I read somewhere that this was the second highest attendance of the season with slightly more at the Dundalk game earlier in the season? Nothing takes away from a brilliant attendance mind.

May have something to do with UEFA rules. I wouldn't be surprised if the capacity was reduced.