League of Ireland in Europe 2017

[oriel]

In business terms we could also apply a risk RAG rating against each teams chances, I’d go with the following.

Cork - Green
Rovers - Amber
Dundalk - Amber (trending red!)
Derry – Red


Most, well maybe apart from Cork may need a further risk analysis rating applied after the first legs !

Ps I agree on the point on Icelandic teams, mid way though the first half in the second leg last season away, we were going out of Europe and no mistake, only for two away goals.

[Charlie Darwin]

Given the draws we could have got, Stjarnan is a good one, but any game was going to be tough for us. If we can get a decent result away, who knows?

[sbgawa]

What's all this IF stuff Charlie ......believe :)

[El-Pietro]

Our game against Levadia will be played in Parnu now as their stadium is unavailable on the Thursday. They tried to get us to switch legs or to bring the game forward to the Tuesday but we held out. Having to travel to Parnu is a bit tricky for fans but we'll get over it, has to be another small advantage for the team though, taking away their "home" advantage. I imagine this will mean the home crowd will be smaller too. Especially with kick off at local time of 6.30 pm

[dundalkfc10]

Hopefully Eir show a few games, because we know RTE wont

[geysir]

Rovers need every break going to justify having a bit of hope.
Dynamo Brest have just made a huge offer for Stjarnan's front man (also big), first offer rejected but his exit looks ominous.

[sparky12345678]

the Danish league is fun. 14 teams. It splits into a championship round and a relegation round but the runners up of the two relegation groups qualify to a play off for the final Europa League spot (which our friends from Midtjylland managed to jus about do), instead of a Cup spot...
Not to start random discussions but makes for an interesting league structure and competition for places etc. Anyways all of this also to point out that Midtjylland may be head and shoulders above Irish clubs but they are still only the 4th choice from Denmark... rankings have BATE much higher by coefficient than Midtylland...while not what you'd want, familiar company like Malmo, Hertha Berlin & Partizan would suggest its not beyond the realm of possibility. plus season hasnt quite started?
Would people be more optimistic if Cork had drawn Midtylland or Dundalk last year...?

[Nesta99]

Do Midtylland still use the moneyball model?

[redobit]

Do Midtylland still use the moneyball model?

The movie?

[seand]

The movie was based on the book about Billy Beane and his analytical management at the Oaklands As. Midtjylland used analytics extensively especially in the few seasons up to winning the league in 2015. Not sure how much of a focus they have on it these days

[placid casual]

Same process that Warburton used at Brentford, to get the bees promotion to championship.

[Nesta99]

Rasmus Ankersen is involved in both clubs and they have the same owner. Brentford are on their 4th manager mind since Warburton left in 2015. So ive probably answered my own question.

[legendz]

The league's finest silver Cork and Dundalk have demonstrated an ability to learn from better opponents they have come up against.

Dundalk's upward trajectory in Europe in recent years culminated in their progress to the EL Group stage. I'll be interested in seeing how Stephen Kenny gets on with a weaker hand. With his experience and that of players in the squad, it's not beyond Dundalk to get through.

Cork publicly will take things a round at a time. Just as Dundalk can upset their opponents, Cork's opponents will be aware of their threat and can cause an upset.

Privately the Cork management will be confident of setting up an encounter against Larnaka for a place in ELQ3.

[geysir]

I met a couple of Stjarnan fans at a kids coaching event today, naturally the conversation moved swiftly to Shamrock Rovers, are they any good? I felt compelled to disclose the truth, I said they're a bit like KR, living on past rep, have views above their current station, they think they're the bees knees, that Stjarnan will be easily swept aside, are looking to the 2nd round opponents already and even some Irish sports journalist kept referring to "St Jarnan".
What??
yeah, St Jarnan, they think you're a pub team or some catholic sect.
Apparently Stjarnan are putting in extra temp seats for the Rovers fans, I suggested a cage would be appropriate as it done in the LOI whenever Rovers are the away team.

But I had to stop there, just to let that sink in and being aware not to stampede across the lines of believability, the conversation then moved to the many current woes of Stjarnan (or St Jarnan to some).

[sbgawa]

Good to see you haven't lost your impartiality :)

[Charlie Darwin]

I met a couple of Stjarnan fans at a kids coaching event today, naturally the conversation moved swiftly to Shamrock Rovers, are they any good? I felt compelled to disclose the truth, I said they're a bit like KR, living on past rep, have views above their current station, they think they're the bees knees, that Stjarnan will be easily swept aside, are looking to the 2nd round opponents already and even some Irish sports journalist kept referring to "St Jarnan".
What??
yeah, St Jarnan, they think you're a pub team or some catholic sect.
Apparently Stjarnan are putting in extra temp seats for the Rovers fans, I suggested a cage would be appropriate as it done in the LOI whenever Rovers are the away team.

But I had to stop there, just to let that sink in and being aware not to stampede across the lines of believability, the conversation then moved to the many current woes of Stjarnan (or St Jarnan to some).
It was UEFA who called them St Jarnan in the draw. Some uninformed journalists obviously took that as gospel.

[holidaysong]

This lad won the thread.

[Nesta99]

Isnt that much to argue with in geysir's post really.

[sbgawa]

I guess so, maybe the spelling I hears a rumour their nickname is the saints.

[legendz]

Has there been any announcements on tv coverage?

[ToberonaTornado]

Has there been any announcements on tv coverage?

Haven't heard yet of any of the 'home' channels covering anything yet but:


It has also been confirmed that the game in Trondheim will be broadcast in Norway on MTG (Link (http://www.rbk.no/nyheter/hjemmekampen-mot-dundalk-solgt-til-viasat)).

http://www.dundalkfc.com/champions-league-dates-confirmed/

[ger121]

Has there been any announcements on tv coverage?

Yes. RTE has released a statement, that they will be keeping up their proud tradition, by continuing to not cover LOI Teams in Europe. Ryle Rugger Nugent said "We at RTÉ, along with our colleagues at the FAI, believe in supporting Irish Football by not supporting Irish Football. God helps those who help themselves" RTE will of course have extensive repeats of Keeping Up Apperances throughout the European Campaign.

[DannyInvincible]

'European ties now the making of a season for Irish clubs': https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/national-league/european-ties-now-the-making-of-a-season-for-irish-clubs-1.3126604

Emmet Malone contrasts the much more serious approach of League of Ireland clubs to European football now from the attitude of yesteryear (when an unnamed Derry City manager - my money's on Felix Healy - described European football to him in the '90s as "a bit of a beano"), which is the attitude seemingly still displayed by the likes of Irish League clubs Linfield (who regard drawing Celtic as a dream and have no interest in giving themselves a competitive edge with the fixture order as they've clearly already resigned themselves to defeat and would rather play the first leg at home to guarantee a bigger crowd when the tie's still alive) and Crusaders (whose manager was away on summer holidays as the club played European ties in recent years).

[dundalkfc10]

Haven't heard yet of any of the 'home' channels covering anything yet but:



http://www.dundalkfc.com/champions-league-dates-confirmed/


I seen Eir respond to this question on twitter, and they said they hope to show a few games.

[ToberonaTornado]

That bohs fixture v dundalk(it's up there somewhere ^^^) has been changed from July 7th to July 5th.[Sound guys at Bohs :cool: ]their match away v cork on june 30th is postponed with a new date to be fixed.

https://twitter.com/bfcdublin/status/878184959889911808

[Yossarian]

That bohs fixture v dundalk(it's up there somewhere ^^^) has been changed from July 7th to July 5th.[Sound guys at Bohs :cool: ]their match away v cork on june 30th is postponed with a new date to be fixed.

https://twitter.com/bfcdublin/status/878184959889911808

Sound from Bohs alright but really it's more to do with them getting to keep Poynton for the rest of the season and Dundalk paying his wages till then.

[ToberonaTornado]

Sound from Bohs alright but really it's more to do with them getting to keep Poynton for the rest of the season and Dundalk paying his wages till then.

Was going to throw that into my op but didn't because i wanted to see if anyone would lose their sh1t over the fixture change 1st :D

[sbgawa]

To be fair to Bohs (did I really just say that) they will lose out on ngate receipts and are on a tight budget , only fair there was a bit of compromise.
Good for both parties and the league

[Yossarian]

To be fair to Bohs (did I really just say that) they will lose out on ngate receipts and are on a tight budget , only fair there was a bit of compromise.
Good for both parties and the league

I agree, Poynton isn't going to get near the Dundalk first team in the second half of the season so it suits him aswell.

[legendz]

Has the league had a team in Cork's form go into Europe with high expectations only to run aground? I think it's a familiar tale from time to time.

Cork impressively came from behind to beat Derry last night. I hope the Estonian team don't prove to be a banana skin. Cork were very diligent in getting through the first two qualifying rounds last year. Hopefully that experience and the disappointment of the year before will stand to them. They definitely have the talent to make Q3 again, as difficult and all an opponent the Cypriots will be in Q2 should Cork get past the Estonians.

[ger121]

Is that Cypriot team the one that Linfield lost to AET a couple seasons ago? I even remember they won away in the 1st leg. Maybe it was some other side.

[gspain01]

Is that Cypriot team the one that Linfield lost to AET a couple seasons ago? I even remember they won away in the 1st leg. Maybe it was some other side.

I think you mean the Greek team Xanthi. Linfield won 1-0 away but lost 2-1 at home in extra time having equalised.

[shefellover93]

On the subject of live coverage, we'll be doing live radio commentary of Cork City's game in Estonia on Thursday afternoon/evening

http://foot.ie/attachment.php?attachmentid=2567&stc=1 (http://rebelradioccfc.com)

[pateen]

Any mention of live games or online streams anywhere?

[DannyInvincible]

Any mention of live games or online streams anywhere?

The Derry and Cork games will be televised on Thursday (so I'd imagine live streams will be available online somewhere): http://liveonsat.com/los.soc_int_UEFA_europa.php

According to LiveOnSat.com there, Cork's match in Pärnu kicks off at 16:30 (Irish time) and will be broadcast by the Austrian-based LAOLA1.tv International (https://www.laola1.tv/en-int/home/). The Derry game kicks off at 19:00 (Irish time) and will be shown on Danish subscription channel 6'eren (https://twitter.com/6erendk?lang=en).

Rovers' game in Iceland kicks off at 20:15 (Irish time), but I don't see any sign of it being televised yet.

I'm not sure yet either whether or not the home legs of all those ties will be broadcast.

Eir Sport are actually showing Rangers playing Progrès Niederkorn on Thursday.

I understand the Dundalk away leg is also to be televised by a European channel, whilst Eir Sport are surely very likely to show the home leg.

Edit: Just seeing ToberonaTornado's post #321 (http://foot.ie/threads/217098-League-of-Ireland-in-Europe-2017?p=1925693&viewfull=1#post1925693), which confirms that Dundalk's game in Trondheim will be shown on a Norwegian channel, MTG.

[nigel-harps1954]

Eir Sport are showing Leavdia Tallinn v Cork City tomorrow evening, coverage starting at 4:30pm.

[DannyInvincible]

Eir Sport are showing Leavdia Tallinn v Cork City tomorrow evening, coverage starting at 4:30pm.

You'd have to assume they'll show the home leg too then?... Hopefully!

[brendy_éire]

You'd have to assume they'll show the home leg too then?... Hopefully!

Unless they're only showing it because the Estonians are. Different story if they have to provide the cameras themselves.

[shep]

I have seen that some Norwegian channel are showing the Dundalk V Rosenberg 2nd leg.Does that make it more or less likely that the game will be shown on RTÉ or Eir sport???

[Crosshead]

Have never known such confidence among our fans ahead of a European tie. Doesn't sit well with me. I know we're on a great run, but we literally have no idea how strong these lads are. Would gladly take a score draw now.

[pineapple stu]

All the underage winners are now known - so UCD need three of the following to qualify for the CL group stages and we're in the UEFA Youth League -

Sporting Lisbon
Dinamo Kiev
Ajax
Red Bull Salzburg
Legia Warsaw
APOEL Nicosia
Celtic
Qarabag
Ludogorets Razgrad
Honved

If by some outside chance 5 of them qualify, we could end up being drawn against F91 Dudelange again.

[Charlie Darwin]

You'd imagine at least three of those will qualify.

[pineapple stu]

You'd imagine so alright.

Club have done initial licencing prep for the tournament. Obviously just in case, but yeah, I'd be confident enough of qualifying.

[patrickccfc]

Have never known such confidence among our fans ahead of a European tie. Doesn't sit well with me. I know we're on a great run, but we literally have no idea how strong these lads are. Would gladly take a score draw now.

Well maybe most were extremely confident against linfield last year, and we didn't exactly stroll through that. Drawing the lowest seed can be seen as a good draw of course, but they are also on a fantastic run in their own league. I'd bite your hand off for a 1-0, but yeah a score draw would be very satisfactory.

[geysir]

Bradley talked to few local reporters early this evening after training in Stjarnan's ground. He let it be known that Rovers "are the biggest club in Ireland and have the best supporters".
That's mighty talk from the minnow sized coach.

[Charlie Darwin]

He's actually not as short as he looks, so take that back.

[geysir]

You don't take issue with Bradley's mighty sized boast? You just want to squabble about an imperceptible millimeter?

[Charlie Darwin]

While Rovers might not currently be at the top of the tree, the hysterical reaction to anything Bradley says speaks for itself.

[Dalymountrower]

[QUOTE=geysir;1926289]You don't take issue with Bradley's mighty sized boast? You just want to squabble about an imperceptible millimeter?[/QUOTE
Fair play to Bradley, rile them up!

[sbgawa]

Wow shamrock rovers manager says rovers are biggest team with the best supporters. Shock horror...