Play Off 4/11

[Longfordian]

Drogs 2-0 up on the night. 2-2 on aggregate. It's up for grabs now as Brian Moore once famously said.

[pineapple stu]

3-0 now. That's that, you would think.

[Trainee]

3 nil drogs .

Bad day all round for wexford

[White Horse]

Drogheda lead 3-2.

Serves Wexford right.

They treated the league with contempt. Players fecking off before the season ended, Lee Chin going to a GAH chicken supper dinner on play off night, the manager agreeing to p1ss off to Galway before the final play off game....

We are trying to improve the league. This pub league amateurish stuff has no place in the top division.

[Longfordian]

I'd blame the manager most out of those you've mentioned. No way he should be putting himself in a position where that news got out before the game. The players that got offered a new career in NZ had little choice on timing and apparently let the club know before the start of the season.

[EAFC_rdfl]

Harsh, but also hard to argue with!! Chicken supper dinner though!!

[Lim till i die]

Thank you Drogheda for saving us the worst trip in the league.

I can now look forward to visiting United Park, the second worst trip in the league. :ball:

[White Horse]

Drogheda are up.

Congratulations to Pete Mahon and John Gill. A terrific achievement.

[White Horse]

Commiserations to the supporters of Wexford Youths. A decent group of people who deserved better from a number of people.

[Martinho II]

strangely enough in 07 when we went down automatically waterford lost in the playoffs and now nine years later history repeats itself with wexford takin their place! If we were in wexfords shoes I wouldnt have fancied us at all tonight. I can live with myself with this whole season after wexford losin the playoffs.

[Charlie Darwin]

Drogheda lead 3-2.

Serves Wexford right.

They treated the league with contempt. Players fecking off before the season ended, Lee Chin going to a GAH chicken supper dinner on play off night, the manager agreeing to p1ss off to Galway before the final play off game....

We are trying to improve the league. This pub league amateurish stuff has no place in the top division.
You can't stop players emigrating during the year. Sure half the clubs in the league could be accused of the same at some point in that case.

The manager thing is the worst part, although I'd blame Galway for leaking it.

[White Horse]

You can't stop players emigrating during the year. Sure half the clubs in the league could be accused of the same at some point in that case.

We had a player retire during one season, but that is a different story.

[MattB11]

Would rather Wexford stayed up but have to hand it to Drogheda that was some turnaround, wasn't exactly on the same level as ourselves last year coming from 1 down to relegate the greatest team in the history of football but fair play.

[White Horse]

At least the Brennans now have a premier division club to play for next season.

[El-Pietro]

COngrats to Drogs. I think they may have been better off losing this in the long term. I think they would have won the division next year and if we do move to 10/10 rather than 12/8 divisions they might have a better chance of staying up the following year. I quite like United Park. Its a ****hole but its a fun ****hole. Love the roof on the away end. Makes even a handful of fans sound loud.

Who do people think will win the First next year now? I don't think Longford or Wexford will be in great shape. Maybe Longford will surprise me. Cobh could improve on this year and make a run at the playoffs, maybe win it with some luck.

[White Horse]

Who do people think will win the First next year now? I don't think Longford or Wexford will be in great shape. Maybe Longford will surprise me. Cobh could improve on this year and make a run at the playoffs, maybe win it with some luck.

UCD. Good team and now have players from the the U19 champions side coming through.

[ybig]

Drogheda lead 3-2.

Serves Wexford right.

They treated the league with contempt. Players fecking off before the season ended, Lee Chin going to a GAH chicken supper dinner on play off night, the manager agreeing to p1ss off to Galway before the final play off game....

We are trying to improve the league. This pub league amateurish stuff has no place in the top division.

Yea would agree. Feel sorry for the supporters/volunteers behind the scenes and Shane Keegan who put in alot of work the last 4 years. The team however probably deserved it. The players that left aswell are not excatly playing in a decent league also and are doing some coaching. If I was in the same position I would have stayed but its just my opinion. Lee Chin saga embarrassing for Wexford and the league.

[Longfordian]

I think we'll be ok. As in up at the top end, providing those that were paying the bills this year agree to keep paying next year. If not, well we're in serious bother.

[El-Pietro]

UCD. Good team and now have players from the the U19 champions side coming through.

To be honest I forgot about UCD. Always a dark horse. Will be a team worth watching early next season.

[Longfordian]

Keegan devastated and eager to give the full story re Galway (in tomorrow's paper) according to Dan McDonnell. Presumably it'll be something along the lines of how it was never supposed to be leaked yet because there's been no denial. If I were a Wexford fan I'd be disgusted with how it has played out today.

[Charlie Darwin]

We had a player retire during one season, but that is a different story.
And what a retirement it was!

[nigel-harps1954]

Wexford, I'm sad to say, got everything they deserved tonight. I really like Wexford too, a great club down there. It's a pity they were made to look a total shambles all over the place this week.

Good to see Drogheda back up though, nice to have slightly less journey time next year with Limerick and Drogheda replacing Wexford and Longford, albeit only about 40km of a difference combined.

From pictures it looked a really bumper crowd too. What does United Park hold now? Something around 2,800 isn't it?

[wonder88]

While the play-offs do create a good bit of excitement and boast crowds, there are a lot of drawbacks to the two division structure we have now. The main one is that the first division is a terrible league to operate in and I feel for Wexford having to return to it after just one year. We need to got to a 10-10 league if we are to continue as we are, and guarantee to teams coming up every season, so gap in quality/crowds etc is reduced. Either that, and my preference, just have a single division, with play-offs after the regular schedule ala Conroy report. Wishing Keegan all the best at Galway, wouldn't mind having Paul Murphy at Terryland next season.

[oriel]

Wexford, I'm sad to say, got everything they deserved tonight. I really like Wexford too, a great club down there. It's a pity they were made to look a total shambles all over the place this week.

Good to see Drogheda back up though, nice to have slightly less journey time next year with Limerick and Drogheda replacing Wexford and Longford, albeit only about 40km of a difference combined.


From pictures it looked a really bumper crowd too. What does United Park hold now? Something around 2,800 isn't it?

I think United Park has a safety cert of around 2,200, I could be wrong. Its great to see Drogs up, and it's a win win for both Louth clubs crowd wise, for us it's 20 mins to our closest away match compared to 70k.

Welcome back guys.

[NeverFeltBetter]

This is a good example for Longford too. It wasn't all that long ago the guy in charge of Drogs was claiming the club would go under if relegated and lets not forget the shambles of the last few weeks of last season...they turned it around, and fast.

[ToberonaTornado]

Delighted for John Gill in particular with the Drogs promotion.Got treated pure b****x by the then owner here in Dundalk afrer he got us up in '08.
Congrats Drogheda and all their fans

[pineapple stu]

We need to got to a 10-10 league if we are to continue as we are
A 10-team Premier has been tried twice before and failed both times. No reason to think this will be any different.

A new approach is needed IMO. To be honest, I think the main priority is trying to encourage new clubs into the league.


Either that, and my preference, just have a single division, with play-offs after the regular schedule ala Conroy report.
UEFA don't allow one-tier leagues I think.

Also don't think the Conroy Report didn't have play-offs - it just had a (badly thought-out) top half/bottom half split.

[outspoken]

Craziest game I've ever witnessed. First 40 minutes we were all saying only a matter of time before Wexford scored and killed the tie but failed to take the chances (especially Furlong), them right on the stroke of HT, the hypo sized Sean Brennan scores the goal of his life to put drogs back in it. Drogs score again and then get awarded the dodgiest pen I've ever seen, the Wexford score despite a clear foul on the keeper, their young fans let off pyro and one of them catches fire trying to do so, the older fans go baslistic telling them they will be banned, next thing the smoke clears and the goal has been disallowed. Final seconds of the game 2 Wexford players are racing on on the keeepr, Murphy rounds the keeper and looks set to slide it into an empty net only for drogs centre half (number 4 not sure of his name) to come from no where to clear off the line. Total madness from start to finish. My God I love the play offs.

[joey B]

Painful way to go down for Wexford and Id have alot of sympathy for them,they are ploughing a tough furrow down there in a massive hurling heartland,but if you were to write a manual on how to handle a playoff week then Wexford showed how not to do it,too many distractions between the 'Hurler' and the managers new job the game became a bit of an afterthought to the circus........

[nigel-harps1954]

Some kind of grainy highlights here. Horrendous penalty decision, and an even worse miss by Murphy at the end.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAINPPCDixM

[sadloserkid]

I feel for the Wexford fans because it's a terrible experience to go through. Against that: Mick Wallace is a crook and a fraud and anything that will upset the Property Developer socialist is a silver lining I'm quite comfortable with. The club's poor mouth, "shur aren't we only amateurs out for a good day" attitude irritates me too because I don't feel it's completely genuine. Shane Keegan wasn't on an amateur deal by most accounts! I don't begrudge him his move to Galway either, I think hanging Chin out to dry (though not much of that has gone on here to be fair) is ridiculous. For me, it doesn't reflect on him good, bad or indifferent... the club though...

There are some lovely people involved in Wexford but, as it stands, they won't be missed by too many at the top tier. All that being said, the best of luck to them. The league could do with more teams, not less and they've been here for a while now. :)

[White Horse]

I like many of the Wexford Youths people I've meet but there is something about their club that I find repellent.

Apart from it being the vanity project of a sanctimonious tax cheat, they went cap in hand to a local GAA player to "tog out" for them as a number of players decided to bail out on them during the season.

When Dundalk qualified for the Europa League, Stephen O'Donnell said the most satisfying part was to show people that the LOI is not a joke.

Wexford's actions in begging Chin to play for them shows that there is still a mentality in the LOI that means that the LOI will never fully escape the perception of it being a jokeshop.

Lee Chin is not the problem. The people who run Wexford Youths are the problem.

[ForzaForth]

Congratulations and best wishes to Drogheda who took their chances at United Park last night. As has been said, Wexford were dominant during the first 20-25 minutes but didn't take their chances and you often pay for not scoring when you have been dominant for a spell. The game seemed to change around the half-hour mark when Graham Doyle pulled off a great double-save to deny Drogheda from scoring. Drogheda hadn't been in the game up till then. Gary Delaney then scooped the ball off the line to stop Drogheda from scoring after a defensive mix-up. The goal just before half-time was crucial. Brennan's shot was excellent but it wasn't very well defended by our two players out wide who just assumed that he was going to cross.

Wexford looked very nervous from then on and Graham made a fantastic one-on-one save to deny Griffin of Drogheda. The concession of the second goal was poor by Wexford as they shouldn't be allowing anyone a free header. The penalty award looked very dodgy but I was a long way away from it. Looking at the video clip, there was more contact than I thought. The Wexford "goal" was rightfully disallowed by a massive barge on McGuinness but it took the linesman an awful long time to make his decision. On the Wexford chance in the last minute, I think it was Shane Dempsey myself but I might be wrong.

Good luck to Shane Keegan in Galway - the club is now in a lot stronger position than it was when he took over. The ownership of the ground is secure, the voluntary committee who look after everything appears to be much stronger and, unlike when Shane Keegan took over, there are a number of internal candidates who could take over from him. Hopefully, we'll be back in the top division before long.

[MeathDrog]

It was a peno lads. I was level with it and Griffin definitely got caught in the boot as he tried to kick it. You could hear the contact.

The 'goal' for Wexford was bizarre alright.

[disgruntled]

Keegan devastated and eager to give the full story re Galway (in tomorrow's paper) according to Dan McDonnell. Presumably it'll be something along the lines of how it was never supposed to be leaked yet because there's been no denial. If I were a Wexford fan I'd be disgusted with how it has played out today.

The people I feel sorry for are the Wexford players & fans. Wallace is a totally different matter.
You'd have to wonder how the information regarding the manager got out. That can't have been good for the players before an important game like that.


COngrats to Drogs. I think they may have been better off losing this in the long term. I think they would have won the division next year and if we do move to 10/10 rather than 12/8 divisions they might have a better chance of staying up the following year. I quite like United Park. Its a ****hole but its a fun ****hole. Love the roof on the away end. Makes even a handful of fans sound loud.

Who do people think will win the First next year now? I don't think Longford or Wexford will be in great shape. Maybe Longford will surprise me. Cobh could improve on this year and make a run at the playoffs, maybe win it with some luck.

If UCD hold on to their important players they will be very strong favorites for promotion.Who goes up with them is anyones guess.

[disgruntled]

Some kind of grainy highlights here. Horrendous penalty decision, and an even worse miss by Murphy at the end.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAINPPCDixM

Thanks for those highlights Nigel.
Terrible miss by the Wexford player near the end. Seems like Drogheda were really hanging on.

[ForzaForth]

Thanks also, Nigel, for the highlights.

[Charlie Darwin]

You'd have to wonder how the information regarding the manager got out. That can't have been good for the players before an important game like that.
The same way the information about McPartland got out.

[Straightstory]

Drogheda lead 3-2.

Serves Wexford right.

They treated the league with contempt. Players fecking off before the season ended, Lee Chin going to a GAH chicken supper dinner on play off night, the manager agreeing to p1ss off to Galway before the final play off game....

We are trying to improve the league. This pub league amateurish stuff has no place in the top division.

I couldn't agree more. Very well said indeed.

[pineapple stu]

If UCD hold on to their important players they will be very strong favorites for promotion.Who goes up with them is anyones guess.
I think we'll lose a couple, but we've some great players coming through from the U-19s.

We'll be there or thereabouts for promotion or a play-off spot, like this year and last year.

[oldyouth]

Drogheda lead 3-2.

We are trying to improve the league. This pub league amateurish stuff has no place in the top division.

Much better for the league that we have have a few *asterisks against a club's name in the middle of the season, or contacts being given to players but not being paid, or former managers bringing foreclosure orders in the courts over debts, or supporters protesting & boycotting against their clubs, or our league champions having to play on a shag pile carpet, or having travelling fans afraid to go and support their team without getting stones thrown at them on the way in, or clubs passing a begging bucket around other to save their club then using the money to sign new players, or managers questioning the integrity of other managers on social media, or a club refusing to travel to a fixture

Yeah, God forbid a local lad agreed to play for the club for a few games, shameful

[Mr A]

Wexford have been the best addition to the league in a long time- they have been stable and have built themselves up gradually. They have stayed careful in not spending money and have still pulled off some good seasons. Getting a league of Ireland club up and running is an incredibly difficult thing to do. Keeping an established one going is hard enough.

This year has been difficult, the last months especially, but they came very close to staying up which would have been a huge achievement. But they didn't go the way of Cobh, Athlone, Monaghan, Harps etc of getting up and then getting into serious difficulty or even dropping out of the league altogether. On reflection they would have been better to move to semi pro deals for more players.. but if the lads wanted to go would the club really have been able to stop them?

Some incredibly harsh stuff above from people whose clubs have not been nearly as stable as the Youths. Some would want to remember that in the LOI a club's time in the sun is generally pretty short.

[oldyouth]

Cheers Mr. A, appreciated

[NeverFeltBetter]

A 10-team Premier has been tried twice before and failed both times. No reason to think this will be any different.

A new approach is needed IMO. To be honest, I think the main priority is trying to encourage new clubs into the league.



And, as I recall, the last report said nothing about actually trying to do this, which was its biggest problem in my opinion.

[brendy_éire]

On a personal level, really disappointed to see Wexford down, and Drogheda up.
Love away trips to Wexford. Despite the distance it's one of the most enjoyable. Lovely town for staying over in too, with arguably the best brewery in the country (Yellowbelly; check it out).
You'd worry about how Wexford will cope next year, could be a while before we see them back up.

As for Drogheda, ugh. Worst away facilities in the country; disgusting toilets, can't see parts of the pitch from the stand, rubbish food selection.
And what about poor Kenny Shiels and the dugout positioning? Dreadful stuff.

[pineapple stu]

And, as I recall, the last report said nothing about actually trying to do this, which was its biggest problem in my opinion.
Yup.

Though it did suggest we start importing a load of foreigners from some African/Asian country, and then sell the TV rights back to that country.

And yet it's somehow being taken seriously.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

On a personal level, really disappointed to see Wexford down, and Drogheda up.
Love away trips to Wexford. Despite the distance it's one of the most enjoyable. Lovely town for staying over in too, with arguably the best brewery in the country (Yellowbelly; check it out).
You'd worry about how Wexford will cope next year, could be a while before we see them back up.

As for Drogheda, ugh. Worst away facilities in the country; disgusting toilets, can't see parts of the pitch from the stand, rubbish food selection.
And what about poor Kenny Shiels and the dugout positioning? Dreadful stuff.

It'll be no different to any other year they were in Division 1 surely. They didn't start spending a load of money on wages they didn't have when they got promoted.

[patrickccfc]

can't see parts of the pitch from the stand,

Must be a Louth thing

[NeverFeltBetter]

Not a great week for Youths: Women's team just smashed 5-0 by Shels in the FAI Cup Final.

[brendy_éire]

It'll be no different to any other year they were in Division 1 surely.

If we're going to a 10 team Premier, it'll be more difficult than usual.