Premier Division Fixtures - March 3rd

[Kingswood Rover]

Great night if you are of he hooped persuasion, Rovers players still getting to know each other Connolly was excellent, for a man of of such portly dimensions he can sure get around the pitch, Super crowd and good away support considering it was on the box and the weather being obnoxious, we wont win the league but i would be optimistic about a top three.

[nigel-harps1954]

I'm struggling to get my head around just exactly how bad Anthony Buttimer was last night.

First Bray goal, free kick that never was. Dylan Connolly may be in with a shout of representing Ireland at the next Olympics on the diving board. Either that or he has spring loaded boots that go off occasionally while he's running. Ciaran Gallagher made a balls of the resulting free kick, but a free that should never have happened in the first place.

Penalty that was wrong on two counts. Mickey Funston was probably two yards away from a cross hit when it struck his hand..which was also at least two yards outside the box. How can a cross that he could not possibly prevent striking his hand, that was outside the box, be awarded a penalty? Buttimer didn't even think about it, just blew the whistle straight away before the ball even hit the ground again.

Brays fourth goal, Ciaran Gallagher came out of his box, cleared the ball with a diving header, got a clash to the head off Dylan Connollys knee and was down, clearly in some distress with a head injury, Buttimer doesn't stop play, McCabe sticks the ball into the net and goal is awarded. Connolly himself went down with a head injury a mere ten minutes later, with Harps on the ball, and Buttimer stopped play immediately. Ollie Horgan and the entire Harps bench were rightly going absolutely bananas with Buttimer all night.

Bray are not a great side. They'll grind out results, and they'll finish in the top half, but I honestly don't think they're all that better than Harps, a side hot favourites to be relegated.

[peadar1987]

I'm struggling to get my head around just exactly how bad Anthony Buttimer was last night.

First Bray goal, free kick that never was. Dylan Connolly may be in with a shout of representing Ireland at the next Olympics on the diving board. Either that or he has spring loaded boots that go off occasionally while he's running. Ciaran Gallagher made a balls of the resulting free kick, but a free that should never have happened in the first place.

Penalty that was wrong on two counts. Mickey Funston was probably two yards away from a cross hit when it struck his hand..which was also at least two yards outside the box. How can a cross that he could not possibly prevent striking his hand, that was outside the box, be awarded a penalty? Buttimer didn't even think about it, just blew the whistle straight away before the ball even hit the ground again.

Brays fourth goal, Ciaran Gallagher came out of his box, cleared the ball with a diving header, got a clash to the head off Dylan Connollys knee and was down, clearly in some distress with a head injury, Buttimer doesn't stop play, McCabe sticks the ball into the net and goal is awarded. Connolly himself went down with a head injury a mere ten minutes later, with Harps on the ball, and Buttimer stopped play immediately. Ollie Horgan and the entire Harps bench were rightly going absolutely bananas with Buttimer all night.

Bray are not a great side. They'll grind out results, and they'll finish in the top half, but I honestly don't think they're all that better than Harps, a side hot favourites to be relegated.

First game for me in about 4 years, not sure I could have picked a better one from a Bray perspective.

First goal, very soft free kick. We were on the other side of the pitch, but I commented at the time that Connolly was already on his way down before the challenge came in. He looked like he'd already lost control of the ball and was trying to get something from the situation.

Second goal, again too far away to see whether the incident was inside the area, but it was very harsh to penalise Funston for it, not much he could have done with the ball coming at him from that close, and his arms didn't look in an unnatural position to me.

Third goal was good work from Bray, great ball in from Kenna and superb header from Greene.

Fourth goal, really felt for Harps. Gallagher did a great job coming for the ball, and took a boot to the face for his troubles. McCabe should have put the ball out, and if there was the possibility of a head injury, Buttimer should have pulled play back.

Fifth goal, good work from Connolly to get the ball around Doherty at the second attempt.

The result might have been harsh on Harps but I think on balance Bray were still the better side (in my own biased opinion!). Doherty made three or four brilliant saves, and Harps' second goal was a real gift from Cherrie. Connolly looked dangerous all game, but with some better decision-making Bray probably should have had at least another goal, possibly two.

Paddy McCourt was good once he came on, and his delivery for Harps' third was perfect. Apart from the final 20, when Harps were pushing forwards to get back into the game, they actually looked reasonably solid at the back (for a team that ended up conceding five, at least). On that performance, I don't think they'll be in major danger of relegation this season. Bray still look too shaky in central midfield and at the back to really push for European football.

[nigel-harps1954]

Damn it, I'm struggling to find Bray fans to argue with.

[littlebray]

I tend to agree about the soft free, but on the penalty, from where I was watching, Funston's reaction, very quick, was to bring his arm down towards the flight of the ball. I would certainly agree with Buttimer (who ever thought I'd be writing that!) that it was a deliberate hand ball. As for whether it was inside the are, only TV shots will determine that, but I felt it was probably marginally inside.
All that said, the referee should almost certainly have given Harps the earlier penalty shout, which I think was a good one, and I was very surprised he didn't whistle as soon as Gallagher went down. I thought it was Ethan Boyle who hit him, by the way, in the course of that spectacular tumble-turn that he himself was injured in.
Great watching, hope it will encourage a lot more to come down to the Grounds again. I thought the attendance was a bit more than 700, but not a lot.

[peadar1987]

Damn it, I'm struggling to find Bray fans to argue with.

I can put my green and white blinkers on if you like?


I tend to agree about the soft free, but on the penalty, from where I was watching, Funston's reaction, very quick, was to bring his arm down towards the flight of the ball. I would certainly agree with Buttimer (who ever thought I'd be writing that!) that it was a deliberate hand ball. As for whether it was inside the are, only TV shots will determine that, but I felt it was probably marginally inside.
All that said, the referee should almost certainly have given Harps the earlier penalty shout, which I think was a good one, and I was very surprised he didn't whistle as soon as Gallagher went down. I thought it was Ethan Boyle who hit him, by the way, in the course of that spectacular tumble-turn that he himself was injured in.
Great watching, hope it will encourage a lot more to come down to the Grounds again. I thought the attendance was a bit more than 700, but not a lot.

Always hard to judge attendances from within the stand. Where I was sitting it was about 90% full, but the ends are always a bit more sparsely-populated. Counted about 50 Harps fans on the other side. I think the tent holds just under 1,000, 975 or something, so 750-800 attendance with those in the tent, the Harps fans, and people behind the goal at the Bray Bowl end seems reasonable

[nigel-harps1954]

I can put my green and white blinkers on if you like?


I think littlebray got there ahead of you with the penalty decision. Funston is lost as a midfielder, should be a goalkeeper with reactions like that if he can deliberately handball from two yards in that fashion.



Always hard to judge attendances from within the stand. Where I was sitting it was about 90% full, but the ends are always a bit more sparsely-populated. Counted about 50 Harps fans on the other side. I think the tent holds just under 1,000, 975 or something, so 750-800 attendance with those in the tent, the Harps fans, and people behind the goal at the Bray Bowl end seems reasonable

I'd say you're not far off with that 90% full assumption. There's a photo of the stand on here: http://54crew.com/news/2017/3/4/lets-talk-about-bray
When you zoom up to the photo you can see maybe close to 100 empty seats dotted along the stand, and a couple of small blocks of empty spots.

I didn't think the stand held that many but I see that Wiki has it as 985 seats. On that, there probably was around 850 or so there with 50-60 Harps fans. Quite disappointed with the travelling support although the weather would have put people off travelling too.

[nigel-harps1954]

Hard to see actually without being able to zoom in properly. Taken on my phone though, and zooming in on the phone you can see a patch of 20 seats on the left hand side, around 30 or 40 seats on the far right side, and there's a small patch of empty seats behind each dugout.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56921fe7dc5cb46e49d63fb7/t/58bad76744024365b320d7f7/1488639850314/?format=1000w

[monkey9]

I tend to agree about the soft free, but on the penalty, from where I was watching, Funston's reaction, very quick, was to bring his arm down towards the flight of the ball. I would certainly agree with Buttimer (who ever thought I'd be writing that!) that it was a deliberate hand ball. As for whether it was inside the are, only TV shots will determine that, but I felt it was probably marginally inside.
All that said, the referee should almost certainly have given Harps the earlier penalty shout, which I think was a good one, and I was very surprised he didn't whistle as soon as Gallagher went down. I thought it was Ethan Boyle who hit him, by the way, in the course of that spectacular tumble-turn that he himself was injured in.
Great watching, hope it will encourage a lot more to come down to the Grounds again. I thought the attendance was a bit more than 700, but not a lot.

With there being only one camera at games, i wouldn't hold my breath.

[SeanDrog]

With there being only one camera at games, i wouldn't hold my breath.

Ah now, glass half empty .... at least there was a camera there :) I remember the days of aertel and waiting for pages to scroll lol

[Lim till i die]

Dundalk sligo kicking off shortly.

If dundalk avoid defeat you're looking at a big title decider between two unbeaten sides in oriel next week.

Was out in ul during the week chedoze can run the 100m in four seconds on astroturf.

[ToberonaTornado]

1-0 Dundalk,McEleney

Goal > https://twitter.com/Jamiecm81/status/838118492008251392

[SeanDrog]

Given the dog fight to avoid the bottom three I find myself cheering for fellow Louth men tonight.

Enemy of my enemy and all that ....

[nigel-harps1954]

Sligo having a poor start to the season. 2-0 down already.

[Lim till i die]

Sligo having a poor start to the season. 2-0 down already.

In fairness to Sligo their opening two league games have been against arguably the two greatest sides the game in this country has produced.

Ion Stephen Henderson doing a top job as usual at cobh. It's a crying shame the fai robbed a team like ramblers of a shot at promotion.

[ToberonaTornado]

Dundalk promotion poster for next week:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5snSEkWMAEJSYz.jpg

[sbgawa]

Dundalk promotion poster for next week:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5snSEkWMAEJSYz.jpg

That's excellent

[joey B]

3-0 Dundalk and Rover's down to 10 men.

[nigel-harps1954]

4-0 in Sligo now.

[SeanDrog]

Two hammering in a row for Sligo ouch ... Dundalk showing no mercy

[ger121]

WTF is happening at Sligo.

[ToberonaTornado]

Two hammering in a row for Sligo ouch ... Dundalk showing no mercy

and Dundalk had 6 top players missing!! Was listening to the commentary there on OceanFM jaysus they were very depressed about Sligo(Alan Keane was co-commentator)
Robertsons days numbered?

[Nesta99]

Listening to Alan Keane on OceanFM he was pretty damning of the effort or urgency by the Sligo lads from the off, for the first home game and expecting a rebound from the Limerick game. Limerick lads observation was that Sligo player could be fitter. Worrying for Rovers, Robertson with his neck on the block already!?

[SeanDrog]

Great win for cobh given their disappointment (rage) from their draw last week vs Wexford. I hope they are able to challenge the money teams this year in the first - my first div claret and blue club :)

[nigel-harps1954]

It would be amazing if Cobh won the league..

[SeanDrog]

It would be amazing if Cobh won the league..

100% agree

Come on Cobh

[hollocaine]

Well done Cobh tonight. Took their chances when they came.

We're dreadful. No chance of being in the promotion mix. Players didn't look like they gave a damn. Club took the easy option appointing Mathews and now we're seeing the result of this. He brings nothing

[NeverFeltBetter]

Listening to Alan Keane on OceanFM he was pretty damning of the effort or urgency by the Sligo lads from the off, for the first home game and expecting a rebound from the Limerick game. Limerick lads observation was that Sligo player could be fitter. Worrying for Rovers, Robertson with his neck on the block already!?

God knows, with three going down automatically, you don't have a lot of time to wait and see.

[dong]

Listening to Alan Keane on OceanFM he was pretty damning of the effort or urgency by the Sligo lads from the off, for the first home game and expecting a rebound from the Limerick game. Limerick lads observation was that Sligo player could be fitter. Worrying for Rovers, Robertson with his neck on the block already!?

Not a lack of effort or fitness just a lack of quality due to poor recruitment in the off season.
Men against boys.

[Duggie]

How the hell could rovers players not be fit. They have been in pre season since early january. There full time so have no excuses. One thing you dont need money for is to be fit. From the sounds off things over the last two weeks they have been a shambles. Cant afford to let things slide for long this season.

[Charlie Darwin]

Listening to Alan Keane on OceanFM he was pretty damning of the effort or urgency by the Sligo lads from the off, for the first home game and expecting a rebound from the Limerick game. Limerick lads observation was that Sligo player could be fitter. Worrying for Rovers, Robertson with his neck on the block already!?
Didn't Robertson sign a new deal at the end of last season? Or maybe I'm confusing it with a player. Either way, I don't think Sligo can afford to sack him.

Rovers looked OK against Bohs. Hard to tell because of the pitch and obviously it was a derby game, but some promising signs with Clarke and Boyd. Derry next week will be a huge test, probably more so than Dundalk away where expectations wouldn't be so high.

[Nesta99]

Didn't Robertson sign a new deal at the end of last season? Or maybe I'm confusing it with a player. Either way, I don't think Sligo can afford to sack him.

Rovers looked OK against Bohs. Hard to tell because of the pitch and obviously it was a derby game, but some promising signs with Clarke and Boyd. Derry next week will be a huge test, probably more so than Dundalk away where expectations wouldn't be so high.
Thats not very placid of you!

[Charlie Darwin]

Thats not very placid of you!
It's Saturday night and I was out. I will grudgingly accept that Dundalk are OK at football a bit :)

[desaintsno.12]

The scramble at the bottom of the league is going to be interesting this year.

We are awful (Pats), really worryingly awful. Drogheda were a lot sharper than us without actually having to be that good but look to have some decent players. That young lad Byrne no.17 looks good....bit of a toe rag, but looks good. I would like to see Drogheda do well.....purely for Pete Mahon. Danny North signing ????

Two side notes..... refs get awful stick and rightly so, but i thought the ref on friday was good, especially given the conditions.
Also, that crowd of "casuals" supporting you are such morons. They made an attempt to get at Pats fans before the game, about 30/40 of them and then at the end of the game, after being kept behind for 20 mins we then couldnt go out the normal way and were brought through the mud and over the pitch, ridiculous stuff and seemingly because the same crowd of lads were waiting outside for Pats fans again

[Comic Book Guy]

It would be amazing if Cobh won the league..

Certainly would, it would be a Leicester style win, I wouldn't hold my breath though. With the players we lost and coupled with the moneybags investment in Waterford I just hope we'll be competitive in the division. To be fair and without wanting to go over old ground I still can't get my head around the decision to scrap the playoffs this year.

[White Horse]

Listened to Robertson's post match interview. He sounds completely deluded and not the type of manager I would want in this "season of death".

https://audioboom.com/posts/5674190-robbo-post-dundalk

[oriel]

It was suggested in the media that from the 8 FD clubs, that if all 8 agreed, the FAI would re-introduce a play off, but obviously only one still going up. Possibly it would have been 2nd v 3rd, with the winner playing 1st away, but only 6 clubs agreed.

As much as 3 going down from the PD is very tough, having no play off is extremely harsh for he FD, I think it is only for one season, but still very harsh.

Big win last night for Dundalk, I thought we would win, but didn't expect 4-0 and having it so easy. Sligo may have been missing Schlingerman, but as stated above we had a good few out including Rogers, Massey, O'Donnell, Shields & McMillan, not to mention Hoare who has still to make his debut.

[thomas72]

Dundalk v Limerick on Friday really looking forward to it playing the best in the country

[oriel]

Listened to Robertson's post match interview. He sounds completely deluded and not the type of manager I would want in this "season of death".

https://audioboom.com/posts/5674190-robbo-post-dundalk

I'm not even sure he mentioned his defensive set up and overall shape of the team? If I had a -8 GD after two games I`d be more than 'hurting'

[Duggie]

Listened to Robertson's post match interview. He sounds completely deluded and not the type of manager I would want in this "season of death".

https://audioboom.com/posts/5674190-robbo-post-dundalk

In fairness could he say much more. Silly daft questions been asked. Is there work to be done? Eh 9 goals in 2 games conceded..what di you reckon. Ask some relevant questions.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Certainly would, it would be a Leicester style win, I wouldn't hold my breath though. With the players we lost and coupled with the moneybags investment in Waterford I just hope we'll be competitive in the division. To be fair and without wanting to go over old ground I still can't get my head around the decision to scrap the playoffs this year.

If Mervue could get to the play-off places on the brink of losing their LOI status, Cobh can win the league.

Not sure I like the idea of the winners of the First Division having to them play-off for promotion. I'd rather 9th in the Premier having to play-off with 2nd/3rd in First than that.

[SeanDrog]

The scramble at the bottom of the league is going to be interesting this year.

We are awful (Pats), really worryingly awful. Drogheda were a lot sharper than us without actually having to be that good but look to have some decent players. That young lad Byrne no.17 looks good....bit of a toe rag, but looks good. I would like to see Drogheda do well.....purely for Pete Mahon. Danny North signing ????

Two side notes..... refs get awful stick and rightly so, but i thought the ref on friday was good, especially given the conditions.
Also, that crowd of "casuals" supporting you are such morons. They made an attempt to get at Pats fans before the game, about 30/40 of them and then at the end of the game, after being kept behind for 20 mins we then couldnt go out the normal way and were brought through the mud and over the pitch, ridiculous stuff and seemingly because the same crowd of lads were waiting outside for Pats fans again

Fully agree about the ref.

About the described incident, I just can't understand how this goes on with Gardai at the games, I wish they would just arrest guys rather than just separating them. Few court appearances and the rest get the message. Drives me nuts. Gardai please do your job.

The club banned guys a few years back (to my knowledge) and they should do it again by the sounds of it. But the real solution are arrests imo as bans doesn't stop them outside the ground.

I bring my kids to games for the game, this wannabe hooligan rubbish by rebels without a cause is just pathetic.

[joey B]

Sligo started last season in similar fashion and ended up 5th ,I will say they look significantly weaker squad wise than last season.
It begs the question as to what the recruitment policy is at the club from top to bottom, if you compare them to say to Derry who are a similar club in terms of size and stature ,whereas Sligo are miles ahead of Derry in commercial and ground development terms on the pitch its night and day in terms of bringing young players through and quality of squad,maybe Sligo have focused so much on the other side they forgotten you need a team to compete on it!!

[White Horse]

The club banned guys a few years back (to my knowledge) and they should do it again by the sounds of it. But the real solution are arrests imo as bans doesn't stop them outside the ground.

I bring my kids to games for the game, this wannabe hooligan rubbish by rebels without a cause is just pathetic.

This scumbag element are a pest in most clubs. There were a few scroats trying to goad Sligo fans in the ground last night until other Dundalk fans told them where to go.

However, once they get out of the ground, there is no one willing to control them.

The difficulty with United Park is that the exit for away fans in the route back into town for home fans. Ideally, the away fans would be located on the other side of the ground.

[SeanDrog]

The difficulty with United Park is that the exit for away fans in the route back into town for home fans. Ideally, the away fans would be located on the other side of the ground.

That's a very good point, tbf.

[oriel]

Before segregation was standard, I remember watching Dundalk in loads of matches in the 90's in Utd Park from the GAA side of the ground, the mix of fans seemed to work, and where the away fans are now, this was where the more die hard Drogs fans stood.

A few seasons ago we also had to walk across the pitch after the match, what amazed me was there was no ground staff directing fans, and it was a packed away end too, dreadful way to treat a pitch with fans walking all over it.

Its probably the only useful thing about Dundalk's away section, at least fans can walk out and get straight on to their coaches, but I certainly agree there is a fair amount of local yobs from our side who will be looking for trouble, arresting and a few court cases as suggested by SeanDrog might be the answer.

[outspoken]

Fully agree about the ref.

About the described incident, I just can't understand how this goes on with Gardai at the games, I wish they would just arrest guys rather than just separating them. Few court appearances and the rest get the message. Drives me nuts. Gardai please do your job.

The club banned guys a few years back (to my knowledge) and they should do it again by the sounds of it. But the real solution are arrests imo as bans doesn't stop them outside the ground.

I bring my kids to games for the game, this wannabe hooligan rubbish by rebels without a cause is just pathetic.

I've noticed this ''casuals'' problem becoming more prevelant at LOI clubs this season in particular. With social media now it's easy for these idiots to arrange fights etc. If they want to kick each other's heads in away from the ground then great let them at it but the clubs know exactly who they are and nothing is done about it. Sligo have a couple of idiots following them that literally spend their time messaging rival fans during the week trying to arrange fights and it's easyilly available for the club to see online yet nothing done about it?

[sulywaterfordfc]

Not sure I like the idea of the winners of the First Division having to them play-off for promotion. I'd rather 9th in the Premier having to play-off with 2nd/3rd in First than that.

The winners of the First Division get automatically promoted like every other year. There is no play off at all this year.

[Ezeikial]

Listened to Robertson's post match interview. He sounds completely deluded and not the type of manager I would want in this "season of death".

https://audioboom.com/posts/5674190-robbo-post-dundalk

Mr 'Integrity' Robertson is making a total ass of himself here while make scurrilous accusations against Brian Gartland for the 1st yellow card


Mr Integrity said: I felt it was soft. The first one it’s just a header, a 50-50, they go in shoulder to shoulder, the lad falls over, rolls over like something out of a Hollywood film, The referee produces a yellow card, which is disappointing. I would never ask my players to do that. He’s probably been tricked into it to a degree.

Brian Gartland does not do Hollywood roll overs and is as honest as the day is long

Mr Integrity seems to have missed the fact that Ayunga had already clattered Paddy Barrett

The Bit o’Red were hammered 5-1 by Limerick in their first game of the season and Dave Robertson’s side looked fired up in the early stages. Paddy Barrett was left in a heap by Ayunga in the eighth minute, a challenge that went unpunished by referee Ben Connolly, much to the disgust of Kenny and the Dundalk bench.


Before picking up two yellow cards in 13 minutes for 2 more assaults


Ayunga was finally booked in the 53rd minute for flattening Gartland and the big striker was given his marching orders 13 minutes later after catching Barrett with a poorly timed lunge.

John Russell could also have got a second yellow card in the first half


The hosts were lucky to finish the half with a full compliment on the pitch. John Russell was booked for a late challenge on Sean Gannon, right in front of the main stand, and four minutes later he crashed into John Mountney. Referee Connolly, however, took a lenient view and Russell was allowed to stay on the pitch.http://www.dundalkdemocrat.ie/news/home/238431/ruthless-dundalk-fc-punish-sligo-rovers-to-maintain-winning-start.html


It is one thing offering a blinkered view after a second successive hiding - but to make accusations against Gartland that he must know are false are out of order

[placid casual]

Jesus, are you banging gartland or something.
" my lovely Brian wouldn't never do a thing like that "....
Does it really bother you that much or are you completely paranoid about any criticism of your team!
Get a grip mate, will ye.