FAI Cup Semi Final Cork (A)

[bluewhitearmy]

I reckon our chances of winning this one have been massively decreased by beating them Friday but you never know.

People wanna start with same team or what changes do folks wanna see? Dean Clarke has to start for me. I'd actually drop the right side if we could but if Clarke replaces Cotter dunno who we would replace Kenny with.

Will we bring a huge crowd?

[osarusan]

Should be a tasty one. I'd like to see Ogbene just keep the ball until he gets fouled. There could be a red card in it if he winds them up enough.

Clarke to start instead of Cotter, and the rest the same I suppose. Kenny a weakness, but Clarke is better used elsewhere.

Can Cotter cross? could he be a winger?

[bluewhitearmy]

Should be a tasty one. I'd like to see Ogbene just keep the ball until he gets fouled. There could be a red card in it if he winds them up enough.

Clarke to start instead of Cotter, and the rest the same I suppose. Kenny a weakness, but Clarke is better used elsewhere.

Can Cotter cross? could he be a winger?

I doubt Cotter could be a winger tbh holds the ball way too long at times as it is.

[Lim till i die]

Afaik the club asked for 650 tickets.. which will be more than enough imo. The game is on telly and the matchday experience in the away end of Turners Cross for people is awful (if I had a small kid I wouldn't bother personally). 650 would be about half our home crowd aswell which is decent going no matter what way you cut it.

On the game I can't see anything other than a spanking. Now I thought the se the other night but the crucial difference is this game is on in Turner's Cross. Which given the standard of refereeing in the league is a free pass for cork to spend the game murdering Chedozie Ogbenes shins again.

Clarke has to start instead of Cotter. The only other thing you could do is tell Stephen Kenny stay in bed, put Lee Jay out wide right and Joe Crowe in the middle as a sitter... Probably too much fooling with a winning team tho.

[osarusan]

I doubt Cotter could be a winger tbh holds the ball way too long at times as it is.

I don't mind too much wingers giving the ball away in an attempt to make space for a cross - not such a danger if they give it away in the opposition half.

I don't know if Cotter can actually cross the ball though.

[Jofspring]

I don't mind too much wingers giving the ball away in an attempt to make space for a cross - not such a danger if they give it away in the opposition half.

I don't know if Cotter can actually cross the ball though.

He tends to over hit his crosses.

I'd just make a straight swap, Clarke for Cotter.

Cork will start stronger than Friday and you would imagine we won't be getting any gifts from Robbie this time as he probably won't be on the field.

It's a free hit for us. Cork expected to win well at the second time of asking and if they lose tonight all the pressure is on them.

[superblues37]

needed cork to wrap up the league last night to have any chance of winning friday night.........

[Centenary]

Agree with above - this is bonus territory for us, a free hit. If they play like they did last night, we're in big trouble.

Tosi did a great job of physically dominating their centre halves last week, needs a similar performance Fri night.

[Mastershake87]

needed cork to wrap up the league last night to have any chance of winning friday night.........

Not sure why that would make any difference. Surely Cork have already won the league. FA cup semi is massive for them.

I'd bring Joe Crowe into the team at right back instead of Barry Cotter. Although admittedly Dean Clarke played well when he come on against Cork I can't see him going the full 90 mins against either Dooley or Sadlier without getting a roasting. Lynch needs to be played centrally to get the best out of him.

Would love to see John O'Flynn come off the bench and get a winner.

[harpin]

Would love to see John O'Flynn come off the bench and get a winner.

A penalty after an Ogbene dive

I think we'll get well beat...no Williams for them this time...Bennett against Rodrigo

[Treaty Gooner]

I'm predicting a draw.

[bluewhitearmy]

https://www.google.ie/search?q=I+predict+pain&tbm=isch&imgil=ZH9Q05hESS7kxM%253A%253BzHu3dI2ZljxhqM%253Bh ttps%25253A%25252F%25252Ftwitter.com%25252Fmansize dthumbs%25252Fstatus%25252F643084381050040321&source=iu&pf=m&fir=ZH9Q05hESS7kxM%253A%252CzHu3dI2ZljxhqM%252C_&usg=__7qJVgmkQT_4uDNb_nPgfxatLjUY%3D&biw=1920&bih=949&ved=0ahUKEwjB7aqvtMrWAhXB1xQKHbv_A6MQyjcIOw&ei=ST7OWYGlFcGvU7v_j5gK#imgrc=ZH9Q05hESS7kxM:https ://pbs.twimg.com/media/COyx1NvWEAAbANh.jpg:large

[NeverFeltBetter]

Yeah, you can bet the Cork squad will be raring to go at Limerick, just to prove a point. Haven't a hope really. Be happy if they keep the score down to a respectable level.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Well, they did just that. Should have gotten the replay though.

As I said in the main FAI Cup thread, we just aren't good enough in the forward sections of the pitch. We had three real chances all game: Ogbene's shot that tested the keeper a bit, the Tosi header over the bar early in the second, and that confusing muddle from that corner late-on. You couldn't really say that any of them were clear-cut, and from the amount of ball we had, we should have created way more.

Midfield gives me great optimism though. Hery bossing the show, Duggan playing better, lynch and Ogbene providing runs (though the latter fell out of the game). If they could only play like this all the time.

And I know they won, and I know it was the right call, but it did make me smile just a bit to see Cork throwing on an extra defender and turtling in the face of relegation-threatened Limerick. We could be a much higher-placed team if things clicked a bit more.

As an aside, can someone strangle O'Donoghue with that scarf? Maybe then he'll stop pestering people on the sideline with his stupid questions. More managers should refuse to talk to him.

[da bishop]

Battling performance,no shortage of honest effort from the entire bunch,obviously lacking in quality in the last third of the pitch.Hery the outstanding player in the game.Cork looked a tired team in the second half but defensively very good with Bennett in top form[pity for us Porky Bob was,n playing].Now i know some posters on here do not like me opinionating on media commentry but i have to say how disappointed i was in it this evening,the em..usual..standards dropped alarmingly.factual mistakes throughout,poor if little analysis,contradictory comments at different stages,in short i was shocked,felt let down,at times embarrassed at the rather laughable effort it all was.....so I PROMISE...NEVER TO LISTEN TO THEM TWO AGAIN.........from now on i am going to force myself to tune in to Alan o Brien and co.Great travelling support well done all.

[osarusan]

We need to hang on to Hery for next season. Probably more than any other player.

[faceoff]

Battling performance,no shortage of honest effort from the entire bunch,obviously lacking in quality in the last third of the pitch.Hery the outstanding player in the game.Cork looked a tired team in the second half but defensively very good with Bennett in top form[pity for us Porky Bob was,n playing].Now i know some posters on here do not like me opinionating on media commentry but i have to say how disappointed i was in it this evening,the em..usual..standards dropped alarmingly.factual mistakes throughout,poor if little analysis,contradictory comments at different stages,in short i was shocked,felt let down,at times embarrassed at the rather laughable effort it all was.....so I PROMISE...NEVER TO LISTEN TO THEM TWO AGAIN.........from now on i am going to force myself to tune in to Alan o Brien and co.Great travelling support well done all.
Why do you bother then if their that bad??Just to keep getting digs in.Very
Petty and childish.Im sure the Chosen One believed you always listen to him.Ah well another chaotic Limerick season pitters out.Hery will no way be playing for Limerick nx year.Cork or Rovers my bet.

[fieldofmarkets]

You never know. Starts with us making sure there is already a strong 2 year offer on the table for him. I hope our guys are being proactive.

[sadloserkid]

Yeah couldn't fault the effort of our players throughout and it was a very good performance in most aspects. We didn't create enough though in respect to our possession and Tosi is still too isolated at times. Winning all those flickons is a bit moot when there's nobody close to him. Hery was comfortably the best player on the pitch, I thought Lynch was very busy too, fired up and always looking to do something. Much more so than Duggan who I was still quite disappointed with last night. Clarke has surely relegated Cotter to the bench for the rest of the year now too?

Overall... obviously disappointing to lose a semi final but if we play like this for the rest of the year we'll stay up and, at this stage, that's mission accomplished.

[Lims4ever]

Great effort by all we were good for last 20 or so of first half should have scored , second half was poor from both teams plenty of honest effort but very little quality must have been a poor spectacle on tv , berki offered **** all when he came on and ogbene disappeared in the second half but cork done a better job on him aswell , Duggan plenty of effort but gave away the ball too easy and just not on the same level as hery and lynch who were superb , tosi is some workhorse his hold up play is exceptional he bullied the cork defense especially first half , big game next Saturday make sure and don't lose it the most important thing

[bluewhitearmy]

Main feeling coming away yesterday was pride tbh. We've put in some truly awful performances completely lacking in effort this season and I've been furious but when its obvious the lads are giving all they have you can't ask for more. We obviously lack a bit of quality in certain areas and we can't forget we are up against the soon to be champions.

Feel like we probably deserved to at least get a replay out of it but wasn't to be.

[sadloserkid]

Agree with above post. Even to see the likes of D.Clarke and Lynch snapping at each other over a misplaced pass in the heat of the moment was good to see - the commitment and hunger was evident last night.

Particularly important for me too is that these performances of late are coming from the guys that are there all season -Cameron, Crowe and Berki haven't added anything significant. The bones of a reasonable side is there, obviously we're lacking depth and quality in places but the rebuilding job may not be quite so severe as was feared next year.

Kudos to our support too. I watched the game from elsewhere in the ground last night but they seemed to behave excellently and made decent noise - a complete (and welcome) turnaround from last time. Great to see!

[LK37oldskool]

It's so important to keep certain members of the current squad to build on for next season. Hery and Ogbene are essential. I believe talks on contracts won't begin till premier-league status is secured. Great noise from the Limerick supporter last night. Was there and it was fantastic to be part of. Lessons learned from last time certainly. Great sense of pride leaving Tuners Cross last night. Push on now for the last 4 games.

[CraftyToePoke]

Couldn't get to this but watched it on TV and was very proud of the performance and like gael said, the performances in the last month have been encouraging. The team is light in areas & vital we keep the lads who are already mentioned & we are a long way off having a squad but it's starting to take shape hopefully. If we could finish the season strong it would be great, like if we took 7 points from the next three & left the relegation scrap well below us it would set us up well. I suppose one concern would be that the three lads NMcD has brought here have not impacted really, and we will have to see with other arrivals how that side of his management holds up, but his judgment calls on who to keep and what could be achieved with them is encouraging.

Hopefully the sky isn't falling down after all and there might even be an interesting time or two ahead if we keep what we have and add well to it.

[bluewhitearmy]

Lee J , Batien and Ogbene have to be kept if we have any hope to progress. I'd really like to keep Tosi too could end the season with 15 goals and that is hard to replace for a team like us.

Already hearing a lot of talk about clubs after Lee J hearing Waterford mad keen as well as Sligo and Rovers. Can't afford to let these things drag on as soon as we are safe we should be making moves.

[da bishop]

Lynch efforts on the pitch can never be faulted,gives his all but in the bigger scheme of things his possible loss would not be a problem,doesnt infuence games enough,a lot of aimless running and no goal return given the positions he plays.the likes of Hery and Ogbene on the other hand would be very hard to replace.

[Jofspring]

Ogbene is under contract but if we don’t make good signings early I wouldn’t be surprised to see him look for a move away.

[bluewhitearmy]

I would strongly disagree with the opinion on Lee J without him this season at stages our midfield would have been abysmal during Duggys poor form he stepped up.

Hery has been fantastic recently but have people forgotten that he was nowhere near this level up until about 4-5 weeks ago? I mean I'm a huge Hery fan have been since he first came but people including your main man Alan were mocking the idea of Hery playing ahead of Duggy earlier in the season. Not at all having a go at Bastien but if you take the season as a whole Lee J has done more imo.

Doesn't score enough is a fair criticism but if you could go back through all our goals this season I bet he has been instrumental in a hell of a lot of em. He's in double figures for assists I reckon. All about opinions I suppose but I definitely think it's a case of not giving our own the credit they deserve.

[AlanOB]

Analysis of last night's semi-final here: http://bit.ly/2x4IXl0

[sadloserkid]

In addition to making keeping Lee a priority it struck me watching the game Friday that he does far more motivating of those around him than Duggan does too. I would actually consider giving him the captain's armband. Like BWA above, for me he's been our best midfielder over the course of the whole season (Hery has obviously been different class the last month or so).

[Mastershake87]

Alan you seem to keep raising how you admire McDonald for cutting players half way through the season but I still can't see the justification for this decision. Kelly was the best right back at this club no question. Rotating Barry Cotter, Dean Clarke and Joe Crowe in his place has been a disaster and has massively contributed to our defensive frailties this year.

Paul O'Conor was also left go unnecessarily. Shane Duggan as we all know has played well below par this year and leaving the only alternative centre midfielder go was another poor decision b this manager.

Leaving these players go without getting in any decent replacements has also being a disaster and to stick with O'Connor at left back was crazy from a manager with his experience in the game. Any punter from the street could see this and results have improved since the switch was made to bring Tracy in. But the question is why did it take so long?

I cant see your rational for backing McDonald to the extent you do. It is my believe that Martin Russell if he was kept on in the job would have kept us away from the relegation battle that we still currently find our selves in. I am happy to see McDonald maintained for next season (only if we stay up) but there are still so many question marks over both he's and the boards handling of the club since Russel's departure which I believe have contributed massively to this disappointing season.

[NeverFeltBetter]

In regards the transfer policy, that goes beyond McDonald. Our last three managers have all had the same problems getting players in, which speaks more to a general problem with the club as opposed to just whoever is directly in charge of the team.

[osarusan]

I'd like to hold on to Tosi as well - he is already fairly immobile so he will be much the same player next season I'd say, and he can be a real handful and help to relieve pressure.

It all depends on how much he costs though, and what that money would bring in to replace him.

With Clarke ahead of Hall, it wouldn't surprise me if Hall leaves. I'd be hoping to hold on to both Clarkes, Ogbene, Hery, Lynch.

Whitehead, O'Connor, Cotter, and Duggan I imagine will stick around, as will Tracy if wanted.

Can't see Berki, Crowe, O'Flynn, Cameron or Kenny being around next season.

[bluewhitearmy]

In regards the transfer policy, that goes beyond McDonald. Our last three managers have all had the same problems getting players in, which speaks more to a general problem with the club as opposed to just whoever is directly in charge of the team.

Martin Russell problems with signing players was because he is absolutely awful at trying to convince people to come he had the money he was just dreadful. Like we signed lads like Hery, Tosi and Tommy Robson because the board stepped in as Russell was doing nothing.


I'd like to hold on to Tosi as well - he is already fairly immobile so he will be much the same player next season I'd say, and he can be a real handful and help to relieve pressure.

It all depends on how much he costs though, and what that money would bring in to replace him.

With Clarke ahead of Hall, it wouldn't surprise me if Hall leaves. I'd be hoping to hold on to both Clarkes, Ogbene, Hery, Lynch.

Whitehead, O'Connor, Cotter, and Duggan I imagine will stick around, as will Tracy if wanted.

Can't see Berki, Crowe, O'Flynn, Cameron or Kenny being around next season.

Freddy just signed a new 2 year deal so can't see him going anywhere. I'd be very happy to have both again anyway tbh.

[fieldofmarkets]

I think BWA that if anything, we have a possible blindside for the weaknesses of some of our own in the team. Hery has been excellent all year but inexplicably hasn't solidified his starting position until late in the season. Duggy, sadly has just not been worth his spot for almost the entire season. Lee-J has been tireless in fairness but has not got forward enough....he is supposed to be a 10! Shane T has been great since coming in but it's obvious why managers have tried everything else first.

We have our current 11 at the moment by default, through mismanagement of the squad, with zero options from the bench. How Kelly and POC were allowed leave before the end of the season is ridiculous. Only credit I can give MacDonald is for getting the last 11 players in the club to work (most of them anyway), but if you fire everyone else, it's not that hard to galvanise the survivors commitment.

If we stay up, ordinarily I would prefer to keep the manager just for some stability. People underestimate the value that can bring and in large part is why the club should not have screwed it up with Russell. However the players MacDonald has brought in are offering very little (with none even worth a starting position). For that reason, as long as the club have at least one of our goalkeepers, Whitehead, DOC, Hery, Ogbene, LeeJ and possibly Tosi and DC secured before the end of this season.....I would be happy to hand the checkbook to someone else.

[Treaty Gooner]

I kind of see why NMcD got rid of the players but he was taking a massive risk with the timing of it. Why not just drop them? It would've been ok if he was using the money saved on their wages to sign serious talent but he didn't do that either so for me, he's gotten away with it a little bit.

On the Lee-J love in, he's neat and tidy but he doesn't score enough goals or even penetrate defences often enough for me. If he did he'd be the first name on the team sheet and not some kind of attacking utility man on the right, the 10 or in midfield. If he has serious assist stats for this season, I'd like to see them. Because I haven't seen it in him.

[Castlepook]

Alan you seem to keep raising how you admire McDonald for cutting players half way through the season but I still can't see the justification for this decision. Kelly was the best right back at this club no question. Rotating Barry Cotter, Dean Clarke and Joe Crowe in his place has been a disaster and has massively contributed to our defensive frailties this year.

Paul O'Conor was also left go unnecessarily. Shane Duggan as we all know has played well below par this year and leaving the only alternative centre midfielder go was another poor decision b this manager.

Leaving these players go without getting in any decent replacements has also being a disaster and to stick with O'Connor at left back was crazy from a manager with his experience in the game. Any punter from the street could see this and results have improved since the switch was made to bring Tracy in. But the question is why did it take so long?

I cant see your rational for backing McDonald to the extent you do. It is my believe that Martin Russell if he was kept on in the job would have kept us away from the relegation battle that we still currently find our selves in. I am happy to see McDonald maintained for next season (only if we stay up) but there are still so many question marks over both he's and the boards handling of the club since Russel's departure which I believe have contributed massively to this disappointing season.

The rational is ... 1. To hound Duggy out of the club (Nothing to do with football mind you)
2. Fawn over anything NMcD related and become his new best friend.
3. Act as the clubs unofficial PRO
4. Remain club user friendly.
Don't think for a second it's about impartial reporting/journalism .. It's agenda ridden tripe.

[faceoff]

The rational is ... 1. To hound Duggy out of the club (Nothing to do with football mind you)
2. Fawn over anything NMcD related and become his new best friend.
3. Act as the clubs unofficial PRO
4. Remain club user friendly.
Don't think for a second it's about impartial reporting/journalism .. It's agenda ridden tripe.

Best description ive heard.Unbeliievable Jeff