Limerick Desmond League 2018/19

[nathanbrown]

It's very disappointing. First time i can remember that we have 2 teams that could realistically make a good run at the fai and they draw each other again. I dont think we've ever had 2 stronger contenders. I think rathkeale and abbeyfeale are both in the top 5 of the limerick/clare/kerry group
Regarding Newmarket, Newcastle can forget about it, i see a 5 or 6 nil beating, i can see Newmarket winning the fai this year. Best team I've seen in years. They have it all.
Ncw are still a huge distance back from rathkeale and abbeyfeale i think. Broadford and ballingarry are a step behind Newcastle. With another big step back to the rest. Kildimo the worst premier team I've ever seen. I've always liked kildimo but i actually think they'd struggle in division 1 this year.
Id fancy abbeyfeale to win the league this year but I'm backing rathkeale for the fai. No logic, just what i predict.

[Kennycon]

It's very disappointing. First time i can remember that we have 2 teams that could realistically make a good run at the fai and they draw each other again. I dont think we've ever had 2 stronger contenders. I think rathkeale and abbeyfeale are both in the top 5 of the limerick/clare/kerry group
Regarding Newmarket, Newcastle can forget about it, i see a 5 or 6 nil beating, i can see Newmarket winning the fai this year. Best team I've seen in years. They have it all.
Ncw are still a huge distance back from rathkeale and abbeyfeale i think. Broadford and ballingarry are a step behind Newcastle. With another big step back to the rest. Kildimo the worst premier team I've ever seen. I've always liked kildimo but i actually think they'd struggle in division 1 this year.
Id fancy abbeyfeale to win the league this year but I'm backing rathkeale for the fai. No logic, just what i predict.

Newmarket won't win the fai they play in a league that is weak so they are not been challenged every week, city and co limerick teams are it its worst regarding standard and walkovers which has now come into the game.

[twouptop]

Can anyone tell me where i could find the history of the winners of the desmond youths cup???

[Shearer]

It's very disappointing. First time i can remember that we have 2 teams that could realistically make a good run at the fai and they draw each other again.
You don't know whether to laugh or to cry at this stage it's so comical. I only caught onto it this year!

Also, I'm not even sure what they're doing at this stage with regard to the Division Two League Cup and Hogan Cup but this is just my own opinion on the structuring of Division Two.
I know there's going to be a split in the league after each team plays each other, but for the league cups I think putting that bottom half into a Division Two Shield (One club get's a bye to the Semi-final and the other 6 teams play a First Round/Quarter Final of sorts) and the top half into the League Cup under the same format wouldn't be bad idea.
For the Hogan Cup then you'd make it for all 14 Division Two sides, two sides get a bye to the quarter final while the remaining twelve teams play in the First Round.
Just a thought.

[fanaticfan]

Anyone at the rathkeale vs Abbeyfeale game?

[southern kid]

Was at most of it, missed first 20 mins.. ratkeale will be glad to be in next round and abbeyfeale will be wondering how they are not, Abbey dominated most of posesion and turned that in to 5 or 6 goal scoring chances which ratkeale keeper made 4 or 5 top class saves. The goal came from a mistake from Abbey full back before half time. Ratkeale did create few chances near the end when game was stretched but failed to take them to kill off the game. Over all a good game of ball..

[Desmond18]

Would agree with that... Abbey very unlucky... Most definitely the team to beat in the Premier this year i feel !!!!

[twotouch]

Heard similar about d game d weekend heard Rathkeale had a goal disallowed aswell. It’s hard to say Abbey are the team to beat this season Rathkeale have just beaten them. Some interesting fixtures to come d say befor Christmas esp Rathkeale Abbey in the MJC

[Johnnie C]

Newmarket Celtic are attractive visitors to Newcastle tomorrow and unlikely that the home side will upset them. Glin should be good enough to join Rathkeale in next round with the other ties difficult to call.

Sunday 21st October
New Balance FAI Junior Cup 3rd Round (extra time & penalties if required)
Carrig Celtic V Lifford Celtic 2pm (P. O’Brien)
Castleisland FC V Ballingarry AFC 2pm (TBC)
Killeaney/Bally Rovers V Shannon Hibs FC 2pm in Knockdown (P. King)
Newcastle West Town FC V Newmarket Celtic 2pm in The Demesne (G. O’Connor)
Strand Road FC V Glin Rovers 2pm (TBC), Mounthawk Park Astro

[Johnnie C]

Great effort by Newcastle, 2-0 down at half time but goals by Downes and Joyce took it to extra time. Newmarket with winner in first period of extra time.

[Johnnie C]

Castleisland FC 1 Ballingarry AFC 0
Newcastle West Town FC 2 Newmarket Celtic 3
Strand Road FC 1 Glin Rovers 3

[Johnnie C]

Carrig won 3-2 and KB United won 3-0.
Teams in 4th Round Draw,
Castleisland Afc (Kerry)
Killarney Celtic (Kerry)
Killorglin Afc (Kerry)
Avenue United (Clare)
Newmarket Celtic (Clare)
Shannon Olympic (Clare)
Shannon Town (Clare)
Turnpike Rovers (Clare)
Carrig Celtic (Desmond)
Glin Rovers (Desmond)
Killeaney/Bally Rovers (Desmond)
Rathkeale Fc (Desmond)

[Zenith]

Anyone at the Ballingarry game? Sounded like a tight affair according to the Castleisland match report.

[fanaticfan]

Some good results for the Desmond sides in the fai. Hopefully some will get handy draws in the 4th round and make it out to the open draw. NCW will be kicking themselves after yesterday's defeat. Went 2 down at halftime and came back to 2 all to force extra time. I didn't see what happened for the winner but few people were saying that a ncw player booted the ball from the back and it hit the match official and newmarket scored from it.

[Gazza29]

Great draw for the 4 Desmond teams getting the 4 out of 6 home draws

[Shearer]

Great draw for the 4 Desmond teams getting the 4 out of 6 home draws
And avoided probably the two best teams of the 12, Newmarket and Killarney Celtic. Incredible luck.

[southern kid]

A couple of interesting games the wknd, Abbey at home in Munster cup at 2 and Newcastle and broadford in morn, I agree about decent draw in fai but how many of them teams will progress in open draw, possibly ratkeale imo..

[Shearer]

Handy quarter final draw for Abbeyfeale in the Munster Champions Trophy at home to Drinagh Rangers of West Cork.

How do u know if it is handy draw shearer?do u know anything about them or just presuming, I know the league may not be that strong but also Desmond league is weak enough..
Abbeyfeale United 2-0 Drinagh Rangers.

[Johnnie C]

Looking to get a flag designed /produced for my club. Any recommendations?

[southern kid]

You were correct shearer, heard it was one way traffic in that game... just heard there is no fixtures this week with a ruling from fai not to put on games due to fai senior final in the Aviva...does any one else think this is absolutely ridiculous,weather is good, pitches in great shape and no game, if your club request a free weekend it's impossible to get but blanket call off for this.. crazy stuff

[Shearer]

You were correct shearer, heard it was one way traffic in that game... just heard there is no fixtures this week with a ruling from fai not to put on games due to fai senior final in the Aviva...does any one else think this is absolutely ridiculous,weather is good, pitches in great shape and no game, if your club request a free weekend it's impossible to get but blanket call off for this.. crazy stuff
I think it's a great idea by the FAI to ensure that the FAI Cup Final is the showcase game of the day as it should be, putting more eyes from adults on the game and getting more kids into the grounds through the scheme they've run with schoolboy clubs for the final.
Personally, I foresaw some uproar from those with little interest in Senior football, and it's understandable when you're not from Cork or Dundalk, but it is the right move.

It's not ideal with trying to keep on tracks with fixtures, but I don't think this would be much of an issue if there weren't so few games played at this stage of the season. The league missed a trick by not starting earlier and putting in midweek games, then they were further hampered by the registration error cancelling the first round of games. Had they started a week earlier than the initial date (where it was called off) and put in midweek games for the first few rounds there'd be no stopping them. That, plus Wednesday night league cup games in Clounreask like the District League have done in an inferior surface in Jackman Park and you'd be pretty good provided there's no monsoon rain.

[Desmond18]

Madness to me aswell ... who from Limerick will go to it ?? We wouldn’t go into limerick to watch them never mind up to Dublin ... anyway anyone at Broadford v NCW yesterday ??

[Gazza29]

Madness to me aswell ... who from Limerick will go to it ?? We wouldn’t go into limerick to watch them never mind up to Dublin ... anyway anyone at Broadford v NCW yesterday ??

I wasn’t at it but heard there is a lot of player unrest in NCW after some of the substitutions made during the game

[Johnnie C]

Madness to me aswell ... who from Limerick will go to it ?? We wouldn’t go into limerick to watch them never mind up to Dublin ... anyway anyone at Broadford v NCW yesterday ??

We're bringing our underage up to it, 54 seater bus full. Games are moved for All Ireland finals and ridiculously they were also moved before for an eggchasing game, yet people have a problem with a free Sunday for the biggest game in the Irish soccer calender? Ridiculous. If you couldn't even be bothered to go into Limerick for a game you're not really interested in the sport are you.

[fanaticfan]

It's a joke of a decision to call all the games of in the country for an fai senior cup final that 99% of the country wont have interest. The league are Miles behind and as someone said earlier about the good weather and pitches in great nick.

Great result for Abbey and Broadford. Why is there alot of player unrest gazza?

[Gazza29]

It's a joke of a decision to call all the games of in the country for an fai senior cup final that 99% of the country wont have interest. The league are Miles behind and as someone said earlier about the good weather and pitches in great nick.

Great result for Abbey and Broadford. Why is there alot of player unrest gazza?

To be honest I didn’t get the full story so I’m not sure, but what I did hear was that some players that were playing well we’re angry at been taken off and that some of the players that were left on couldn’t understand the substitution at a time when they needed goals

[twouptop]

No I'd have to agree think it's a bit much calling all games off for the senior final this weekend. If a club have an interest or have people going then fair enough but I'd be confident in saying most clubs won't have much interest of watching it on tv or going to it. Even if they did it's on at half 3, why not just have half 11 games on the day.

I doubt there's a blanket call off of games when the fa cup final is on across the water! I know id rather my club be playing this weekend anyway.

[Shearer]

I doubt there's a blanket call off of games when the fa cup final is on across the water! I know id rather my club be playing this weekend anyway.
Because people in England will watch their domestic game regardless, which is more than can be said for here.

Anyway, we could be here for the day. The games are off and aren't coming back, so make the most out of a bad situation and watch the FAI Cup Final on Sunday whether in person or on TV.
Plenty of talent on offer: Patrick Hoban has 29 league goals and should be in the Ireland squad, Michael Duffy is an incredible player to the stage that Martin O'Neill has gotten him to change from the North. That's just to name two

[Gazza29]

We will hardly solve that national issue here lads, so we might as well stick to the local game. On a serious note, is it not becoming a little alarming the way the top 4 seem to have pulled away from the rest quality wise, with some big beatings already being handed out so early in the season

[Desmond18]

We're bringing our underage up to it, 54 seater bus full. Games are moved for All Ireland finals and ridiculously they were also moved before for an eggchasing game, yet people have a problem with a free Sunday for the biggest game in the Irish soccer calender? Ridiculous. If you couldn't even be bothered to go into Limerick for a game you're not really interested in the sport are you.
People all over the country have interest in all Ireland’s hurling & football... I know most people in Desmond league wouldn’t even watch it on tv as they’d rather watch gaa in Irish !!! And FYI I love junior soccer in Munster

[Johnnie C]

Somehow I doubt there was a stampede around DL venues to get back to watch the bore fest that is Gaelic Football. You follow junior soccer, fair enough, but more of us want to see Irish soccer prosper in European and world competitions. Soccer in this country will never really prosper until there's more joined up thinking and a change in attitude from some who call themselves soccer people.

[Abbeyman]

We are lucky Gaelic football is as poor as it is but let’s not kid ourselves LOI and Irish national team isn’t exactly riveting .
As someone who follows all sports Hurling and rugby are where the spectator interest is .
Saw some abbey players playing with tour in limerick junior hurling final lately ,was at least 2000 there .

[Gazza29]

Four big games in the FAI this weekend, Rathkeale should be in good shape now with all the GAA finished

[Johnnie C]

Proposal to move DL season to the calender year defeated at an EGM tonight by 31 votes to 22. Closer than would have been expected.

[twouptop]

Have to say that's very disappointing. Ya let's keep hacking around in the muck and sh#t for another few winters and see our standards and interest in junior soccer in west limerick continue to drop. And I know someone will say oh but we'd be competing with the gaa- we already are and losing, badly. As quoted above football in this county is in a bad way standard wise but the interest and commitment the younger lads are willing to give it compared to their soccer if they play dual is mad, soccer is only 'used' to keep the body ticking over until the gaa preseason in February or so. Few more weeks of this rain and we will be into the 'blanket call off' season....but sure isn't it great..... f#@k sake 😠😠😠

[westernflow]

twouptop I couldn't agree more, why in god's names are clubs happy to stick with this nonsense? The proposed new season wasn't too far off what we currently have. I woul have been feb pre-season, games til june, break in june til mid july and then fly through the games until done around oct/nov. With the advantage of evening games teams could be more flexible. But instead, we will pre-season in july aug, play til november, off dec jan with rain and then back in feb, low and behold, the same thing, it just means now that teams will still have to be ready for game in december and must continue to train incase its not snowing. And we won't have any/many evening games. Last season most teams only had one evening game, which is laughable really.

[Johnnie C]

Playing the DL season parallel to the hurling season would be the death knell for many smaller clubs.

[last man back]

Sure it already clashes Johnny. Business end of Gaa gets going same time as DL season starts.

[twotouch]

The thing is that it is eventually going to come in from d FAI and there will be no choice. I agree at with staying the way it is because why change when no other leagues are doing it. It hampers some teams for FAI and Munster Junior etc which could mean a 12 month season if teams progress

[Soreloser]

Playing the DL season parallel to the hurling season would be the death knell for many smaller clubs.
No it would Not, Why are people so worried about what the GAA do, I'm sure they don't give a fiddlers about anyone only themselves, Change to Calendar year Soccer and you would have fellows playing Soccer who want to play soccer instead of the fellows playing soccer to keep fit for the GAA, and nobody can say the standard would be lower because its pure s**** at the moment even with the fellows from the Grab all Association playing, and the GAA season is 12 months of the year now anyway.

[Soreloser]

We're bringing our underage up to it, 54 seater bus full. Games are moved for All Ireland finals and ridiculously they were also moved before for an eggchasing game, yet people have a problem with a free Sunday for the biggest game in the Irish soccer calender? Ridiculous. If you couldn't even be bothered to go into Limerick for a game you're not really interested in the sport are you.
Spot on, fair play for bringing a bus load of kids I also went to Dublin on Sunday and thouroughly enjoyed both games, Its a pity more people would not support the National League instead of buying Jersies with names on the back that most of them can't pronounce.

[Abbeyman]

Seem to have a big chip on your shoulder there sore loser !
The hard facts are in Rural Ireland most parish’s depend on guys who play a number of sports . I think if you got rid of all hurlers and footballers like you seem to want , many clubs would do well to play 5 aside league . Be it Limerick hurlers , munster rugby or the Irish soccer team most support all depending on the time of the year .
In the majority of parish’s outside of the big towns in West Limerick GAA will be top , glin and Kilcornan beent the only 2 exceptions where GAA doesn’t feature . NCW, Abbeyfeale , rathkeale have enough players outside of GAA and Broadford have a large enough catchment area to also manage but after that many would struggle .
Our soccer season was 10 months long last year so don’t think we can moan about the length of others season .

[twouptop]

Look, it's not about stopping dual players from playing soccer or pitting soccer against football or hurling but more about giving soccer the platform it needs to improve. Playing over the march through to October months would mean better pitches, evening matches, option of flexibility with gaa if needed, less if any blanket call offs, improved standard and improved interest in the game. Who wants to go watch a game on a cold wet Sunday morning in november-february. Players find it tough to be motivated to get out in it not to mind attract a crowd to it. Look at the crowds going to football games in the summer evenings and the players have the option of socialising after games too which I think would be great to get into the soccer set up. I know id choose a Saturday eve game in June every time with option of a few pints with teammates afterwards as opposed to being gone out of the house on a wet november Sunday morning from 10am to 2pm and straight home for the dinner!

[sportsfanatic]

It’s a no brainer for me.

Soccer is now played August to May with June and July off (pre season for a lot of teams start end of July which leaves only June off really)
With the proposed Calender season you’d start in March and end in October with a break in June. This means the only month you’d be playing competitive football that you don’t play in already is July. Not a big of a change as people think it is?

As people said better pitches, more appealing for people to play on a Saturday or Monday evening with good weather, no call offs due to weather etc etc.

Something that really makes me pro calendar season is that when the Desmond league starts (end of August early September) it is the business end of the GAA season which means any body involved with a GAA team will pick that over soccer as they see the soccer as an 18 game season so it “doesn’t really matter if I miss the first 3/4 games while I’m in a West semi, West final or county semi or county final”. Instead of teams having half a team or a weakened team at the start of the season which could ruin their chances of having a good season (as we all know howimportant a good start is) you’d be starting in March which isn’t an important time for GAA as it’s just league games and friendlies played.

No matter time you play you’ll be clashing with Hurling, Football, Rugby etc. Its time for soccer to worry about soccer and do what’s best to develop our players and the standard of the game.

[Shearer]

Here comes the first weekend of loads of games being off.

[southern kid]

No games off yesterday due to weather that I'm aware of shearer.. some great results for Desmond league teams in fai,not surprising as opposition was on level par or below..ratkeale in flying form so far, could be a big year for them..

[Shearer]

Yeah it's gas it was flogging rain either Wednesday & Thursday or Thursday & Friday and was bone dry then Saturday and Sunday! ��

Delighted for the 3 Desmond sides that got through, another three home draws please.

Would love to see some AUL side come down to Glin for a culture shock.

[fanaticfan]

Rathkeale are in flying form. Can see them winning the league. Hopefully the Desmond get a handy draw and some of them at home

[Shearer]

Gorey Rangers Vs Rathkeale.
Glin Rovers Vs Lakewood Athletic.
Moneygall or Peake Villa Vs Carrig Celtic.

[Gazza29]

Gorey Rangers Vs Rathkeale.
Glin Rovers Vs Lakewood Athletic.
Moneygall or Peake Villa Vs Carrig Celtic.

All ties very winnable. Long long drive for Rathkeale. At home Glin are in with a great chance