LoI Fixtures 8th/9th March

[joey B]

Premier Division
FRI Finn Harps v Cork City 8pm
FRI Bohemians v Derry City 7.45
FRI St Patrick's Athletic v Shamrock Rovers 7.45
FRI Dundalk v Waterford 7.45
SAT Sligo Rovers v UCD 7.45

First Division
FRI Limerick v Drogheda 7.45
FRI Cabinteely v Longford 7.45
FRI Athlone v Shelbourne 7.45
FRI Galway United v Bray 7.45
SAT Cobh Ramblers v Wexford 7pm

[wonder88]

So Limerick not going back to Saturday for their home matches this year?
Biggest crowd should be at the Luas derby I suppose.

[MattB11]

Pitch inspection at 1:30 in Finn Park

[littlebray]

Biggest crowd should be at the Luas derby I suppose.

Don't forget, Bohs are on the Luas too, now!

[Charlie Darwin]

Don't forget, Bohs are on the Luas too, now!
Not sure Derry is though. Not on a direct luas line anyway.

[mcgonigle]

Pitch inspection at 1:30 in Finn Park

What was the outcome of this? Were they able to find a pitch to inspect?

[joey B]

Game on, they found Pat Hoban in Keith Cowan's back pocket aswell!

[sbgawa]

Bohs saying the Jodi sold out / or will sell out..
Derry won't fill the Des Kelly, are home supporters allowed in there?

[joey B]

Bohs saying the Jodi sold out / or will sell out..
Derry won't fill the Des Kelly, are home supporters allowed in there?

They sold out the Jodi against us too,but there was no home fans in the stand behind the goal,they could have like but I think the FAI wouldn't allow it.

[sbgawa]

The Luas derby is a big match for both clubs.
If Rovers are going to challenge this year we need to start winning matches like this.
If Pats are going to challenge ditto.

Its only 3 points at the end of the day but with Sligo/Harps and UCD next up it sets us up to go on a bit of a run .............or abject misery :)

[sbgawa]

They sold out the Jodi against us too,but there was no home fans in the stand behind the goal,they could have like but I think the FAI wouldn't allow it.


kinda strange,
Up until this season the only thing that seperated Bohs fans from Rovers fans in Tallaght was a line of netting and some stewards.
Surely they could run a bit of netting accross the Des Kelly......

[joey B]

Its odd,they decided they needed a steel fence to separate us because of the massive history of trouble between Bohs and Harps!

[sbgawa]

You Harps boys are known troublemakers , a steel fence is the least that would be needed.
An oul bit of netting is good enough for us.

Speaking of troublemakers, the 4th official sending Ollie into the stand against us last Monday needs a bit of netting put around him.
Was funny seeing Ollie walk off the pitch and then reemerge and sit down with the Rovers fans, proper banter

[marinobohs]

Its odd,they decided they needed a steel fence to separate us because of the massive history of trouble between Bohs and Harps!

Nope, because the Jodi wasn't sold out. Great crowd in the JODI alright, including some of our 'sworn enemies' ;) from Donegal but anyone that wanted to could pay in on the night.Originally had intended not opening the Des Kelly stand and facilitating Harps fans in the JODI but as crowd grew a late call was made to open DK Stand for 'away' fans (that's why facilities were VERY basic). No Boh's fans chose to go in the DK stand and as JODI was available they didn't need to.
The only game that segregation is strongly imposed is V shams (for obvious reasons) even when the DK Stand is open its quite normal to see away fans wander about the Jodi ad shock horror use the bars.

But we still hate ye :cool:

[Asterix]

Rovers allocation for tonight is sold out and Pats are saying the home end will sell out. Looking forward to it, Hopefully it will be a good game.

[Ezeikial]

The Luas derby is a big match for both clubs.
If Rovers are going to challenge this year we need to start winning matches like this.
If Pats are going to challenge ditto.
:)

Tis a bit early to be ruling either club out of a title challenge

[Nesta99]

You Harps boys are known troublemakers , a steel fence is the least that would be needed.
An oul bit of netting is good enough for us.

Speaking of troublemakers, the 4th official sending Ollie into the stand against us last Monday needs a bit of netting put around him.
Was funny seeing Ollie walk off the pitch and then reemerge and sit down with the Rovers fans, proper banter

No need, he just takes his runners off and puts the feet up and people stay clear!! ;p

[Jack B]

Looks like a massive crowd is on for tonight. Both ends on for sell outs.

Can see a scrappy game though, both teams' quality is very much condensed in the midfield so I reckon we'll largely cancel each other out. Drennan will be the the most likely on the pitch to dig a goal out so hopefully that stands to us, but I fear by the same token Rovers are the more settled side by far, we've not found our feet yet as a team and this isn't a handy game where that will suddenly click into place.

Still - 4-0 Pats.

[sbgawa]

Rovers just sent an email out saying all away allocation gone, no sales to away fans tonight in the stadium.
5 nil Rovers :)

[nigel-harps1954]

You Harps boys are known troublemakers , a steel fence is the least that would be needed.
An oul bit of netting is good enough for us.

Speaking of troublemakers, the 4th official sending Ollie into the stand against us last Monday needs a bit of netting put around him.
Was funny seeing Ollie walk off the pitch and then reemerge and sit down with the Rovers fans, proper banter

Tomas Connolly. He was supposed to ref tonights Harps v Cork game, but that mysteriously changed late in the week and we've got Damien MacGraith instead.

[SeanDrog]

So Limerick not going back to Saturday for their home matches this year?
Biggest crowd should be at the Luas derby I suppose.

Strange we are favs for this game with Lims great odds imo 10/3. Lims drew with Longford (who handed us our own arses last week) and lost to a strong Bray side - we beat a poor Cobh side and were hammered by Longford - these odds have me at a loss.

[dundalkfc10]

Michael Duffy injured yesterday never started, 2-0 playing well but Waterford have had a few chances

[EAFC_rdfl]

Game on, they found Pat Hoban in Keith Cowan's back pocket aswell!

Nicely done!

[sbgawa]

Great win for rovers, don't know how it finished only 1 nil.
Brendan Clarke made some fantastic saves , rightly given man of the match

[Calcio Jack]

Great win for rovers, don't know how it finished only 1 nil.

Finished one nil because we don’t have a natural finisher which will cost us come the business end of the season

[sbgawa]

You could be right but when our big Austrian gets fit you could be wrong :)
To be fair I think tonight Clarke was the reason it finished 1 nil.
I'm hopeful these were the type of games we didn't win last year.

[patrickccfc]

Harps 3-4 City. Don't know how to feel about that. 3 points and goals scored is grand but conceding three here is very worrying

[Jack B]

Clarkie has been our best player this season by a long way.

Kenny needs to give his head a shake with the way he's setting up the team. Not a whole lot in it tonight on the balance of play but Rovers created chances (while we once again failed to) so more than deserved the win, even if the peno came from a bit of a freak error.

[osarusan]

Pleasantly surprised that Longford and Drogheda haven't been able to score against us so far. Fairly tame game, both sides had a chance or two to win it at the end. Wixted went off with what looked like a shoulder/arm/collarbone injury.

[micls]

Harps fans must be gutted after that. They were the better team first half, and 2 screamers from Gearóid was all that kept us in it.

We started the 2nd half very brightly and created a fair bit. Happy with the scoring, confused about the shambles of a defense. We badly missed McLoughlin.

Great to come back twice and more importantly get the 3 points.

Big game against Bohs next week!

[Jack B]

Also Miele being taken off when he was our only player doing anything was absolutely bizarre.

[da bishop]

Many thanks to Tommy and all the lads for the riveting entertainment we witnessed at the Markets Field tonight and of course the Drogs too,me and the other odd 400 will be back to sample more next week,and who knows we might even see a goal go in the goals ………..lads...…..like.

[joey B]

Sickner tonight,outplayed Cork completely in the first half and conceded 2 goals from pretty much the only attacks Cork had ,for the first 25 minutes of the second half they stepped it up and won the game,but you can't score 3 goals at home and lose to anyone,I'd expect Cork to be very far way from challenging looking at them tonight on the flip id be concerned at how poor we're looking at the back have to defend better than we are.

[oriel]

Not sure how I was feeling about our game v Waterford tonight before kick off when the news came in that Duffy was the latest to miss out, given those who were missing I probably would have taken a draw. With a completely different MF to the one that played in the Pres Cup Final and FAI Cup Final, even with the potential to those coming in was not guaranteed to get a result.

Dundalk were missing Duffy, McEleney, Benson, Shields, and Mountney, thats some hit for any side to take, but very pleasantly surprised on those who stepped up, Sean Hoare even had to play as an emergency holding player, he did well. I thought Sean Murray was excellent, his running and passing and long shot finishes (2 goals now) has a comparison to early career of Richie Towell. The two other stand outs for me was Jamie McGrath and young Daniel Kelly who got his first goal for the club while finishing off a superb 3 man quick passing move.

I was surprised Waterford didn't put us under far more pressure given the absentees, Hery is a class act but he wasn't doing too much damage passing in his own half and just on the half way line.

4-0 probably flattered Dundalk a tiny bit, but it was a well deserved win and to think last year the two home games were so close, one was a last min og win, the other was only sealed with a 90th min winner to make to 2-0.

[Burnsie]

took in Pats v Shamrock Rovers as a neutral

It was an entertaining match, in stark contrast to my previous visit to Richmond for the Cork game, which was just a turgid series of long balls and set-plays.

Rovers were by far the more impressive team. Byrne and McAneff were a class above anything Pats had. Forrester was completely anonymous again (has he done anything since he came back? surely it's not just a lack of match fitness) and poor Jamie Lennon had a dog of a game, given the run-around by Finn and was taking a bit of stick from the Camac, (which was surprising because Pats twitter would have you believe he's the next Roy Keane).... Was amazed Miele was subbed - didn't look to have a knock and he seemed pretty unhappy to be hooked. He had been by far Pats' brightest player, although Drennan was fairly lively too, having looked rusty v Cork. I think Pats are missing Conan Byrne to give them a change of pace in the final third and deliver a bit more quality into the box.

Anyway, another great crowd at Richmond and one of the better LOI matches I've seen in terms of the general standard. Rovers definitely have more about them than in 2018 and having watched them tonight I'd be amazed if they didn't finish in the top two

[oriel]

Good post, always interesting to get a view from a football fan who has no affinity for either side. By all accounts it seemed to be a decent game.

Not too good to hear about Forrester though, still early days for him, but if he has lost his appetite that's another thing altogether, hopefully he can get back to his best sooner rather than later, as he has a lot to offer the league.

[outspoken]

Pitch in Stradbrook was an utter disgrace tonight. Nothing new there but tonight was the worst surface I've ever seen anywhere. Pitch inspection took place at 2pm and it wasn't for rain, it was down to the utter state of the surface. It was totally unplayable.

[ToberonaTornado]

Not sure how I was feeling about our game v Waterford tonight before kick off when the news came in that Duffy was the latest to miss out, given those who were missing I probably would have taken a draw. With a completely different MF to the one that played in the Pres Cup Final and FAI Cup Final, even with the potential to those coming in was not guaranteed to get a result.

Dundalk were missing Duffy, McEleney, Benson, Shields, and Mountney, thats some hit for any side to take, but very pleasantly surprised on those who stepped up, Sean Hoare even had to play as an emergency holding player, he did well. I thought Sean Murray was excellent, his running and passing and long shot finishes (2 goals now) has a comparison to early career of Richie Towell. The two other stand outs for me was Jamie McGrath and young Daniel Kelly who got his first goal for the club while finishing off a superb 3 man quick passing move.

I was surprised Waterford didn't put us under far more pressure given the absentees, Hery is a class act but he wasn't doing too much damage passing in his own half and just on the half way line.

4-0 probably flattered Dundalk a tiny bit, but it was a well deserved win and to think last year the two home games were so close, one was a last min og win, the other was only sealed with a 90th min winner to make to 2-0.

The players who started and the subs obv didn't buy into what i'll admit was a gloomy pre-game outlook with the Duffy injury just adding to the feeling of despair around the ground.
But fair play to Dundalk,they roared out of the traps and could have been ahead within a minute.Out of adversary and all that....
Waterford was shackled early and hardly landed a blow(and sometimes we helped them to land whatever blows they got)Hery wasn't at the races(flashes),Akinade was awful and the Waterford keeper was like a duck on ice sometimes.

Questions were asked of DFC players and i thought they all stood up well.
Good performance and well worth the 4 -0 (imo)

[nigel-harps1954]

Very disappointed tonight. Felt we deserved a draw at least.

[Charlie Darwin]

Also Miele being taken off when he was our only player doing anything was absolutely bizarre.
He looked wrecked.

Good win for us against a good Pats team. Thought we dominated most of the game but our lack of a goalscorer will kill us.

[Kingswood Rover]

He looked wrecked.

Good win for us against a good Pats team. Thought we dominated most of the game but our lack of a goalscorer will kill us.
A real gutsy performance from Rovers last night the pressing they did all over the pitch being very noticeable. They seem fitter than their opposition in every game so far wth maybe the exception of Dundalk, Aarron Greene was like super again last night and getting to that cushioned instep volley during the mixup between the pats defender and the goalie was down to his drive and fitness. If he clicks he will be that goalscorer that we need to get near to Dundalk. Bolgers passing and the way he controlled the game where was that last year. Grace at the back brilliant again. And Joey O Brien did well at right full. Lopez played well but he did have his usual couple of clangers but would not drop him as he has heart give 100%. We might justs might finish within single figures of Dundalk. Brilliant atmosphere last night 3 away games for Rovers sold out. "Your only here to see the Rovers" Hard to argue with the sentiments of that little ditty. KOH.

[marinobohs]

Dreadful game at Dalymount, the wind didn’t help but the complete inability to string two passes together was a bigger factor. Bohs badly missed Corcoran and Bucko. Derry (just about) deservedly went ahead after s stupid challenge by Pender and a great performance by Cheerie looked to be getting them another win at Dalymount. Bohs equalized with about 12 minutes to go and laid siege to the Derry goal but it was mainly huffing and puffing. 1-1 FT probably about fair.

Another full house in the Jodi hopefully they won’t be put off by the horrendous football

[patrickccfc]

Goals from harps vs city.
Morrisseys goals 😎😎

https://youtu.be/jcXnLBAdUWk

[Dalymountrower]

I thought Derry played well.Committed to the tackle and closed down well.
Wind played havoc alright but some woeful passing.Badly missed Dinny to hold the ball up and even Bucko for his industry.
Two great chances to win it.Dont remember any Derry chances other than the peno.
Only ourselves and Dundalk unbeaten after 5, who's have thunk.
Could be the two teams fighting it out for 3rd /4th.
Massive crowd in the Jodi. Seemed bigger than the Harps match. 3k at least.

[Ezeikial]

Goals from harps vs city.
Morrisseys goals 

https://youtu.be/jcXnLBAdUWk

Outstanding goals from Gearóid Morrissey. He may be inconsistent, but he can score some spectacular goals

[Ezeikial]

4-0 probably flattered Dundalk a tiny bit,

Even allowing for a disallowed goal, hitting the post, legit penalty not given and numerous other chances, while Waterford had zero clear cut chances?

Dundalk were full value for a comprehensive win, shrugging off missing the entire first choice midfield (Shields, Benson, Duffy, Mountney & McEleneny)

[White Horse]

There were a few noteworthy aspects to the game in Oriel last night.

Perth was very astute in how he set up his team. They defended deep and didn't allow give Waterford any space behind them that Hery could exploit with his range of passing. Hery had a lot of the ball but all his passing was horizontal.

Dan Kelly kept moving in to a central striker position, which took a centre half away from Hoban and allowed Gannon the freedom of the right side of the pitch.

Sean Murray is a joy to watch, an exceptional player who will get better and better.

Jamie McGrath is a baller.

[joey B]

Loads turned away from Dalymount last night apparently,this league really breaks your heart sometimes we've been crying out for support and can't accommodate all those who want to go,sickening.......

[marinobohs]

Loads turned away from Dalymount last night apparently,this league really breaks your heart sometimes we've been crying out for support and can't accommodate all those who want to go,sickening.......

To be fair the club have been advising people all week that ticket sales were very solid. Increase in members and season ticket holders this season also cut down on available tickets.
Great problem for the club but we will have to see about opening up the DK Stand to home fans. Turning people away while there is 5/600 seats empty is ridiculous (thanks to AGS jobs worth 😡)

[SkStu]

The short version of this Joey is that the gardai won’t allow us to put away fans in section A of the jodi any more and are insisting that we put them in the DK. So even though the DK has capacity of around 6-700, we might only put 150 away fans in there instead of being allowed accommodate them in the Jodi and open up the shed to the 6-700 who want to come. Madness. Only games where that makes sense even just on a numbers basis are Rovers and Dundalk. Maybe Cork too and I don’t know how many fans we can expect Pats to bring this year but I remember them filling the shed in the past.

But our hands are completely tied by the current Garda supernintendo.