League Fixtures May 24th and 25th

[Kingswood Rover]

Rovers home to Cork seems like ages since we had a home game, really need to win, will the league be a 2 horse race similar to the English premiership with both clubs winning week in week out.

[PartySaint]

Rovers home to Cork seems like ages since we had a home game, really need to win, will the league be a 2 horse race similar to the English premiership with both clubs winning week in week out.

It'll be a handy 3 points for Dundalk tonight so a bit more pressure on you this week.

[Dalymountrower]

Rovers home to Cork seems like ages since we had a home game, really need to win, will the league be a 2 horse race similar to the English premiership with both clubs winning week in week out.
Yeah , go on , repeat your results for the second half of the season please.

[Bohs11]

Bizarre from RTE putting our game with Sligo on telly tonight, but not showing any of the three games against Dundalk. Would have thought the North-West Derby would been a better game to show tonight.

[pineapple stu]

18 minutes added in Dalyer! Must be a record?

[Nesta99]

Awful for the players and spectators especially the head injury when the lad looked out cold for so long! Was a worry until the update at halftime on Leverock.

[brendy_éire]

Start of second half of Derry-Harps delayed due to a child throwing up on the pitch at half time.

A bucket of powder and a brush has sorted it.

#greatestleagueintheworld

[Nesta99]

Thank fook for plastic pitches!!

[NeverFeltBetter]

Floodlight failure in Markets Field. I guess they could only pay the players or the ESB!

[Nesta99]

Penalty Dundalk......

[TonyD]

18 minutes added in Dalyer! Must be a record?

Bohs just got mugged there.

George commenting how the crowd are chanting Sligo Rovers - funny, he didn't mention it when they were singing "They always cheat.......":p

Made a bit of a prat of himself after the goal too "and it's been ruled out" oops

[Nesta99]

Bohs just got mugged there.

By the ref obviously!

[pineapple stu]

710 minutes without a goal now - and we don't have a game for another month.

Must be a record?

Also, 12 points now between the play-off and the next spot up; probably getting on for another record.

[DFCForever]

We love a late winner don’t we. The goal was too much sauce, Pats player clearing from a corner and it hits off Sean Hoare and goes in. When your luck’s in your luck’s in I suppose!

[dong]

Totally undeserved win there for us. But the game in the showgrounds we lost we were the better side so fair enough in the end.

[redarmyfaction]

Boh's mugged themselves throwing everything at it with 10 men against a team that constantly threatened them on the break was unwise.

[White Horse]

It's shaping up to be a really tight title race this season. Dundalk made hard work of beating Pats tonight. Harry Kenny has them well drilled. They set their stall out for a point and despite Dundalk dominating possession, it looked like they were going to get it until Sean Hoare got a slice of luck.

Rovers had the easier game on paper and by all accounts beat a poor Cork side without having to get out of second gear.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Dante knocked unconscious and needed 12 minutes treatment yet Neil Doyle waves play on

Yeah only one team looked like winning that towards the end and it wasn't the team that won it

[marinobohs]

Dante knocked unconscious and needed 12 minutes treatment yet Neil Doyle waves play on

Yeah only one team looked like winning that towards the end and it wasn't the team that won it

Been like that a bit lately for Bohs 😡 squad really creaking especially up front
Lack of Cornwall weakening what was an excellent defence. Injury to Corcoran is a nightmare !

[NeverFeltBetter]

The lights did eventually come back on and Limerick beat Cabinteely. Four points between first and sixth.

[sbgawa]

Cork cane for a point which is fair enough but 90 mins is a long time to play holding for nil nil.
Once rovers scored it was all over.
A bit more ambition from cork and they could have made more of a match of it. They went to 3 at the back and had a decent 10 minutes at 2 nil down but too little to late

[lofty9]

Junior had a wonderful overhead kick disallowed tonight for a hight foot. Ref definitely a killjoy. Easiest 3 points for us in some time.

[oriel]

Bizarre from RTE putting our game with Sligo on telly tonight, but not showing any of the three games against Dundalk. Would have thought the North-West Derby would been a better game to show tonight.

Completely agree, Derry game tonight was the one to show.

[sbgawa]

Completely agree, Derry game tonight was the one to show.

Newsflash, dalyer is closer to D4

[oriel]

Delighted with that win tonight, tough on Pats though. They will feel hard done by not getting a point, I think Dundalk probably just deserved the win, the second half was a little better after a flat first 45. The first half was awful to watch come to think of it.

Overall this was probably one of the least effective home displays of the season, (the other was the Bohs 1-0 win last month) granted it was a deflected goal, but Dundalk kept going, kept it on the ground, and went wide right up to the last few minutes. Credit to Pats mind, even though they had 5 at the back at times, they countered well on occasions and were set up well.

Dundalk are obviously getting a lot of late goals, but this is not down to luck, its a sign of good fitness / attitude.

[RathfarnhamHoop]

Men against boys in Tallaght tonight. I'd love to see the challenge again but looked like Buckley was lucky to only see yellow 30 seconds in. Joey O'Brien with his first goal for Rovers with a very well taken left footed curling effort, Lopes with a very good header from a corner too.
Lee Grace is the best defender in the league and nothing anyone says can change my mind on that fact.
There was one phase of play where about 5 Cork players had boxed in Finner, Brandon K and Greene and the 3 of them had the Cork players chasing shadows in a 3m square playing one touch passes before switching the ball out to the far wing, I'm underselling it here but it absolutely beautiful football.

[sbgawa]

I remember that passage of play.
All through it I was thinking "boot it clear it get it away" then they played their way out and I was left thinking it was time to shut the **** up :)

[Nesta99]

Cork cane for a point which is fair enough but 90 mins is a long time to play holding for nil nil.
Once rovers scored it was all over.
A bit more ambition from cork and they could have made more of a match of it. They went to 3 at the back and had a decent 10 minutes at 2 nil down but too little to late

Not a wholesale change from Cotter then, still shutting up shop away from home rather than trying to kick on with some belief.

Im surprised there has been more talk about the red card from Bohs fans?

[Charlie Darwin]

Easy win over Cork tonight - not used to having it that easy against them, although there was one game under Nutsy where they didn't show up. Dundalk starting to show the qualities that won them all those leagues with last-minute winners digging them out - still something I think we're short of so hopefully we can continue to improve because they won't drop many points.

[ToberonaTornado]

Penalty Dundalk......

:D

I'll get the guards for ya :good:

[ToberonaTornado]

It took 90 mins for Dundalk to break down the Pats back 5.They're good,resolute,determined and well drilled.It became a back 11 2nd half.Murray got hooked for Flores @ h/t,Dundalk pressed more 2nd with his presence.
We're a lucky side...fortune favours and all that.
Dundalk got the og back that Cleary gave up in the tie in Richer.
Hoare close to motm for me but Jarvis was immense and nicked it imo.

[Kingswood Rover]

Easy enough in the end. you could see corks ambition in the first 10 minutes with the keeper taking an age to take kick outs. Carr still does my head in although he is improving.... he did show some nice touches and got some half decent crosses but when he does not get the ball its all this hand flappin nonsense. He also chased back well at times. Bolger and Byrne brilliant again. At times though we struggled to get the ball forward and between the cork back 7 No game now for two weeks meehhhh.

[Ezeikial]

Lee Grace is the best defender in the league and nothing anyone says can change my mind on that fact.


Is closed-mindedness a Rover tradition?

Fair play to Lee Grace if he has improved that much

[redarmyfaction]

Im surprised there has been more talk about the red card from Bohs fans?
Maybe their not crying coconuts, unlike some.

[RathfarnhamHoop]

Is closed-mindedness a Rover tradition?

Fair play to Lee Grace if he has improved that much

And as sure as night follows day here we are

[a.a.d]

Games already shown in the Brandywell, Oriel and Turners Cross this was the first game shown live in Dublin,

[TonyD]

Delighted with that win tonight, tough on Pats though. They will feel hard done by not getting a point.

Wasn't at the game so I can't comment overall, but a bit of a sickner to lose to such a freak goal so late on. Ah well, can't honestly say I was expecting anything out of the game anyway, so a point would have been a bonus.

[White Horse]

Wasn't at the game so I can't comment overall, but a bit of a sickner to lose to such a freak goal so late on. Ah well, can't honestly say I was expecting anything out of the game anyway, so a point would have been a bonus.

Pats were tactically excellent. They did their homework on Dundalk and tried to expose the reluctance of Dundalk's wingers to track back. They kept pulling Dundalk's full backs inside and pushing on their own fullbacks. Pats just couldn't get enough possession in midfield to make the passes needed to create chances from this tactic.

They had a couple of excellent goals scoring chances from set pieces that they might have done better with.

I've been reading a lot of criticism about Harry Kenny, but Pat's performance last night is at odds with that criticism.

[Jack B]

To be fair most have given credit for how we've performed against the "better" teams (sorry Cork) this season, it's more so our performances against teams of/below our level that have been the issue. We've put in great battling showings against Dundalk and Cork and gotten great results from them, but these are different types of games than Harps at home etc where we've been absolutely shocking. Our squad is talented enough that if we set up to be tough and match the better sides in scrappy games, it's also talented enough that it should also not be reduced to playing that way in every single game and that's a balance that Kenny has looked unable to strike so far.

Desperately unlucky to lose that game last night, particularly frustrating with Bohs slipping up as well. On the balance of play Dundalk obviously deserved it more but I don't think anyone would have begrudged us the draw in the end.

[joey B]

Humiliated in the Brandywell last night,if your u10's conceded some of the goals we did last night you'd be angry never mind a senior team,Derry did what they had to and won at a canter,UCD and us are in a race to be just a little less crap than the other.....

[Kingswood Rover]

Is closed-mindedness a Rover tradition?

Fair play to Lee Grace if he has improved that much
Whaaat if you are not up to the standard required Rovers fans are none to shy about letting you know, Grace has been very good all season the only iffy game one could argue he had was against Bohemian FC. He is very comfortable on the ball as are all of our outfield players with the exception of Lopez who makes up for it in other ways ie reading the game, getting blocks in and headyiers

[nigel-harps1954]

Worst Harps performance in quite some time. We were absolutely awful and an average Derry side walked over us.

[oriel]

Easy win over Cork tonight - not used to having it that easy against them, although there was one game under Nutsy where they didn't show up. Dundalk starting to show the qualities that won them all those leagues with last-minute winners digging them out - still something I think we're short of so hopefully we can continue to improve because they won't drop many points.

Although most will agree it was a fortuitous goal by Sean Hoare, nothing lucky about any side that keeps getting late goals, its a sign of good mentality / attitude / fitness.

Cork look to be in a real difficult place now, back to what looks like their avg position now of 8th, and doesn't seem a lot of positives now as they head to Europe, these guys are FT and train daily, modt on decent wages too I'd say, so there is obviously a lot wrong about their camp.

I wouldn't have expected them to have got a result last night, but from a few other reports their display sounded nearly as if they had given up early. Irish Star gave them an avg of 5/10 and some players got 4/10 !

Thats a big gap now between Dundalk / Rovers and the teams chasing 3rd. What a game this will be in Tallaght next month between the top two.

Ps Joey O'Brien got 9/10, must have been some display by him personally.

[sbgawa]

He was excellent on the night and added a lot going forward as well as at the back.
His goal was his first in 6 years 1 day after he gave an interview on the TFTES podcast saying it was about time he scored his first goal for rovers and he was trying to hard as he was getting desperate :)

[oriel]

That must have been Rovers preferred first choice last night, as I’m assuming O’Brien went in as right full at the expense of Boyle ?

Is that a 4-4-2 he is playing then if both Greene and Carr also started or is one of those sitting back a little ?

Also who was getting in ahead of Watts earlier in the season?

[sbgawa]

It's more of a 4 5 1 .
Mceneff was is injured at the moment he has been in instead of watts.
Car is playing on the left wing which is actually his position rather than centre forward.

[passinginterest]

Carr was wide left and Watts is behind McEneff in the usual pecking order. Watts hasn’t looked particularly fit for most of the season, he’s had a few poor performances when he has got a chance. Bolger finally seems to have matured, far less likely to fly into stupid challenges and get into pointless arguments with the ref this season.

Boyle is only coming back from injury, he’ll likely get back ahead of O’Brien, he’s a lot more mobile. Rovers switched to 3 at the back when Boyle came on. It might be something they’ll try more often, with Boyle and Clarke as wing backs.

[oriel]

McEneff. I knew there was one big player I’d missed !

Yes 4-5-1 makes sense now with that line up.

Almost sure Rovers v Dlk next month is live on tv. As I said before on previous post. This should be some game.

[passinginterest]

I thought Cork were actually pretty decent until Rovers scores. They were well organised and it was a pretty even game, if a bit flat all around in the first half. Cork worked hard in the middle and kept the ball well at times. Once Rovers scores though they never looked like having a response.

[sbgawa]

They were decent in terms of being well organised but showed so little ambition that I felt it was just a matter of time until we scored.