Setanta Cup Final In Tolka

[Buile Shuibhne]

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND

PRESS RELEASE

SETANTA CUP UPDATE

Wednesday 27th April 2005: Following a meeting of the Setanta Cup Tournament Committee in Dundalk yesterday the following amendments have been made to the fixture list:

Cork City V Portadown Monday 16th May 2005 K.O. 7.45pm (instead of 7.15pm)

Glentoran V Linfield Tues 17th May 2005 K.O.7.15pm (instead of Monday 16th May)

The change of date is to allow for the possibility of both final group matches being televised live.


Setanta Cup Final Venue

The Final of the Setanta Cup will take place on Saturday 21st May K.O. 7.30pm. at Tolka Park, Dublin unless the two finalists are from the Irish Football Association. In such case the Final will be played in Windsor Park, Belfast.

ENDS

Issued on behalf of the Football Association of Ireland by

Pat Costello
Director, Corporate Affairs

[adamcarr]

Would have liked it to had been in Lansdowne but Im not that annoyed!

[Slash/ED]

Great news about the kick off time, so no clash with the English cup final. Atm it looks like being an all FAI final, Longford are slight favourites for their group now and it looks like it's one of Shels or Cork coming from the other one, so Tolka is a good idea. If it's North v South I would prefer Lansdowne as it would be a bigger occasion and I think would get a bigger crowd.

So now if Shels go through it's home advantage :D

[monkey magic]

Would have liked it to had been in Lansdowne but Im not that annoyed!

nah think it brings down the whole image of the tournament.. this is gonna be the showpiece game for domestic soccer on this island. i.e. the match which will attrace the most 'armchair' viewers and ( no offence to shels fans) tolka comes across poorly on tv :mad:

[Slash/ED]

Tolka would look briliant on TV if the camera was on the other side of the ground. If Setanta are smart they'll sell tickets for the Riverside stand (The one that usually has the camera on it and the one that's by far the biggest in the ground) first, fill that, and have the camera facing it. It would look much better, and the camera would also be facing onto the New stand instead of mainly focusing on the half behind that goal that has nothing there.

[thejollyrodger]

no real surprises that its Tolka, its the best pitch for the occasion.

I really hope its 2 southern teams in the final just to show the gulf in class :D :D

[Kingdom]

Out of interest why does that stand behind the goal not have fans in it when on tv? Its cool looking! And why was the new stand behind the other goal only half buiilt across the pitch?

[Slash/ED]

Out of interest why does that stand behind the goal not have fans in it when on tv? Its cool looking! And why was the new stand behind the other goal only half buiilt across the pitch?

The stand behind the goal isn't covered so it only ever has people in it if the other stands are full, even in the sunshine. The away fans are put in the stand under where the camera is.

And the new stand behind the goal was only half built because of planning permission iirc, that's all we could get. It looks stupid the way it is.

[Buile Shuibhne]

The Ballybough has no roof - lack of shelter & acoustics

At the Drumcondra End - the other half in direct line with the New Stand is on private land - house & garden owned by Mrs McGuckian & family who has refused numerous offers overthe years to sell up to Shels - another reason for the move to Swords

[Kingdom]

Yeah to be fair it does look stupid. The fact that the away fans are put in the main stand in my opinion shows that Shels don't have that many fans?
I think that in general the way the cameras are set up for the eL matches shows the grounds up badly, particularily Drogheda's ground.

[Slash/ED]

Well Tolka is the biggest stadium in the league so there's enough room between the main stand (The one that faces the camera) and the New Stand to accomodate pretty much any home support in the league, so the away support go into the bigger stand because the Ballybough end is uncovered and so as Fintan said the noise gets lost there and your open to the weather.

[Anto McC]

I think that in general the way the cameras are set up for the eL matches shows the grounds up badly, particularily Drogheda's ground.

Honestly don't think you can show Drogheda's ground(O2 park) in a good light.In 3 words It's a Dump.

[thecorner]

looks like we have to pay another visit to tolka again this season :D

REBEL ARMY ON TOUR!

[Éanna]

Looking forward to our trip to Tolka already. horrible dump of a ground, but I always enjoy it when we win there- a cup final victory will be even nicer.

[Slash/ED]

but I always enjoy it when we win there

You must have a long memory than Éanna

[Éanna]

You must have a long memory than Éanna
I do. Thats what enables me to be such an utterly bitter person :p
May 6th 2001 bring back any memories- the last time that twerp Ollie Cahill did anything useful ;)

[Slash/ED]

May 6th 2001 bring back any memories- the last time that twerp Ollie Cahill did anything useful ;)

Was there a match that day? :confused: I seem to have managed to completley block it from my mind. Why is it that future Shels wingers always manage to deprive us of the league title at the end of the season in Tolka, first Ollie did it then Bobby Ryan :(

[Éanna]

Was there a match that day? :confused: I seem to have managed to completley block it from my mind. Why is it that future Shels wingers always manage to deprive us of the league title at the end of the season in Tolka, first Ollie did it then Bobby Ryan :(
Ye don't wanna sign Billy Woods in November do ye :eek: :D

[Slash/ED]

Ye don't wanna sign Billy Woods in November do ye :eek: :D

Part exchange with Dave Crawley and you have yourselves a deal :D

[dcfcsteve]

nah think it brings down the whole image of the tournament.. this is gonna be the showpiece game for domestic soccer on this island. i.e. the match which will attrace the most 'armchair' viewers and ( no offence to shels fans) tolka comes across poorly on tv :mad:

A busy-looking Tolka won't bring down the image of the tournament. An 80% empty Landsdowne Road would. There's zero point having a competition in a stadium that is vastly bigger than the attendance it'll attract.

And this game certainly won't attract the most armchair viewers. It's on a subscription channel that only a tiny percentage of the country have access to. Strip out the large number of those subscribers who will have other things to do on a Saturday evening (it clashes with the Eurovision !) - not to mention those who only got Setanta for rugby and foreign football - and realistically it'll attract less viewers than even an average EL league game does.

Moving the final to Tolka was not only the right decision, but an entirely predictable one.

[pete]

FAI/Setanta seem to be well organised by announcing final venue in advance.

I don't think much chance of Lansdowne getting more than 10k so better to have in smaller ground. More coffers in Ollies pocket though :(

[Éanna]

Part exchange with Dave Crawley and you have yourselves a deal :D
nearly be worth it if it meant winning the league :)

[Slash/ED]

nearly be worth it if it meant winning the league :)

Yeah, nearly being the word ;)

[Éanna]

Yeah, nearly being the word ;)
shíte, I'd meant to put that in large, bold letters.

like this:

NEARLY

doesn't matter anyhoo, cos we're gonna win the league anyways :)

[TonyD]

Surely Dalymount would have been a better option if Shels make the final. Hardly seems fair to give them home advantage. I take the point about Landsdowne. The game is unlikely to attract a big enough crowd to look good in Lansdowne, so Dalymount would be a better compromise. And the new stand there is the best looking in the Country for TV coverage. Mind you, having said that, my guess is a Cork v Linfield final.

[GalwayFrancis]

Surely Dalymount would have been a better option if Shels make the final. Hardly seems fair to give them home advantage. I take the point about Landsdowne. The game is unlikely to attract a big enough crowd to look good in Lansdowne, so Dalymount would be a better compromise. And the new stand there is the best looking in the Country for TV coverage. Mind you, having said that, my guess is a Cork v Linfield final.

isnt it sad that we can only play cup finals in two or three stadiums in our whole country and one of them will definatly be the home of one of the finalists :( someone please build a nice new 10000 seater stadium somewhere, dublin if needs be

[Slash/ED]

We have a 10,000 seater stadium in Dublin and that's where the Setanta Cup final will be :)

[thecorner]

We have a 10,000 seater stadium in Dublin and that's where the Setanta Cup final will be :)

pity you wont be a part of it :D

gonna be great to win a trophy at tolka
:D

[ccfcgirl]

I think landsdown would of been a disaster of a ground to play in .It would of looked too empty.Dalymount would of been a great choice ,but tolka will do nicely

[Ronnie]

I think if Linfield or Glentoran make it you would definitley have a sell out, they have very big fans bases - no club down here would send 700 plus to a game on a Monday. If Longford make it we'd send up about 3 or 4 thousand. Although when you've played in the last 4 cup finals on the spin your fans get a bit lazy! Only problem I have with the venue is that it does give Shels an unfair advantage if they make it but I do accept that no other ground in the capital is suitable (yet, so calm down Bohs fans)

[BohDiddley]

Leaving aside stadium capacity and revenue, it's absurd that the venue is the home ground of one of the contenders.
How, in the (hopefully unlikely :p ) event that Ollie's crew make it to the final, can this be justified?
This is the kind of bizarre decision-making that seems perpetually to blight Irish football. I had hoped that the Setanta would mark a departure. Or am I wrong? Is there a get-out clause?

[Xlex]

well I'm so annoyed it's not in Dalymount. It's the home of Irish football and the nostalgia of going to Dalymount is certainly not lost... Whatever about the rest of the ground, the jody stand is the finest in the league...

[michaelguineys]

Well Tolka is the biggest stadium in the league so there's enough room between the main stand (The one that faces the camera) and the New Stand to accomodate pretty much any home support in the league, so the away support go into the bigger stand because the Ballybough end is uncovered and so as Fintan said the noise gets lost there and your open to the weather.

Is that def right?
I think Turners Cross looks a lot bigger to be honest

[Slash/ED]

Is that def right?
I think Turners Cross looks a lot bigger to be honest

Tolka has a far bigger capacity that The Cross, around 3,000 more, and that's even though The Shed being a terrace would increase that figure whereas Tolka is all seater. Tolka looks smaller than it is on the TV because the biggest stand by far is under the camera.

[paudie]

Is that def right?
I think Turners Cross looks a lot bigger to be honest

The Derrynane side in the Cross doesn't hold that many whereas the two stands along the side of the pitch in Tolka are fairly big.

[dcfcsteve]

well I'm so annoyed it's not in Dalymount. It's the home of Irish football and the nostalgia of going to Dalymount is certainly not lost... Whatever about the rest of the ground, the jody stand is the finest in the league...

Is Dalymount not bigger than Tolka ?

[Slash/ED]

No it's not. Don't forget the end behind one of the goals in Dalymount can't be used, and the shed is tiny.

[BleusAvantTout]

I would really love Linfield to make it to the final. Not just for financial reasons but I have watched the Blues in Waterford, Finn Harps, Dundalk,Athlone, Sligo and Longford but never in Dublin! I hope we make it and I would be fairly confident that we will! :cool: