The Setanta Cup final match latest

[Slash/ED]

Typically there's threads whinging about the choice of location and officals yet none actually about the football, unless I've missed it. Shels are supposedly completley full strenght bar the suspended Heary, so god only knows what team we'll have out. Not sure but I think Linfield are more or less full strenght too.

So who's going, who's watching on the TV and who do you think will win?

Incidentally if you can't get to the match/TV www.newstalk106.ie are doing live commentary I think and so are RTE 1 MW and LW.

[pete]

The Blues are 3/1 to win.

Shels don't have much a bench these days anyway & i think Linfield will have more fight in them even iof have no idea how to defend.

[De Town]

Shels to win 3-1.

Wont get to see it as will be out in Flancare but if Shels attackers show up at all they will destroy Linfield.

[JC_GUFC]

Yeah I'm heading - looking forward to it.

Should be much better than the fare just offered between the 2nd and 3rd in England!

I think Shels will win maybe 3-2 if Heary is out of the defence.

[centre mid]

I think it might be closer than the betting suggest, linfield hamered glentoran in the first half -

[centre mid]

Listening to match on newstalk - sounds like Linfield are having the best of the opening 20 mins

[centre mid]

Dont want to say i told you so, but...

[ger121]

Shels 2 down now,not looking good for em. All Linfield at the mo....

[sullanefc]

Very open game. Chances at both ends bit Linfield are more clinical in front of goal. They should have had a penalty as well. Great game to watch.

[centre mid]

Great game to watch.

Damn why did i have to be working tonight, coverage from newstalk ok though

[harpskid]

:eek:

What's the crowd like?

[pete]

2-0 Linfield halftime.

Looks like 4500 crowd. Main stand 80% full, new stand full, ballybough empty & 1000-1500 max Linfield fans under riverside.

Jason Byrne missed chance when rounded keeper but instead of shooting tried to round him again. Brennan at right back for shels is out of his depth. Ferguson scored goos volley from cross & Thompson added second. Baker off injured. Shels Shattered.

Linfield fans outsinging shels as expected.

Good game if a little frantic.

[centre mid]

Remember the glentoran v linfield games - they let the glens back into the game so the second half should be interesting

[ccfcgirl]

No talk on tv3 or rte about this game.I wonder is it because its Setanta station/

[A face]

Come on the Blues !! .... Two little beauties !! ;) :p

Shels bein full time ... their fitness might tell in the second, and they always play down to the wire anyway.

[pete]

Linfield still well on top. Almost finished off with 3rd...

RTE will only mention sport they cover. TV3 not so petty & more realistic but their sports department doesn't seem to work on weekends.

IMO Setanta Cup needs Il winner ;) Will mean gets more attention in 2006. Maybe some Il players will be signed by eL clubs?

[centre mid]

Its not just the tv

The star had four pages plus pullout on the fa cup - half a page for the setanta cup

the sun had 6 pages on fa cup - half a page on setanta cup

[ger121]

Bought the city final of the Herald and shock horror there was more el/Setanta coverage than epl. One page on last nights results and back page on Setanta cup. Think there is more that 4500 at the game I'm gonna say over 5000. Interesting to see if there will be a official attendance given? Stuck a tenner on Linfield to score the next goal at 5/2 not bad

[thejollyrodger]

i feel like the pits.. i cant belive a outfit like linfield are beating us FFS

NOOO :mad: :mad: :mad:

[centre mid]

I'd Love to be watching the game to catch a glimpse of Ollie Byrnes' face - seeing all that money slipping away, he must be going mad

[pete]

Referee is shocking. He just encouraging a dangerous tackle.

Mostly shels now. Linfield could catch them on the break though.

[ger121]

i feel like the pits.. i cant belive a outfit like linfield are beating us FFS

NOOO :mad: :mad: :mad:

I have to say I'm very surprised you've played so badly lot more of the ball in the 2nd half but no real penatration. Not at the game??

[ger121]

Byrne off for an off the ball incident, Moore of for dissent Crazy!!!!

[centre mid]

Rhona Daly again ???

[pete]

Fulltime 2-0. Fully deserved. Shels barely had shot on target in the 2nd half.

5 minutes of injury time.

shels down to 9 Men!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jason Byrne got yellow for something said to ref & then Rhona Daly saw him elbowing Linfield player for 2nd yellow. Moore got straight red card for something!

Shels really are bitchy team when they lose. No one likes a good loser but should be able to lose to dignity.

:D :D :D

[Speranza]

Dissapointed and surprised to see an IL team win this still think the EL is stronger though. City and Cork really have a chance this year, $hels don't seem to have the consistency of last season.

[pete]

Different tonight was Linfield learned how to defend & really didn'y give Shels much of a chance. Jason Byrne is going backwards & when they lost Baker were missing their main goal threat. Moore is disinterested & Hawkins not the quality of old. Clearly a huge mistake for Fenlon to play Brennan at right back as he wasn't in the game at all.

In 2 horse league race i think shels would win. Important to more than just 1 City challenging.

I think Setanta Cup has shown the potential for an All-Ireland league & this was just year 1.

Nice to see Linfield fans embrassing a united Ireland with their "One team in Ireland" chant ;)

[ger121]

If Shels play like that in the CL qualifiers they'll be lucky to get past the 1st round. Big gamble having such a large well paid full time squad. Already lost €70,000 not winning the final, Fail to get past a round in the CL it could be financial disaster.

[thejollyrodger]

i dont think Shels really took this Setanta cup very serious TBF. Its not that important anyways. Dont worry, we will be all sorted for the CL qualifieers

[harpskid]

Its not that important anyways

Ah look, they're telling us that they don't care now! If they'd won the damn thing we'd have been listening to them gloating for the next year :rolleyes:

Typical!

[chippie0001]

i dont think Shels really took this Setanta cup very serious TBF. Its not that important anyways. Dont worry, we will be all sorted for the CL qualifieers

Classic, only a Shels fan could come out with a cup final worth €150k is not important. A bit like your players, sore losers :p .

[Soko]

Not like we didn't know before hand but Shels are the worst supported club in Dublin by a country mile. A home game for a cup final against fcukin Linfield and thats all ye could attract, pathetic really and if the CL goes belly up you're in trouble.



Atrocious performance from the "referee". Rhona didn't get a chance to fcuk up today.



Linfield really are not that good. I thought I was back at Turners Cross again watching a Norhternt eam who couldn't belive they were winning put 11 men behind the ball and just hoof.

[Sheridan]

Blame for this result lies squarely with Fenlon, who decided to field his European formation (you know, the one that's designed to give the opposition a two-goal start.) Fenlon uses Crawford as a kind of comfort blanket, he feels safer with him in the team but there's no discernible rational basis for this belief. Holding midfielder? He holds f*ck all. Selecting Blind Alley Cahill was another gargantuan blunder, as was the introduction of Ryan for Baker (should have brought on Ndo.) And Moore playing up-front? :rolleyes: Heary's absence was possibly the single most crucial factor in the entire game (Brennan had a 'mare), but this at least was entirely beyond Fenlon's control.

I know Jammer will give me hell for this, but there's only one word for Jason Byrne, and that word is "bottler." He can rack up as many goals as he likes against relegation fodder, when faced with a serious, tight-marking defence he disappears from the game.

Linfield were terrific, two polished finishes, a staunch rearguard action which denied Shels even the most fleeting glimpse of their net and magnificient support. Sadly, their fans blotted their collective copybook in a big way with some disgusting racial abuse of Ndo, which was clearly audible on TV.

As for the ref - the English lexicon does not harbour any word which could be applied to his performance. Did his level best to ruin what was otherwise by far the more entertaining of the day's televised finals.

[Speranza]

Have $hels fans or officials ever been graceful in defeat. When we drew with them we had Fenlon blaming their bad preformances on "bad pitches" throughout the league. And they wonder why some didn't support them in Europe last year.

[A face]

i dont think Shels really took this Setanta cup very serious TBF. Its not that important anyways. Dont worry, we will be all sorted for the CL qualifieers


Post of the Month !!! :eek:

That is a classic !! :D :p

[A face]

Pat Fenlon will be even more of a Legend up north now ...

"Here you go boys ..... have €70,000 for yourselves there, make sure i am on you christmas card list !!"

[EnDai]

The stadium had to be equally split. The two Shels sections (New Stand/Richmond) were packed.

Both teams were poor. But the better of the two poor teams won, fair do's to them. Baffled by some of Shelbournes play, but I'm too lazy to copy and paste my rant from the Shels board.

None of the rest of you made the final, so sshh :D

[anto eile]

i dont think Shels really took this Setanta cup very serious TBF. Its not that important anyways. Dont worry, we will be all sorted for the CL qualifieers
E150,000 is very important considering your wage bill.youd be singing a different tune had yous won. jeffries the linfield manager seemed to take it very seriously..but maybe its cause they won it.unlike shels?

[Slash/ED]

We didn't even deserve the 80,000 we got for getting to the final, one decent performance the entire competition (Away to Portadown).

Fenlon tactics and team selection were logic defying, Sheridans beaten me to it really, everything he said about selection and subs is spot on.

The ref was sh*t but that's no excuse, fair play to Linfield. As ever a minority of fans lets them down but their team fully deserved the win. They approached the game in a professional manner and were the better team on the night, no two ways of looking at it. I wonder how much 150,000e will mean to them, will they consider looking at full time football even?

The game was well policed, and as far as I know there was no trouble at all other than a few idiots (on both sides to be fair) singing a few songs, nothing they could do about that. I see no reason why we couldn't be having matches like this every week in an all Ireland league.

[Fullback]

Hope you dont mind a LFC view of the proceedings.Rushed home from work to catch the game on telly.Thought Shells would have been the better prepared of the two sides,thought the fitness of the fulltime club to be a big factor.In both of these points i find myself to be incorrect(except for Linfield getting a little leg weary late on).Dont need to tell you how delighted i am at the result,but am equally delighted that the game went off without any trouble.
On the whole i think this has been a victory for football on both sides of the border.

[sonofstan]

nothing to add to what Sheridan said - the mot juste as usual - except he's right about the racist abuse; I don't give a fiddlers about the union jacks or the billy boys - that just theatre at this stage; but the monkey noises were neanderthal and embarrassing for Linfield as a club and by extension the Irish League and the FAI/ IFA should make provision for punitive sanctions against any repeat next year.

[Slash/ED]

I didn't hear any racist abuse at the match, how bad was it and how clear was it on the TV?

[sonofstan]

every time 'Ndo came near the Riverside there were sustained monkey noises - and since the commentary position was there, they were clearly audible ( whereas you lot might as well not have been there for all we heard_)

[EnDai]

Didn't hear that myself at the game, but thats a really big shame. That's embarassing for Linfield.

On a sidenote: Ndo's fooking amazing! :D

[Slash/ED]

Yet not good enough to start ahead of Jim Crawford :rolleyes:

[Fullback]

It did come across on the telly(mindless morons)but apart from that,there seems to be no other incidents.Lets hope it stays that way.

[EnDai]

Yet not good enough to start ahead of Jim Crawford :rolleyes:

Yes, but we had to fit Cahill/Baker/Hoolihan in the starting 11. No more space for attacking midfielders! :rolleyes: And then Ryan/Moore! :cool:

[Slash/ED]

In all my days, no matter what I do or where I go, I don't think I'll ever understand the logic behind the Alan Moore sub. If Crowe and O'Neil weren't fit enough to come on and play a half of football than why were they on the bench? If they were fit enough, than that sub is one of the most genuinley baffling I've ever seen.

[Soko]

Didn't hear that myself at the game, but thats a really big shame. That's embarassing for Linfield.

On a sidenote: Ndo's fooking amazing! :D



I even felt embarrassed watching it home. I really feel sorry that Ndo had to put up with **** from a bunch of mindless scumbags.

[Gerrit]

Back from the goth club to try to forget the defeat for a while... And what hangs in the basement ?? A hangout for the Setanta Cup final... That's putting a knife in a wound and turning it round very painfully :D


No, seriously, fair play and congrats to Linfield. They were the better team, they deserve it. We never came close to threatening them, I can only salute them with their win and their cheque.



The crowd ? Well, most of them -the vast majority- were good, on both sides. "Champions League, we're having a laugh", us chanting the name of Glentoran, "We like your bank account"... That's just teasing, nothing wrong with that. Most fans made it a nice evening.

However... There was this minority, on both sides, making it look like a joke. For these few it was about nothing but politics, and they give the good Linfield and Shels fans a bad name this way.

Look, there were more Union Jacks then I ever saw at once in my life, but no problem with that, it's their national flag so no problem. Some of us brought Irish tricolores, no problem with that. But then, why the heck were there so called "Linfield fans" pointing Rangers flags in our direction, even the Dublin Loyal (Dublin based Rangers fanclub) managed to get into the Linfield section and tried to make us riotting by pointing their flag at us. Luckily nothing happened. One guy even pointed an Israeli flag towards us, two weeks before Ireland's important WC qualifier vs Israel. That's very very low and asking for problems.

But were there only troublemakers in Linfield's end ? No. Unfortunately, some people found it necessary to wear Celtic jerseys. You see this now and then at the games, but why (don't tell me it's coincidence) there were more today than usual ? Why did Shamrock Rovers fans come up to Tolka while they normally don't even come near it ?? No coincidence, Rovers play in the same jerseys as Celtic, so unless we suddenly became best friends with Rovers ( :rolleyes: ) they were there only to get on the nerves of Linfield fans.

Now I don't doubt some Belfast based people are true and honest Rangers fans, and some Dubliners are honestly supporting Celtic with all their heart. It would surprise me though that suddenly they turn up at Setanta Cup games.
It sometimes seems Celtic and Rangers are political institutions instead of football clubs... Rangers jerseys are used as if they're a proof of being unionist, whereas Celtic jerseys are used as protest against that. I would really like to know how many of these people in their Rangers/Celtic jerseys tonight also come to Linfield/Shels games when it's not versus a team from across the border... Probably they don't even know the names of the lads in the Linfield and Shelbourne teams, the only reason they come to cross-border games is to show how nationalist/unionist they are.

Very fair play to the true Shelbourne and Linfield fans for not reacting to it. Very sad that this very slight minority will make the whole support look bad. This was Linfield vs Shelbourne, not Celtic vs Rangers ! Seeing so many Rangers and Celtic gear on such game makes it look ridiculous IMO. I will not go deeper into it however, that would be not fair towards the majority of good fans of both sides.

No insulting chants by the way. No Billy Boys, no SASH. Not even God Save The Queen or Soldier's Song (even those are not sectarian songs, it could have been seen as a sectarian act). Linfield fans shouted 'Northern Ireland' and Shels fans reacted by shouting 'Ireland'. I'd classify this as teasing and not intended as sectarian.



So, to conclude. The Setanta Cup was a nice experience and certainly showed good intentions from both sides of the border to further build bridges towards each other. The huge majority of fans behaved very well, also in the cross-border meetings. We saw 6 teams giving the best they can, and with Linfield we got a deserved winner.
I hope there will be a second edition of this cup, the fans and clubs proved to have big interest and as long as Setanta keeps on writing nice cheques this will not change ;)

As for "which league is better" ? I don't think this cup in which every team played 4 to 5 games, is representing the average league level. But in this competition, we must admit it's the North taking the best scores: Linfield and Glentoran were the most scoring teams, Portadown and Shels shared nr 3 in this ranking, Longford 5th and Cork last. So the Nordie teams certainly scored more, and isn't that the way to win a game ? :)
I think though that, if we look at the scores, the teams from both 'countries' were rather close to each other, and if we'll ever have an all-Ireland league we'd have at least 4 or maybe 5 teams making it a very exciting run for the league title.




Thanks as well to the lady from Linfield who gave me a scarf for my still growing collection... A scarf from the Londonderry-based fanclub of Linfield, so quite a unique collector's item ! Thx !
(for the nationalists here: I use the name 'Londonderry' because this is how it's printed on the scarf... So don't shoot me ! I tend to write Doire as this is not insulting to neither !)