2021 Season , Arrivals and departures

[D24Saint]

Decent signing for boez and should help them to improve their workmanlike midfield. Also think Kelly could be a good signing - can't really judge him on on his time at pats as it's a graveyard of ambition in inchicore.
Next season appears to be shaping up nicely for last year's top 3- just hope it gets off the ground now.

I resent that comment :)

[Jack B]

Not massively fussed on missing out on Hery, obviously would have rathered we kept him but we desperately need a starting goalkeeper so I'd rather than got priority in the budget than someone to compete with Benson and Forrester in midfield.

[2 Year Contract]

I resent that comment :)
I wouldn’t mind it, if being the second most successful club in the league in the last decade is a graveyard of ambition it doesn’t say much for rovers who won less trophies in that time ;)

Agree with Jack on Hery. Would’ve been a nice player to have but there’s other more important signings we still need to get done

[GerByrne001]

", Bohs to their credit are a hard working team which doesn't accommodate a luxury player which is how i see Heary."

We accommodated Mandriou for a season where he won YPOTY, and you can't really get more luxurious than that. Also, a team that often had Grant and Twardek as out and out wingers and also gave plenty of game time to Ward, Devoy and Tierney, can hardly be considered just workmanlike..

Will be very interested to see how Mandriou gels with McEneff and Burke, who'll both consider themselves the main man now Byrne has gone. Personally I feel a combination of Jack Byrnes class, Dundalks lack of form/effort and a ridiculously short season, covered up a lot of cracks with Rovers, particularly not having a decent striker and having Joey O'Brien at the back. Think it will be a much more interesting season this year.

[kksaints]

Karl Sheppard retires due to Arthritis. He's only 29 seems like he's been around for ages.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021/0117/1190308-arthritis-forces-karl-sheppard-29-into-retirement/

[D24Saint]

Karl Sheppard retires due to Arthritis. He's only 29 seems like he's been around for ages.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021/0117/1190308-arthritis-forces-karl-sheppard-29-into-retirement/

It sure does , sad to see a young man suffer from that affliction. Best of luck to him for the future.

[Martinho II]

It sure does , sad to see a young man suffer from that affliction. Best of luck to him for the future.

Sorry to hear that about Shephard. Its rare that someone has to retire from Artritis.

[DCSIL]

I wouldn’t mind it, if being the second most successful club in the league in the last decade is a graveyard of ambition it doesn’t say much for rovers who won less trophies in that time ;)

I think the thing with Pats is when they broke their cup hoodoo against us, and won the league cup to add to the league in the same few years, the drive and the desire seemed to go out the club, were the trophies just going to continue. Now they just seem happy to finish top half and maybe a crack at Europe.

[D24Saint]

I think the thing with Pats is when they broke their cup hoodoo against us, and won the league cup to add to the league in the same few years, the drive and the desire seemed to go out the club, were the trophies just going to continue. Now they just seem happy to finish top half and maybe a crack at Europe.

Unfortunately bucko went stale and we have made two ****e appointments since. I think the Harry Kenny episode was hard one to predict. He had a decent pedigree and was a disaster. The SOD appointment was a punt and it’s outcome is still in the balance. I have my doubts but I’ll the give the man a chance. I think expectations are reasonable amongst the fan base , we are suffering from a lack of facilities and can’t attract the crowds needed to compete for trophies every year.

[oriel]

Whats the views from Pats fans on Mountney? I was sorry to see him leave, but he never could nail down that starter spot, and the same right side always seemed to be a short term fix at Dundalk.

Mountney to be fair usually got stronger as each season progressed and incredibly came back as first choice for a lot of euro games. I hope he does a good job at Pats, always came across as a more than decent guy.

[D24Saint]

Good signing so excited to see how he gets on. When a player is part of a winning set up for years it’s a no brainer to sign him if you can. It will be interesting how SOD uses him next season , we have Benson who has been a tad hit and miss, a revitalised Chris Forester who had his best season since returning and Jamie Lennon. What do Dundalk fans reckon is his best position ?

[pineapple stu]

Probably a bit of UCD bias here, but neither Benson nor Kelly seem to have done much at Pat's (and the same with Forrester). Is there an element that O'Donnell is the problem in terms of not being able to get the best out of the players?

[D24Saint]

Probably a bit of UCD bias here, but neither Benson nor Kelly seem to have done much at Pat's (and the same with Forrester). Is there an element that O'Donnell is the problem in terms of not being able to get the best out of the players?

Perhaps but unfortunately he is learning on the job. He doesn’t come across as an abrasive character but apparently his strict manner has ruffled certain feathers. I do think Forester has improved under his tenure, some players will excel or hate that set up.

[Jack B]

I think half the problem with Forrester since he came back has been that he just isn't the same type of player he was when he left but until particularly in his first season back under Kenny there was a lot of trying to force him to still be. He excelled playing in the heart of midfield at a higher level than this and it was only really in the last run of games this season where he started to play that role with any consistency.

Think Benson struggled with the stop start nature of the season, he had a few top performances but couldn't build up a head of steam.

Interesting to see where Mountney fits in. Presume he'll be first choice right winger but I think we'll have a smaller squad this season that will see versatile players like Moutney and Bone move around when necessary.

[2 Year Contract]

I think the thing with Pats is when they broke their cup hoodoo against us, and won the league cup to add to the league in the same few years, the drive and the desire seemed to go out the club, were the trophies just going to continue. Now they just seem happy to finish top half and maybe a crack at Europe.

The desire of the club is still there IMO in that they’ve still backed each manager in the off season to build a squad that first of all can get the club back to Europe consistently following a couple of terrible seasons at the end of Buckley's time at the club.

Being happy to finish in the top half is certainly not the case at the start of each season. I think maybe halfway through this season that became the opinion of a good lot of Pats fans as we sat lowly down the table without a goal in 12 hours. The ambition every year though is to get Europe and I think the budget reflects that even if performances don’t (although Pats did go into the final game of the season in 2019 & 2020 still with a chance of getting Europe, albeit a long shot)

Once an LOI European regular again and a squad has been built over those years, a title challenge can be looked at. The issue is, the signings haven’t worked out and performances on the pitch have suffered. As a fanbase obviously we’d all love to be challenging for the league title but that has to be built off of being European regulars in the same way Cork and Rovers
have done, while a title challenge now looks the next step for Bohs.

The likelihood of winning the title out of nowhere is very very low. Drogheda finished 2nd in 2012 in these circumstances which was incredible to be fair but the gap between the top 4/5 LOI clubs and the rest since then has gotten even bigger and even more recently you can even reduce that down to top 2/3 clubs. With the LOI being the LOI though, those clubs will change. It’s up to other clubs to get themselves in there and stay there for as long as possible in the same way that Rovers & Bohs have replaced Pats & Cork in Europe over the past few years

[2 Year Contract]

Whats the views from Pats fans on Mountney? I was sorry to see him leave, but he never could nail down that starter spot, and the same right side always seemed to be a short term fix at Dundalk.

Mountney to be fair usually got stronger as each season progressed and incredibly came back as first choice for a lot of euro games. I hope he does a good job at Pats, always came across as a more than decent guy.

Happy enough with the signing given his versatility and the lack of options available this off season. It'll be an interesting one to see how he’s used alright. He never really stood out over the years but you must be doing something right to play over 300 games for one of the best sides the league's ever seen. His goal record is poor enough for a winger, would you say that’s an effect of being in a squad with so many goalscorers or was he poor in front of goal or was it that he was played as more of a hug-the-line style winger to free up space in the middle for Towell/McEleney/whoever?

[D24Saint]

The desire of the club is still there IMO in that they’ve still backed each manager in the off season to build a squad that first of all can get the club back to Europe consistently following a couple of terrible seasons at the end of Buckley's time at the club.

Being happy to finish in the top half is certainly not the case at the start of each season. I think maybe halfway through this season that became the opinion of a good lot of Pats fans as we sat lowly down the table without a goal in 12 hours. The ambition every year though is to get Europe and I think the budget reflects that even if performances don’t (although Pats did go into the final game of the season in 2019 & 2020 still with a chance of getting Europe, albeit a long shot)

Once an LOI European regular again and a squad has been built over those years, a title challenge can be looked at. The issue is, the signings haven’t worked out and performances on the pitch have suffered. As a fanbase obviously we’d all love to be challenging for the league title but that has to be built off of being European regulars in the same way Cork and Rovers
have done, while a title challenge now looks the next step for Bohs.

The likelihood of winning the title out of nowhere is very very low. Drogheda finished 2nd in 2012 in these circumstances which was incredible to be fair but the gap between the top 4/5 LOI clubs and the rest since then has gotten even bigger and even more recently you can even reduce that down to top 2/3 clubs. With the LOI being the LOI though, those clubs will change. It’s up to other clubs to get themselves in there and stay there for as long as possible in the same way that Rovers & Bohs have replaced Pats & Cork in Europe over the past few years

Good summary of the state of play imo. The owner loves the club despite what conspiracy theorists online think. We are a realistic bunch of supporters I’d love to be competing for trophies every year but it’s not going to happen in our current guise. If we got the Richmond Arena approved then the sky was the limit but the council are a pack of morons who just wants to stick a load of high density housing into a area where that was a disaster in the past.

[Steve Bruce]

I think it says a lot about Hery that Linfield we’re happy enough to let him leave now even though his contract wasn’t up until the summer. No doubt he’s a good player but he has played in mediocre to poor teams here before so it’ll be interesting to see how he goes in a better team but he didn’t impress against us when we played Linfield last year. The comparison to Ndo is certainly stretching credibility.

Hery has emense talent, but he has been sitting on our bench more often than not. He isn't hard working enough and pretty much a passanger in the game most of the time. But when he is on it, he is fantastic. It's a shame, because when he played in Europe for us last season even against Qarabag he stood out but never reached those levels on a consistant basis.

[oriel]

Interesting summary on Hery from a Linfield fan, I heard about his performances v Quarabag ok, however in the games v Dundalk, end of 2019, albeit a much stronger Dundalk MF v now, he didn't stand out, then again no one did as Dundalk ran out 6-0 winners. I stil think he can do a job with Bohs, but seems he needs to up his work rate?

On Mountney, for Pats fans, he seemed to have created a position that wasn't really there, he was neither a right winger nor was he more inside right area of MF, but he played between the two. I think he benefited from being in MF's with better players over his career with DFC like the best one we ever had in my view, for one season only (2015) with O'Donnell / Finn / Towel. Plus he would have learnt from likes of Shields, McEleneny, and before with McGrath and Benson, he was just not considered a first pick for long spells. He probably needs to be get off to a big start, as that was his problem in the past, took him far too long to force himself into the team, but as I mentioned before, this was a welcome sight, as he managed that for Europe quite a lot.

On something different, there was a mention on earlier posts about 'the second most sucesfull team of the decade' (2010's) - would this not have been Cork City, 1 league, 2 cups, 4 runners up in the league / 2 times beaten finalist in the cup?

[2 Year Contract]

On something different, there was a mention on earlier posts about 'the second most sucesfull team of the decade' (2010's) - would this not have been Cork City, 1 league, 2 cups, 4 runners up in the league / 2 times beaten finalist in the cup?

I posted it in jest more than anything but I was going by number of trophies won (8 for Pats) as opposed to runners up etc

[bohsmug]

I posted it in jest more than anything but I was going by number of trophies won (8 for Pats) as opposed to runners up etc

So to be clear; You're counting Leinster Senior Cups and Presidents Cups as a trophy for Pats but are either discounting Presidents Cups or Munster Senior Cups for Cork :D

[oriel]

In a momenet of lockdown boredom I once thought of something along these lines of compiling an all time table of sucesss in the LOI. Maybe it has been done before?

But just out of curiousity, what would be a fair weighting per achievement, 5 points for League title, 3 for FAI Cup, 2 for League runners up, 1 for League Cup, 1 for League runners up, 1 for Setanta / latest All Ireland?

[pineapple stu]

Add 2 for a Collingwood and we're sorted.

[El-Pietro]

Hes wrong no matter what way you look at it. I'm assuming the Decade in question was from 2010 to 2019? It doesn't change much if you count it as 2011 to 2020 but I'm going with the former.

If you want to talk just about the league and average position/points then I'd be confident City would finish second. If you look just at Trophies its comes down to what trophies you consider but its not Pats no matter how you look at it.



Dundalk won 5 titles, 2 FAI Cups, 3 League Cups, 2 Presidents Cups, 1 Leinster Senior Cup. 13 Trophies total, 10 would be considered "major". Not sure how to categorise the League Cup as its not as big as deal as the League and Cup, but its significantly more important than the others.
Cork City won 1 title, 2 FAI Cups, 3 Presidents Cups, 3 Munster Senior Cups and the First Division. We missed out on the League Cup to complete the set. 10 Trophies total, though obviously not all equal. 3 "Major" trophies, I'd argue the First Division is of a higher level of importance than the Presidents Cup and MSC, but not on the level of the League and Cup. Maybe similar to the League Cup, or maybe slightly behind.
Shamrock Rovers won 2 titles, 1 FAI Cup, 1 League Cup, 2 Setanta Cups and 2 Leinster Senior Cups. 8 Trophies total, and probably weighted towards more important trophies than ours. 4 or 6 "Major" Trophies, depending on how you feel about the Setanta Cup. Personally I was a big fan, and Billy Dennehys stoppage time goal to beat us in the Cross on away goals in 2013 stung.
Pats won 1 title, 1 FAI Cup, 2 League Cups, 1 Presidents Cup and 3 LSCs. 4 Major Trophies, 8 total. Both more and less than Cork City all at once. But clearly less than Rovers.
Sligo won 1 title, 3 FAI Cups, 1 Setanta Cup. 4 or 5 major trophies.You'd have to put them ahead of Pats when you consider major trophies, though Pats have them beat on total.
Derry City won 1 FAI Cup, 2 League Cups, 1 First Division.


So going by "total" Trophies Pats are 3rd behind Dundalk and City.
If we only count Major trophies (including the Setanta Cup) then Pats are 4th behind Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers.
If we exclude the Setanta Cup Pats are joint 2nd behind Dundalk with both Rovers, but a clear third when you consider the quality of trophies won.

Interestingly if you take average league finish Rovers were the best team between 2010 and 2019 with an average finish of 3.00. Dundalk finished 1st or 2nd 7 times but they also finished 6th, 7th and 11th which brings their average to 3.30. Citys average is 3.63 if you exclude the two season in the first division thanks to two 6th place finishes and a 9th, it drops to 5.10 if you give us 11th for our two first division seasons outside a 10 team Premier or 5.6 if you give us 11th and 16th (we finished 1st and 6th in the First Division.
By average league finish Pats are either 4th behind Rovers, Dundalk and City, or 3rd behind Rovers and Dundalk depending on how you deal with the two seasons City weren't in the Premier Division.

[Mr A]

Harps have held the Irish News Cup since 1999. At 3 points a year that's like 2000 points.

[2 Year Contract]

So to be clear; You're counting Leinster Senior Cups and Presidents Cups as a trophy for Pats but are either discounting Presidents Cups or Munster Senior Cups for Cork :D

Yes absolutely, the Munster Senior Cup is entirely inferior in every way to the Leinster Senior Cup which is the oldest and most prestigious in the country and should be treated as such ;)

Nah totally forgot it existed while counting to be honest haha

[El-Pietro]

Yes absolutely, the Munster Senior Cup is entirely inferior in every way to the Leinster Senior Cup which is the oldest and most prestigious in the country and should be treated as such ;)

Nah totally forgot it existed while counting to be honest haha

While the LSC predates the MSC, the MSC has been going since 1922 completely unbroken and since 1901 with a gap during WWI and the War of Independence. We even managed to get a final in this year. It is my favourite trophy from an aesthetic point of view and was won by Royal Engineers in 1903 who also won the FA Cup in 1875.
Meanwhile the LSC took a break between 2000 and 2010, and abandoned their season in 2020 (perfectly reasonable given the circumstances) so while I realise your comment was a joke I don't think its fair to besmirch the Munster Senior Cup. It might not be the most prestigious competition in the world, but it has plenty of history.

[nigel-harps1954]

Harps have held the Irish News Cup since 1999. At 3 points a year that's like 2000 points.

Still the reigning First Division cup champions too.

[pineapple stu]

Actually, UCD still have the Super Cup. (I'm presuming that is a different trophy to the President's Cup)

Wiki tells me Home Farm/Everton have the First Division Shield, although surely Harps' First Division Cup is the same thing? (Let's ignore Longford advertising 2020 Shield games on their website (http://ltfc.ie/league/2020-first-division-shield/) :) )

Any other obscure trophies still floating? The Dublin City Cup or the Top Four?

[bohsmug]

In a momenet of lockdown boredom I once thought of something along these lines of compiling an all time table of sucesss in the LOI. Maybe it has been done before?

But just out of curiousity, what would be a fair weighting per achievement, 5 points for League title, 3 for FAI Cup, 2 for League runners up, 1 for League Cup, 1 for League runners up, 1 for Setanta / latest All Ireland?

Double the points for league title and it would be more or less in line with my view. The Cup is great but the league title makes you the champions.

[Mr A]

Still the reigning First Division cup champions too.

In that case...

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/000/056/itsover1000.jpg

[oriel]

Double the points for league title and it would be more or less in line with my view. The Cup is great but the league title makes you the champions.

Ok so how about this then, 6 points for League title, 3 for FAI Cup, 2 for League runners up, 1 for League Cup / 1 for FD / 1 for Setanta / latest All Ireland. I'm not sure you give 'points' for rating purposes for FAI cup finalists?

Going by EL P's post, for the period 2010-2019 (if 2020 starts this decade) is the final list then 1/ Dundalk 2/ Cork City /3 Pats ?

[2 Year Contract]

Former UCD man Simon Power has left Norwich and signed for Harrogate Town in League Two on a permanent basis

[John83]

Former UCD man Simon Power has left Norwich and signed for Harrogate Town in League Two on a permanent basis

https://www.the42.ie/simon-power-harrogate-town-5328303-Jan2021/

[ontheotherhand]

", Bohs to their credit are a hard working team which doesn't accommodate a luxury player which is how i see Heary."

We accommodated Mandriou for a season where he won YPOTY, and you can't really get more luxurious than that. Also, a team that often had Grant and Twardek as out and out wingers and also gave plenty of game time to Ward, Devoy and Tierney, can hardly be considered just workmanlike..

Will be very interested to see how Mandriou gels with McEneff and Burke, who'll both consider themselves the main man now Byrne has gone. Personally I feel a combination of Jack Byrnes class, Dundalks lack of form/effort and a ridiculously short season, covered up a lot of cracks with Rovers, particularly not having a decent striker and having Joey O'Brien at the back. Think it will be a much more interesting season this year.

Wouldn't have disagreed with much there (maybe the short season...we were miles ahead and wouldn't have been caught imop) but....are you honestly suggesting two of rovers best players are their weak links?

Mandriou will gel or not gel. He's not at rovers as a guaranteed starter so will either buy in or be gone. Bradley thinks he can add effort to his undoubted talent so we shall see. I personally didn't rate him and wasn't surprised bohs went up a level when he was dropped. But he's young. Reminds me a bit of Burke when he first arrived at Rovers. Bad temper, bad attitude but bags of ability. He polished up well so there's a chance for mandriou too.

[placid casual]

In an effort to simplify the trophy allocation for everyone to understand it more clearly,it reads as follows.
Rovers.
Everyone else.

[placid casual]

I'd like to dedicate the above wind up to the memory of the late, lamented Ezekial. 😉.
It's what he was he excelled at.

[Kiki Balboa]

Are you forgetting the unfortuntely named 'Unite the Union' Champions Cup, which Dundalk won by beating Linfield in 2019?

For the lesser known trophies....ADundalk play Drogheda in the annual 'Malone Cup' (or better known as the Elite All Louth Premier Championship by me). Dundalk certainly counts the cup, as seen in the number of medals players won when leaving the club. Dundalk won the decade 5-3 (Drogheda won twice on pens), with two games postponed.

[2 Year Contract]

Bray have signed Brandon Kavanagh on loan from rovers. Could be an indicator that Rovers II won’t be in the first division this year given he was the main player for that team

[Nesta99]

I resent that comment :)

That made me lol again! Retirement home for players or graveyard of ambition - the barstooler view of LoI never mind St Pats at the moment.

As for weighting of trophies, I think St Pat's cup win deserves to be extra weighted for all the years of dread the cup inflicted on Pats fans! ;) I still think SO'D will work out as a manager at Inchicore if patience is shown ala Bradley at Rovers.

[sbgawa]

I'd like to dedicate the above wind up to the memory of the late, lamented Ezekial. 😉.
It's what he was he excelled at.

Yes Ez would have been all over this thread.
Rip

[sbgawa]

Bohs just announced Sean Mccabe as their new Climate justice officer.

[pineapple stu]

Jesus Christ, that's not a joke either...

https://bohemianfc.com/?p=16076

[sbgawa]

Bohs approaching peak hipster.

[Northsider]

Bohs just announced Sean Mccabe as their new Climate justice officer.

Great signing. Looking forward to seeing what Sean can do around the club and the local area. If we ever get crowds back of course. :(

[D24Saint]

Bohs approaching peak hipster.

Vegan pies only in the take away van from now on.

[DCWA]

No harm in that at all, a progressive step no doubt. The fella clearly has a respected background in that type of role in a footballing environment.

I personally no sweet f-a about it but can hardly be critical of them for that. Football will be as affected by future efforts re climate change as any other industry you would imagine.

[pineapple stu]

There may be no harm to it, but there's no point to it either. It's daft virtue signalling from a club increasingly going into previously uncharted areas of their own hole.

Do you honestly think football will be as affected by climate change developments as, say, farming? Or fishing? Or tourism? How will changing sea temperatures affect Bohs exactly?

Even within football, will he be calling on less international scouting for example, or fewer pre-season Asian tours (air travel contributes to global warming)?

It may get them a few extra fans and column inches, and it's hard to be too critical of that, but let's not go thinking there's anything more to it than that.

[placid casual]

Jesus Christ, that's not a joke either...

https://bohemianfc.com/?p=16076
The funniest jokes are at the expense of those that take themselves too seriously.

A joke of a club.

[Northsider]

There may be no harm to it, but there's no point to it either. It's daft virtue signalling from a club increasingly going into previously uncharted areas of their own hole.

Do you honestly think football will be as affected by climate change developments as, say, farming? Or fishing? Or tourism? How will changing sea temperatures affect Bohs exactly?

Even within football, will he be calling on less international scouting for example, or fewer pre-season Asian tours (air travel contributes to global warming)?

It may get them a few extra fans and column inches, and it's hard to be too critical of that, but let's not go thinking there's anything more to it than that.

"virtue signalling" the language of an idiot.

There's plenty of potential in this scheme if you bothered to look at it, but then again you seem to think football clubs will be immune from the coming changes and should just carry on being wasteful.