Games Weekend June 11th/12th

[sbgawa]

Premier Division
Friday 11th
Derry v Bohs
Dundalk v Waterford
Shamrock Rovers v Finn Harps

Saturday 12th
Longford v St Pats
Sligo v Drogheda


First Division
Friday 11th (all 19:45 except Bray 19:30)

Bray v Shelbourne
Wexford v Treaty
UCD v Cobh
Galway v Athlone
Cork v Cabinteely

[sbgawa]

Derry v Bohs is interesting as both on a bit of form and can kick on with another win
Dundalk and Rovers should be winning (provided we get a few players back anyway)
Longford looked pretty poor against us, their biggest problem is they offer very little up front. i havent seen much of Longford bar the two games against us which were park the bus so maybe thats a bit harsh on them but Pats should have enough.
Would expect Sligo to beat Drogs but its a good chance for Drogs to show they are euro contenders.

First Division
Bray would have seen themselves as auto promotion contenders and a win here would close the gap to Shels to 7 points , on the other hand Shels win and the gap is 13 and Bray have the rest of the season to finish in the top 5.
Galway and Cork need wins badly , Galway because they are underperforming badly and Cork because they run the risk of getting detached even from a playoff place....hard to believe

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Don’t think dates have been confirmed yeat

[hollocaine]

Yeah take a week off sbgawa

[sbgawa]

im bored already

[Stav]

Cork no surprise. The problems that were there last year have not gone away.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

GAA saying 100 fans allowed go to games from June 7th. Assume this will be the same for LOI games and then the extra crowds allowed at the test events.

[oriel]

im bored already

Jump on to Sky Documentaries 'Howards Way' still on this week, the story of Everton 81-87, absolutely outstanding, so good I watched it twice (was on a few months ago). I've never supported a team in England, but this was just fantastic, when football was so better, meant more too.

[Martinho II]

GAA saying 100 fans allowed go to games from June 7th. Assume this will be the same for LOI games and then the extra crowds allowed at the test events.

After this it will be 200 in July and after I imagine it will be a % of capacity like across the water.

[vinnie]

Won the lotto and am going to the Harps game this Friday, can't f*ckin wait for a real match

[D24Saint]

Three games up against the start of the euros that’s the neutral viewer gone. It will be great to see fans back in the grounds , it’s been a long long year.

[placid casual]

I doubt there's many neutral viewers willing to shell out 80 quid on watchloi for team they don't follow.
On the Rovers game tomorrow, didn't get a ticket as I bought my season ticket too late, but have one for drogs game instead - no-one back from the Rovers injury list yet so not hugely confident of beating a well organised Harps team. A scrappy 97th min winner will do just fine thank you.

[Nesta99]

I doubt there's many neutral viewers willing to shell out 80 quid on watchloi for team they don't follow.
On the Rovers game tomorrow, didn't get a ticket as I bought my season ticket too late, but have one for drogs game instead - no-one back from the Rovers injury list yet so not hugely confident of beating a well organised Harps team. A scrappy 97th min winner will do just fine thank you.

Ah would ye quit with the playing down expectations PC. The squad should be able to manage especially when lads have played senior ball for SRFCII. If ye really think the squad is light then more than Towell needs to be brought in in July with CL on top of domestic fixtures. Its quite possible that a group stage could happen, one tie win in CL,+ 6 games, then group games. The club should be considering that and knowing the bread and butter of the league is key to building. With respect to Harps the demands on the squad are only going to up from tonight, tougher games with travel thrown in. For the 4th highest budget in the league and the worst league season ever, injuries should be expected but well covered, unless the budget was busted on a gamble on one marquee signing and he's not even an Irish international! (keep the sprinklers off and safe or Ollie will have Harps on the war path and yer in trouble;)).

[sbgawa]

Ah would ye quit with the playing down expectations PC. The squad should be able to manage especially when lads have played senior ball for SRFCII. If ye really think the squad is light then more than Towell needs to be brought in in July with CL on top of domestic fixtures. Its quite possible that a group stage could happen, one tie win in CL,+ 6 games, then group games. The club should be considering that and knowing the bread and butter of the league is key to building. With respect to Harps the demands on the squad are only going to up from tonight, tougher games with travel thrown in. For the 4th highest budget in the league and the worst league season ever, injuries should be expected but well covered, unless the budget was busted on a gamble on one marquee signing and he's not even an Irish international! (keep the sprinklers off and safe or Ollie will have Harps on the war path and yer in trouble;)).

Rovers had no senior pros on the bench against Dundalk and 1 half fit one against Sligo so the policy of quality rather than quantity of senior pros is def an issue. That being said some of the young SRFC ii boys are excellent players and will grow for being around the first team so its a temp problem.
It is an early warning for Europe though. If Rovers win their first CL round i would expect to see some signings before the end of July (apart from Towell) as the club would have a minimum of 6 more matches (+ income) and would be 1 win away from group stages and 6 more weeks of matches.
Winning the league is more important than anything else and with a guarantee of more European money it would make sense to invest rather than play 12 midweek games with the same squad that is already shown to be a bit thin.

Bradser gave an update yesterday that none of the injured players are back but no excuses we should be winning tonight at home against Harps.

[brendy_éire]

Derry v Bohs is interesting as both on a bit of form and can kick on with another win

It'll be interesting to see if our poor home form can be improved after the break, with the added bonus of having some fans in tonight.
Would love to see us keep a clean sheet, which we really has been out downfall this season. We're scoring in most games, but have only not conceded in two. Improve that and the points will come.

[yurt]

I'm guessing it's due to limited amount of fans being allowed in some venues this week, but selfishly disappointed there's no early/staggered kick off. Liked having the option of watching a game before watching a game.

[redarmyfaction]

7 minutes ET still couldn't swing it for Shams, go on the Bradser.

[Finlay Harp]

I’ll take a point in Tallaght. Sets up the derby next week nicely.

[Calcio Jack]

I’ll take a point in Tallaght. Sets up the derby next week nicely.

Firstly great to be back watching live football…. As for the match despite the injury crisis we still created enough chances and 4-1 would be a fair reflection especially as Mannus caught with a ‘sucker’ at his near post for Harps goal…. Need to get bodies back ASAP as Gannon not good enough , Scales seems to of lost his way and Mandriou only creative spark in midfield… once we get numbers back we should be ok but hopefully we’ll not let Sligo build up a too big a lead

[Dalymountrower]

I’ll take a point in Tallaght. Sets up the derby next week nicely.

That Pilot clearly a great success.Thank you Rovers fans for your sacrifice

[sidewayspasser]

Was good to be back at Turners Cross. Until Cabo scored.

[pineapple stu]

Until Galway's 93rd-minute winner, there wasn't a single home win in eight games tonight.

Fans are over-rated tbh

[sulywaterfordfc]

First time since 1986 we’ve beat Dundalk in the top flight at oriel park. Hopefully our season starts here!

[pineapple stu]

I presume if Dundalk concede three that at least one of them is a hilarious goalkeeping blunder?

[da bishop]

Very impressed with Wexfords display especially 2nd half ,they didnt have enough creativity to match their approach work.Also very impressed with Treatys ability to grind out results while playing 2nd fiddle in almost all their games.

[joey B]

good point for us,any point there is a good one,looked solid enough apart from Sadiki's brain freeze,so often we've done that this season its farcical at this point.

LOITV seems to have had a mixed start,disaster for Dundalks game apparently,glitchy at times in the Harps game and I'm not sure how the Derry/Bohs game went....

[Charlie Darwin]

More points dropped at home but the performances just haven't been good enough since day one. We created enough chances to win but Harps played well and deserved to get something from the game. Great to see the fans back.

[placid casual]

1st half of game in tallaght the stream kept dying, which does not bode well.
On the game itself Rovers desperately need a left back as young murphy looked out of his depth again, and was badly at fault for the harps equaliser.
Rovers should have gone in more than 1 goal up at the break, and with the change in formation in the 2nd half Harps looked more likely to score - why they decided to run down the clock is beyond me. Mccann is not the answer in midfield for Rovers anyway, and with Rovers looking blunt upfront I'm not particularly confident for the upcoming European games.
If Rovers can bé less than 6 points behind Sligo coming into the last run of fixtures I'd be pretty confident of retaining the league , but nonetheless they need to actually start playing soon or it could be too late.

Dundalk are a mess it would appear. Expect their fans to depart in their droves now the bubble is bursting, and their slide down the league to gather pace.

[sbgawa]

We have two excellent left wing backs in Sean kavanagh and Neil ferrugia both out injured. Scales has been excellent there this season but had to play Cb as joey o brien and Pico were out. Watts and Finn would have given us more threat from midfield than McCann and O Neill who are both defensive minds and both will be back soon. Add Towell in and I am still happy that we can kick on.
On the game itself Harps deserved the point so good luck to them.
If we have to play the same 10 /11 again next week against waterford and bohs its going to be tough

[ToberonaTornado]

I presume if Dundalk concede three that at least one of them is a hilarious goalkeeping blunder?

None of them down to Abibi believe it or not? We are just all over the f'ing place atm.(although i bet Oriel might say otherwise re the 'keeper :) )
1st half, we were sound as fuq,even though we surrendered a goal just before half-time i still expected us to come roaring back 2nd half. ........ **tumbleweed**

SMH at the current situation going on at Dundalk. Like R E A L L Y SMH. :confused:

[nigel-harps1954]

I'd say the game in Tallaght would have been decent viewing for the neutral supporter. It wasn't exactly the highest of quality, but the second half, in particular, was pretty end to end for the best part.

Thought Harps were full value for the draw, but Mark Anthony McGinley had another stormer of a game with a few big saves and probably proved the difference.

It's only our second draw with Rovers since they moved to Tallaght.

[Dalymountrower]

Reasonably good performances from both sides in Derry, thought Bohs shaded it on chances, though Derry had theirs too.Both sets of centre halves were excellent.

[Nesta99]

Dundalk are a mess it would appear. Expect their fans to depart in their droves now the bubble is bursting, and their slide down the league to gather pace.

Yeah finger really on the pulse there PC, I hear only 100 people were in attendance, those poor poor sods!

[wonder88]

Important win for Galway as it keeps them in touch with the other teams, apart from Shelbourne who look like being a grade above in this division. Maybe the benefits of a full-time squad indicated by the late goal? Looks like Dundalk are still in decline and if they have the biggest player wage bill in the league that is some poor management of resources.

[pineapple stu]

Not their first late goal either, so you could well have a point alright.

First Division is still Shels in front, Wexford at the bottom, and everyone else is a midtable team. Weird division.

[Jack B]

Longford play some particularly dodgy stuff at times. Really don't help themselves.

Good from us though, penalty looked a ropey one but incredibly sloppy for the situation to even occur, outside of that it looked like the break did us good as we looked more like the side that started the season so well.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Drogheda good value for the win. 2 lovely goals from Lyons. Second a real killer blow as we looked like we were getting on top. Disappointed we didn’t get more efforts in on their keeper as he looks very dodgy.

[PartySaint]

Great weekend of results for Pats. Bring on Sligo.

[Martinho II]

Longford play some particularly dodgy stuff at times. Really don't help themselves.

Good from us though, penalty looked a ropey one but incredibly sloppy for the situation to even occur, outside of that it looked like the break did us good as we looked more like the side that started the season so well.

It didnt help matters that DD & JM are suspended. SOD was suspended for ye too. Was chatting to Johnny Martin after game & he said that our players didnt realise the amt of space available for us after we undeservedly equalised. Aaron Robinson was very poor for our second goal it reminded me of the Shamrock Rovers game two wks ago all over again when we let in a last min winner for Shams. Thought Ronan Coughlan was superb for ye & Forrester had very quiet game. We werent not good enough for top flight.Simple as.

[trevy]

Great win for Waterford at Oriel Park. It was our first win there since 2003. The extra training that Mark Bircham did with the squad during the mid season break must have paid off. He's a great talker and fans are feeling more positive. The new owner was on local radio during live coverage of the game promising signings in July to get the team up the table.

[Straightstory]

Drogheda were superb in Sligo. Top class goals by Chris Lyons. Proves that defeat by Derry (goalkeeping errors and horrendous referee) was just a blip.

[D24Saint]

Drogheda were superb in Sligo. Top class goals by Chris Lyons. Proves that defeat by Derry (goalkeeping errors and horrendous referee) was just a blip.

Clancy doing a fantastic job and is to be commended. They should be in hunt for at least fourth if they can maintain their good form.

[2 Year Contract]

Just after seeing the penalty Dundalk we’re given for their goal, it’s a horrendous piece of refereeing. Evans had a hold of Midtskogen's shirt but wasn’t pulling out of him enough to cause him to him the deck (not saying he dived btw, he just fell over while taking a terrible shot at goal). Regardless of whether it should have been a foul or not, the foul started about 4/5 yards outside the box and continued into it so if the ref wanted to give a foul it’s a free kick well outside the box rather than a peno.

I also watched back the penalty Longford were awarded against Pats as I thought it looked soft on first viewing. Rob Manley overstretched trying to shoot and ended up falling over the ball, it was never a foul

[Yossarian]

Just after seeing the penalty Dundalk we’re given for their goal, it’s a horrendous piece of refereeing. Evans had a hold of Midtskogen's shirt but wasn’t pulling out of him enough to cause him to him the deck (not saying he dived btw, he just fell over while taking a terrible shot at goal). Regardless of whether it should have been a foul or not, the foul started about 4/5 yards outside the box and continued into it so if the ref wanted to give a foul it’s a free kick well outside the box rather than a peno.

I also watched back the penalty Longford were awarded against Pats as I thought it looked soft on first viewing. Rob Manley overstretched trying to shoot and ended up falling over the ball, it was never a foul

Whatever about the merits of it being a foul or not, if the referee decides it’s a foul and it starts outside the box but continues into the box then it’s a penalty.

[Nesta99]

I do enjoy the old Foot.ie classics, in this case the near, beside, in the box or shadows even. I dont think occurrences of head scratching refereeing decisions are ever really in dispute as they go with and against sides pretty equally. This penalty didnt decide a result so is just an example of never being sure how exactly any ref is coming to their decisions. Holding a jersey is a foul but more often than not given, in this case the foul became evident probably when a chance on goal seem affected by the 'tussle'. But it is a bit of a lottery in LoI.