Games weekend 15th to 18th October

[sbgawa]

Premier Division
Friday 15th (19:45 unless stated)

Derry v St Pats
Drogheda v Longford
Bohemians v Dundalk
Waterford v Harps
Shamrock Rovers v Sligo 20:00

Monday 18th 20:00

Shamrock Rovers v Bohemians

First Division


Bray v Cabo 19:00
Treaty v Athlone
UCD v Cork
Galway v Wexford
Cobh v Shels

[sbgawa]

Waterford v Harps is probably the big match of the weekend.
Harps pull off a win and they are 7 points clear of Waterford and that's a long way back for the blues. Classic 6 pointer.
Bohs and Rovers have a chance to make significant progress with two games this weekend or indeed to go backwards.
I expect Derry to turnover Pats who have been flattering to deceive lately and given how Rovers finishing was so poor against Dundalk we may need the help.
3 points needed against Sligo to steady the ship.
First Division.........exciting playoffs coming up is the best i can do

[Bucket]

Is this the last round of fixtures with limited capacities?
It's still mathematically possible for Athlone to make the play-offs, although they've played a game more than Treaty and Bray.

[sbgawa]

Is this the last round of fixtures with limited capacities?
It's still mathematically possible for Athlone to make the play-offs, although they've played a game more than Treaty and Bray.

You are 100% correct but the goal difference deficit they have on Bray is 19 goals so Bray basically need 1 point from their last 3 matches.
They should get that (at least) this Friday against a Cabo team that are wojus

[TonyD]

Stream on LOITV not working for me on the Pats/Derry game. FFS. I can get Bohs/Dundalk , but that’s no bloody good to me. ��

[pineapple stu]

Liam Kerrigan unplayable again tonight. UCD much better than Cork; another goal or two in this for us

[pineapple stu]

Three halftime subs for Cork, which is quite unusual, but it worked and Cork stifled us for the second and could have snatched a draw. Poor second 45 after a decent opening half though

[joey B]

Harps were bad,bad tonight,managing to conceed 2 a man up sums it up well, gifted a way back into the game from a moment of madness by Brian Murphy aswell,Waterford were much better than us though.....

[Longfordian]

See you in another five years or so, Premier Division. Take it easy.

[Calcio Jack]

Masterclass from Rovers this evening - should of been at least 6-0 , hit the woodwork 4 times plus some fantastic saves from McGinty

[Nesta99]

Minutes to go and yer 5 points off 3rd place, Full Time and it seem a much bigger obstacle at 7pts. Outside of Rovers its dog eat dog season, when picking up points others around us do too. Huge win for Waterord, worrying for Harps, important for Drogheda, Sligo were up against it but that 3rd spot is very vulnerable. Derry already looking a better ahead of schedule under Higgins and Pats need to make some smart transfers for next season - preferably not all Dundalk players........

[sbgawa]

Sligo were shocking tonight.
Really should have been 6 or 7. Their fans streamed out at the end and rightly so.

[pineapple stu]

Sligo feel like they've been in freefall most of the season - how are they still hanging on to third?

[D24Saint]

Meh we should have been one up with Matty Smiths chance. I think tonight shows where we are at. When have a decent side with some good young & experienced players but IMO need a goalscorer and as we stand are still a bit off pushing Rovers to the end in a title race. I’d be delighted with second and keep building next year.

[nigel-harps1954]

Dreadful game in the RSC. Waterford wanted it so much more. Harps gifted them three goals.
Brian Murphy could be looking at a lengthy ban as well for violent conduct. Surprised if he doesn't get three games at least.

Waterford looked like the team with an extra man though. Just totally deflated after it. Long run up the road again after that.

[Nesta99]

. I’d be delighted with second and keep building next year by winning preseason:p .

Sligo do feel like the have been on a long slippery slope but are picking up just enough points when clubs behind are taking points off each other. All things considered a point away to Bohs for us is ok, but injury time goals really make the lost 2 disproportionately annoying.

[DCWA]

Usual to follow from me I’m afraid…

next year a league canter win at we will

or something like that.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Absolutely abysmal. Hard to believe we’d had 3 pretty evenly matched games against Shams this season before that. 8 points from our last 11 league games now at this stage. Nowhere near good enough. Too many of our attacking players not trying or performing. McGinty is far and away the best keeper in the league thankfully.

[2 Year Contract]

Pats and Derry at the Brandywell would’ve been a decent game for the neutral to watch I’d imagine. Could have been 4 nil at half time with Smith and Forrester both missing 1 on 1's with Gartside who was announced as man of the match as well as Smith hitting the post and Forrester hitting the bar. Never really got going second half however and Derry hit us on the counter well and held out defensively after that. Strangely don’t feel too disheartened after the long drive home as we're still looking really good for Europe with 7 out of 18 points likely to be the absolute max we need

[trevy]

Mad game in the RSC last night. It looked like Waterford were in control after Junior Quitirna made it 2 0. Then a moment of madness from Brian Murphy let Finn Harps back into it. Waterford scored 2 superb goals on the break in injury time with Junior showing his class again to set up one and score another. Waterford had 6 points from first 15 games and 30 from 2nd 15 games which shows the improvement since Bircham and the new owner came in.

[osarusan]

Treaty make the playoffs, delighted for Tommy Barrett, he has done brilliantly.

Has it been announced what format the playoffs will take?

Last year it was 2nd at home to 5th, 3rd at home to 4th, and the winners of those matches had a 1-leg final at a neutral venue, then a 1-leg playoff at a neutral venue against the Premier side. A lot of that was Covid-enforced I presume, so does anybody know what it will look like this time?

[pineapple stu]

It's two-legged play-offs this time on 7/14 November, then a one-legged FD playoff final on 21 Nov, and then a one-legged tie with the PD side on 28 Nov.

The fixture list (https://www.rte.ie/documents/sport/2021/02/2021-season-sse-airtricity-league-first-division-fixture-list-feb-080221-final.pdf) doesn't say which side is at home first, but presumably the higher-placed finisher has dibs and will opt to be away first.

[sbgawa]

If Rovers can beat Bohs on Monday and follow it up with beating Longford next weekend we could be Champions on Monday 25th if Pats don't beat Dundalk in their Monday match.
Either way at home to Harps on the 29th is looking like presentation night.

[ToberonaTornado]

A decent enough game in DP last night with both sides cancelling each other out and a draw a fair result in the end.
The pen on 90 minutes for Bohs was fair i thought.(Cleary is a brilliant DF but needs to get rid of certain aspects in his game) Dundalk doing well to gather points in the run-in but finding it hard to shake off the surrounding mob :) The shoulder is being looked over again!

[SPXcyan]

A surprisingly comfortable match against Harps, our two short attacking players bullied the tall backline of Harps for most of the match, but overall we looked far more focused but could have easily bottled it with Murphy failing to keep himself disciplined, he had no right to protest the red card!
The RSC was rockin' which was great to see after so long.

[Nesta99]

We really have had some characters in goals in Dundalk over the years years.

https://twitter.com/BBCSPORTNI/status/1449456681134526465?s=20

[osarusan]

It's two-legged play-offs this time on 7/14 November, then a one-legged FD playoff final on 21 Nov, and then a one-legged tie with the PD side on 28 Nov.

The fixture list (https://www.rte.ie/documents/sport/2021/02/2021-season-sse-airtricity-league-first-division-fixture-list-feb-080221-final.pdf) doesn't say which side is at home first, but presumably the higher-placed finisher has dibs and will opt to be away first.
Strange for the first match only to be two legs...don't really see any logic to that.

[SeanDrog]

Strange for the first match only to be two legs...don't really see any logic to that.


Makes the last match a nervous affair - I’d expect this years PD team to easily beat the FD side over two legs but in a single game a peno, crazy sending off (let’s be honest here - our refs could be the deciding factor!) can see the team go down. It is what it is but a single match makes it a real cup final.

[sbgawa]

I agree with SeanDrog.
I think the first division is very weak, Shels are a poor side and they were almost unchallenged all year.
Thus the chance of any of them beating Waterford or Harps or A.N.other PD team over two legs is tiny but over one leg anything is possible.

Interesting weekend so far Derry turning over Pats and Bohs and Dundalk drawing while Rovers beat Sligo means an automatic Europe spot for 3rd place is a realistic prospect for Sligo, Derry , bohs and Drogs all separated by just 6 points with 18 to play for.
Rovers can do all aspirations of the Euro hopefulls a turn by beating bohs tonight.
Will Long rotate to prioritise Fridays cup semi final??
My feeling is he will but to a minor extent , enough to give him an excuse but without actually weakening the team to much in reality.

[brendy_éire]

Pats and Derry at the Brandywell would’ve been a decent game for the neutral to watch I’d imagine. Could have been 4 nil at half time with Smith and Forrester both missing 1 on 1's with Gartside who was announced as man of the match as well as Smith hitting the post and Forrester hitting the bar.

Still don't know how Pat's didn't score in the first half. They battered us, playing some of the best football I've seen this season.
There's a big gap between ourselves and Pat's in terms of quality.

Felt like a very big win for us. I still think we need Pat's to win the cup to have a chance of a European spot, mind.

[sbgawa]

Looks like Friday week before we wrap things up.

[joey B]

Very good Bohs goal and Rovers red card in an otherwise pretty average game, Rovers all to do to get anything....

[Bohtastic]

Definite red card.
Gannon was only covering after lopes had grabbed omochere for an eternity.

[Philosophizer]

First 5-10 mins of this match Rovers were very bright and looked like they were gonna dominate but Bohs have stepped up and Rovers looked out of ideas for the last 30 mins there.

[Calcio Jack]

Sadly Mutt & Jeff aka Gannon and Hoare continue to underperform and cough up chances/ goals as they do every time they play together …. Duns may of had a tough season but console yourselves at least you got rid of that pair

[Nesta99]

Almost as bad as Cork 2017 getting the title win over the line. If any other teams had been able to keep pressure on Rovers with a little more consistency the title could have been nicked. Very facile effort needed to win the league this year which brings us to the 'worst standard league season ever' territory. Doesnt matter of course as a title win is a title win, but Rovers need plenty of work to stay top of the heap beyond this season. Looked a very soft red card. Wanting a Rovers win is a bit bleh but needed for those chasing third. The late peno and dropped 2 points has put Dundalk out of the remote possibility but Sligo especially will be grumbling at Rovers average performance (so far).

[Nesta99]

Sadly Mutt & Jeff aka Gannon and Hoare continue to underperform and cough up chances/ goals as they do every time they play together …. Duns may of had a tough season but console yourselves at least you got rid of that pair

Whatever about Hoare, Gannon was never going to fit in to a wingback role and part of a back 3 was questionable too. He still has the quality to be a raiding fullback but only in a back 4. It may be all the rage these days but I dont like this formation and its especially odd when attacking threats like Finn at wing back and Gannon are deployed in a way that doesnt really doesnt get the best out of them. Bradley can tend to sign players and slot them in to his preferred formation rather than sighing lads for the formation and way he wants to set up, if that makes sense....

[ontheotherhand]

Almost as bad as Cork 2017 getting the title win over the line. If any other teams had been able to keep pressure on Rovers with a little more consistency the title could have been nicked. Very facile effort needed to win the league this year which brings us to the 'worst standard league season ever' territory. Doesnt matter of course as a title win is a title win, but Rovers need plenty of work to stay top of the heap beyond this season. Looked a very soft red card. Wanting a Rovers win is a bit bleh but needed for those chasing third. The late peno and dropped 2 points has put Dundalk out of the remote possibility but Sligo especially will be grumbling at Rovers average performance (so far).


The standard take from the clubs not challenging but a weird one from a Dundalk fan given you're in the relegation fight with a ridiculous budget and strong squad. That'd point towards a fairly tough league no? If anything it's a harder league to win this season than any of Dundalks recent wins. Sure you only had Seani Maguire to compete with and you still lost one. We came in third at one point We have multiple derbies and yourselves to get past. And sure Bohs are the best side in the history of the league according to Alan Cawley and they can only manage 4th place!


.

[Nesta99]

Quick Dundalk sign him up!!!

[CorribsideSteve]

That's why Talbot is the number 1 for Bohs

[joey B]

Has there been a worse season of goalkeeping? Another shocker there...

[Philosophizer]

Bohs defence doing everything they can to gift it to Rovers here

[sbgawa]

Another game spoiled by a poor ref decision.decent point after being down to ten men and 1 down. Should have won it though

[sidewayspasser]

Did Rovers make 6 substitutions? I think so... Walkover for Bohs on the cards?

[PartySaint]

Did Rovers make 6 substitutions? I think so... Walkover for Bohs on the cards?

Was one of them a concussion sub?

[Philosophizer]

Poor enough advert for the league tonight. Some patches of decent play but lots of sloppy mistakes. Poor Kavanagh off injured again. The lad is just cursed.

[pineapple stu]

The standard take from the clubs not challenging but a weird one from a Dundalk fan given you're in the relegation fight with a ridiculous budget and strong squad. That'd point towards a fairly tough league no?
Or else they're a basket case of a club who've made several bad signings (keeper in particular costing them lots of points) which led them to sack their manager and replace him with the guy they sacked last year.

In that case, one of your main title rivals imploding would make for an easier league, not a harder one.

[sidewayspasser]

Was one of them a concussion sub?
I don't think so, but I'm not sure about the first half sub (wasn't paying attention).

[sbgawa]

I'll settle for title 19 and improve next year to go after number 20.
Far the better side in the second half , Doyle cost us the 3 points.
O Neill went off with concussion hence the 6 subs.
13 clear 16 if we beat Longford. Hopefully pats don't lose on Monday against Dundalk and give us a chance to win it at home against harps

[kksaints]

I'll settle for title 19 and improve next year to go after number 20.
Far the better side in the second half , Doyle cost us the 3 points.
O Neill went off with concussion hence the 6 subs.
13 clear 16 if we beat Longford. Hopefully pats don't lose on Monday against Dundalk and give us a chance to win it at home against harps

Thought O'Neill was a groin injury?