View Full Version : 2022 Season, Arrivals and Departures
I wouldn’t be as convinced as others at this stage that we are a shoe in for second. We could do with another centre (defensive) mid and another option up top.
I expected us to have at least a striker in by this stage we remain linked with some but clock is ticking.
patsdad
16/01/2022, 6:15 PM
I think that's fair, just look at the example of Alfie Lewis for you last year, what a player he was, but did anyone really hear of him before?
For the league next season, I would think its almost a given that Rovers unless they collapse in form will win it again, and I don't see anyone coming close to challenge Derry for runners up.
3rd spot seems to be the one up for grabs, Sligo appear to be a fair bit weaker than last season and up front will be their challenge, Bohs lost a good few and will more than likely lose Georgie, Shels too early for them, for me its between Dundalk and Pats, and Pats with more settled look and strong end to 2021 will be favs for now. Both clubs have new managers mind.
Will be very interesting to see how Derry kick on with their host of quality signings and first full season with Higgins, still think they need something more up front, but they should be more than comfortable in 2nd.
Curious as to why you see Dundalk as challenging even for 3rd. The squad as of now is very poor. Last seasons best players have been lost, now heavily reliant on players who are either past their best, injury prone or unproven.
Jack B
16/01/2022, 6:56 PM
In fairness it's still all up in the air and dependent on further business being done. Dundalk probably aren't done themselves but can still field a decent starting XI with what they have already, meanwhile as encouraging as things may be for us we still have to sign a minimum of two players that will come in as first choice.
placid casual
16/01/2022, 7:32 PM
If I may insert my two penneth:
I think Dundalk would be a good bet to finish 2nd- They have enough guys there who know how to win leagues and despite SOD's snakey behaviour, my opinion of him hasn't changed in that he looks to me like he has the makings of being a very successful manager.
If he was to take over from Bradley in 2/3 yrs that would be just mustard.
Jd2793
16/01/2022, 7:40 PM
dundalk need a good few more loan players, theyve not really add much from within the league to the team. mountney and benson are just off injuries and declining, they've to deal with that horror of a pitch aswell. doyle i think is a decent prospect , martin is average enough for PD standards and bone is another one who is nothing special especially if hes used out right.
Nesta99
16/01/2022, 7:40 PM
If he was to take over from Bradley in 2/3 yrs that would be just mustard.
What about Harry Kenny?!
ToberonaTornado
17/01/2022, 1:38 AM
I wouldn’t be as convinced as others at this stage that we are a shoe in for second. We could do with another centre (defensive) mid and another option up top.
I expected us to have at least a striker in by this stage we remain linked with some but clock is ticking.
Heard(from a v strong source) RH had Hoban and?or GK lined up but both deals fell apart and that has left him chasing..... apparently he was super confident about signing GK.That one could still happen of course.
boynemunich
17/01/2022, 8:07 AM
If I may insert my two penneth:
I think Dundalk would be a good bet to finish 2nd- They have enough guys there who know how to win leagues and despite SOD's snakey behaviour, my opinion of him hasn't changed in that he looks to me like he has the makings of being a very successful manager.
If he was to take over from Bradley in 2/3 yrs that would be just mustard.
I'm not sure Dundalk will hit the ground running though. SOD had a very shaky start with Pats in his first season maybe due to implementing his style or just finding his feet in management ? Now might not be the case now as SOD has a handful of players he's already worked with but I think Dundalk fans need to try their best not to get too ahead of themselves they have a massive job on their hands to get anywhere near top 3.
desaintsno.12
17/01/2022, 8:28 AM
I think Derry are going to fall very short of the hype and i can't wait.
Anthony Wordsworth signs for 2022 for Waterford. He was very good last year but looked like he was gone as was on PFAI transfer list but club announced today he is back. We have held on to most of last seasons squad.
sbgawa
17/01/2022, 9:27 AM
I think Derry are going to fall very short of the hype and i can't wait.
Hard to see how that happens they were one of the best teams on a points per game from when RH took over and he's added Micheal Duffy , McEleney, Dummigan and Patching from Dundalk all of whom are great signings as well as Brandan Kavanagh and Maher (a good back up Keeper) and i doubt he is finished signing people yet.
Jd2793
17/01/2022, 9:48 AM
waterford signing well doesnt bode well for us down in cork , clear favourites for me now. on derry i thought higgins side wasnt all that great last season tbh scraped a few lucky results and performances werent all that head turning. duffy is a big addition along with patching but i dont think mceleney will be near his past best. pats will fancy their chances of keeping 2nd place
oriel
17/01/2022, 10:03 AM
Curious as to why you see Dundalk as challenging even for 3rd. The squad as of now is very poor. Last seasons best players have been lost, now heavily reliant on players who are either past their best, injury prone or unproven.
Duffy irreplaceable, Patching was good in some games and Europe but nothing like the form he displayed for Derry, McEleney excellent in europe but missed half the season, Dumminghan very versatile so he'll be missed, as will Murray. (Forgot about Cleary too)
Plus side, still have Hoban, Boyle, Sloggett, Leahy, Dan Kelly, and Benson and Mountney back, Gartland for experience but I don't expect him to be first choice so a decent spine, also don't see any of the best of the rest challenging for 3rd, in saying that I do think 4th might be the highest place, but certainly challenging for europe will be the target.
I also think we need 2 more players with decent experience, even if yet another Welsh u21 arrived today.
Longfordian
17/01/2022, 10:11 AM
waterford signing well doesnt bode well for us down in cork , clear favourites for me now. on derry i thought higgins side wasnt all that great last season tbh scraped a few lucky results and performances werent all that head turning. duffy is a big addition along with patching but i dont think mceleney will be near his past best. pats will fancy their chances of keeping 2nd place
Waterford are clear favourites for what out of curiosity? The Munster Senior Cup? I'm struggling to see how what they do impacts Cork at this point?
Jd2793
17/01/2022, 10:20 AM
Waterford are clear favourites for what out of curiosity? The Munster Senior Cup? I'm struggling to see how what they do impacts Cork at this point?
clear favs for the FD? do you need it spelled out for you? it impacts us as we also want to get promoted. hope that helps
Nah Nah Nah Nah
17/01/2022, 10:29 AM
Waterford are clear favourites for what out of curiosity? The Munster Senior Cup? I'm struggling to see how what they do impacts Cork at this point?
You’re going to get some land when Waterford arrive for a game in Division 1 next season
Longfordian
17/01/2022, 10:37 AM
Ha Jesus I was having a brain fart there. Apologies JD. I genuinely forgot they went down for a minute. I stopped paying close attention to the play off situations about half way through the season.
sulywaterfordfc
17/01/2022, 11:20 AM
Heard(from a v strong source) RH had Hoban and?or GK lined up but both deals fell apart and that has left him chasing..... apparently he was super confident about signing GK.That one could still happen of course.
I assume this is aimed at Higgins and Derry? Derry already have two keepers, one of which signed a long term contract...Also Derry seems to rate and are backing Jamie McGonigle to be their main striker. Who was the keeper they supposedly had lined up
sulywaterfordfc
17/01/2022, 11:23 AM
Anthony Wordsworth signs for 2022 for Waterford. He was very good last year but looked like he was gone as was on PFAI transfer list but club announced today he is back. We have held on to most of last seasons squad.
Major coup for us in division one. A strong squad is coming together. A good mix of youth and experience, we need a few more additions though, lack of depth last year unfortunately played a role in us getting relegated. By all accounts Wordsworth turned down a premier division club to stay at Waterford.
2 Year Contract
17/01/2022, 11:32 AM
I assume this is aimed at Higgins and Derry? Derry already have two keepers, one of which signed a long term contract...Also Derry seems to rate and are backing Jamie McGonigle to be their main striker. Who was the keeper they supposedly had lined up
I read it as GK meaning Georgie Kelly.
On the topic of him, one of the papers had an article online a few weeks ago saying he has options in Holland and Denmark as well as the UK. Would be interesting to see how he’d do in another European league rather than a Ross County etc
ontheotherhand
17/01/2022, 2:44 PM
I wouldn’t be as convinced as others at this stage that we are a shoe in for second. We could do with another centre (defensive) mid and another option up top.
I expected us to have at least a striker in by this stage we remain linked with some but clock is ticking.
Surely Derry should be confident of at least a runners up medal in such a weak league after all the investment in players?
pineapple stu
17/01/2022, 2:56 PM
I think "in such a weak league" might hit the nail on the head.
I know every year we're talking about the weakest league ever, but in this case Dundalk have lost a fair few key players and haven't replaced all. Pat's have to replace Jaros, although Doyle is a good signing up front. Sligo and Bohs haven't replaced Kenny and Kelly yet. Derry have signed solid and proven LoI players. That alone should have them favourites for a top two spot, though reality often isn't as simple and you just don't know who's coming through underage ranks or what signing from an England U21 team might turn out to be quite good.
ontheotherhand
17/01/2022, 3:38 PM
You know by now that I don't buy the weak league narrative stu but let's pretend it is because who has the time? So it's a weak league but I can't grant you that Derry have signed only "solid and proven LoI" players. They've signed two of the best players the league has seen in the past decade even when it was obviously much stronger (when Rovers weren't winning it). They also have some fantastic players there already and went on a serious run of form under Higgins.
They should be challenging with the investment they've made. For a Derry fan who firmly believes there are no good sides in a weak league to say he isn't confident of second place after taking the pick of players from one of the best sides the league has seen is a bit much even for pre-season.
pineapple stu
17/01/2022, 3:59 PM
OK - I think we're close to agreement there really. "Solid and proven" was intended as a compliment to the players they've signed. I agree Derry have done well in pre-season dealings which is why I reckon they'll be top two, but the fact that Pat's/Bohs/Sligo/Dundalk all seem weaker (at the moment, with time for signings) is another reason I reckon Derry will be top two.
ontheotherhand
17/01/2022, 4:06 PM
OK - I think we're close to agreement there really. "Solid and proven" was intended as a compliment to the players they've signed. I agree Derry have done well in pre-season dealings which is why I reckon they'll be top two, but the fact that Pat's/Bohs/Sligo/Dundalk all seem weaker (at the moment, with time for signings) is another reason I reckon Derry will be top two.
Ah ok. See id have Dave Webster as the archetypal "solid and proven" level of LoI player whereas Duffy and McEleney would be in the "ah ffs they are going home to play for their local team with a good manager and an already decent crop of young talent? ****** that's mildly terrifying" category of LoI player.
pineapple stu
17/01/2022, 4:14 PM
It's all "Premier Division quality" when you're stuck in the First as long as we've been :p
ontheotherhand
17/01/2022, 4:20 PM
It's all "Premier Division quality" when you're stuck in the First as long as we've been :p
But no more! Looking forward to seeing UCD this year and a few players in particular. Good to see Evan Osam playing. Didn't know he was a med student as well.
Surely Derry should be confident of at least a runners up medal in such a weak league after all the investment in players?
Maybe you are right to be fair, I was highly impressed with Pat’s last year and think on that basis we still had a fair bit to make up on them, obviously O’Donnell has left and I haven’t followed their business particularly closely so maybe my thinking is now outdated.
Heard(from a v strong source) RH had Hoban and?or GK lined up but both deals fell apart and that has left him chasing..... apparently he was super confident about signing GK.That one could still happen of course.
Strong talk about Kelly obviously I never heard anything about Hoban and he is not a player I’d have been keen on at all.
Kelly is known to be keen on moving abroad so I’d be surprised if he did sign now but not completely out of the equation yet.
There was also some talk about us signing Matt(?) Smith from Pat’s but that has died down too.
On a personal note if we can’t get Kelly there is no other LOI striker I’d be mad about signing and would like to see us looking further afield.
nigel-harps1954
17/01/2022, 4:49 PM
Ah ok. See id have Dave Webster as the archetypal "solid and proven" level of LoI player whereas Duffy and McEleney would be in the "ah ffs they are going home to play for their local team with a good manager and an already decent crop of young talent? ****** that's mildly terrifying" category of LoI player.
Hands off Dave Webster. He's practically a Donegal man now.
OK - I think we're close to agreement there really. "Solid and proven" was intended as a compliment to the players they've signed. I agree Derry have done well in pre-season dealings which is why I reckon they'll be top two, but the fact that Pat's/Bohs/Sligo/Dundalk all seem weaker (at the moment, with time for signings) is another reason I reckon Derry will be top two.
Who is going to finish ahead of them? Pats would probably be best bet, but on paper they are a long way off current Derry quality.
Top 2 is pretty much sealed already in my view, then again Derry may not fully click until next season, money doesn't always mean success but they should be strong enough for top 2. On money spent I think Dundalk's wage bill must have been 2-3M last season and came 6th ! (mind you two of them were Abibi and Sonni)
dundalk need a good few more loan players, theyve not really add much from within the league to the team. mountney and benson are just off injuries and declining, they've to deal with that horror of a pitch aswell. doyle i think is a decent prospect , martin is average enough for PD standards and bone is another one who is nothing special especially if hes used out right.
Hopefully 2022 is the final year of that, word locally is that StatSports want to look at getting grass pitch in, to have better chance of using their UK contacts for loan players from higher standard clubs.
Always amazes me, as bad as the pitch is in Oriel Park, Derry's is actually same if not worse, was in a terrible state last August when I saw it upfront. Not a fan of either / any to be fair.
Always amazes me, as bad as the pitch is in Oriel Park, Derry's is actually same if not worse, was in a terrible state last August when I saw it upfront. Not a fan of either / any to be fair.
I agree about Derry’s pitch. Going by seeing on screen only, but I remember watching Pats/Derry last season there and I thought the pitch was awful. By contrast, the first time I saw it on TV when Pats played there (might even have been the first game on it ?) I thought it looked half decent for an artificial pitch, and much better than Oriel. Must have declined a lot in those few years.
nigel-harps1954
17/01/2022, 8:18 PM
Derrys pitch is marginally better than Oriel. Both are atrocious. Have walked out on both of them, they are rock hard. I'd take a knee deep in muck Finn Park over both of them.
Nesta99
17/01/2022, 8:56 PM
Curious as to why you see Dundalk as challenging even for 3rd. The squad as of now is very poor. Last seasons best players have been lost, now heavily reliant on players who are either past their best, injury prone or unproven.
I think there is more a sense of hope with Dundalk fans that we can do a bit of a 2013 job than expectation. Feeling like there have been good signings, young and hungry, mixed with lads we know - some have a poit to prove after last season and others that they made the right choice in moving with SO'D. To say the squad now is 'very poor' is equally as curious and sounds like wishful thinking! Anything can happen with a goal scorer is firing and hopefully Hoban will be in that form, solid spine with 2 actual goalkeepers to start.
We will find in in due course but I'd be happy with solid mid/upper table finish (4th would be a good performance), anything better is a bonus and take a few scalps on the way -Pats by 4 would be amusing, Derry and Rovers of course - far more important to beat the Sligo, Bohs, Harps etc. Have a go in the cup too maybe. Need to stay relatively injury free. Also to gel well quickly which i think is possible with a good group of players that have played together, previously at Dundalk and some at Wales. Generally the 'in the knows' are saying the squad is taking shape well and they are already looking handy together but training isnt always the best guide.
Bunny Kelly
18/01/2022, 8:37 AM
Pats may have finished 2nd but their points total would have barely been enough to finish 3rd most seasons so I wouldnt be getting too caught in them being the 2nd best side, they did win the cup but if Bohs had won a penalty shoot out would that have made them better than Pats?
Basically 2-6 is still interchangeable, I think Pats largely underachieved under O'Donnell if you look at the money they were spending at the start of 2020 season I'd have hoped they would be closer to Rovers at this stage. For me when you look at resources they have worked with in their career so far I'd have far more faith in Clancy than O'Donnell long term but the chances are Pats drop a place or two even if they get the same amount of points & it will be considered a regression
placid casual
18/01/2022, 8:45 AM
On the subject of the relative state of dundalks & derrys pitches I heard from a Rovers player last year that they hate playing on OP pitch, and players are left out based on the pitch, but love playing on the derry pitch-I think it's because Rovers have a training pitch similar to Derry surface so are more used to it, I guess.
D24Saint
18/01/2022, 10:51 AM
It will be interesting to see how Jack Scott gets on. Never heard of the chap tbh but seems to have a decent background between playing for Wolves U-23’s & Northern Ireland’s underage teams. Now for the final piece of the puzzle a goal tending type player.
sadloserkid
18/01/2022, 11:04 AM
Never heard of the chap tbh but seems to have a decent background between playing for Wolves U-23’s & Northern Ireland’s underage teams. Now for the final piece of the puzzle a goal tending type player.
A very wise Pats fan once told me that background was largely irrelvant, you'll have to wait and see how he goes for your team. :)
D24Saint
18/01/2022, 12:54 PM
A very wise Pats fan once told me that background was largely irrelvant, you'll have to wait and see how he goes for your team. :)
touche
Its a great pity to see clubs converting to astro pitches. They appear to be harder on the players and a lot of knee injuries appear to happen on them.
I suppose it can be argued that a lot of clubs use astro as their training pitches but I would prefer a return to grass pitches.
A modern well constructed grass pitch should be durable and relatively easy to maintain.
The new Dalymount pitch is to be astro I believe.
pineapple stu
18/01/2022, 1:09 PM
Dalymount as astro does sound like sacrilege to be fair.
Must say have always thought Derrys to be better than Oriel but either way astro pitches are all bad and I hope changes in that direction will be reversed in the years ahead.
ashbournebohs
18/01/2022, 2:27 PM
Dalymount as astro does sound like sacrilege to be fair.
Dalymount most definitely will not be astro . It is getting the same pitch type as Aviva/Croke park a grass pitch with artificial grass woven through it to the best of my knowledge
Dalymount most definitely will not be astro . It is getting the same pitch type as Aviva/Croke park a grass pitch with artificial grass woven through it to the best of my knowledge
That’s also what I heard from a Bohs source, who I would trust as well placed to know. I’d have no hesitation in banning the Oriel/Brandywell type pitches, though I understand the financial motive for clubs going that route. They seem to be becoming prevalent up North as well.
Demesne Lad
18/01/2022, 10:58 PM
Has Alessio Abibi actually left Dundalk?
vinnie
18/01/2022, 11:33 PM
Lads I have refereed on lots of artificial pitches and I can honestly say that none are better than others, and to be fair I've never been on a bad one, now I only reffed LSL and schoolboy games on them so I'm not saying top level loi players aren't affected by them, but I think a lot of peoples impressions are down to RTE's ****e camera work, when you are in the middle of one they all look the same and equal for all. Except for when Dundalk only water one end.
ToberonaTornado
19/01/2022, 12:23 AM
Has Alessio Abibi actually left Dundalk?
Deffo gone.
Kevin Mulligan confirmed what was already known in a piece he wrote in the Argus last week:
Italian born, Abibi, who was capped at underage level by Albania and who made 20 appearances for Dundalk after signing last January, has returned to Italy and is understood to be on the lookout for a new club.
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/louth/sport/soccer/kevin-mulligan-dundalks-foreign-legion-take-their-leave-from-oriel-park-41229507.html
ToberonaTornado
19/01/2022, 12:28 AM
I read it as GK meaning Georgie Kelly.
On the topic of him, one of the papers had an article online a few weeks ago saying he has options in Holland and Denmark as well as the UK. Would be interesting to see how he’d do in another European league rather than a Ross County etc
Sorry for any confusion - yeah when i posted GK i meant Georgie Kelly.
sulywaterfordfc
19/01/2022, 1:36 AM
It will be interesting to see how Jack Scott gets on. Never heard of the chap tbh but seems to have a decent background between playing for Wolves U-23’s & Northern Ireland’s underage teams. Now for the final piece of the puzzle a goal tending type player.
I mean only a few years ago we used to get excited coz a lad once played u16s for a league one side and went on to play Sunday league tier in England. There’s been many players come over from biggish English clubs and not work out. Can’t judge these guys till they play a few games.
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