LOI in Europe 2022

[Nesta99]

Not seeing a player regularly can have ye missing the progress a players is making. Gaffney gave Boyle a torrid time in Oriel. Last night he was mobile and pulling the defence about, used his physicality well. He seems to be more composed now and can pick the right ball to give, and in to space to receive. He has to be a key man for the remainder of the season with what he offers now and not just goals. The Hat stand may end up on the transfer list!

Hibs got their tactics wrong in the 1st half, their changes had them in with a shout of keeping the tie alive and should have started the game in the manner they did in spells of the 2nd half. Im not sure it was the most sensible thing for Gaffney to admit to catching the player, not meaning to connect with the kick. I thought cards could be reviewed of if there is mention of the kick in more detail in the refs an assessors reports that it could be flagged up, and he is on record, Hopefully the officials just dont see the need to bother.

[Stuttgart88]

Gaffney with the goal to seal it; Hibs will be delighted with that.

You can only beat what's in front of you and Rovers deserve their margin of victory overall (red card aside) but I think the second half performance has been a little bit concerning in terms of upping the level for future rounds.

But positives outweigh that for now - a comfortable win, a dead second leg, and three chances at a group spotQuite typical of Rovers in a way. Frequently vulnerable on the counter after dominating possession. Even on Friday Harps had a great chance at 0-0 having seen none of the ball until then. I think it's a weakness better teams can exploit. Let Rovers have the ball because we don't always have the penetration needed to make possession count, and hit at speed on the break. The longer we have the ball the higher our defensive line becomes and we give up chances. Dundalk did this well at Oriel in the last quarter of the game. Derry's winner early in the season (albeit from an error) exposed the high line late on. Bohs threatened this way in the first half recently.

Gaffney is almost unplayable at the moment. His legs are telescopic. How he retains the ball at times defies physics. He's reminds me of something of a cross between Peter Crouch and Christophe Dugarry. His mini-dummy to commit the keeper before rolling the ball into the net was glorious.

[WeAreRovers]

Been saying it for ages, Gaffney is the best player in the League this season, unplayable is the word. He was pretty good last year too.

[ger121]

It will be a much tighter game next week and the heat will be a factor as still close to 30c at KO. They’ve played away games before when it is very warm and seem to cope fine. Cyprus and Albania are recent examples. I’d be very surprised if Rovers don’t score as well. Looking good for the next round.

[pineapple stu]

They played in 30+ degrees in Luxembourg in 2015 as well - drew 0-0 out there and won 3-0 at home; fairly handy overall.

There's no need to exert themselves out there which is great, so 0-0 is quite possible.

That said, unless Hibs improve a bit, it's hard to see Rovers not creating chances.

[sbgawa]

They played in 30+ degrees in Luxembourg in 2015 as well - drew 0-0 out there and won 3-0 at home; fairly handy overall.

There's no need to exert themselves out there which is great, so 0-0 is quite possible.

That said, unless Hibs improve a bit, it's hard to see Rovers not creating chances.

This is true i cant see us not scoring at some stage (famous last words) but we really should be planning for the next round now.
Will be interesting to see if JAck and or Burke even make the bench next week.

[placid casual]

Bizarre game last night, if I'm honest. I've seen a fair few Rovers games in Europe at this stage (all the way back to Honved and Lajos Detari in 1985) and can't recall a worse oppostion. Tueta last year were muck as well i suppose.
Rovers "glamour" players were absent and it was left to the hard-working, honest players to pick up the slack. Gaffney looks like a complete donkey at first but the ball sticks to him like glue(answers on a postcard). He had a super game, and managed to overcome that dreadful individual who deigned to hit his head against Rorys boot😉.
They brought on an extra from an avengers movie at half time, who proceeded to clatter the post, and then stomp around to no good effect.
Just bizarre.
Don't think it's tempting fate to be looking at flights to Razgrad in Bulgaria in a few weeks, and next weeks quick trip to sunny malta should be pleasant. The rigours of being a LOI fan eh.

[pateen]

Anyone know if the Derry game is available on line for tomorrow night?

[sbgawa]

Anyone know if the Derry game is available on line for tomorrow night?

It's on loitv

[legendz]

It wouldn't be a LOI victory in Europe without some madness and nearly shooting themselves in the foot, but Rovers managed to get there in the end. Fair play.They definitely nearly shot themselves in the foot twice!! A couple of warning shots to be professional and seal the deal in the second leg.

[joey B]

It's on loitv

Sligos home game on LOITV aswell….

[brendy_éire]

It's on loitv

As is the away game.

[ger121]

Out of curiosity. What is the biggest first leg lead thrown away by a LOI side. I remember Longford being 2-0 up against a Welsh side and losing was it 5-1 in the away leg.

[Shinkicker]

Out of curiosity. What is the biggest first leg lead thrown away by a LOI side. I remember Longford being 2-0 up against a Welsh side and losing was it 5-1 in the away leg.
Here's some salt for that wound.

[paul_oshea]

Sligos home game on LOITV aswell….

Need two tvs now

Had to watch that on plus 1 and missed the first 20 mins. The second half they got exposed pretty easily. Worrying for them against any other opposition in Europe. Playing a high line is all well and good but if your defenders can't defend against the counter then you're in big trouble.

I realised last night what club I was thinking of when watching Ireland play the ball around the houses without any incision, ending up getting beaten and the answer came back to me. Rovers last year against florinn(flora Tallinn)was exactly the performances I was thinking of.

[ontheotherhand]

Good to see you arrive for your annual sojourn into all things LoI Paul. Now it's a League of Ireland in Europe thread!

They were worse than I'd hoped and we made them look it. When I heard "new signings" I thought it could go either way but they looked makeshift and we pulled them all over the place. Not too surprised they had a few chances as we pushed up to kill it off but worrying how easy the 1 v 1 came about with a simple turn and pass over the top. The other two I wouldn't be as concerned with. We could've had a few more ourselves. Better sides will see opportunities but hopefully with Byrne and Burke back we will put a few more away. Gaffney was brilliant and is getting all the plaudits but Watts, Finn, O'Neill and McCann were fantastic as well albeit against a team I wouldn't fancy to win the First Division here.

Won't be too shocked if they score over there but I think we can score a few without needing to push up as much.

[pineapple stu]

Out of curiosity. What is the biggest first leg lead thrown away by a LOI side. I remember Longford being 2-0 up against a Welsh side and losing was it 5-1 in the away leg.
Yeah, that's the only time a two-goal lead has been lost I think.

LoI sides have been knocked out after winning one game 26 times. On 12 of those occasions the LoI side had won the first leg, and then lost the second leg. But every time - apart from Longford v Carmarthen - the lead had only been one goal. And on every occasion, the first leg had been at home.

We've turned around first leg deficits just 9 times, and each time the margin was one goal. Before Dundalk v BATE in 2016, the last side to do this was Shels v Hajduk Split in 2004.

[Longfordian]

Thanks for bringing that up lads ffs.

[Nesta99]

Thanks for bringing that up lads ffs.

Camarthen Town was a bit special after the 1st leg, Matthews wasnt a chap for European games though. There is some company with Bohs who were well beaten (TNS) and Shels (Hibs Malta), the main reason I remember that Shels result is that the transfer fee for David Crawley from Dundalk to Shels was the cost of renting Tolka the year previous against Varteks, and that he was the cause of the away goal that put the Maltese through.

Its no consolation but losing to Ashtown Villa in the FAI Cup years ago still stings, so we all have those cringe moments!!

[joey B]

https://twitter.com/ryanmcdyer/status/1544753938355961857

Handy graph.......

[Longfordian]

Camarthen Town was a bit special after the 1st leg, Matthews wasnt a chap for European games though. There is some company with Bohs who were well beaten (TNS) and Shels (Hibs Malta), the main reason I remember that Shels result is that the transfer fee for David Crawley from Dundalk to Shels was the cost of renting Tolka the year previous against Varteks, and that he was the cause of the away goal that put the Maltese through.

Its no consolation but losing to Ashtown Villa in the FAI Cup years ago still stings, so we all have those cringe moments!!

There was some suggestion that certain players were trying to lose the game but still go through. Motivated by, depending on who you talked to, a desire to embarrass Mathews who they were fighting with or make money in the bookies. Then it got out of hand and they panicked resulting in giving away stupid goals. Could have been just talk but at 1-1 at half time and looking comfortable nobody could see the second half coming. An awful night that set us back years.

[outspoken]

There was some suggestion that certain players were trying to lose the game but still go through. Motivated by, depending on who you talked to, a desire to embarrass Mathews who they were fighting with or make money in the bookies. Then it got out of hand and they panicked resulting in giving away stupid goals. Could have been just talk but at 1-1 at half time and looking comfortable nobody could see the second half coming. An awful night that set us back years.

Was in Bala a few years ago at a game and had Town flag with me, this lad came over as soon as he saw it, turned out to be the Carmarthen manager from that tie. Lovely man, said it remains the best moment of his career. Couldn't bring myself to tell him it may have been fishy haha

[Nesta99]

There was some suggestion that certain players were trying to lose the game but still go through. Motivated by, depending on who you talked to, a desire to embarrass Mathews who they were fighting with or make money in the bookies. Then it got out of hand and they panicked resulting in giving away stupid goals. Could have been just talk but at 1-1 at half time and looking comfortable nobody could see the second half coming. An awful night that set us back years.

There will always be chatter about the slightly unexpected results - Welsh, Lichtenstein opposition was always bound to have people call foul. Dunno though as there were players in the Welsh tie that I would never have considered as fixers or not report suspicion. Sligo ... we shall see.

[yurt]

I thought this list of attendances from the UCLQ1 was interesting. It's an imperfect metric but is definitely an indicator of where SR stand in terms of the size of the (home) clubs competing this round.


First legs attendances
Lech - Qarabağ 25,118
Malmö - Víkingur Reykjavík 11,830
Slovan Bratislava - Dinamo Batumi 10,589
Tobol - Ferencváros 8,420
Pyunik - CFR Cluj 8,000
Shamrock Rovers - Hibernians 7,019
Maribor - Shakhtyor 6,450
Zrinjski - Sheriff 5,400
Bodø/Glimt - KÍ 4,227
Ballkani - Žalgiris 4,000
Ludogorets - Sutjeska 3,963
HJK - RFS 3,874
Shkupi - Lincoln Red Imps 2,500
Diddeleng - Tirana 1,555
TNS - Linfield 1,034

Really looking forward to the ECL games later. The results from this tonight will go a long way to determining or co-efficient ranking for the year. ECLQ1 only contains teams from countries ranked 30th and below. So the vast majority of ties are winnable. From 32-43 (LOI is currently 42) in the co-efficient table is incredibly close. All these leagues will be picking up points by playing in this round. Latvia are 4 places ahead of us so if Derry could do a number on them we'd be well on our way to over taking them.

[pineapple stu]

Crusaders losing at halftime against Bruno's Magpies

That's quite funny :)

[ontheotherhand]

Biggest club in Ireland .... my hole

7000 there in the end then pateen. What was Corks last attendance in Europe do you know?

[pineapple stu]

Crusaders losing at halftime against Bruno's Magpies

That's quite funny :)
2-0 to the pub team now.

Mad stuff

[SPXcyan]

Seriously impressive to have a higher attendance than clubs from Bulgaria, Slovenia and Norway, not bad at all.

It's far too close for comfort with just how close we are to losing a place in the Europe Conference League, scary stuff!

[Abbeyman]

If Shamrock rovers advance who will their possible opponents be in the next round ?

[joey B]

If Shamrock rovers advance who will their possible opponents be in the next round ?

Ludogorets more than likely,2 up from their first leg….

[Longfordian]

Was in Bala a few years ago at a game and had Town flag with me, this lad came over as soon as he saw it, turned out to be the Carmarthen manager from that tie. Lovely man, said it remains the best moment of his career. Couldn't bring myself to tell him it may have been fishy haha

I heard that from one of our officials at the time actually that he was an absolute gentleman. All the Carmarthen people were lovely people to be fair, I just have PTSD.

[pineapple stu]

2-1 the final score in Gibraltar

Means one draw and one defeat for nordy clubs in Gibraltar this week

[joey B]

Sligo losing already….

[ger121]

Sligo sure hate Europe

[pateen]

FFS no commentary?

[SPXcyan]

Ahhh come off it now Sligo! surely not looking at losing to a Welsh club in pre-season! :L

[pineapple stu]

Long time yet to turn it around.

I think it's the time to mock rather than panic :p

[pateen]

Lovely finish. Keena

[joey B]

1-1 in Wales…

[pateen]

Sligo fans in full voice now

[joey B]

Pats pretty much certain to play Mura now,2 up away from home in the first leg….

*2-1 now ;):cool:

[2 Year Contract]

2-1 now, the Moldovans have one back through a great strike after some messing around at the back in possession. I’ve watched a stream of the full game and despite that late goal Mura should easily have enough to see them off second leg.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Sligo fans in full voice now

In fairness to them were in full voice the whole half. Better team so far but McGinty made a great save just before half time.

[2 Year Contract]

That Keena goal was excellent, shades of Bergkamp about it

[joey B]

Sligo ahead now,looking good for them…

[pineapple stu]

Derry losing at home.

Bit concerning there

[joey B]

Derry/Riga looked evenly matched and 1 ball over the top and they’re behind….

[pateen]

Riga aren't half bad. Mid way through their season too

[placid casual]

Tuned into the start of 2nd half of sligo game - looks like they are playing a pub team, and should win the tie handy enough.
As for Derry.. The absolute state of the pitch.. Is there a hosepipe ban on in the brandywell?
The pitch looks almost as bad as oriel pk, and that's saying something. How do Derry expect to play ball and showcase their talents on that, as the look devoid of touch and confidence from what I have seen so far.

[ger121]

Sligo down to 10