Fixtures Friday 18th Saturday 19th February

[Longfordian]

Breslin is a quality full back. Three former LTFC players on the pitch in Tolka tonight plus of course Stuey Byrne of "Stuey Byrne Special" circa 2001/2002 fame. Can't remember the exact ingredients beyond vodka and red bull and alcopops of some kind (Smirnoff Ice maybe). Macy if he's reading and his kids aren't could probably confirm.

[ToberonaTornado]

https://twitter.com/DundalkFC/status/1494744775962017796

8 debutants for Dundalk tonight,could be a tough night for them......

In fairness all of them played well & scored 2 goals.It was an old hand that F'd up for the 1st(Boyle).Didn't get a proper look at the 2nd but heard someone beside me mentioning Boyle was someway culpable again and i just nodded ;) as you do.
It was an excellent match has to be said with both sides playing some lovely football and plenty of goal scoring incidents for both side. McGonigle hit a post or two and was brilliant. Sam Bone was unlucky not to score.(was excellent) Dundalk's 1st was really well worked and hopefully a sign of things to come from young Bradley.

A classic "this game could go anyway" opener and it was great to be back in Oriel at a proper match.

[total hoofball]

It's going to another long season for Shels battling against relegation the clubs never learns when it comes to our recent Premier Division recruitment. Some promising spells with a definite Duff imprint but ultimately his 3-4-3 wingback system is doomed to fail especially with small central midfielders and we've signed a number players on full-time contracts who are definite downgrades on last season in the First division. Duff's first clanger was dropping the excellent Brendan Clarke against his old club in a massive televised opener in favour of the Swansea loanee who looks dodgy and would not inspire any confidence or organisation in a young defence

On Pats they have to be very happy to win 3-0 away from home on opening night without looking overly impressive and feeling they have more in the tank, much bigger tests for them in their next 3 games to have any idea where they really are in terms of title contention

[total hoofball]

Just the 19 goals in the 3 first division games! cagey!!
I'm not particularly shocked by Waterford and Cork scorelines, Athlone look a mess and Bray are effectively a higher budget Cabinteely and Devlin was taking them nowhere anyway and shouldn't be managing in LOI anymore

Now Treaty that's the impressive one. I think they could be going under the radar again this season. Wexford must be bitterly disappointed with the start considering Ryan has been backed big time in the off season

[pineapple stu]

Other way of looking at Bray is they made the playoffs last year (and beat Galway) and have basically nabbed Cabo's best players (well, Kieran Marty Waters anyway). 6-0's quite surprising I think. Ditto Wexford getting thumped alright; Ian Ryan had been doing well there since taking over and has added some good players for this year

[placid casual]

Decent game last night in tallaght. UCD really should have been 2 up in the first 20 mins as Rovers struggled to get going. Once we did it was tough for the young UCD lads. Kerrigan looks a real player, I must say.
Jack controlled the game as expected, and Rovers ground down the students before getting 2 up at halftime.
Could have been more than 3:0 in the 2nd half but at least it seems the rocket up the hole from Bradley last week worked. Game in Derry should be decent next week.
UCD have fine technical players but could struggle against big imposing sides.

[joey B]

10 am pitch inspection in Sligo,seems to have been quite a bit of snow there overnight …

[sidewayspasser]

Other way of looking at Bray is they made the playoffs last year (and beat Galway) and have basically nabbed Cabo's best players (well, Kieran Marty Waters anyway). 6-0's quite surprising I think.
If you take a closer look at the Bray squad, most of them were with Cabo last year, and very few Bray players were retained. It's basically a Cabo squad with a few Bray additions rather than the other way round. Still, the 6-0 also came as a surprise to me. Bray basically collapsed defensively once the second goal went in.

[Jd2793]

tbf the starting 11 was more of a mix, added a few new players like byrne douglas zambra and manley ontop of cabo lads. but yeah its mostly a cabo mark II squad. in saying that we struggled against cabo last year , mainly because we were blunt in attack and all they did was sit off us for 90 mins in 3 games. it will be interesting to see where they go from that one, i think devlin is a poor manager in this day and age, wonder will he come under any pressure should results not go well in the first 10 games.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

10 am pitch inspection in Sligo,seems to have been quite a bit of snow there overnight …

Be surprised if it’s on. Forecast awful also.

[SeanDrog]

If you take a closer look at the Bray squad, most of them were with Cabo last year, and very few Bray players were retained. It's basically a Cabo squad with a few Bray additions rather than the other way round. Still, the 6-0 also came as a surprise to me. Bray basically collapsed defensively once the second goal went in.

So the cuckoos rather than the seagulls …. I’ll get my coat

[joey B]

Longford/Cobh game OFF.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Our game off also

[Jack B]

Disappointing all the postponements, puts a bit of a dampener (no pun intended) on all of the hype of the opening weekend.

[DCWA]

In fairness all of them played well & scored 2 goals.It was an old hand that F'd up for the 1st(Boyle).Didn't get a proper look at the 2nd but heard someone beside me mentioning Boyle was someway culpable again and i just nodded ;) as you do.
It was an excellent match has to be said with both sides playing some lovely football and plenty of goal scoring incidents for both side. McGonigle hit a post or two and was brilliant. Sam Bone was unlucky not to score.(was excellent) Dundalk's 1st was really well worked and hopefully a sign of things to come from young Bradley.

A classic "this game could go anyway" opener and it was great to be back in Oriel at a proper match.

Thought Dundalk were excellent last night and probably the better side. There are a few handy players there alright. Take the hand and all for that point back up the road.

Eveb if we could have had all 3 with McGonigle’s late chance, it wasn’t deserved.

[ToberonaTornado]

There is extended highlights from the match on the Dundalk FC Youtube channel. But here's the goals from last night. AdriannTaffe on coms and John Flanagan on co comms.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp1d-s64yvk

[PartySaint]

There is extended highlights from the match on the Dundalk FC Youtube channel. But here's the goals from last night. AdriannTaffe on coms and John Flanagan on co comms.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp1d-s64yvk

I know it’s only a few minutes of highlights but Bradley looks like a very tidy player

[joey B]

I know it’s only a few minutes of highlights but Bradley looks like a very tidy player

He came on as a sub for Hibs at Celtic Park a month ago,looks a coup for Dundalk that one,however long he's there for......

[total hoofball]

Other way of looking at Bray is they made the playoffs last year (and beat Galway) and have basically nabbed Cabo's best players (well, Kieran Marty Waters anyway). 6-0's quite surprising I think. Ditto Wexford getting thumped alright; Ian Ryan had been doing well there since taking over and has added some good players for this year
Cabinteely regressed past couple of seasons under Devlin with bloated squads, never a settled XI, leaking stupid goals and under 17/19 players regularly thrown in randomly probably under some influence from the schoolboy section. The new Bray are mirroring that with another bloated squad and Devlin has already chucked out Oscar Brennan after some falling out who has now signed for Crumlin

I think if Devlin had stepped aside from the managerial role to concentrate on DOF with a decent younger manager in place that squad slimmed down to a good core 20-22 players would be in the mix with Waterford, Cork and Galway

[Nesta99]

Bradley was the standout player on the pitch in a good game where there was no shortage of quality on show. Boyle's timing in tackling Akintunde was poor but it was also the strength of the lad that then got him goal side and Boyle unable to recover - you'd expect more of a player of Boyle's experience but Akintunde made a mug of him too. 1st goal he may have got a nudge in the back but both goals similar in that if the ref doesnt call anything Boyle is on his ass. In general I was surprised with how Dundalk played as a team considering the amount of new players, if its a sign to come and we improve with games then 4th is doable. I think the rate of progress will depend on keeping players fit with the small squad. When Derry get in to their stride and have a full hand to pick from they wont drop many points. That said Dundalk were first to a lot of the breaking ball so if we shaded it it was down to graft. Patching, for example, goes missing in srappy phases of play.

Looking back at highlights it was Bone who got his positioning/timing all wrong for he 2nd goal not Boyle for both, but both goals were similar in the error of over committing in the tackle a long way out from goal.

[sbgawa]

Good to see you appreciating Bradser at last Nesta

[Nesta99]

Ha, I had actually put Bradser initially as a nod but threw in 'player' just in case of being misquoted;)

[ToberonaTornado]

[QUOTE=joey B;2102891]He came on as a sub for Hibs at Celtic Park a month ago,looks a coup for Dundalk that one,however long he's there for....../QUOTE]

Season long contract.

[ToberonaTornado]

Bradley was the standout player on the pitch in a good game where there was no shortage of quality on show. Boyle's timing in tackling Akintunde was poor but it was also the strength of the lad that then got him goal side and Boyle unable to recover - you'd expect more of a player of Boyle's experience but Akintunde made a mug of him too. 1st goal he may have got a nudge in the back but both goals similar in that if the ref doesnt call anything Boyle is on his ass. In general I was surprised with how Dundalk played as a team considering the amount of new players, if its a sign to come and we improve with games then 4th is doable. I think the rate of progress will depend on keeping players fit with the small squad. When Derry get in to their stride and have a full hand to pick from they wont drop many points. That said Dundalk were first to a lot of the breaking ball so if we shaded it it was down to graft. Patching, for example, goes missing in srappy phases of play.

Looking back at highlights it was Bone who got his positioning/timing all wrong for he 2nd goal not Boyle for both, but both goals were similar in the error of over committing in the tackle a long way out from goal.

That's the move i missed and its a pity because he(Bone) was very good otherwise.

[mcgonigle]

That's the move i missed and its a pity because he(Bone) was very good otherwise.

Not sure I'd agree with that. Played OK, had a couple of good shots but if it was Duffy playing left instead of Lafferty we would have been in a lot of trouble. If Leahy is back next week I would be moving Macari right back and dropping Bone, looks suspect.

Why did Derry fans have Russian and Chinese flags with them last night? Would have thought people from Derry would be against foreign occupation?

[Martinho II]

Breslin is a quality full back. Three former LTFC players on the pitch in Tolka tonight plus of course Stuey Byrne of "Stuey Byrne Special" circa 2001/2002 fame. Can't remember the exact ingredients beyond vodka and red bull and alcopops of some kind (Smirnoff Ice maybe). Macy if he's reading and his kids aren't could probably confirm.

Pretty sure its smirnoff ice thats a drink I will ave to sample again!!

[lofty9]

That said Dundalk were first to a lot of the breaking ball so if we shaded it it was down to graft. Patching, for example, goes missing in srappy phases of play.


I expected Derry to have more of the ball with the wind in 2nd half, Dundalk won every 2nd ball in first 20mins of that half and it showed. Dundalk came out with a better attitude, and Derry didn't react until they conceded. I could see how mad Higgins was at a few of the Derry players in that period of the 2nd half.

[oriel]

Good game in Oriel Park last night, and great atmosphere, big crowd down from Derry too, the club announced 'approx 3,500' or something like that, but most I spoke to thought just over 4k.

Dundalk def the better side the first half, but not good from Boyle who was knocked off the ball far far too easy for Derry equaliser. I wasn't overly impressed with Derry in first half, expected Patching to dominate the middle. With so many new debuts for Dundalk I was worried going up, would have taken a draw before the game.

Second half, Bone skinned, pardon the pun for the second equaliser, he had a good game actually, could have scored with a cracking long range effort first half. To be fair though Derry def finished the stronger side, and McGonigle should really have scored to make it 3-2 last 5 mins, hit the bar when he had time, but what a player he is, he looks to have it all, pace, skill, strength, the whole package, I was very impressed with him. I had good chat with a friendly Derry crew in the upstairs bar of the stand after the match, all seemed to enjoy the trip and the game. Super display by young Bradley on the right wing for us.


Overall a draw was a fair result, and great to get off and running with a good display and the first point onboard.

[ToberonaTornado]

Not sure I'd agree with that. Played OK, had a couple of good shots but if it was Duffy playing left instead of Lafferty we would have been in a lot of trouble. If Leahy is back next week I would be moving Macari right back and dropping Bone, looks suspect.

Why did Derry fans have Russian and Chinese flags with them last night? Would have thought people from Derry would be against foreign occupation?

Well Bone certainly kept Maher on his pins all night that's for sure.I think Sam knows he's behind Leahy in the pecking order and is trying in his absence to lay down a marker.He needs to concentrate a bit more on not get caught out of position so much but he had a good game.

Anyone else see Mark Connolly having a right snap at Nathan Sheppard at FT? I like Connolly but if he needed to say something to him he should have waited until they got back to the dressers.

[oriel]

Not sure I'd agree with that. Played OK, had a couple of good shots but if it was Duffy playing left instead of Lafferty we would have been in a lot of trouble. If Leahy is back next week I would be moving Macari right back and dropping Bone, looks suspect.

Why did Derry fans have Russian and Chinese flags with them last night? Would have thought people from Derry would be against foreign occupation?

Actually I now recall, there were Derry fans in the upstairs bar last night taking a photo with a flag I couldn't see clearly, maybe Cuban ?

[oriel]

Well Bone certainly kept Maher on his pins all night that's for sure.I think Sam knows he's behind Leahy in the pecking order and is trying in his absence to lay down a marker.He needs to concentrate a bit more on not get caught out of position so much but he had a good game.

Anyone else see Mark Connolly having a right snap at Nathan Sheppard at FT? I like Connolly but if he needed to say something to him he should have waited until they got back to the dressers.

No I missed that, but totally agree, this was a young lad only settled into Ireland and making his debut, abs no call for that.

[Nesta99]

No I missed that, but totally agree, this was a young lad only settled into Ireland and making his debut, abs no call for that.

Its all on at he end of the highlight reel, questioned it myself and the appropriateness. It looks like Connolly taking exception to something Sheppard called, but Id expect and want my keeper to be vocal regardless of seniority. Be interesting to see if it is commented on. Bone chirped in too but hard to know if it was also at Sheppard or at Connolly.

[2 Year Contract]

Good craic in Tolka on Friday night. I thought Mark Doyle was probably pats best player on the night. A shame Billy King's screamer that smacked the post/bar didn’t find its way into the top corner, incredible effort. Darragh Burns goal was something special too. Won’t get too carried away though, next week against a proper premier division side will be a better gauge of where we are.

Only sour note on the night was the few hundred shels fans singing 'all the way to Poland to have a heart attack' in reference to a pats fan (who’s friends were in the ground on Friday) that passed away while in Warsaw for our game against Legia in 2014. A sizeable amount of absolute pondlife supporting the giant club it seems. Luckily we'll probably only have one more trip to Tolka park whether it’s demolished or not.

[oriel]

Pats seem to be in really good shape, that was an impressive win to be fair, 3-0 but I expected them to win.

Only one game, and hard to judge all teams, will take a month, so many new debuts for a lot of clubs, DFC included and not for one min am I suggesting we will have a great season, I hope we do ! But that said, I think Shels might find it tough this season. i just don't see a spine to their team, leaders, main players etc, they will stay up, but I think it will be a challenging season for them.

Pity two games called off (correct call) but would have been good to see how each team did on day 1.

Just on DFC, walking around town yesterday, and listening to Dundalk FM 4pm Sat show for any away game for each of the 9 clubs, I would encourage you to tune in post your friday night game. The two hosts are hilarious, especially main guy John Murphy, now in his early 80's and still going strong, Gussie also, John won a league with DFC in 1963 and Gussie also played but more so local leagues. They commentate on every Friday game live, then one hour show at 4pm on Sat, 60 mins DFC but to be fair good and fair interviews with the opposition too.

I think Calcio Jack on here enjoyed the post match summary after Rovers games before, the two boys really are a great bit of stuff, one game v Rovers I can't recall the season, but I couldn't go for some reason, stuck at home, family thing, live radio 'ball comes in, Finn, to Greene.............ah for.................then silence, and about 2 mins later 'well thats 1-0 Rovers'

[Calcio Jack]

Pats seem to be in really good shape, that was an impressive win to be fair, 3-0 but I expected them to win.

Only one game, and hard to judge all teams, will take a month, so many new debuts for a lot of clubs, DFC included and not for one min am I suggesting we will have a great season, I hope we do ! But that said, I think Shels might find it tough this season. i just don't see a spine to their team, leaders, main players etc, they will stay up, but I think it will be a challenging season for them.

Pity two games called off (correct call) but would have been good to see how each team did on day 1.

Just on DFC, walking around town yesterday, and listening to Dundalk FM 4pm Sat show for any away game for each of the 9 clubs, I would encourage you to tune in post your friday night game. The two hosts are hilarious, especially main guy John Murphy, now in his early 80's and still going strong, Gussie also, John won a league with DFC in 1963 and Gussie also played but more so local leagues. They commentate on every Friday game live, then one hour show at 4pm on Sat, 60 mins DFC but to be fair good and fair interviews with the opposition too.

I think Calcio Jack on here enjoyed the post match summary after Rovers games before, the two boys really are a great bit of stuff, one game v Rovers I can't recall the season, but I couldn't go for some reason, stuck at home, family thing, live radio 'ball comes in, Finn, to Greene.............ah for.................then silence, and about 2 mins later 'well thats 1-0 Rovers'

Agree John and his side kick Gussie are a tonic always so biased but hugely entertaining - I’ve listened to their Sat show and it’s great. When John was 80 I texted the show to “… wish him a happy birthday from a Hoops fan..”

John read it out and said “… now that’s a real surprise one of them wishing me a happy birthday; guess they all can’t be that bad…”

Gussie replied “… must be from a Celtic John fan not Rovers..” tongue in cheek ( at least I think it was)

I’ve seen the odd poster here over the years slag them off - such a pity because if our league had a list of ‘national treasures’ John would be on my list- think he's 83 now and long may he run

[Johnnie C]

What happened at half time in the Bray/Cork game? I read about Gardaí ejecting fans after a disturbance

[D24Saint]

What happened at half time in the Bray/Cork game? I read about Gardaí ejecting fans after a disturbance

There was handbags about a stolen flag apparently.

[Stav]

A bit more than handbags. Gardai eventually arrived. Bad atmospherics all through the game. Match stopped on a number of occasions due to flares being thrown onto pitch. Both Bray and Cork so called fans involved though Cork appeared to have more ammunition. Then Cork fans invaded pitch after a goal (2nd I Think). Players kept going to their corner when they scored and more attempts to invade pitch. Result not as bad as it looks for Bray as they were well in it until the centre half went off injured. Cork did well and deserved to win.
Why do these type of fools ruin it for everyone else by turning up at football matches. If the flare situation is not sorted it is only a question of time until someone is badly hurt.

[2 Year Contract]

Result not as bad as it looks for Bray as they were well in it until the centre half went off injured. Cork did well and deserved to win.

Ah I see, so Bray are one injury away from total and utter capitulation, that doesn’t sound too bad at all them ;)

[Stav]

Time will tell. Depends on who was on the bench. Had chances in the first half that they should have taken.

[Jd2793]

bray had a good chance at 0-0 with manley other than that they didnt do much of note IMO. Blackbyrne had a good chance 2nd half at 0-1 aswell. 6-0 flattered us alright but given the chances bray gave up it would have been a travesty if we didnt at least win.