Fixtures Friday 18th Saturday 19th February

[sbgawa]

Premier Division

Friday 18th
Shelbourne v St Pats 19:45
Dundalk v Derry 19:45
Shamrock Rovers v U.C.D 20:00
Finn Harps v Drogheda 20:00

Saturday 19th
Sligo v Bohemians 19:45

First Division

Friday 18th
Bray v Cork City 19:45
Wexford v Treaty United 19:45
Athlone v Waterford 19:45

Saturday 19th
Longford v Cobh Ramblers 19:30

[sbgawa]

A lot to be learned on a first night,
With the amount of changes with the exception of Rovers and UCD this will be an interesting night to see how teams are shaping up. Rovers will hopefully step it up compared to the performance against PAts, was good to see Bradser come out and say it was a poor performance instead of hiding behind the win on penos.
Pats won the pre season as usual, Bohs have looked good and bad, Dundalk have looked poor and dont seem settled, a new look drogs at Finn Park could be an early season statement of intent to finish clear of the drop and look for mid table security.
Sligo v Bohs will be very interesting on Saturday night might be worth €7 for LOI TV to see how the two rebuilds have gone.

First division with Galway not playing does beg the question about why no SRFC ii (i'm not bitter :rolleyes: ) but Waterford away to Athlone looks an early season mismatch to me. The other games will give a first heads up as to how Treaty have improved weather Wexfords strong finish means they could be a dark horse this year and how the Bray/Cabo merger has or has not strengthened them.
Good Luck all (except bohs:rolleyes:)

Its great to be back

[D24Saint]

Good thinking about sligo v Bohs I might have a look. I really find the lack of season pass a pain in the backside.

[total hoofball]

Could be a doubt over some games on Friday, two storms are coming this week, the 2nd storm Eunice which will be widespread nationally is due on Friday

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Bohs have sold out their allocation

[Macy]

Could be a doubt over some games on Friday, two storms are coming this week, the 2nd storm Eunice which will be widespread nationally is due on Friday
Potentially all games I'd say! Enough that I've postponed the trip to the Carlisle anyway (it's feckin grim enough in good weather!).

[placid casual]

Hopefully it's not too windy in tallaght eh! 😬
On the football front for Rovers I do hope Pico is playing as the presidents cup last week exposed Rovers lack of quality cover in central defence. Grace was doing it all on his own whilst Gannon & Hoare wandered about for a friday evening stroll.
If Pico goes abroad I'd seriously worry for Rovers chance of success this year.

[pineapple stu]

Collingwood Cup quarter-final this afternoon - UCD have Whelan, Kerrigan and Keaney on the bench. Obviously eyeing up Friday - though it's unusual for us to go easy in the Collingwood!

[DCSIL]

Hopefully it's not too windy in tallaght eh! 


Least you should be dry in Tallaght, i remember when Rovers were beaten by ROPS(had to look it up)and it was Rain, hail whatever else that night. Should be used to it. ;)

[Finlay Harp]

I’d say we’ll do well to see football played anywhere tomorrow. Possibly Dundalk with the artificial surface.

[pineapple stu]

Should be a chance of some Dublin derbies tomorrow I'd say - the orange warning is only up to 11am, and it's to be quite sunny and windy after that which should help the pitches you'd have thought? They might be heavy and there might be a bit of a wind still, but that's not the end of the world.

Donegal orange warning is in place till 3pm and that may impact Harps v Drogheda alright - obviously travel time becomes an additional factor outside of Shels v Pat's and Rovers v UCD. And a red warning in Cork, so even though that's due to lift by 8am, you'd have question marks over Cork travelling up to Bray tomorrow.

What happens if you've bought tickets online - can you cancel even if the game is going ahead? Might be some away fans in particular thinking twice about travelling the length of the country even if the game is still on.

[joey B]

10.00am pitch inspections tomorrow at Finn Harps, Bray Wanderers and Sligo Rovers per Paul O’Hehir…

*Sligo inspection is Saturday actually…

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Our pitch is awful as it is

[DCWA]

Harps game looks very unlikely to go ahead you’d have to say with the photos circulating of FP. Great shame nothing worse than having first game of the season called off if you are the home team.

[joey B]

Harps game looks very unlikely to go ahead you’d have to say with the photos circulating of FP. Great shame nothing worse than having first game of the season called off if you are the home team.

That picture's about 4 years old!

[pineapple stu]

I can believe that alright. Doesn't take much to make Finn Park look like a status orange storm has hit it :)

[nigel-harps1954]

If the game was on today, Finn Park would be perfectly playable. A lot depends on the severity of the stormy weather overnight and into tomorrow afternoon. The pitch inspection is being held at 10am, when there's still a weather warning, schools closed, and people advised not to travel unless necessary. Could have held out until 1pm. Would presume there'll be a second inspection held in the afternoon anyway.

[2 Year Contract]

Our pitch is awful as it is

I recall heading up to Sligo for Pats' second game of the season in 2020 and after a week of pretty much non stop downpour and I think 3 maybe 4 pitch inspections through the day I was absolutely amazed to see it was still going to go ahead. When I got there the pitch was very heavy but certainly playable. If it can survive that rain I’d say it should be ok this time too. I remember driving through the midlands and most the fields either side of the motorway were a couple of feet under water at the time!

[DCWA]

That picture's about 4 years old!

Ah I apologise it appears I have been fooled happy days then

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

I recall heading up to Sligo for Pats' second game of the season in 2020 and after a week of pretty much non stop downpour and I think 3 maybe 4 pitch inspections through the day I was absolutely amazed to see it was still going to go ahead. When I got there the pitch was very heavy but certainly playable. If it can survive that rain I’d say it should be ok this time too. I remember driving through the midlands and most the fields either side of the motorway were a couple of feet under water at the time!

Nothing to do with the rain. Just not treated right during the close season.

[2 Year Contract]

Nothing to do with the rain. Just not treated right during the close season.
Ah ok, surprised to hear that given how well pretty much everything else at Sligo is looked after

[Finlay Harp]

Further pitch inspection at 1.30 in Finn Park.

[pineapple stu]

All red and orange weather warnings lifted; yellow wind warning in place until 6pm nationwide. So that'll help with games (given supporter safety en route to games would presumably be a factor in making a decision about a match)

[2 Year Contract]

Harps Drogheda postponed

[Finlay Harp]

Sensible decision.

[nigel-harps1954]

Sensible decision.

Absolutely. Even if the snow cleared and the pitch somehow became playable, asking people to travel in that weather would severely hit attendance too. Still an awful lot of lying snow around here, and roads are in poor shape.

[wonder88]

Nice interview with Damien Duff on the rte sports website. Great to see someone like him involved in the league. I won't be able to get to a game tonight so it will be Shelbourne v St Pats for me. No surprise the game in Ballybofey is off as weather is bad on the west coast. Maybe some positive news about Tolka Park as well?

[redarmyfaction]

Nothing to do with the rain. Just not treated right during the close season.

Thing is it's not like we had a while pile of the rain, nothing in the river now and very little high water all winter. Something wrong all right.

[joey B]

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

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

[SPXcyan]

0-2 Waterford already, 17 minutes in.

[SPXcyan]

0-3 Now, a lovely free kick by Junior Quitirna.

[redarmyfaction]

Great crowd in Tolka.

[Philosophizer]

Anyone know why one stand in Tolka is closed? Its the most modern stand in the ground that's closed...

[pineapple stu]

Cracked foundations I heard

[TonyD]

Second for Pats. Lovely stuff. In fairness though, Shels keeper should have done better.

And great effort by Billy King. Pats man of the match for me.

Edit. Surprising decision to take King off. Having a terrific game. Unless he’s struggling for fitness doesn’t make sense.

[SeanDrog]

Second for Pats. Lovely stuff. In fairness though, Shels keeper should have done better.

And great effort by Billy King. Pats man of the match for me.

Edit. Surprising decision to take King off. Having a terrific game. Unless he’s struggling for fitness doesn’t make sense.

Given no Drogs match I’m tuned into this one - enjoyable. Kings effort deserved to find the net, it was a cracker. Shels keeer should have kept Doyle’s effort out but Doyle did well on the break.

[Martinho II]

Cracked foundations I heard

Thats being like that for a long time if memory serves me right.

[El-Pietro]

I'm not there and I gave up on LOI tv early last year, Bray seem to have collapsed entirely. We've scored 4 goals in 7 minutes.

[SeanDrog]

Shels 0-3 Pats … sleeping giants …

[Philosophizer]

Game over now in Tolka. I gotta say it's been a v entertaining game. Loads of chances. Plenty of quality shots and saves. Not sure about the quality of defending but it's been v entertaining. Great for all the neutrals who've tuned in on TV!

[joey B]

Just the 19 goals in the 3 first division games! cagey!!

[SeanDrog]

Some spankings in both divisions … the bray result has me shocked 😳 Wexford also must be disappointed as some their signings are decent. UCD and Shels had tough openers tbf.

[DCSIL]

Listened to the match on Radio Foyle, will take the point.

[pineapple stu]

UCD and Shels had tough openers tbf.
Yeah, I'm not too put out by that tonight. Jack Byrne had about eight great crossing opportunities and they scored twice. He'll do that to other teams.

We could have been 2-0 up at that stage strangely, but second half we weren't at the races. Couple of great saves from Healy and poor finishing from Rovers kept us in it till a defensive howler late on to let in a third.

It's really one last friendly for us ahead of a big double header next week - home to Harps and Shels.

Just thawing out now, and a fiver for a programme is a bit steep I think, but otherwise it's good to be back!

[ontheotherhand]

Glad you were able to go stu.

Kerrigan looked so dangerous and should have had you ahead. We didn't look great but I'm not too bothered this early on. Still missing McEneff's energy in midfield though. Jack did look fairly sharp though all things considered so that bodes well. And Mandroius header was quality. He could've had a hattrick.

Absolutely gutted for Farrugia. You'd fear his career is done if that's the same injury back again.

[sbgawa]

I think it was 15 or 16 games into the season last year before we scored from a corner. Jacks first match back and we score. His balls into the box just need a flick. Mandroiu scored his most difficult chan e and missed 3 sitters. Good start, win in derry next Friday and we are off and running

[D24Saint]

On cloud nine after that one. Fair play to tim for setting up the team. It wasn’t a cut and dry result as Shels caused a lot of bother. The goal by Mark Doyle was my favourite, sensational.

[Longfordian]

Forrester is great fun to watch when he's on song. Pats were good, very good in the cases of M Doyle, Burns and Forrester but the scoreline was a little bit harsh on Shels.

[Jd2793]

cant believe we won a game 6-0. must watch it back over the weekend but that looks horrendous for bray.

[Jack B]

On the balance of play 3-0 was a touch harsh on Shels but also probably reflected the difference in quality as we were just much more clinical. They kept it tight early and we were patient while also a bit lost on how to move the ball through the lines, but once Burns scored it forced them to push the issue a bit and the game opened up a lot more.

Massively encouraged by what Clancy is doing so far. Still think we're a midfielder short in terms of challenging at all but can't have it all, some great work has been done regardless. Breslin and Mark Doyle have gone under the radar I think, they're looking like serious signings to go along with the more obvious names.