Weekend games Friday 6th Monday 9th May

[joey B]

Watched Derry/Pats,stark lack of ambition from Pats,Derry will be kicking themselves to not take all 3 points .....

Sam Curtis is going to be some player by the way,cant believe hes only 16!

[Candystripe]

Phone the police, there's been a robbery in Derry.

Think we'd be better off just playing our U19s at this stage because that's where our best performers are from.

Just out from the match, unreal how Derry city didn't finish at least one of those chances.
Forester could have stole it for Pat's very late on.
Massive game on Friday.

[TonyD]

Just out from the match, unreal how Derry city didn't finish at least one of those chances.
Forester could have stole it for Pat's very late on.
Massive game on Friday.

I think we played with a lot of fear tonight. Just set out to contain Derry. Perhaps understandable given the last game, but I’d like to have seen us show a bit more ambition. We got away with it I suppose, but still Derry could have been out of sight by half time again if they’d been more clinical. We only got into the game at all in the last 15/20 minutes, and as you say Forrestor could have nicked it near the end with a great chance. Now that would have been a proper mugging. Can’t complain too much I suppose, a good point in the circumstances.

[sbgawa]

Rovers did nothing first half playing against a stiff wind but lacking creativity. Gaffney , Burke, McCann and lyons came on at half time and Burke and gaffney made a massive difference. Energy , pace etc. Even with Burke scoring a hat trick I would have given man of the match to Gaffney. Huge game Friday now with Derry dropping points to pats. Chance to go 4 ahead if things go right.

[Calcio Jack]

Rovers did nothing first half playing against a stiff wind but lacking creativity. Gaffney , Burke, McCann and lyons came on at half time and Burke and gaffney made a massive difference. Energy , pace etc. Even with Burke scoring a hat trick I would have given man of the match to Gaffney. Huge game Friday now with Derry dropping points to pats. Chance to go 4 ahead if things go right.

Also thought that McCann was as he was on Fri exceptional - I had him down as a squad player and SB seemed to also regard him that way as he’d only made a couple of sub appearances before Friday- think now there is a case to start him ahead of Gary O’Neill more unfinished business for SB !!

[sbgawa]

7 changes from the harps team. That's some balls from bradser in fairness against a team we've drawn against twice.

[Skruf]

7 changes from the harps team. That's some balls from bradser in fairness against a team we've drawn against twice.

Equally so in making four changes at half time! Felt sorry for Emakhu coming off particularly, it was almost impossible to play against that wind in the first half and you’d be concerned not to see his confidence knocked.

[Antrim bob]

There was a robbery at Derry on Friday night too with the non penalty they were awarded

[2 Year Contract]

Sam Curtis is going to be some player by the way,cant believe hes only 16!

Ridiculous talent he is. I’d have him as pats best player tonight. Serious blunder on behalf of shamrock rovers by allowing him to slip out of their grasp to Pats last summer. I can’t see him playing in this league for too much longer, he had trials at Roma and Bayer Leverkusen in recent years so he could potentially join the list of Irish youngsters on the continent

[Jd2793]

Ridiculous talent he is. I’d have him as pats best player tonight. Serious blunder on behalf of shamrock rovers by allowing him to slip out of their grasp to Pats last summer. I can’t see him playing in this league for too much longer, he had trials at Roma and Bayer Leverkusen in recent years so he could potentially join the list of Irish youngsters on the continent

have seen a good bit of him with ireland , stood out a lot more than heffernan to me. looks a great prospect. was there not talk that his father wanted him out of rovers due to him having no chance of breaking through? great call if so and if he kicks on (looks like he will) it'll put a seed of doubt into a lot of parents/players minds out in roadstone

[placid casual]

A game of 2 half's in Tallaght, for Rovers anyway. First half was the worst we've played in a long time-neither Aidomo, Farrugia or Greener did themselves any favours. 2nd half changes brought urgency from Gaffney , control from McCann and finishing from Burkey. Agree that McCann really enhances the team now, so O'Neill may not be automatic first choice now. Sligo look a decent outfit but lack something up front to be contenders for anything.
Should be a decent game on Friday with a big crowd, just hope the wind doesn't affect the game like last night.

[sbgawa]

have seen a good bit of him with ireland , stood out a lot more than heffernan to me. looks a great prospect. was there not talk that his father wanted him out of rovers due to him having no chance of breaking through? great call if so and if he kicks on (looks like he will) it'll put a seed of doubt into a lot of parents/players minds out in roadstone

Players move between the teams in both directions , generally Parents or Agents who are impatient are the problem, id say the likes of Zefi, Bazunu , Furlong and a multitude of others plus Aidemo starting last night would be more of an influence.
Moving is a gamble that can go both ways. Tomas Oluwa looked a real handful in a Rory Gaffney type way , left for more game time at Bohs and went backwards, now playing in Athlone.

[Jack B]

Can only reiterate what's been said above about Curtis, in two games he's gone a long way towards solving what up until then was looking a serious problem position for us given how sub-par Jack Scott has been. There can be a tendency to overstate how good players have performed due to their age but he probably was our best player last night and did an incredibly good job at largely subduing a extremely dangerous player in Matty Smith. Mad to think he's our youngest ever starter.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

A game of 2 half's in Tallaght, for Rovers anyway. First half was the worst we've played in a long time-neither Aidomo, Farrugia or Greener did themselves any favours. 2nd half changes brought urgency from Gaffney , control from McCann and finishing from Burkey. Agree that McCann really enhances the team now, so O'Neill may not be automatic first choice now. Sligo look a decent outfit but lack something up front to be contenders for anything.
Should be a decent game on Friday with a big crowd, just hope the wind doesn't affect the game like last night.

With all the changes you made we needed to be more attacking in the first half when we had the gale. Not sure how many of those goals would have gotten past McGinty mind. Certainly the first and third ones were awful by Brush. Gaffney always causes us serious problems.

[2 Year Contract]

With all the changes you made we needed to be more attacking in the first half when we had the gale. Not sure how many of those goals would have gotten past McGinty mind. Certainly the first and third ones were awful by Brush. Gaffney always causes us serious problems.
Is McGinty injured? More importantly, will he be out injured on Saturday?

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Not sure re Saturday. He got injured against Shels. Was named to start last night but didn’t make it through the warm up.

[brendy_éire]

I think we played with a lot of fear tonight. Just set out to contain Derry. Perhaps understandable given the last game, but I’d like to have seen us show a bit more ambition. We got away with it I suppose, but still Derry could have been out of sight by half time again if they’d been more clinical. We only got into the game at all in the last 15/20 minutes, and as you say Forrestor could have nicked it near the end with a great chance. Now that would have been a proper mugging. Can’t complain too much I suppose, a good point in the circumstances.

Thought Pats were poor for most of last night, aye, but should have scored at the end there. Obviously playing for the draw, as we knew they would, with some expert time-wasting from the off (Anang, in particular).

Our lack of being clinical is again costing us, as it has been all season. I don't think playing McGonigle up front by himself is working, and it could be worth starting Akintunde up there with him.

Tallaght on Friday night will be seen as big, but it's not really. We could and win there, but it still won't affect the final league table. What has cost us is the likes of Pats last night, Shels at home, Drogs away, etc. No point winning the 'big' games if you don't win the 'little' ones.

[Glen Of Aherlow]

So Pats finished above you last season and won the cup and you see us as a 'little' game ...... serious notions since your chairman got that windfall

[sbgawa]

Thought Pats were poor for most of last night, aye, but should have scored at the end there. Obviously playing for the draw, as we knew they would, with some expert time-wasting from the off (Anang, in particular).

Our lack of being clinical is again costing us, as it has been all season. I don't think playing McGonigle up front by himself is working, and it could be worth starting Akintunde up there with him.

Tallaght on Friday night will be seen as big, but it's not really. We could and win there, but it still won't affect the final league table. What has cost us is the likes of Pats last night, Shels at home, Drogs away, etc. No point winning the 'big' games if you don't win the 'little' ones.

Well it kind of will...by six points at least if you win instead of us.
Are you seriously conceding the league this early?

[brendy_éire]

So Pats finished above you last season and won the cup and you see us as a 'little' game ...... serious notions since your chairman got that windfall

There are no 'little' games, that's my point. People talk about some games as 'big' (i.e. Tallaght on Friday), as if winning those will decide the title. It's all well and good getting the headline grabbing wins, but if you don't then go and win ones we're you're odds on, you're not going to win the league.

[ontheotherhand]

You can not lose if you do not play.

[brendy_éire]

Well it kind of will...by six points at least if you win instead of us.
Are you seriously conceding the league this early?

I never considered that we would win the league this year. Some fans did (or maybe even still do), but we don't have the depth in the squad to do so.
I doubt we'll lose many games this year, but we'll certainly draw too many to keep up the pace.

I think we'll finish double figures behind Rovers, but not the 24 point gap it was last year. That'll likely get us second place too. Qualifying for Europe aside, I'm not particularly bothered about where we finish, just whether we've closed the gap or not.

[sbgawa]

I never considered that we would win the league this year. Some fans did (or maybe even still do), but we don't have the depth in the squad to do so.
I doubt we'll lose many games this year, but we'll certainly draw too many to keep up the pace.

I think we'll finish double figures behind Rovers, but not the 24 point gap it was last year. That'll likely get us second place too. Qualifying for Europe aside, I'm not particularly bothered about where we finish, just whether we've closed the gap or not.


That's a fair viewpoint.
I am confident we have the squad to win the league but Derry or someone else who can stay in touch have a chance in the run in particularly if we make it to group stages in Europe.
14 weeks of midweek matches will thin the Rovers squad out pretty drastically.