Your team's best player so far?

[ontheotherhand]

WAR made the claim the Gaffney is Rover's best player of the season so far on the matchday thread. I find that hard to disagree with although Lyons, Mandroiu and Grace have all be top class as well.

Who's been your team's best player so far?

[joey B]

Conor Tourish for us who arrived from Letterkeny Rovers in the off season,he’s small for a CB but reads the game well and has chipped in with a couple of goals,there hasn’t been many tbf but I’d say he’s been the best…..

[RealJohn91]

Probably Talbot or Promise for Bohs. Although I'd only call their overall performances acceptable, everyone else have been well below where they should be or downright bad. Devoy for example should be one of the best players in the league but only plays in moments and is carried when we don't have the ball.

[Jack B]

Feel like most Pats fans would say Joe Redmond, although even he has dropped off a tad in recent weeks. On the whole I'd say he's been the best, most consistent performer though, in what is otherwise a hugely inconsistent squad of players this season.

[Neish]

Conor Tourish for us who arrived from Letterkeny Rovers in the off season,he’s small for a CB but reads the game well and has chipped in with a couple of goals,there hasn’t been many tbf but I’d say he’s been the best…..

Agree, he is the only one i can't think of that hasn't made silly and costly mistakes

[ontheotherhand]

Conor Tourish for us who arrived from Letterkeny Rovers in the off season,he’s small for a CB but reads the game well and has chipped in with a couple of goals,there hasn’t been many tbf but I’d say he’s been the best…..

He played very well against us last time around.

[D24Saint]

Joe Redmond would be our best player so far this year. No too far behind would be Tom Grivosti. The rest would be very inconsistent.

[total hoofball]

For Shels JJ Lunney has been deservedly receiving plaudits since his return from injury which has coincided with an improvement in our results in the most recent 7 games he has started, he has been a major calming presence for us in the middle of the park offensively and defensively which we lacked at the start of the season

For me it's split between him and Luke Byrne. Luke has started every game and as captain now and he hasn't put much of a foot wrong this season, he had some question marks as a centre half during the short 2020 season when we got relegated and received 3 red cards but he looks completely comfortable now leading our 5 man wing-back defence

[nigel-harps1954]

Conor Tourish has been very good, but not sure I'd have him as player of the year for us so far. Superb in the air, and 99 out of 100 tackles he'll win, but just lacks a little bit of composure and decision making on the ball. He's a bit like our Shane Duffy.

Ryan Connolly, while having missed a couple of games, has been phenomenal and has been a massive loss in the middle of the park the last few games.

Ethan Boyle also having a very good season after a couple of poor enough years for him. And Elie N'Zeyi easily been the best of the new imports so far.

[Skruf]

From a Rovers perspective, it’s hard to know who to go for. Byrne has been underwhelming by his standards, Burke and Mandroiu have been great in patches but a bit inconsistent and no one hugely stands out. Gaffney has been excellent as pointed out above but I think that Lyons would have to get the nod overall. As past of a more honourable and successful team he has grown to excel, understandably the move has suited him. He could definitely play at a higher level, and if he continues his current rate of improvement it could be a much higher level.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Keena

[trevy]

Phoenix Patterson for Waterford. Hopefully we can keep him till at least the end of the season. Louis Britton has been good too but his loan spell has ended so he said Monday night was his last game.

[DCSIL]

Will Patching.

Brian Maher has been an upgrade too.

[Jd2793]

aaron bolger. matt healy and gilchrist close behind.

[Jd2793]

Phoenix Patterson for Waterford. Hopefully we can keep him till at least the end of the season. Louis Britton has been good too but his loan spell has ended so he said Monday night was his last game.

any talk of him going? he is class, far far to good for the first division. A PD club could do worse than paying a fee for him. cant believe ye managed to keep a hold of himself and quitirna

[outspoken]

Shane Elworthy having a fantastic season for Town. Best RB in the division for me

[Glen Of Aherlow]

has to be Redmond

[ForzaForth]

For Wexford, it has to be Jack Doherty. Hope he stays. After missing the early part of the season due to injury, Luka Lovic has really got going. For his first LOI season in goal, Alex Moody has been very impressive. Aaron Dobbs seems to be hampered by an injury but his link-up play is talented for a guy who's also good in the air. The management team of Ian Ryan and Lorcan Fitzgerald - ten out of ten.

[Nesta99]

Well we could have put a traffic cone in goal and it would have been an improvement on Abibi. Sheppard has been excellent and stands out all the more with his age. Connolly isnt far behind and there are others that are really coming in to their own as the season progresses. Sometimes the question of what player do you miss most when not available indicates the importance of a player better and for me that is Benson so far.

I should add that we looked fairly toothless without Hoban last game, but not for goals himself, more how he links things up and brings players in to play. The goal scored by Benson, after the super ball in by Macari v Rovers a great example of how Hoban is more than just his goal count. So tbh Im not sure I can really pick one player as the best so far as it has been a real team effort to get us where we are. A bit like the 2014 side where a collective of mostly unknowns won us the league, I hope its a sign of whats to come!

[De Town]

Would go with Dylan Barnett for ourselves. Was signed as a left full I think but has played majority of games at centre half. He's small for a CB but his reading of the game is brilliant so his height isn't a major issue. He just strolls through games, don't recall him having a shocker yet (although I haven't seen every game). A class act.

Honourable mentions to Luke Dennison, Shane Elworthy and Aaron Robinson too. All been consistently very good.

[sbgawa]

Well we could have put a traffic cone in goal and it would have been an improvement on Abibi. Sheppard has been excellent and stands out all the more with his age. Connolly isnt far behind and there are others that are really coming in to their own as the season progresses. Sometime the question of what player do you miss most when not available indications the importance of a player better and for me that is Benson so far.

A traffic cone in goal and a hatstand up front , its no wonder we won the league :)

[TonyD]

Joe Redmond would be our best player so far this year. No too far behind would be Tom Grivosti. The rest would be very inconsistent.

I’d also give a mention to Adam O’Reilly, who I think has been excellent. Great energy to get around the place and makes lots of important tackles. I also think he’s better with the ball than some give him credit for. Redmond would just edge it over him in my view.

[Glen Of Aherlow]

I’d also give a mention to Adam O’Reilly, who I think has been excellent. Great energy to get around the place and makes lots of important tackles. I also think he’s better with the ball than some give him credit for. Redmond would just edge it over him in my view.

Ben McCormack might be in with a shout of he got more of a chance

[Nesta99]

A traffic cone in goal and a hatstand up front , its no wonder we won the league :)

If compared with some of last season's special players, these two would have been at least be 7 out 10 performers! Hatstand > Greene still!

[The Bowler]

I've thought long and hard about this, and I'm going with Dylan Duffy for UCD. Reminds me a lot of Neil Farrugia, and suspect he will be back at Rovers whenever they decide to recall him, maybe send him out to another club next season, although I think with normal progression, he may even be good enough to slot straight in to the Rovers first team squad next season

[Martinho II]

If he keeps the progress going till the end of the season Cristian Magesuran for me. The man is a mountain! Aaron Robinson,Graydon, Elworthy and Dennison also. Until he got injured Craven was superb for us!

[outspoken]

Would go with Dylan Barnett for ourselves. Was signed as a left full I think but has played majority of games at centre half. He's small for a CB but his reading of the game is brilliant so his height isn't a major issue. He just strolls through games, don't recall him having a shocker yet (although I haven't seen every game). A class act.

Honourable mentions to Luke Dennison, Shane Elworthy and Aaron Robinson too. All been consistently very good.

Funny enough I wouldn't be a fan of him at CB, think we saw the other night he is a very very good left back, that's where he should be playing even if young Ben Lynch has been very good there.

[trevy]

any talk of him going? he is class, far far to good for the first division. A PD club could do worse than paying a fee for him. cant believe ye managed to keep a hold of himself and quitirna

No talk of him going but then was no talk of Britton going to Cork before it was announced yesterday either!
Patterson is under contract so should be easier to hold on to him but I'd imagine other clubs are looking at him as I agree he is too good for the first division.

[Peaky Blinder]

Probably Talbot or Promise for Bohs. Although I'd only call their overall performances acceptable, everyone else have been well below where they should be or downright bad. Devoy for example should be one of the best players in the league but only plays in moments and is carried when we don't have the ball.

Ciaran Kelly looks solid enough any time I've seen him play, maybe not stand out level but certainly not below par.

In terms of my own team, Gaffney has been excellent, though I'd say the one player we miss most when he's not there is Pico, other than the last minute balls up in Derry that cost us a point he's been superb, IMO he's the best defender in the league bar none.

[sbgawa]

Ciaran Kelly looks solid enough any time I've seen him play, maybe not stand out level but certainly not below par.

In terms of my own team, Gaffney has been excellent, though I'd say the one player we miss most when he's not there is Pico, other than the last minute balls up in Derry that cost us a point he's been superb, IMO he's the best defender in the league bar none.

you are right i think we take Pico for granted at this stage. I'm changing my vote from Gaffney to Pico.
He has been superb and when he isnt there we miss him more than anyone in the team, including Jack, Gaffney, Burke ,Danny etc

[ontheotherhand]

you are right i think we take Pico for granted at this stage. I'm changing my vote from Gaffney to Pico.
He has been superb and when he isnt there we miss him more than anyone in the team, including Jack, Gaffney, Burke ,Danny etc

It's a really tough call. I'm still going with Gaffney as I think we'd be in really bad shape without him at this stage seeing as we've no Jack or Burke recently and he's been the one who's both created and scored in their absence. He even did it without Danny on Monday. He did similar last season when we needed him most.

Pico has been immense as usual although he has competition this season from Grace who looks back to his best after a bit of a stop start season last year. We really miss him on the left side of the back 3 when he's gone although Kavanagh has stepped in as a better option than Hoare there thankfully.

Now if Pico had scored that ridiculous flick against Pat's and not made the mistake in Derry he would have it sewn up!

[RealJohn91]

Ciaran Kelly looks solid enough any time I've seen him play, maybe not stand out level but certainly not below par
Kelly isn't Rory Feely levels of brain lapses but he's still very prone to the odd mistake, he was shocking against Pat's a few weeks ago. Jordan Doherty has been our most consistent defender which says a lot when he's playing there out of position.

[El-Pietro]

aaron bolger. matt healy and gilchrist close behind.

Hard to disagree with any of these. I might put Gilchrist top of the pile because our defence has been such a key part of our success. If we do go up it will be interesting to see how many of this team we keep and how many are able to perform at a higher level. Gilchrist and O'Connor were I believe quality for Shels last year but were released when they won the division. Kev has struggled for us in the Premier in recent years.

[pineapple stu]

I've thought long and hard about this, and I'm going with Dylan Duffy for UCD.
Duffy's done well alright. Not sure he has Farrugia's dribbling ability but he can still create a bit of space out wide through pace if nothing else.

Leaving out the two obvious ones, and noting we've one win all season with the fewest goals scored and most conceded, I think Kian Moore has done well in nets since coming into the side too.

[Shinkicker]

Kelly isn't Rory Feely levels of brain lapses but he's still very prone to the odd mistake, he was shocking against Pat's a few weeks ago. Jordan Doherty has been our most consistent defender which says a lot when he's playing there out of position.
I thought Gran Thornton, sorry, Grant Thorton, sorry Grant Tornton, sorry Grant Horton was Bohs best until he was injured.