Play-offs 2022.

[joey B]

SSE Airtricity First Division Play-Off Semi-Finals

First Leg

Wednesday, October 26

Treaty United vs Waterford FC ? Markets Field, 7:45pm
Longford Town vs Galway United - Bishopsgate, 7:45pm

Second Leg

Saturday, October 29

Waterford FC vs Treaty United ? RSC - 7:45pm

Sunday, October 30

Galway United vs Longford Town ? Eamonn Deacy Park ? 4pm

SSE Airtricity First Division Play-Off Final

Friday, November 4

Winner of Play-Off 1 vs Winner Play-Off 2, Venue TBC, 7:45pm

Promotion/Relegation Play-Off Final

Friday, November 11 SSE Airtricity First Division Play-Off winner vs 9th Place in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division, Venue TBC, 7:45pm

https://www.sseairtricityleague.ie/news/sse-airtricity-first-division-playoffs-confirmed/id-4498

[outspoken]

Fancy Town to get past Galway, will need to make hay in first leg. A one off game against Waterford, anything could happen. Blues definitely hot favs to reach the promotion/relegation decided though.

[Martinho II]

Fancy Town to get past Galway, will need to make hay in first leg. A one off game against Waterford, anything could happen. Blues definitely hot favs to reach the promotion/relegation decided though.

I definitely couldnt cast an opinion on Galway from last night as we were 30 mins late as bus broke down on N84 Castlebar junction and we had to walk 15 mins! I only saw two goals. But going by the form in last few games I too would fancy us.

[ger121]

I?ll be very surprised if Waterford aren?t in the Premier next season.

[legendz]

I?ll be very surprised if Waterford aren?t in the Premier next season.Same. Expecting a Waterford v Galway playoff final and a Waterford v UCD/Finn Harps relegation-promotion final.

[outspoken]

I definitely couldnt cast an opinion on Galway from last night as we were 30 mins late as bus broke down on N84 Castlebar junction and we had to walk 15 mins! I only saw two goals. But going by the form in last few games I too would fancy us.

Wasn't there myself but that was a back up town team last night

[joey B]

All the form says Waterford but the play offs are a strange beast,wouldn’t be surprised to see Longford get through or promoted….

[legendz]

All the form says Waterford but the play offs are a strange beast,wouldn?t be surprised to see Longford get through or promoted?.The one off finals are more in favour of a surprise.
I'd be in favour of all playoff rounds being over two legs. If Waterford advance to take on UCD or Finn Harps, that would be three high profile end of season home games, if all rounds were over two legs.
Is there a reason for clubs wanting the one off finals? They seem to be forgoing an opportunity to have bumper home crowds.

[joey B]

They changed it for the covid year and didn’t change it back,I’d be in favour of the 2 legged final aswell but if it has to be one leg I’d give it to the first division team,reward them for having a better season than the bad team in the premier division….

[Olander]

You would highly fancy Waterford to progress past Treaty.

You would also think that Galway United would have too much for Longford over two legs, but I wouldn't be too confident. Of the 4 teams in the play offs, Galway United probably have the least momentum. Our form has fallen off a cliff since July or August time when we were right in the title race.

We beat Longford easily at home, but they've also beaten us twice in Flancare this year, so it's definitely not an easy one to call.

On paper, we should really be beating this Longford team but confidence is low and we've very out of form at the moment. Longford will certainly fancy their chances, especially playing at home first where they've done well against us this season.

There is probably a realisation among our fans that Caulfield won't be sacked because he has another year on his contract, but supporters are starting to turn against him now and if we crash out of the play offs at the first stage for a second season in a row, he should be sacked, because that is a gross underachievement.

[Longfordian]

Two Town wins, one Galway win and a draw is the head to head record I think? We won't be feeling inferior but it could go either way. If I'm being brutally honest a valiant defeat in the play off final would be ok with me. If we go up I couldn't see it being any different to our last season in the Premier. Nice for a few weeks until you're losing all your games and crowds are plummeting.

[Olander]

Two Town wins, one Galway win and a draw is the head to head record I think? We won't be feeling inferior but it could go either way. If I'm being brutally honest a valiant defeat in the play off final would be ok with me. If we go up I couldn't see it being any different to our last season in the Premier. Nice for a few weeks until you're losing all your games and crowds are plummeting.
That's correct. Neither team wanted to show their hand last night ahead of the play off. We made 9 changes from the previous week, 4 academy players made their first team debuts, one of them was just 16 years old.

No way will Longford Town have any inferiority complex, they have beaten us well twice at home this year, and they were well deserving winners on both occasions. They will fancy their chances, they will be considered "outsiders" in the tie and there will be a lot of pressure on us not to mess up another play off tie.

The arse well and truly fell out of our season this year, there's not a great deal of optimism or expectation among our supporters that we'll go up through the play off, but going out at the first stage again would be disastrous.

[sulywaterfordfc]

Waterford owner Andy Piley has announced this evening, all season ticket holders will be offered a free ticket to the home leg of the play off against Treaty Utd. Fantastic gesture from the club.

[total hoofball]

Waterford owner Andy Piley has announced this evening, all season ticket holders will be offered a free ticket to the home leg of the play off against Treaty Utd. Fantastic gesture from the club.
Definitely a lovely chap

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/people/prosecutor-compares-energy-sales-techniques-in-andy-pilley-fraud-trial-to-dishonest-used-car-salesmen-3879144

[outspoken]

Waterford owner Andy Piley has announced this evening, all season ticket holders will be offered a free ticket to the home leg of the play off against Treaty Utd. Fantastic gesture from the club.

Longford allowing ST holders in for free as well.

[sulywaterfordfc]

Longford allowing ST holders in for free as well.

Great gesture from clubs. Any play off I attended as an ST holder in the past there was none no such gestures.

[The Bowler]

Absolutely madness that the final itself is a one off game. Cash strapped clubs leaving good money on the table, not to mention it definitely suits the 1st Div team as a one off game.

[yurt]

Yeah I also don't like that fact that the 2 one-legged games are at neutral venues. The FD playoff in particular should be played at the home of the higher seeded team.

There should be at least some weight additional weight put on where you finish in the division. The final few games of the league would have had something on the line if they were playing for a seeding which would carry through more than the first round of the series.

[pateen]

Anyone else on here think it should two up and two down rather then one, and then the playoffs

[legendz]

Anyone else on here think it should two up and two down rather then one, and then the playoffsMy preferred option for the playoffs would be:
PD 9th v FD 4th and FD 2nd v FD 3rd.
I won't split hairs over it though. The current system gives many clubs something to play for. If clubs see merit in the finals being over two legs, all they have to do is vote in favour of it!

[joey B]

Its looking like Waterford against Longford or Galway,where will the final be? Dublin?

[Longfordian]

Longford may make sense if it's Waterford v Galway? If it's LTFC v Waterford then you'd assume Dublin, yes.

[trevy]

Limerick maybe if it is Waterford v Galway?
Great win for Waterford last night so one foot in the first division final.

[nigel-harps1954]

It'll probably be Dublin regardless who wins.

[osarusan]

Second yellow card for Colin Conroy last night for this. I'd be interested to know people's thoughts.

https://twitter.com/MrJS37/status/1585410869697335296?s=20&t=74ZD66q62Z6wjnSSmtrAoQ

i have no ida how to embed a tweet on here.

[Straightstory]

Never a yellow card - obviously. Terrible decision.

[outspoken]

Referee in the Longford game was Kevin O'Sullivan. Absolutely pathetic performance. Total lack of consistency. Yellow card for one tackle and not for an identical one a few minutes later. A free for a push in the back one moment not for the next blatant one. Dreadful

[NeverFeltBetter]

He does sort of clatter into him after clearing the ball, but it's hard to know what the official wanted him to do there: not go for the ball and let the Waterford man have it? The only way he can do his job and play the ball is to slide, and he can hardly stop his momentum after: if we deem the Treaty player guilty, should the Waterford player who stepped into his path not also be guilty? The ref presumably only had eyes for the contact and didn't take into account the wider context.

[pineapple stu]

I guess the referee's take is that it's reckless play, which is a yellow card. From the guide to the rules (https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/50518593a0941079/original/khhloe2xoigyna8juxw3-pdf.pdf) -


Reckless is when a player acts with disregard to the danger to, or consequences for, an opponent and must be cautioned

Or from another refereeing guide going more into what reckless play is (http://www.yorkreferee.co.uk/ref-help/laws/careless-reclesss-or-excessive/) -


A tackle may still be considered reckless even though the ball is played. Where contact is made with the ball and opponent at speed and without consideration for the potential danger to the opponent, it should be punished appropriately.

The speed or the intensity of the challenge. Is the player in control of his actions, or is he “off the ground” and out of control when he makes the challenge?
In this case, I think the player can be said to be out of control when he makes the challenge - otherwise he would have controlled his slide to not clatter the opponent. And with boots up a bit at the start (albeit while well-intentioned I think), you can see why the referee would have given a yellow for it.

[Olander]

Referee in the Longford game was Kevin O'Sullivan. Absolutely pathetic performance. Total lack of consistency. Yellow card for one tackle and not for an identical one a few minutes later. A free for a push in the back one moment not for the next blatant one. Dreadful
Talk about going OTT.

The referee made no decisions that had any major bearing on the game whatsoever, it was just an average performance from a First Division referee. To call it pathetic and dreadful is just pure hyperbole. He gave out maybe 3 yellow cards in the game.

[osarusan]

I thought it was harsh myself - the contact he makes with his arse or lower back, if anything...but he does still knock him over I suppose.

But then keeper come out all the time and flatten players in the act of blocking a shot or getting there first and preventing one.

If Conroy had been a keeper coming out at a striker's feet and, in the act of smothering/clearing the ball, had felled him the same way (with his lower stomach rather than lower back, say), there's not a hope it would be a penalty.

[pineapple stu]

I thought it was harsh myself - the contact he makes with his arse or lower back, if anything.
I suppose that could add to the referee's view that the challenge was out of control - the player is sliding and not even able to see where he's going, or has maybe turned around in an effort to avoid the contact but can't.

I think by the letter of the law the ref is correct here, even though the player does hook the ball away quite cleanly. Whether the letter of the law is too soft is another matter of course

[Martinho II]

We made such a strong start to game but as game went further one Galway got stronger and stronger. Perhaps the turning pt will be Luke Dennisons superb save towards the end. I wouldnt be surprised if game will go to ET/penos as I cant see a winner. Galways 1st pt in Bishopsgate all season.

[blueblood]

I suppose that could add to the referee's view that the challenge was out of control - the player is sliding and not even able to see where he's going, or has maybe turned around in an effort to avoid the contact but can't.

I think by the letter of the law the ref is correct here, even though the player does hook the ball away quite cleanly. Whether the letter of the law is too soft is another matter of course
If it was a yellow card for every time a player is unable to stop dead in their tracks forget about the game of football, players collide accidently all the time, the tackle wasn't in the slightest bit dangerous but the Waterford player righty made it look like he got hit by a bus.

[da bishop]

Pretty dominant performance from Waterford all game,controlled the pace of the game,good movement and always a threat when near the goals.Helped it must be said by a Treaty side ,who gave everything ,but outclassed and looked unprepared tactically.the referee thing a side issue in terms of how good Waterford were Good crowd ,around two thousand maybe though plenty gone by fulltime.

[outspoken]

Talk about going OTT.

The referee made no decisions that had any major bearing on the game whatsoever, it was just an average performance from a First Division referee. To call it pathetic and dreadful is just pure hyperbole. He gave out maybe 3 yellow cards in the game.

Just because none of his decisions led to a goal doesn't mean he wasn't utter sh*te. It was by far and away one of the most inconsistent performances all season from a referee

[Olander]

We made such a strong start to game but as game went further one Galway got stronger and stronger. Perhaps the turning pt will be Luke Dennisons superb save towards the end. I wouldnt be surprised if game will go to ET/penos as I cant see a winner. Galways 1st pt in Bishopsgate all season.
We were lucky to still be in the game at HT.

The way Caulfield set us up was so negative, going behind actually was good for us, it meant we had to make changes and actually have a go at Longford.

As the game wore on, we looked the more likely team to grab a winner but a draw was probably fair. It was incredibly frustrating to concede the second goal when we did, we started the second half really well and deserved the equaliser, it looked like we were going to go on and win it and Adeyemo's second goal knocked us back badly. I suppose we showed backbone to come from behind twice though.

There should be a big crowd in Terryland on Sunday, I'd say in and around 3,000. We should be beating Longford at home, but then again the same was said about Bray Wanderers last year and we all know how that ended...

[Longfordian]

Adeyemo has certainly blossomed since he got away from Caulfield. 9 goals in 13 games for us I believe.

[blueblood]

Pretty dominant performance from Waterford all game,controlled the pace of the game,good movement and always a threat when near the goals.Helped it must be said by a Treaty side ,who gave everything ,but outclassed and looked unprepared tactically.the referee thing a side issue in terms of how good Waterford were Good crowd ,around two thousand maybe though plenty gone by fulltime.

No arguing with that and at the time of the red card it was only 2-1 to Waterford who really should really have been out of sight at that stage. Probably unlikely but could have been a different game with 1 goal in it and 11 v 11, who knows?

[Olander]

Adeyemo has certainly blossomed since he got away from Caulfield. 9 goals in 13 games for us I believe.
He was very underwhelming with us, but he obviously didn't suit our "tactics". He was also incredibly lazy.

The last night he got two chances and stuck them both. He was clinical.

Typical with GUFC this year, off my head: Adeyemo, Colin Kelly, Enda Curran and Thomas Oluwa have all scored against us this season. That always seems to happen to us...

[outspoken]

We were lucky to still be in the game at HT.

The way Caulfield set us up was so negative, going behind actually was good for us, it meant we had to make changes and actually have a go at Longford.

As the game wore on, we looked the more likely team to grab a winner but a draw was probably fair. It was incredibly frustrating to concede the second goal when we did, we started the second half really well and deserved the equaliser, it looked like we were going to go on and win it and Adeyemo's second goal knocked us back badly. I suppose we showed backbone to come from behind twice though.

There should be a big crowd in Terryland on Sunday, I'd say in and around 3,000. We should be beating Longford at home, but then again the same was said about Bray Wanderers last year and we all know how that ended...

Not sure I'd say ye were lucky to still be in it at HT. As well as we played we didn't create enough clear cut chances whereas our keeper had to make 3 top class saves on the night. It's definitely a missed opportunity for us given how negative ye were in the first half. Advantage Galway

[Olander]

Not sure I'd say ye were lucky to still be in it at HT. As well as we played we didn't create enough clear cut chances whereas our keeper had to make 3 top class saves on the night. It's definitely a missed opportunity for us given how negative ye were in the first half. Advantage Galway

I think you misunderstood me. When I said half time I meant in Wednesday's game, not the tie. Longford were well on top in the first half and hit the post after going 1-0 up.

We were far too defensive and respectful of Longford, when we started to actually have a go, we looked like we'd win the game. Unfortunately that is JC's way.

[sulywaterfordfc]

No arguing with that and at the time of the red card it was only 2-1 to Waterford who really should really have been out of sight at that stage. Probably unlikely but could have been a different game with 1 goal in it and 11 v 11, who knows?

If buts and maybe type of situation though. If Waterford scored their pen and if treaty miss there’s nobody’s even talking about the red card. Treaty had what like 2 shots on target from play all? Personally thought the second yellow was harsh though, if it was the other way round I’d be unhappy about the decision. But I can understand the refs decision as the Blues player was taken out in the follow through.

I feel like we dominated the game, that showed during the first 5 minutes when treaty had what was probably their best spell in the game and we went 1 up. Martin was never really troubled in the Waterford goal. We may not have scored 4 but I don’t think Treaty would of scored a second, again if buts and maybe. On the night the better team and deservedly won by a couple goals.

[blueblood]

If buts and maybe type of situation though. If Waterford scored their pen and if treaty miss there’s nobody’s even talking about the red card. Treaty had what like 2 shots on target from play all? Personally thought the second yellow was harsh though, if it was the other way round I’d be unhappy about the decision. But I can understand the refs decision as the Blues player was taken out in the follow through.

I feel like we dominated the game, that showed during the first 5 minutes when treaty had what was probably their best spell in the game and we went 1 up. Martin was never really troubled in the Waterford goal. We may not have scored 4 but I don’t think Treaty would of scored a second, again if buts and maybe. On the night the better team and deservedly won by a couple goals.
Like I said I've no problem admitting Waterford deserved the win it was like men v boys and ye should have been out of sight before the sending off (it was only 1-2) but the ref ruined the game for me lots of silly yellows and two very soft penalties, Treaty didn't deserve to be in the game at 1-2 but they were and the goal seemed to give them a bit of a boost and who knows what COULD have happened only for the sending off. Treaty needed the win to take to Waterford but that was never going to happen

[outspoken]

I think you misunderstood me. When I said half time I meant in Wednesday's game, not the tie. Longford were well on top in the first half and hit the post after going 1-0 up.

We were far too defensive and respectful of Longford, when we started to actually have a go, we looked like we'd win the game. Unfortunately that is JC's way.

No, I understood you meant Wednesday, we went 1-0 up but how many saves did Kearns make? Ye were stink but Dennison had to make 3 very big saves so that is a concern ahead of Sunday. We'll have to find a way to defend long balls into the area, something we've struggled with all season.

[culloty82]

Treaty 3-1 up at the RSC - could they pull it off yet?

[CorribsideSteve]

3-3 (7-4) now. Looks like Waterford have done enough to wake up and rescue themselves.

[pineapple stu]

Pity that...

[Partizan]

Pity that...

Does your Mammy cut your hair?

[LFC Blue]

End of the road for Treaty. Any chance something can be sorted now in the off season and the famous league of Ireland name of Limerick can be brought back ?? 1937 ffs how can such history be discarded.