Weekend 21st to 24th April

[brendy_éire]

Premier Division

Friday 21st April

Cork City v Derry City
Drogheda United v Bohemians
Shelbourne v Dundalk
St Patrick's Athletic v Shamrock Rovers


Saturday 22nd April

Sligo Rovers v UCD


First Division

Friday 21st April

Cobh Ramblers v Treaty United
Kerry v Galway United
Waterford v Athlone Town
Wexford v Finn Harps


Saturday 22nd April

Longford Town v Bray Wanderers


Series 4 Rescheduled
First Division

Monday 24th April

Treaty United v Waterford United

[brendy_éire]

All Premier games are close to call this weekend, but four away wins on Friday is certainly a possibility.
Inchicore has the most interesting game of the weekend, though I do since Pats winning run to come to an end.
It's a long trek to Cork, but Derry should have enough to pick up a win. Cork are just so hot and cold recently, so you never know. Dundalk should pick up a win if they score a goal in Shels' net and not one in their own, but OG is in great form for Shels, top goal scorer at the club this season, and will want to continue that run.

Galway down in Kerry in the First, here's hoping it's not another bloodbath.

[Jd2793]

derry should win with a bit left in the tank. we are terrible , grass pitch should help derry too.

[Tomas]

Buyoed by their recent huge win at the Dalymount Park, Pats tonight will be all over not so great Rovers. Grass is cut, Richmond completely sold out, this one has a makings of south-west Dublin classic. 4:1 to the Saints. 5200 in attendance.

[TonyD]

Buyoed by their recent huge win at the Dalymount Park, Pats tonight will be all over not so great Rovers. Grass is cut, Richmond completely sold out, this one has a makings of south-west Dublin classic. 4:1 to the Saints. 5200 in attendance.

Would love to share your optimism. Last time out I thought Rovers were the better team. We are missing Redmond tonight, which is huge, and probably Mulreany as well. I’d take a draw again to be honest.

[sbgawa]

Rovers need to win to try to keep the momentum going of 3 wins in the last 4 plus we have Derry and Bohs up next after Sligo so its a chance to put a marker down.
Be interestig to see if Jack takes to the field or is the MLS thing still going on.

[ontheotherhand]

Buyoed by their recent huge win at the Dalymount Park, Pats tonight will be all over not so great Rovers. Grass is cut, Richmond completely sold out, this one has a makings of south-west Dublin classic. 4:1 to the Saints. 5200 in attendance.

I wasn't sure until you mentioned that the grass had been cut but that's convinced me. Congrats on the win.

[wonder88]

Looking forward to the game on telly, as can't get to a game this weekend. Will have to do with hurling tomorrow and Connacht semi-final on Sunday as my live games this week. As mentioned above, Shelbourne have benefited from a few OGs which I think shows how the have been putting teams under pressure by their high intensity play. Kerry need to be a bit more realistic in how they set up tonight then they were in Galway, but still expect to keep the great run going.

[TonyD]

I wasn't sure until you mentioned that the grass had been cut but that's convinced me. Congrats on the win.

Yeah, we’re pulling out all the stops tonight ;)

Jake Mulreany starts, which is good news. Still fear that Joe Redmond is a massive loss.

[ontheotherhand]

Yeah, we’re pulling out all the stops tonight ;)

Jake Mulreany starts, which is good news. Still fear that Joe Redmond is a massive loss.

You should have left it long Tony, Jack Byrne might have gotten lost.

Mulraney was terrifying when he came on in Tallaght. Expecting a tough one, especially without Gaffney. Kenny doesn't fill me with confidence.

[culloty82]

I see Treaty are set to play the three other Munster clubs in the First Division between now and next Friday, which surely must be a provincial record at least (very much plausible to have happened already with Dublin teams)?

[culloty82]

Ryan Kelliher put Kerry ahead in the 40th minute, but Galway levelled in first-half injury time.

[SPXcyan]

Ronan Coughlan with all four first half goals for Waterford, too good for this league!

[pineapple stu]

TV game is quite entertaining. A penalty (saved), a red card, Shels hitting the bar and having a goal ruled out (Nathan Sheppard faking a clip to the head to win the sympathy vote), a dramatic goalmouth scramble.

A pity Tolka looks more dilapidated every time you see it.

[MichaelCherrito]

Despite being down to ten men, it was Moylan who had the best chance of the half, failing to lob the keeper just before the interval.

We’ll have a few goalless draws this season and we’ll also have a few 4-4 draws.

[SkStu]

Shels are like cockroaches. You get an awful fright when you see them, the more you see them the uglier they are. But they’re indestructible :D

[pineapple stu]

Ronan Coughlan with all four first half goals for Waterford, too good for this league!
He might need a few more! 4-3 now. Mental game

Shels take the lead, despite being down to ten men since the 10th minute or so.

[SkStu]

Bohs are getting the run around a bit. Drogs actually look decent.

[Jd2793]

derry should win with a bit left in the tank. we are terrible , grass pitch should help derry too.


reasonably comfortable for derry, they were on the ropes a bit first 25 or so but took control after. we are in massive trouble, drogs are a lot better than us , we need ucd to lose everything from here out.

[SkStu]

2-0 Bohs but it was all Drogs. Keeper made an error in injury time and McDaid finished well but not a 2-0 game at all. We were poor.

[joey B]

Important win for Harps in Wexford,were second best in the first half but played alot better in the second,there's 2 teams miles better than the rest and third is where we should be aiming......

[Shinkicker]

Have to say Bohs were good in the first half and it was all Drogheda in the second half. Last minute mistake by the Drogs keeper made it look good. BUT, a win is a win

[kksaints]

Disappointing result but I've no real complaints. Rovers second goal is a stunner from Clarke.

[pineapple stu]

Shout out to Colm Whelan, scoring four minutes after coming on for his Derry debut in what was his first match since doing his cruciate last summer

Delighted for him. Hopefully will give Kerrigan at Como a boost ahead of the new season too

[ontheotherhand]

Rovers managed to survive the freshly cut grass and control the game tonight. It was handy enough although Pat's did have one spell where they could have gotten a goal back and changed the momentum. They seem a bit toothless up front and overly reliant on Forrester.

Johnny Kenny put himself about and scored but also missed two sitters. He needs to be more clinical. If he was he'd be the leagues top scorer.

[Nesta99]

Game in Tolka was entertaining. Shels were effective at soaking up pressure and we lacked an attacking edge. They got the break with the peno - not sure if there was contact but it was clumsy regardless. Some nice football played, stats like 8 corners to 0 kinda sums up the game. Not the important stat of course. Didnt see the Shels red card but Shels dug in and defended really well.

[TonyD]

Rovers managed to survive the freshly cut grass and control the game tonight. It was handy enough although Pat's did have one spell where they could have gotten a goal back and changed the momentum. They seem a bit toothless up front and overly reliant on Forrester.

Johnny Kenny put himself about and scored but also missed two sitters. He needs to be more clinical. If he was he'd be the leagues top scorer.

Thought we actually started quite well, but once the first goal went in we were second best. Lots of calls around me for offside on the first goal, but couldn’t tell from where I was. We were toothless up front as you say. Mulreany started quite brightly, but faded out of it. Think Rovers will win the league again. Two teenagers for us, Adam Murphy and Sam Curtis were both excellent I thought.

[2 Year Contract]

Rovers definitely the better team in Inchicore tonight. I think the 4-3-3 suits pats well in most games but the 5–3-2 that they played in Tallaght definitely suits best when playing against rovers but only having 2 fit backup centre backs available at the club, the 4-3-3 had to be used and it left Eoin Doyle very isolated up top and creating chances was a struggle, in contrast to Tallaght where a good number were created. For all rovers dominance in possession it could’ve been 1-1 at half time with Forrester heading half a years wide from a corner. Second half also Lennon had a good effort that went just wide and the rovers go up the other end straight away and scored a cracker from Clarke to be fair. At 2-0 Lyness pulled off an absolutely incredible double save, looking forward to seeing it back

[ger121]

2-0 Bohs but it was all Drogs. Keeper made an error in injury time and McDaid finished well but not a 2-0 game at all. We were poor.

Win 2-0 while playing below par. We’ll take that every week. On we go…

[ontheotherhand]

Thought we actually started quite well, but once the first goal went in we were second best. Lots of calls around me for offside on the first goal, but couldn’t tell from where I was. We were toothless up front as you say. Mulreany started quite brightly, but faded out of it. Think Rovers will win the league again. Two teenagers for us, Adam Murphy and Sam Curtis were both excellent I thought.

You definitely had patches. It was very open at the start. Great to watch. Ref had a poor enough game. Agreed on Murphy and Curtis. Murphy was getting rave reviews on LoI central this week I can see why.

[The Bowler]

Shout out to Colm Whelan, scoring four minutes after coming on for his Derry debut in what was his first match since doing his cruciate last summer

Delighted for him. Hopefully will give Kerrigan at Como a boost ahead of the new season too
Well said Stu

[Jack B]

Can't complain too much about the game earlier. We put it up to Rovers well at times but ultimately they have greater quality, which especially tells when our best centre backs are out injured. Had a couple of moments of momentum that needed to be capitalised on to get something from the game which didn't happen, whereas Kenny and Clarke put their half chances away phenomenally well (and Lyness bailed us out on the ones Rovers would have expected to score).

Still being 4th now after the start we have is probably a bit of a win all in all.

[Philosophizer]

Think Rovers will win the league again. Two teenagers for us, Adam Murphy and Sam Curtis were both excellent I thought.
I didn’t see their earlier games, but from what I’ve seen so far Rovers are the best team in the league by a distance. I’ll be stunned if they don’t win it.

[FTA-1895]

Decent game in Tolka considering Shels were down to 10 early. Some shocking calls by the ref, no arguements with Farrell's red card but no yellow for Ward for the blatant push which Farrell reacted to. Shels also having what looked a perfectly good goal disallowed due to the Dundalk keeper clutching his face for no reason. Think Dundalk can feel hard done by for the Shels peno too. Looked harsh. Throw in the usual baffling calls it was another night to forget for the officials.

[Shearer]

Treaty full value for a point and could have very well won the game.

[SkStu]

Win 2-0 while playing below par. We’ll take that every week. On we go…

It’s brilliant! We’re almost two wins ahead. If we were to win the league playing that way, no complaints whatsoever but as a performance it was chewing gum for the eyes Dougal. Goal was decent though

[joey B]

Just on the Wexford I wonder is James Keddy under pressure,seems to have been a big investment down there in the pre season and you wouldn’t know it……

Starting Ethan Boyle in midfield tonight with Conor Levingston on the bench was bizarre,we wouldn’t exactly have a midfield you’d need to counteract with a tough tackling midfielder!

[Nesta99]

Rovers definitely the better team in Inchicore tonight. I think the 4-3-3 suits pats well in most games but the 5–3-2 that they played in Tallaght definitely suits best when playing against rovers but only having 2 fit backup centre backs available at the club, the 4-3-3 had to be used and it left Eoin Doyle very isolated up top and creating chances was a struggle, in contrast to Tallaght where a good number were created. For all rovers dominance in possession it could’ve been 1-1 at half time with Forrester heading half a years wide from a corner. Second half also Lennon had a good effort that went just wide and the rovers go up the other end straight away and scored a cracker from Clarke to be fair. At 2-0 Lyness pulled off an absolutely incredible double save, looking forward to seeing it back

Rovers certainly look like they are building up a head of steam, momentum is so important, so I can see Bohs and Derry being reeled in sooner than later. The 6 or so point lead Bohs have can e turned around in just the Dublin Derby if other clubs clubs are stingy on coughing up points. I still think Derry will be champions but that belief has being eroded slightly, they seem sloppy at at times which is not to do with player quality, they just need to be switched on. imo they have a team comparable to Rovers, but Derry are still naive or something, but they badly need to hit their groove. Most clubs should beat Cork at the moment including Dundalk *cough* so in terms of confidence boost, Im not sure its a major win. St Pat and Rovers next weekend could predicate on favourites etc


Decent game in Tolka considering Shels were down to 10 early. Some shocking calls by the ref, no arguements with Farrell's red card but no yellow for Ward for the blatant push which Farrell reacted to. Shels also having what looked a perfectly good goal disallowed due to the Dundalk keeper clutching his face for no reason. Think Dundalk can feel hard done by for the Shels peno too. Looked harsh. Throw in the usual baffling calls it was another night to forget for the officials.

In attempting not to be biased I took the 'seen them given' stance on the peno but it was very soft, attacking player went over like his ankles were clipped, but no contact that i could see - defender should have had more sense as that peno was bought and then sold to the ref, maybe seeing it again from a different angle could change my opinion. Once again Dundalk put some nice phases together but just couldnt get to a second ball or get the ball to an attacking player, big high loopy crosses to a far post are just annoying as they rarely work and is wasteful. Other than that there wasnt a whole lot wrong with the performance - we miss Hoban, I dont think Martin is at the level needed to deputise yet, though with a run of games as he is currently getting will help, he has hardly seized his oppertunity mind!

[CorribsideSteve]

That's two weeks in a row now that there's been cracking games and atmospheres live on RTE2 at venues full or nearly full, There's definitely a feeling that the standard and package are taking good strides forward this season so far. Dundalk will improve once Hoooban gets fit again and they can continue to get the best out of Tulloch. Despite the soft penalty, Shels were full value for their point, and had the bravery to go for and nearly catch Dundalk out on counters, down to 10 men on a few occasions.

[pineapple stu]

Shels also having what looked a perfectly good goal disallowed due to the Dundalk keeper clutching his face for no reason.
I think when you go in with a high foot on the keeper and kick the ball almost out of his hand, it's always going to be a free out in fairness.

Not to say Sheppard wasn't faking getting caught in the face - he clearly wasn't but he saw a chance to get away with fumbling the original shot in the first place. Should have been an easy tip over the bar

[outspoken]

Just on the Wexford I wonder is James Keddy under pressure,seems to have been a big investment down there in the pre season and you wouldn’t know it……

Starting Ethan Boyle in midfield tonight with Conor Levingston on the bench was bizarre,we wouldn’t exactly have a midfield you’d need to counteract with a tough tackling midfielder!

Has to be, dreadful in longford last week, playing Boyle in there is mental stuff.

[2 Year Contract]

Just looking at the replays of that disallowed Shels goal, it’s 100% a free out, as poor as Shepperd was for it, he managed to get both hands onto the ball just before Barrett connected with it. He essentially kicked it out of his hands which is a free out every time.

I think the Shels peno was a peno also. The shels player knows exactly what he’s doing in trying to win the penalty by getting his body between the ball and the Dundalk player but it’s a foul IMO

[Neish]

Important win for Harps in Wexford,were second best in the first half but played alot better in the second,there's 2 teams miles better than the rest and third is where we should be aiming......

Galway & Waterford already breaking away and it looking like a two horse (possibly even one horse) race for the title & automatic promotion. Doesn't seem to be much between the other 8 teams all capable of taking points off each other. 3rd very achievable if we play to our best consistently but top 5 finish and I'd be reasonably happy. Not sure if promotion this year would be best for the club with the extra investment it would require, be in the mix for playoffs this year and build on that for 2024

[nigel-harps1954]

Just on the Wexford I wonder is James Keddy under pressure,seems to have been a big investment down there in the pre season and you wouldn’t know it……

Starting Ethan Boyle in midfield tonight with Conor Levingston on the bench was bizarre,we wouldn’t exactly have a midfield you’d need to counteract with a tough tackling midfielder!

It would make you wonder. Ethan is one of the better defenders in the division, and shoving him into midfield, where he's not exactly renowned for his ball playing capabilities, is a bit mental.

[Shearer]

Ethan is one of the better defenders in the division,
I'm going to have to stop you there.

[Straightstory]

Bohemian FC very lucky to win in Drogheda. There's nothing special about them at all - quite a mystery as to how they're top of the league. I imagine Rovers will easily overtake them at some point soon.

[ger121]

Bohemian FC very lucky to win in Drogheda. There's nothing special about them at all - quite a mystery as to how they're top of the league. I imagine Rovers will easily overtake them at some point soon.

Scoring goals and winning matches gets you points. We have more points that anyone else. Mystery solved!

[da bishop]

Much improved performance from Treaty in Cobh ,better team and should have taken the three points,however one win in ten for Tommy Barrett ,not good enough.

[Bohtastic]

Bohemian FC very lucky to win in Drogheda. There's nothing special about them at all - quite a mystery as to how they're top of the league. I imagine Rovers will easily overtake them at some point soon.

Definitely wasn't our best performance last night, but managed to dig it out. Coote and Akintunde missing has dented our creativity., hopefully back soon. Not sure how long we can keep the top spot, but if we keep up there by the time of European matches who knows.
Winning two nil with a sub par performance is a positive in my book.

[joey B]

Longford will be kicking themselves not to win that game tonight,thought they were the better team for alot of it and missed a sitter in the 93rd minute after hitting the bar right before it,Bray not very impressive,will be glad to get out with a point......