Games weekend 5th 6th May

[sbgawa]

Premier Division

Friday 5th (All 19:45)
Cork City v St Pats
Drogheda v Derry City
Shelbourne v UCD
Shamrock Rovers v Bohemians

Saturday 6th

Sligo v Dundalk 19:45

First Division

Friday 5th (All 19:45)

Cobh v Finn Harps
Treaty v Athlone
Wexford v Bray
Kerry v Longford
Galway v Waterford

[sbgawa]

Rovers v Bohs offers Rovers the chance to pull level at the top (almost ;) ) and consign the bad start to History.
On the other hand if Bohs could win and open up a 7 point gap it will be hard to get past them and build a lead before Europe kicks in which i think is critical if we hope to win the league.
Derry have a tough game going to a decent Drogs who if anything are below where their performances deserve, but a win is a must youd think to rebuild morale. For some reason i think Cork can get something agaisnt Pats and they need to start to show something.
If Galway beat Waterford the league is surely heading west, will be a hard fought game in front of a huge crowd

Edit: Hearing now Manus is out for a few weeks, hopefully Pohls saving the peno against Derry will give him a boost for the matches ahead

[dcfc_legend9]

Big game for Derry this week to stay in contention with the top two at the current moment. Whelan out and adds to our growing list of players on the injury list. Higgins needs to find out what his best team is at this current moment in time fairly quickly. Feel like its well into the season now and all I have heard so far is Derry havent hit their groove yet. If there is another level for this side to go up then it would need to happen now.

Not sure how I want the Rovers/Bohs game to fair out. a draw or a Rovers win potentially might be the best scenario as if we win then it closes the gap at the top a bit. Cant see Bohs giving Rovers the same respect that we gave them though and believe it will be a much tougher game than they had on Monday.

[legendz]

Cobh scored after only 3 minutes. Kerry need to target boring clean sheets.

[brendy_éire]

Feel like its well into the season now and all I have heard so far is Derry havent hit their groove yet. If there is another level for this side to go up then it would need to happen now.

Agreed, but of all the venues for that to happen, United Park may not be the one. It's been three years since we won there and Drogheda in general are a bogey team for us.
Usual thoughts that if we score early, we should be ok. If not, it'll be a horrible slog of a game.

[Jack B]

Could be any score in Turner's Cross. Neither side can defend to save their lives and are only being bailed out by some interesting interpretations of end product.

[SkStu]

Great game in Tallaght. Very entertaining half of football. Rovers started very strong, a couple of decent chances and a few nice passes from Byrne but Bohs have really grown into it and look fairly comfortable at HT. Great team performance, Coote probably the pick of the bunch for me, Kirk and the two Poles too. We've had a lot of set pieces (so many corners!) and will be disappointed not to have made more of them. Afolabi has looked a little isolated at times, if we can get the wide supports a little closer to him we'll create some chances. Pohls save from Kirk was excellent (best chance of the game). I think Clarke has been outstanding for Rovers too.

[joey B]

Rovers goal offside by a yard there ....

[joey B]

Stonewall penalty for Bohs there too........

[SkStu]

Definitely offside. Said it at the time. Thought it was a peno for us in real time but wasn’t as sure after the replay.

[Shinkicker]

Rovers goal offside by a yard there ....
Rovers 1st goal off side and the penalty say no more. Those officials should be given a 5 match ban absolutely shocking decions

[Nesta99]

Bohs 'Rob'bed!

[thebronze14]

Utter rubbish again from Harps

[joey B]

Disastrous couple of weeks for Harps,very much look like a bunch of kids playing against grown men,dont have a squad to cope with any injuries at all,roll on June to get some more bodies in.......
Big win for Galway against Waterford aswell,back out to 10 points now and hard to see them not going up automatically ......

[kksaints]

Much needed win. Defending was optional in the first half for both sides. Cork's first in particular was horrible from both Lewis and McGrath. We were much better in the second half. Held on fairly comfortably after we took the lead as Cork created nothing in the 2nd half. Lots of improvement need but a good start for Daly.

[SkStu]

Was going to type up a few thoughts but fck it. Game was gifted to them. Hennessy and his crew botched the big calls.

[Shinkicker]

Great game in Tallaght. Very entertaining half of football. Rovers started very strong, a couple of decent chances and a few nice passes from Byrne but Bohs have really grown into it and look fairly comfortable at HT. Great team performance, Coote probably the pick of the bunch for me, Kirk and the two Poles too. We've had a lot of set pieces (so many corners!) and will be disappointed not to have made more of them. Afolabi has looked a little isolated at times, if we can get the wide supports a little closer to him we'll create some chances. Pohls save from Kirk was excellent (best chance of the game). I think Clarke has been outstanding for Rovers too.
Once again the prciks in the middle will take the attention. The occicials should be retrospectfully punished, no games for 5 weeks. These kind of mistakes can't be let go. I don't particularly like Crawley but even he agreed and for the peno too

[ger121]

How can we continue to have refereeing performances like that. Killing games. Absolutely sick of it.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

The peno call was ridiculous. And the total arrogance then when anyone disagrees with them.

[CorribsideSteve]

Woejus refereeing in Tallaght. Being 37/53 in coefficients ranked European leagues translates directly to the standard of technical decision making of our referees and linesmen. VAR is badly needed, but will never happen most likely.

[Longfordian]

There's really nothing between the vast majority of the First Division. Anyone can beat anyone. Credit to Henderson he had a tough start but the last few weeks the team is coming together. One point behind Wexford who took (I think) six or seven of our starters from last year.

[Candystripe]

Flicked over to RTE after the Derry match. Jeez but that was a shocking decision not to give Bohs a penalty. As for the offside goal, surely the 6yrd box line should have helped the linesman see it was clearly offside.

A few ridiculous yellow cards in the Derry match too.

[sbgawa]

Rovers deserved the win and its about time a decision or two went our way. In fairness ro divine he said they lost because they didn't defend and didn't take their chances.
7 wins and a draw is a great reaction to the bad start. We need to push on now

[total hoofball]

Not a great performance from Shels tonight but did just about enough to take the 3 points despite a nervy last 10 minutes

[sbgawa]

Towell was onside when taken down in the box so I'm pretty miffed we didn't win 3 nil to be honest , I had a few Bob on it

[Kingswood Rover]

Bohs were very decent tonight and on balance derserved something yes i think we got the rub of the ahem ...green with the peno and some other decisions. But the mount of times over the years i have said the same thing trapsing out of Dalyer. Brilliant crowd with great support from boths sets of fans. If you had said to me as i stood in the east stand 4 years "down there in the end opposite the Square we will have a new stand and in it will be 2000 season ticket holders" i would have asked what type of weed r u smokin but thats we are and Hopefully Bohs get to have a similar size stadium with the crowds to match in the not too distant future. Where will the Derby go then. Me voice is shot WAR.

[Dermobohs]

Bohs were very decent tonight and on balance derserved something yes i think we got the rub of the ahem ...green with the peno and some other decisions. But the mount of times over the years i have said the same thing trapsing out of Dalyer. Brilliant crowd with great support from boths sets of fans. If you had said to me as i stood in the east stand 4 years "down there in the end opposite the Square we will have a new stand and in it will be 2000 season ticket holders" i would have asked what type of weed r u smokin but thats we are and Hopefully Bohs get to have a similar size stadium with the crowds to match in the not too distant future. Where will the Derby go then. Me voice is shot WAR.

Fair play to you pal , yes a full hopping ground is where it’s at, great to see.
On the game?penalty no doubts , wtf were the Lino and ref lookin at?
First goal is offside if, and I stress if the Lino is in line, doubt it.
As Deccy said ,,if we don’t let those crosses in, and we defend correctly , we don’t lose.
Good night overall, and proof that we are genuine title contenders I feel

[wonder88]

Important win for Galway tonight. No lack of effort from the players, and for once got a result in a vital game if front of a big home crowd. Great atmosphere with the Waterford fans giving their team great backing all game. Maybe the first division is not as bad as many make out.

[patsdad]

The absence of our first choice centre halves has really been costing Pats in recent games. Almost cost us 3 points tonight but a couple of cracking second half goals got us out of jail.

[sbgawa]

Lambert whinging on twitter about the ref, does he not understand he is a club official and needs to stop acting like a random fan with a few pints on him.
If the Rovers Ceo went on twitter complaing about ref calls I'd ne suggesting he looked for a job somewhere else. Embarrassing stuff, Lee grace got sent off for heading the ball against bohs a few years ago and I don't remember our CEO acting like a spoilt brat who has had his toys taken away. Time for change, the bees and Palestinians can look after themselves

[CraftyToePoke]

Time for change, the bees and Palestinians can look after themselves

Man needs to blast out some Bob Marley & chill it down yaaa

In other news Treaty on the money again tonight where two goals in ten minutes were the difference between second last & a bout of the sky is falling down by da bishop on here and sixth place giddiness with an eye on higher.

[placid casual]

Empty vessels make the most noise
Fair play to devine and his team for their fine start to the season, but thats all it was. we'll take it from here.
Bohs could make top 4 and thus a good chance of Europe so credit where its due.
Rovers are playing like a team that knows it's going to win the league and no amount of good, bad or indifferent refereeing decisions is going to change that fact.
After 13 games my tips for top 4 would be Rovers, bohs, derry and sligo although the order from 2 - 4 is anyones guess.

[brendy_éire]

A few ridiculous yellow cards in the Derry match too.

Not sure I'd agree, though some were debatable. Thought McGrath had a good game overall. He let plenty go, and for both sides, which helped the game.

Very happy with the win tonight. Maher was excellent in the second half, and I don't know how Drogs didn't score.
A result in a venue we've a dreadful record in is good any day of the week.
Deegan, again, as usual, was great. Deliberately putting the knee into McEneff in the first half was classic. Not nice, but he got away with it. Experience counts there.
Don't think Drogs will have any issue being in th playoffs this year. They're really impressive for being part time.

[Shinkicker]

How can we continue to have refereeing performances like that. Killing games. Absolutely sick of it.
I'm sure for a split second the ref thought about the consequences of giving the penalty.
1. Penalty
2. Send defender off
3. Goal for Bohs
4. Bohs go on to win
Nah I'll take the soft seat and give fcku all

[ger121]

Lambert whinging on twitter about the ref, does he not understand he is a club official and needs to stop acting like a random fan with a few pints on him.
If the Rovers Ceo went on twitter complaing about ref calls I'd ne suggesting he looked for a job somewhere else. Embarrassing stuff, Lee grace got sent off for heading the ball against bohs a few years ago and I don't remember our CEO acting like a spoilt brat who has had his toys taken away. Time for change, the bees and Palestinians can look after themselves

Eh, Jonathan Roche?? That fella had an opinion on everything and everyone.

[outspoken]

Absolutely delighted to get out of Tralee with a win last night, did our very best to throw it away. A really poor game with an exciting finish. Credit to Kerry they kept coming back. They are an extremely limited side, live for long balls into the box. They are very vulnerable down the flanks, all 3 of our goals came from crosses. First visit to MH Park obviously, pitch is the worst astro I've ever seen, I include local kids pitches in that, the bounce is completely unnatural, hard to understand how it's allowed, good wee atmosphere in the ground when they got the goals, I can see why a big away crowd would be an issue though it's just a flat terrace, you'd have zero chance to seeing the game if there was a big crowd in that shed. Locals very friendly around the local bars etc and stewards and club staff the same. Hope they can continue to get big crowds and can develop facilities a bit more. One thing I have noticed, there's absolutely no presence in the town, you'd have zero idea there was a LOI club but that will take time.

[oriel]

Rovers deserved the win and its about time a decision or two went our way. In fairness ro divine he said they lost because they didn't defend and didn't take their chances.
7 wins and a draw is a great reaction to the bad start. We need to push on now

Just curious as a neutral (and enjoyed the game I have to say, decent quality) did you think it was a stonewall pen and possible red card SB ? The Afolabi incident.

[DCWA]

I think that Rovers game last night was a fix. Nonother explanation for it if I was Bohs would be very voiciferous in getting that match looked at.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Just curious as a neutral (and enjoyed the game I have to say, decent quality) did you think it was a stonewall pen and possible red card SB ? The Afolabi incident.
It was a stonewall penalty - Cleary clearly took Afolabi's leg from under him.

Saying that I wouldn't have shown a red card - imo it was a mistimed tackle rather than an intentional effort to bring him down.

I am against VAR - I think it ruins the game. You can't celebrate a goal because you have to wait a minute or more for some individual to make a decision - goes completely against what the game should be about. Its one of the reasons I never watch the PL. Referees will make mistakes - and while the first Rovers goal was offside it is the type of mistake that can happen. These things usually balance out over the season. The penalty decision was atrocious from the referee - that type of decision does not and should not fall into the realm of an acceptable mistake.

1-1 and it would have been a different last half an hour and anythig could have happened.

All in all apart from a scrappy start to the second-half it was a really good game of football. Rovers still have the firepower and the squad size that is hard to challenge (last night they brought Gaffney, Burke, Finn and Hoare off the bench) - but Bohs deserve to be where they are - they are playing good football and will not lose many games this season.

[sbgawa]

Just curious as a neutral (and enjoyed the game I have to say, decent quality) did you think it was a stonewall pen and possible red card SB ? The Afolabi incident.

With the benefit of replays I think it was a penalty but watching it live (and I was kinda behind the ref) I thought cleary got the ball first so I can see how the ref doesn't give it. Wouldn't have been a red card as he was clearly going for the ball so would have been a yellow and pen if ref had seen it that way. Crawley is a bohs fan so was ripping at the penalty but never mentioned Towell was onside when taken Down in the box, wouldn't expect anything else from him, he was OTT these things happen. Rovers has pico sent off in the first game of the season for nothing and have had some terrible decisions this season but you have to grow up and take it.

[sbgawa]

Refs can't help being influenced and some of the decisions that have gone against Rovers in bihs matches have been truly awful for penalties and sending offs so I'd say they are conscious of not making big marginal calls maybe even subconsciously. Bit like some of the well known divers in the EPL pre var were denied penalties by refs who started from the position that it was "probably" a dive.

[Kingswood Rover]

Just coming down of cloud 9 and looking at the Replay it looked a clear pen. These things tend to balance out and we got some payback in that dept last night and we also had the bit of luck with some other decisions, denying it is flat earthish..... but in saying that Rovers have that ability come back time and time again V shels to win the league at the end of last season and V Cork and Shels at home to salvage 2 points from the grave and i think if its 1 a piece towards the last 10 u would have to fancy Rovers. One thing i have noticed this season in the 2 Derbies is that Bohs now play decent passing football and dont try and kick the bejaysus out of anything clad in Green and White. Rovers and Derry are in Europe which should balance things out in terms of squad strenghts and its not out of the question that Bohs will be thereabouts towards the end of the season. My dream may come through Rovers V Bohs in the FAI cup final at Landsdowne with 50 K in the ground. "you can should yer english football up yer........"

[Bohtastic]

Just coming down of cloud 9 and looking at the Replay it looked a clear pen. These things tend to balance out and we got some payback in that dept last night and we also had the bit of luck with some other decisions, denying it is flat earthish..... but in saying that Rovers have that ability come back time and time again V shels to win the league at the end of last season and V Cork and Shels at home to salvage 2 points from the grave and i think if its 1 a piece towards the last 10 u would have to fancy Rovers. One thing i have noticed this season in the 2 Derbies is that Bohs now play decent passing football and dont try and kick the bejaysus out of anything clad in Green and White. Rovers and Derry are in Europe which should balance things out in terms of squad strenghts and its not out of the question that Bohs will be thereabouts towards the end of the season. My dream may come through Rovers V Bohs in the FAI cup final at Landsdowne with 50 K in the ground. "you can should yer english football up yer........"

Fair comments re the peno. Think there were a few other decisions that were dodgy- Afolabi seemed to be wrestled all over the pitch. Re. Clarke being offside for his goal, not the most egregious mistake we've seen this season, I guess I see why it was missed. Likewise Towell being off or on (still unclear from replays), mind you Talbot seemed to do a good job avoiding contact? I think we could have kicked on if we scored a penalty - but who's to say.
Whatever about it, we were better than the match in Dalymount tf.

Hopefully we can stay there or thereabouts in time for Europe and the distraction that entails, then you never know.

[Dermobohs]

Easy to miss that offside in real time tbf, and Clarke gets credit for showing willing to get up there. Personally, and this is going to be unpopular with our fans, I’d sooner see marginals given to the attacking player. Yes the penalty was nailed on, but Grace probably had a bit of luck coming after that mad red card a couple of seasons back. No doubt we’ll get a bit of a dodgy call in our favour next time. I do wish refs would call out the pulling and dragging at corners though, lopes in particular had a double handful of bohs shirt every time and wasn’t called on it.
All in all a very good game though, swinging one way then the other, a good advert for the league.

[oriel]

With the benefit of replays I think it was a penalty but watching it live (and I was kinda behind the ref) I thought cleary got the ball first so I can see how the ref doesn't give it. Wouldn't have been a red card as he was clearly going for the ball so would have been a yellow and pen if ref had seen it that way. Crawley is a bohs fan so was ripping at the penalty but never mentioned Towell was onside when taken Down in the box, wouldn't expect anything else from him, he was OTT these things happen. Rovers has pico sent off in the first game of the season for nothing and have had some terrible decisions this season but you have to grow up and take it.

Fair enough, I would agree a peno and yellow card (in hindsight).

[oriel]

I think most clubs are seeing some very strange ref decisions this season and not just confined to decision effecting games like last night. I`m not a fan of VAR but Clarke did seem to be just inside the 'offisde area' for his goal.

Paddy Barrett second yellow for Shels last month, can't think of any others now but there were a good few really poor calls by the refs in other games, maybe Benson red card v Rovers for us, but he was silly to go in high.

It didn't effect our game last Monday but Malley was ruled offside for a header in almost exact same position but looked onside v UCD, it was only 1-0 at the time and UCD had a great chance for 1-1 on 90 before we got a second in 90+2.

#LittleThings

[ontheotherhand]

Fair play to bohs, they looked far better last night than they did in dalymount. I can see now how they've gone on their run. That said the better team won so I don't understand the consternation from a few quarters. Maybe people are listening to Cawleys biased analysis and not taking the emotion out of the game.

2-1 might have been a fairer scoreline but I think we had the gears to make that even more comfortable. Burke and Gaffney off the bench didn't have to break a sweat and still created the second.

Bohs did have two ten minutes patches in each half where they put on pressure but we were completely dominant for 20 mins at the start of each half and had the better chances overall. The rest was even enough. Made for a good game I thought, end to end at times. I think Paddy Kirks chance was the real turning point though, not the bohs peno shout. If they had scored that in the first half the game might have gone differently but I was never really worried watching from the south stand. Well maybe a little towards the end of the first half.... Both teams had good peno shouts turned down so that evens out. Blaming that on a game they lost by two is a strange take. They weren't guaranteed to score the peno even if they got it.

If bohs had the same firepower up front that they threw from the stands they'd be in good shape. Not sure what was thrown but they were bigger than the bangers I remember growing up. Hasn't gotten any attention but that's to be expected for the new media darlings. I miss the days when it was us.

[Jack B]

Obviously should have been a penalty but I've seen a lot of people be up in arms that it should have been a red too, when per the laws of the game it can't be as Cleary has genuinely tried to play the ball. I know it's a nit-picky point and Bohs were robbed regardless, but for all of the stick the officials take some of the folk dishing it out should probably be more clued up themselves.

Side note but as it was mentioned earlier I do think if I were a Bohs fan I wouldn't be a huge fan of *some* of Lambert's carry on. Think it's a bit unbecoming for a person in his position to be piling on like that. I've seen him do similar in the past slating opposition commentary teams etc.

[oriel]

Decent win for Dundalk and a point clear now in 4th, we were def the better side in the second half, good few chances to score, still as long as it was 0-0 always tricky.

Then Keith Ward rolling back the years, nice one.

3 wins on the spin now, amazing what that can do to confidence.

[sbgawa]

Great win for Dundalk in sligo I had expected sligo to win