2024 Season, Arrivals and Departures

[patsdad]

Who of the Pats players who have played regularly would have displaced any of our strongest 11 for you? Not a single one for me and they are the best in the league imop. Murphy, Leavy and Curtis would make the squad and they'd be getting cameos just like Nugent, Razi, Noonan and Cruise got this season. But we would not have won the league with them playing every week. Curtis is the shining light but he isn't better than Dan Cleary or Neil Farrugia at either position. He'd be a backup like Finn and I'm not sure I'd play him over Finn either tbh.

I know you're looking at it through green and white glasses but it's ludicrous to suggest you have four defenders better than Curtis. There aren't four defenders better than him in the whole league.

And you're wrong also in your other post when you say he "had to leave Rovers for game time". He was 15 at the time. He moved because he and his advisors correctly reckoned we'd provide him with a better pathway.

[WeAreRovers]

That was me re Curtis and 'better pathway' is the modern way of saying 'game time' - point remains the same.

Re B teams in the First Division there was one Dublin PD club dead set against Rovers II in the FD. And it wasn't Pats.

[ontheotherhand]

I know you're looking at it through green and white glasses but it's ludicrous to suggest you have four defenders better than Curtis. There aren't four defenders better than him in the whole league.

And you're wrong also in your other post when you say he "had to leave Rovers for game time". He was 15 at the time. He moved because he and his advisors correctly reckoned we'd provide him with a better pathway.

You genuinely think Curtis is better than Cleary and Farrugia? Not for me. He's a very good prospect but he's not better than what we have starting in either position. He also wouldn't have played ahead of Finn when he was our starter and Curtis was younger. I think he made the right call going to Pats tbh.

He'd make the squad as I said but he wouldn't play which is the point of all of this. He's also an outlier given his maturity so not the best example to be used in any counter argument here.

What do you mean by a better pathway other than playing by the way? Surely that's the main thing? He made the right call imop. Hurts to see how good he's gotten but for the reasons above I think Pats was a better place for him.

[Philosophizer]

You genuinely think Curtis is better than Cleary and Farrugia? Not for me. He's a very good prospect but he's not better than what we have starting in either position. He also wouldn't have played ahead of Finn when he was our starter and Curtis was younger. I think he made the right call going to Pats tbh.m.

I’d say Curtis is a better defender than Farrugia, but Farrugia is a better atttacker.
Hard to compare them two because they play different positions imo.
Curtis’ best position is RB, but Rovers haven’t played a back 4 for ages. He can also do a job at CB but his best position in full back.
Farrugia on the other hand is a winger who’s been converted to a wing back. They’ve quite different skillsets.

[ontheotherhand]

I’d say Curtis is a better defender than Farrugia, but Farrugia is a better atttacker.
Hard to compare them two because they play different positions imo.
Curtis’ best position is RB, but Rovers haven’t played a back 4 for ages. He can also do a job at CB but his best position in full back.
Farrugia on the other hand is a winger who’s been converted to a wing back. They’ve quite different skillsets.

That's fair enough. Pound for pound though, Farrugia is currently a better player in my opinion. Best in the league on his day. Curtis may end up better and seems more durable for sure! But Farrugia won their battles this season.

[Jd2793]

pace will be the problem going forward for curtis. think he has a high enough ceiling but his pace is what'll stop him reaching the top level imo. farriuga has loads of it but cant be relied on fitness wise.

[patsdad]

Some amazing opinions on Curtis here and I have to ask how often the posters concerned have actually watched him. As someone who has seen every game he played this season I stand over my opinion on his quality. And he's far from short on pace.

[Stuttgart88]

I'd like to see Farrugia play centrally, a Thierry Henry type role. He has a great ability to always beat his first man and he has electric pace. Not wholly reliable in front of goal but I think he'd get easier chances running straight on goal rather than cutting in. I think starting from wide deep poisitions weakens his influence.

[kksaints]

It's very hard to compare Curtis and Farrugia. Curtis is a right back who can play centre back. Farrugia is a wing back whose second position is a winger. Farrugia suits Rovers more with the current setup they have but as regards quality it's neck and neck and both are amongst the best in the league. Farrugia's injury record is his main drawback, he'd probably be abroad if it wasn't for that. Ideally we'd have both with Curtis as the full back and Farrugia as the winger.

[placid casual]

A decent discussion anyway, both are good with the potential to get better.
Farrugia still needs to keep his head up when running at people (easier said than done!) and his final ball needs to improve greatly.
Curtis looks like one of those players who could potentially play anywhere on the pitch (e.g Bellingham) and do well. The skill level of the game here has increased imo,and I'd just hope that players of their ilk can find a place in Europe to really reach their potential ,and not get bogged down in the dirge that is sub EPL football

[ontheotherhand]

I'd like to see Farrugia play centrally, a Thierry Henry type role. He has a great ability to always beat his first man and he has electric pace. Not wholly reliable in front of goal but I think he'd get easier chances running straight on goal rather than cutting in. I think starting from wide deep poisitions weakens his influence.

He played through the middle very effectively up in Derry in a game we went down to 10 men in. Possibly even 9 men. He was also tried as a striker briefly but that didn't seem to click.

He's come on leaps and bounds defensively this season so I'd keep him at wingback. Would love to see the numbers of goals he was involved in this season. He didn't always get the assist but he helped create so many. If he learns how to bend it into the top corner after cutting in on to his left foot he could finish as top scorer. Fitness willing.

[ontheotherhand]

So Farrugia had significant injury layoff or layoffs this year and Rovers wouldn't have given Curtis
a run in the team? Towell has significant game time and other Rovers fans seem to think that he is signed so no one else has him so the likes of Murphy from Pat's or Clarke from Bohs (who is a former Rovers academy player) wouldn't be better options than a player who is signed so other teams don't have him? Right.

Yes the club's I mentioned have world class academies but Rovers have the best academy facilities in the league. Some of the best academy coaches and a head coach who at least to some degree was involved in how the academy functions even if it was at the beginning of his tenure. This should all lead to at least some more cohesion between the academy and first team and probably more academy products having very regular starts for the first team.

Sorry, missed this. Towell was signed because he was the leagues best player at one point. He was good this season. Even played well at wing back at one stage. Would I take Murphy over him? Maybe but there are a lot of "ifs" in that scenario. Towell is on a four year deal and better than any of the current academy players we have.

You are right that there seems to be a lack of cohesion though. McDonnell wrote about some of that. Overall though the point is that Pats can bring young lads in a bit easier and so they have. I like what they've done to be fair but I don't know if we would have recovered from our early blip without the experience in the team. We did though and another title is in the bag. You might have stayed top if your young players had a bit more experience. Should have really.

[patsdad]

Tom Grivosti’s contract extension at Pats now confirmed. Two serious injuries meant he barely played this season but his partnership with Joe Redmond in 2022 was excellent. I’d imagine that’ll be the first choice pairing.

[2 Year Contract]

Tom Grivosti has signed a new contract with Pats. Happy to keep him onboard despite being out with an ACL injury still, he’s a great professional and sound lad to have in the squad, but most importantly a very good centre half that was missed massively this season, only featuring in 8 games. Once he’s back fit he'll be a real addition to the team

[ontheotherhand]

Tom Grivosti’s contract extension at Pats now confirmed. Two serious injuries meant he barely played this season but his partnership with Joe Redmond in 2022 was excellent. I’d imagine that’ll be the first choice pairing.

Would you rate Curtis higher than Redmond? On current ability.

[Martinho II]

Funnily enough Pats fan Dodge get's it right IMO - Gaffney far and away best player in the League again, GON the stand out holding midfielder year after year and Lee Grace the best of our 3 excellent centre-halves.

https://www.balls.ie/football/dodges-2023-league-of-ireland-end-of-season-awards-578910

Dodge ex of this parish!

[patsdad]

Would you rate Curtis higher than Redmond? On current ability.
In my opinion Curtis was the best defender in the league in 2023. Redmond is outstanding in his position.

[ontheotherhand]

In my opinion Curtis was the best defender in the league in 2023. Redmond is outstanding in his position.

Based on our head to heads, Redmond is the only one I'd want to sign! He's quality. All about opinions and all that though.

[Jack B]

Curtis is an excellent prospect and has more strings to his bow as a player already, but right now Redmond is the more important player in the sense that his absence hits the side harder. They play different positions though so again it's tough to compare. Just hope Sam choses his move wisely, has all the talent but getting that decision right is as important as anything.

Happy with Grivosti re-signing albeit a little surprised. Knew he was out of contract and it was an awful injury he had, which was the third long-term one of his career thus far, so wondered if the club would be hesitant to keep him on. Very good, underrated defender on his day though so fingers crossed he comes back the same player.

Have seen a mention here and there that Pats have been talking to Conor Keeley as well, though he had interest from abroad in the summer so I'd imagine he's not struggling for offers right now.

[Bunny Kelly]

I've always felt Rovers with their 'best academy' should be based like a dutch model whether it is Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV where there is alway a pathway for their best young players to get game time & develop which they can sell on for a nice profit. There is no way in hell Bazunu would get close to the Rovers team now & the amount of time Razi got this season was shocking given his potential, the same for whatever happend with Ferezaj maybe other reasons there but Rovers played it poorly. These clubs are able to win leagues & promote youth, even a club like Dinamo Zagreb win the league ever year but have one of the most succesful academies in European football for developing talent

[Another Bohemia]

I've always felt Rovers with their 'best academy' should be based like a dutch model whether it is Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV where there is alway a pathway for their best young players to get game time & develop which they can sell on for a nice profit. There is no way in hell Bazunu would get close to the Rovers team now & the amount of time Razi got this season was shocking given his potential, the same for whatever happend with Ferezaj maybe other reasons there but Rovers played it poorly. These clubs are able to win leagues & promote youth, even a club like Dinamo Zagreb win the league ever year but have one of the most succesful academies in European football for developing talent

No no you don't understand. There are clubs around the world that manage to integrate their academy players into their squads while winning leagues but it's actually not possible and only teams like Pat's and Bohs with lower expectations can play academy players regularly.

[kksaints]

Brandon Kavanagh to us confirmed. Happy with that signing.

[ontheotherhand]

You'd swear we had La Masia out in Roadstone the way some of you go on.

We will have more academy players in the squad over time.

Plenty have been sold for profit and are playing at a higher level and plenty are playing with other teams. That's pretty good going for how long it's been up and running.

Bazunu would clearly have played this season by the way Bunny. He'd arguably have dislodged Mannus a few seasons back if Man City hadn't bought him. These hypotheticals with players we don't have don't serve much purpose. Razi maybe should have played more given Jack Byrnes injury but there are others ahead of him. Noonan isn't quite ready yet. Cruise the same. They both looked great at the end of the season with the pressure off but struggled a bit earlier on.

Worrying about the champions age profile in the off season is a strange one to be honest.

[Bunny Kelly]

The fact Noonan & Cruise got so little game time with Clarke & Farrugia injured for much of the season makes me doubt Bradley would have thrown a 16yr old keeper in no matter how talented. Roadstone may not La Masia but when you look at UCD & Cork this season you telling me there wasn't plenty of spots to get these younger players more involved? Nugent is the only 'younger' player that really got game time & he had a season out on loan & is physically strong before Bradley trusted him.

[ontheotherhand]

The fact Noonan & Cruise got so little game time with Clarke & Farrugia injured for much of the season makes me doubt Bradley would have thrown a 16yr old keeper in no matter how talented. Roadstone may not La Masia but when you look at UCD & Cork this season you telling me there wasn't plenty of spots to get these younger players more involved? Nugent is the only 'younger' player that really got game time & he had a season out on loan & is physically strong before Bradley trusted him.

They did play against UCD and Cork. Probably would have played more if we weren't trying to dig ourselves out of that bad start.

Yes Bazunu would have played. Bradley was the one who put him in at 16. Awful example to pick for your point to be honest. He's a better keeper than Mannus was last season so he obviously would have played. Noonan and the others we have now aren't at that level yet.

Bradley built a team to win leagues. We will see over the next few seasons how many academy players make it through as the team ages.

If I had a concern it would be Simon Power getting minutes over Razi and Noonan. That signing was a mistake but I understand why we did it. Frightening pace. Crocked though.

[pineapple stu]

Worrying about the champions age profile in the off season is a strange one to be honest.
Dundalk fans were saying the same a few years ago in fairness...

[ontheotherhand]

Dundalk fans were saying the same a few years ago in fairness...

But, unlike Dundalk, we COULD play academy players if things go pear shaped with the first team. I don't think we'd be winning the league but at least you would all be happy. And that's all I want really.

[Bunny Kelly]

Maybe there is a reason I highlighted Bazunu? To quote yourself, 'that is an awful example of someone not getting the point to be honest'. Bradley is acting different now than he did when he built the team, younger players are not getting the same opportunities & as a whole the team seems like it is stagnating, they were just blessed that this season the didn't have any decent competition domestically

[joey B]

Mark Doyle departing Pats for an opportunity abroad….

[ontheotherhand]

Maybe there is a reason I highlighted Bazunu? To quote yourself, 'that is an awful example of someone not getting the point to be honest'. Bradley is acting different now than he did when he built the team, younger players are not getting the same opportunities & as a whole the team seems like it is stagnating, they were just blessed that this season the didn't have any decent competition domestically

Bazunu would be good enough Bunny.

I'd agree the team has stagnated a bit and if you want to say Razi and Cruise should have played more over the likes of Power and Kavanagh then I can see where you're coming from. But we are still talking about the four in a row champions. What we did worked.

The reshape will be interesting. We need at least two wingbacks. Nugent was tried there quite a bit and Cruise is the other option. Neither really grabbed it and Nugent for me is a central mid. Cruise looked tidy but maybe not ready to start. Razi looks ready for regular cameos but will he be around long enough? Not sure. Tricky to find players who are good enough play but not so good that they are gone and you're left with a hole to fill.

[Stuttgart88]

You'd swear we had La Masia out in Roadstone the way some of you go on.

We will have more academy players in the squad over time.

Plenty have been sold for profit and are playing at a higher level and plenty are playing with other teams. That's pretty good going for how long it's been up and running.

Bazunu would clearly have played this season by the way Bunny. He'd arguably have dislodged Mannus a few seasons back if Man City hadn't bought him. These hypotheticals with players we don't have don't serve much purpose. Razi maybe should have played more given Jack Byrnes injury but there are others ahead of him. Noonan isn't quite ready yet. Cruise the same. They both looked great at the end of the season with the pressure off but struggled a bit earlier on.

Worrying about the champions age profile in the off season is a strange one to be honest.What was the story with Ferijaz this season? Was it really about the Spurs trial, or was there more to it?

[ontheotherhand]

What was the story with Ferijaz this season? Was it really about the Spurs trial, or was there more to it?

I don't really have the inside track to be honest. What I heard was that his attitude and fitness took a bit of a turn but don't take that as gospel Stutts. A shame. Lovely player who should have played a lot more this season. Very excited about Razi now though. He has more pace than Ferizaj and looks just as tidy on the ball.

[joey B]

Mark Doyle joins Rhode Island FC of the USL in the States…

[SwanVsDalton]

McMullan, Duffy and Kelly are wingers.

Kavanagh is a centre mid or a 10.

Maybe long-term but that's not how he's been deployed to date and he had even less of a chance starting centre mid for Derry than as a wide player cutting in.

[2 Year Contract]

Sean Gannon has signed for shels

[joey B]

Sean Gannon has signed for shels

Congratulations to Shelbourne on their league title win !

[joey B]

Keith Ward joined Shelbourne aswell….

[Jd2793]

cian kavanagh to pats... hmm wasnt expecting that one. will be interesting to see can daly get a tune out of him. find it mad the boy is still only 20, feels like hes around years.

[patsdad]

Interesting in a number of respects. The third Pats Academy product now back in the squad after a spell away. And Daly once again going for youth and potential rather than the option of someone like Hoban.

[Another Bohemia]

Sean Gannon has signed for shels

What's the craic with Gannon these days aside from signing for Shels? I can't recall him playing much in recent memory for Rovers, was it a lack of fitness or not suiting their tactics?

[Jack B]

Wasn't expecting that. He feels of a similar kind of profile to Conor Carty so I'm guessing he's essentially replacing him. Not exactly the sexiest signing on paper but interested to see how it plays out, really is mad he's only 20 still.

[joey B]

Noe Baba signed back at Harps.

[sbgawa]

What's the craic with Gannon these days aside from signing for Shels? I can't recall him playing much in recent memory for Rovers, was it a lack of fitness or not suiting their tactics?

My take on it was that he never really fitted as a wingback. All his best days at Dundalk were as a right back in a back 4
He was always 5th choice for the 3 starting centre backs behind Pico, Grace, Cleary and Hoare as he wasnt really a centreback.

I think if Shels play hi as a RB he will be excelent if its anywhere else he will continue to struggle

[Another Bohemia]

My take on it was that he never really fitted as a wingback. All his best days at Dundalk were as a right back in a back 4
He was always 5th choice for the 3 starting centre backs behind Pico, Grace, Cleary and Hoare as he wasnt really a centreback.

I think if Shels play hi as a RB he will be excelent if its anywhere else he will continue to struggle

Might be a bit of a bad signing then. If I'm not mistaken Shels almost exclusively play with 3 CBS and wingbacks. Open to correction on that obviously but seems to be a square peg for a round hole.

[Jack B]

Could end up being wrong but I thought Shels made the most sense for him. Not sure he has the legs to play the same right back role he did previously so right of a back three is probably the best place for him now, kind of like how Massey played for Drogs when he moved. Not being at the level to do so for Rovers doesn't mean he can't do a job there for Shels, who while still good have lower ambitions currently.

[joey B]

Dayle Rooney signed for Bohs…

[2 Year Contract]

Dayle Rooney signed for Bohs…

Good signing for them, can only assume none of the top half clubs were interested in him surprisingly. Begs the question for Bohs though in terms of wingers, which one of, Connolly, Grant or Rooney sits on the bench? All 3 are surely good enough to be starters for them

[total hoofball]

Might be a bit of a bad signing then. If I'm not mistaken Shels almost exclusively play with 3 CBS and wingbacks. Open to correction on that obviously but seems to be a square peg for a round hole.
Towards the end of the season Duff played a back 4 with Shane Griffin often going from left centre-back to left back. I think Duff went that way more out of wanting to trust his solid backline and balancing injuries he had Tyreke Wilson covering right back in some games. At right wing back we had JR Wilson struggling with injuries at the end of the season, Cabral signed in summer didn't look great in his few appearances and young David Toure wasn't been rushed into 1st team much this season after two previous seasons of injury nightmares so he was prioritised for U19s

I don't think Gannon has been signed with an intention for him to be starting 36 games at right back whether its a back 4 or a back 5 wing-back system, I would be thinking he will be used a utility player between right back and centre back along with his obvious experience/leadership, similar for Ward in the middle of the park

[total hoofball]

Good signing for them, can only assume none of the top half clubs were interested in him surprisingly. Begs the question for Bohs though in terms of wingers, which one of, Connolly, Grant or Rooney sits on the bench? All 3 are surely good enough to be starters for them
There was some rumours of him going back to Shels don't know how true or not if he was ever in discussions. I'm not surprised he has been signed by a top 6 team his set piece ability alone would make him a solid signing, he left Shels because he could not commit to full-time football for 2022 season with his job so Bohs must be paying a good bag of cash to go full-time

[ger121]

Dayle Rooney signed for Bohs…

Very pleased with that signing.