Games Thursday 4th of July

[sbgawa]

Premier Division (19:45 unless stated)

Galway v Bohemians
Drogheda v Shelbourne
Waterford v St Pats
Sligo v Derry
Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk (20.00)

First Division (All 19:45)

Finn Harps v Kerry
Bray v Longford
Treaty v Cobh
UCD v Athlone
Wexford v Cork

[sbgawa]

The league may be over but we need to make sure of Europe for next year so we cant just roll over again here before hesding to Iceland for the game next Tuesday.
Hopefully a morale boosting 3 points before we head away. Will be interesting to see the attendance tommorow as to how many of the bandwagon jumpers of tghe last few years are still showing up for the wake.
Shelbourne and Derry have tricky away ties and its a race to the finish between them now so these are the kind of games that can make a difference.

[Nesta99]

Between the loss of loanees and new players in in just the last few days if Rovers are not beating Dundalk 2nd from bottom then Europe next year and progression this year would be seriously in doubt. Waterford and Galway are well capable of picking up full points and even Bohs winning games in had go level on points. Its not a game for Dundalk needing 3 points but if Shels hold form its damage limitation. Derrys rout of Drogs has done a bit for GD, nullifying our early season rout by Sligo.

[nr637]

From the Premier fixtures what could be considered the 'Match of the Day"

Drogheda v Shels, currently 10th v 1st in league positions, and all that! :ball:

[sbgawa]

Galway v Bohs probably the match of the day. both teams dreaming of Europe and a win for Galway would leave Bohs struggling.
A win for Bohs on the otehr hand and they are only 2 points off Galway and in the race for 4th place (no guarantees i know).

Hopefully Pats can get something in Waterford and allow us get back into the guaranteed European places for next year with a win against Dundalk.
Hopefully we show up tonight......................

[culloty82]

Kerry's favourite opponents since joining the league, but our away record (apart from the last trip to Ballybofey) has been woeful this season, so would definitely take a draw tonight!

[Another Bohemia]

Galway v Bohs probably the match of the day. both teams dreaming of Europe and a win for Galway would leave Bohs struggling.
A win for Bohs on the otehr hand and they are only 2 points off Galway and in the race for 4th place (no guarantees i know).

Hopefully Pats can get something in Waterford and allow us get back into the guaranteed European places for next year with a win against Dundalk.
Hopefully we show up tonight......................

Bohs are doing a significant squad turnover at the moment (a necessary one imo with how some of the signings from the end of Longs term in charge and the entirety of Devine's term have worked out). We know Galway are a well organised team and as of late they have been scoring goals to turn those draws into wins. I would be pleasantly shocked if Galway don't get a 1-0 win.

[sbgawa]

Bohs are doing a significant squad turnover at the moment (a necessary one imo with how some of the signings from the end of Longs term in charge and the entirety of Devine's term have worked out). We know Galway are a well organised team and as of late they have been scoring goals to turn those draws into wins. I would be pleasantly shocked if Galway don't get a 1-0 win.


I cant bring myself to cheer for you guys but considering Galway are in a race with us for a place in Europe ill settle for a draw

[WoodquayBoy]

We’ve lost 3 of our last 4, conceding two goals in all three defeats. The only race we are in is one to stay ahead of the bottom two!

[Nesta99]

No way that Galway are at risk from the bottom 2. Even if you combined mine and sbgawa's tendecy for caution you wouldnt have Galway in a relegation battle by seasons end!

[Shinkicker]

Galway thought they scored on 89th min, ball didn't cross the line but looks like the Galway player handled it

[Shinkicker]

Galway thought they scored on 89th min, ball didn't cross the line but looks like the Galway player handled it
A draw was probably a fair result, Bohs scored early and created a few more chances, second half Galway scored early and miss a few chances.

[Nesta99]

How a season can pivot in 45 minutes. Shels may have gotten away with things considering how Derry dont want to win a league title. A 1 or 3 goal loss for Dundalk makes little difference, expected to lose with 3 teenagers in defence and new players in but results elsewhere really makes little of any laudible effort. 2 reds and a peno in Drogheda and could yet win.


* 31 yellow cards Im counting across tonights games, 3 red cards (2 2nd yellows)

[wonder88]

Hickey (Galway), no handball there, poor decision by the officials. After a terrible start Galway played much better from 30m on.

[LTFC]

A 90th minute winner and LTFC win away! At last, all is well with the world, the climate crisis, Gaza , Ukraine, the UK election aint got nothing on 3 points.
BLITW.

[pineapple stu]

A 90th minute winner and LTFC win away! At last, all is well with the world, the climate crisis, Gaza , Ukraine, the UK election aint got nothing on 3 points.
BLITW.
And very thankful ye did too! Two more penalties conceded to add to our ridiculous recent record over the past couple of seasons. We only started playing after going 2-0 down and with a bit more composure in front of goal could have had a draw.

Our first defeat in nine - but equally we've only two wins in ten now, both narrow wins against Kerry.

But we're still third. Bit like Shels earlier in the season in that regard - hanging on despite poor form, largely because the rest of the division is so inconsistent

[Jack B]

Almost more annoyingly than if we'd been terrible, Pats were actually very good for the first half an hour or so but once we failed to capitalise it just felt like we'd regret it. Combination of a lot of poor decision making after getting into dangerous areas and some excellent defending from Waterford kept Pats out and looking less likely to score as the game went on.

[joey B]

1 nil for us but didn’t reflect the game,should have been far more comfortable,some good performances from our young attackers especially will hopefully give us a boost for the remainder of the season….

[LTFC]

Special mention of Sligo, 6 points in a week against Rovers and Derry.

[pineapple stu]

Special mention of Sligo, 6 points in a week against Rovers and Derry.
I keep expecting them (and Shels) to collapse tbh. But it's not happening.

Big gap developing to the Louth two - and with Dundalk scoring once every other game and Drogheda conceding two per game, it's hard to see how either is going to bridge that gap

[ger121]

And very thankful ye did too! Two more penalties conceded to add to our ridiculous recent record over the past couple of seasons. We only started playing after going 2-0 down and with a bit more composure in front of goal could have had a draw.

Our first defeat in nine - but equally we've only two wins in ten now, both narrow wins against Kerry.

But we're still third. Bit like Shels earlier in the season in that regard - hanging on despite poor form, largely because the rest of the division is so inconsistent

I’m not joking when I say I think you have conceded a penalty in every game I’ve seen you play this season.

Only came into it really when 2 down and could have nicked a point with a bit more composure.

[Shearer]

Treaty robbed at the death by Cobh. Played all the football and had loads of chances but took none of them.

[Zico]

As comfortable a 1 nil win as you are likely to see from Harps over Kerry.
Absolute madness asking Kerry to travel 800km round trip on a Thursday night though. The idea of playing Thursday night so as not clash with the Euros is really good, but why they could not just schedule fixtures with more reasonable travel is beyond belief. Surely they can program this into the computer when setting the fixtures!!!

[LTFC]

Drogs probably left 2 points behind tonight considering the sending offs. Those 6 points for Sligo and only 6 points off third, but good lead over the louth clubs. Agree, hard to see how Dundalk or Drogs bridge the gap. Whoever finishes 9th though should be too strong for whoever comes through play offs.

[D24Saint]

We played well in the first half but we should have went in at least one nil up. We were awful in the second half and it’s another terrible result in a season that just keeps on giving. We need a striker badly.

[WoodquayBoy]

Galway thought they scored on 89th min, ball didn't cross the line but looks like the Galway player handled it
The ball did cross the line, the keeper flapped at it and dropped it over the line, the lino flagged for a goal but the ref gave a free out for a push by Hickey despite there being no contact on either the goalkeeper or the defender. The second time this season that O’Shea has disallowed a winning goal for us, and both were p!sspoor decisions by a referee who is not up to Premier Division standard (and barely First Division standard, if we’re honest).
On balance a draw was a fair result, but can’t help feeling like we’ve been robbed by that ref once again

[nigel-harps1954]

As comfortable a 1 nil win as you are likely to see from Harps over Kerry.
Absolute madness asking Kerry to travel 800km round trip on a Thursday night though. The idea of playing Thursday night so as not clash with the Euros is really good, but why they could not just schedule fixtures with more reasonable travel is beyond belief. Surely they can program this into the computer when setting the fixtures!!!

Kerry aren't doing an 800km round trip tonight though. They're staying over in Donegal Town, same as they done last time they travelled.

That's the joys of being in the LOI. Harps next three games are Cork away, Cork away and Limerick away. Those are all round trips too as we don't do overnights.

[2 Year Contract]

Almost more annoyingly than if we'd been terrible, Pats were actually very good for the first half an hour or so but once we failed to capitalise it just felt like we'd regret it. Combination of a lot of poor decision making after getting into dangerous areas and some excellent defending from Waterford kept Pats out and looking less likely to score as the game went on.

Agree with this, first half was some of the best football we’ve played all season but couldn’t take one of the chances despite the dominance. Once Waterford got the goal early in the second half they managed the game brilliantly through a combination of well applied dark arts and solid defending. Still no win away from home since the opening day of the season, having travelled to all of those games I can say the frustrating journeys home are something I’m hoping won’t be a recurrence next year

[outspoken]

Bray are beyond terrible

[joey B]

2 wins in 14 for Wexford,against Kerry and Longford is beyond bad,I’ve heard they have a very healthy budget aswell…..

[Onapointoforder]

Bray are beyond terrible Ian Ryan replaced 90% of last year’s squad. Hasn’t make any difference. No wonder he’s gone. Fitzgerald doing no better.

[Nesta99]

Ian Ryan replaced 90% of last year’s squad. Hasn’t make any difference. No wonder he’s gone. Fitzgerald doing no better.

Fitzgerald's hands would be tied though. The more I hear about large number of signings by a manager (or a head of football recruitment) they more i am coming round to the more modern (and even maybe old fashioned) ideas of recruitment/selection committees. You see american sports where a bunch of coaches sit around a table debating recruit targets. DoF with a head coach, coaching staff and scouts is looking more and more like the only way to go about business. It could offset agent influences where an old owner could be duped or a manager on the books of an agent could be asked to give contracts as a favour, or even an agent refusing to deal with a manager for not playing ball. We saw how terms for Sheppard were being bullied by his agent, would the club deal with that agent now or visa versa if a suitable player was wanted? Seems like a change could be needed on how transfer dealigs are handled. Technical directors I always thought were more to do with being over coachig and medical staff but maybe should have a say too. 2 many cooks though? Or jobs or the boys? Not sure either way but should an Ian Ryan have sole judgement on '90%' of signings, fail and leave a disaster behind that cant be sorted where a board trusted sole judgement. Thoughts on a prefered process or ideas? when at smaller clubs with limited staff or extensive scouting. Dundalk sound like it was a few calls to old contacts in Scotland and Kelty FC cropping up a couple of times - hardly knwoing what was the quality of a signing. Moneyball stat apps with character assessment could well be more effective than the buddy or worn old agant networks. Best solution of all, develo your own players. Still not sure why our 2023 U20 top goal scorer was not retained when we are in need of strikers after letting a record goal scorer go to a club that mentally cant cope with a title chase.

[desaintsno.12]

I fear its going to be a long two and a half years with Anang in goals for us. I wasnt a fan of him before and certainly not a fan of him after last nights Waterford goal. His movement freaks me out.

[trevy]

It was a hard fought 1 0 last night for Waterford v St Pats. Pats were better early on and Forrester came close to scoring twice. Waterford much better in 2nd half and defended well after McCormack's goal. Our back 4 are really solid at moment. Good 3 points that keeps us in 3rd and in the hunt for European football.

[Dermobohs]

We were blessed to get out with a point in the end, players once again proving to be a 35 minute team, we just collapse in midfield after 35 minutes, every single game. Awful.

[Another Bohemia]

Happy with a point in the end. Not sure why Galway's 2nd goal was ruled out but you take that bit if luck when it comes your way. Played some great football in the 1st half and with better finishing could have been up by 2 or 3. As others have mentioned after 35 odd minutes the midfield fell apart and that was our undoing. I think we need to replace Flores with someone who's a bit more physical and can put in a crunching tackle. He seems to float through the game a lot while McDonnell and Clarke are up and down the pitch all game. I don't expect Flores to go this window but wouldn't be surprised if he's not a Bohs player in Jan.

[2 Year Contract]

Very little talk on the Derry result here. Can imagine how frustrating they are for their fans. The last few years every time Rovers in previous years or Shels this year drop points it’s almost a given that Derry will fail to capitalise on that and also drop points themselves. With the squad they’ve got at their disposal, you’d wonder if it comes down to mentality with the players? I know Higgins isn’t popular also so maybe it’s a tactical thing

[sbgawa]

Waterford winning was a terrible result for us, if they were to win their two games while we are playig in Europe we could be going to Waterford 9 points off Europe , lose there and its 12 points off.
Appreciate Waterford have to go and win the matches but it shows how bad things have gotten. Id take third place all day if it was offered now.
Watching us labor to beat a poor Dundalk team last night is scary for Tuesday.

[oriel]

As much as Dundalk were not great though sbgawa, we had two great chances to equalise in the last 15, and probably the better side in that period, but same old, jus can't score.

Rovers looked a shadow of previous years, but still got the win.

[oriel]

Drogs probably left 2 points behind tonight considering the sending offs. Those 6 points for Sligo and only 6 points off third, but good lead over the louth clubs. Agree, hard to see how Dundalk or Drogs bridge the gap. Whoever finishes 9th though should be too strong for whoever comes through play offs.

They won't, and nothing has changed from last week, its a straight dog fight for the play off spot. Next Friday it could be Dundalk 5 clear, 2 clear, or 1 point behind and back to bottom place, that said I think we will beat Drogs at home and move 5 clear.

Regardless of that result, it will still be between the two as neither are showing any real signs of consistent results.

[Nesta99]

Very little talk on the Derry result here. Can imagine how frustrating they are for their fans. The last few years every time Rovers in previous years or Shels this year drop points it’s almost a given that Derry will fail to capitalise on that and also drop points themselves. With the squad they’ve got at their disposal, you’d wonder if it comes down to mentality with the players? I know Higgins isn’t popular also so maybe it’s a tactical thing

Bit like the Derry team winning a league, people cant be bothered. Why they throw away so many point when others do? If its not coincidence, that the bottle it when others are losing then keep results from elsewhere away from the players until after, ban social media for the entire match day. In reality I think they are just so inconsistant that it just looks like they are dropping points at key moments when jet just drop points. The last piece of the Dundalk shaped jigsaw was signing Hoban yet the pattern stays the same. If we had Hoban on one leg with some of out performances we'd be looking at a battle for European qualification as our issue is not finishing chances and he;d have been worth about 9 points at this stage..

On Rovers, Im still struggling to understand why they offered so litle against a cobbled together Dundalk, kids across defence, ageing olf stalwarts in midfield and fielding a few debutnts. They, like Derry,seem to have an attitude problen and tbh Rovers have a lot more to lose this season than Derry do by not getting europe and seriously damaging their business model.

Ive been impressed with Watrfords abilit to compete, Galway would be a serious contender with a goal scorer, Pats and Bohs lets say they are in tansition and have been cute in picking the time as anothr season and they would be in a releation battle rather than keeping arms length. Dundak beat pats as its games in hand and they go behind and thy are better than that.

[total hoofball]

Relieved for Shels get out of Drogheda with a point after that chaotic ending finishing with 9 men but a sense aswell of a massive opportunity lost to extend our lead by more than 1 point with Derry's loss to Sligo, also let Rovers back in with an outside chance

One of those games where our performance deteriorated as the game went on especially in the 2nd half and the team were happy to see out for another 1-0 win which inevitably will never always go to plan, if we don't win the league it will be because of games like this where we struggle to score more than a goal per game

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Special mention of Sligo, 6 points in a week against Rovers and Derry.

I fully expect us to lose in Dalymount next week

[Partizan]

Waterford winning was a terrible result for us, if they were to win their two games while we are playig in Europe we could be going to Waterford 9 points off Europe , lose there and its 12 points off.
Appreciate Waterford have to go and win the matches but it shows how bad things have gotten. Id take third place all day if it was offered now.
Watching us labor to beat a poor Dundalk team last night is scary for Tuesday.

We are overdue a run in Europe. We haven't been there since the 1986/87 season and that was in the old ECWC.

[oriel]

That was the record appearance of Alfie Hale I think, 86/87 for Waterford, record gap between his first and last time playing in europe, 20 years or so.

What a player he was, Tommy McConville at Dundalk used to speak very highly of him.

Ps it was around this time they changed the rules where if the cup winners also won the league, the spot would go to the next highest place in the league who didn't quality, not the cup runners up.

[Knocklyonhoop]

We played well in the first half but we should have went in at least one nil up. We were awful in the second half and it’s another terrible result in a season that just keeps on giving. We need a striker badly.

you need to play us again badly!

[Partizan]

That was the record appearance of Alfie Hale I think, 86/87 for Waterford, record gap between his first and last time playing in europe, 20 years or so.

What a player he was, Tommy McConville at Dundalk used to speak very highly of him.

Ps it was around this time they changed the rules where if the cup winners also won the league, the spot would go to the next highest place in the league who didn't quality, not the cup runners up.

Alfie had long retired by then. You are thinking of Al Finucane who lined out against Bordeaux at the age of 44 in Kilcohan in the ECWC 1st Round clash in which Waterford lost 2-1.

[nigel-harps1954]

The average age of the three players involved in Harps goal last night was 18. All three players from Donegal. Two of them are products of the Finn Harps academy, albeit Patton via Derry for the past year.

Patrick Ferry (21 years, 205 days) started off the attack, passing the ball to Gavin McAteer (16 years, 2 days), who passed back to Ferry, who in turn, assisted Sean Patton for the goal (17 years, 345 days).

McAteer, in particular, is a properly exciting young player.

1809195521560703194

[Knocklyonhoop]

I fully expect us to lose in Dalymount next week

probably. But ye are looking up rather rather than down?

[Martinho II]

Unbelievably it was our first away win all season!