2025 FAI Cup

[TonyD]

More than a Rover or Pats v Cork final! If Cork are relegated and they will be there wont be many that will venture out of Cork.

Like most finals, if it is marketed well, priced reasonably, Pats and Bohs had 44k coupld of years ago so you'd hope for similar unless the novelty of cups wins has won off for Pats, Rovers have 1 in 28 years or so so the cup specialists might not be that bothered.

Speaking for myself I can safely say that the novelty of a Cup Final, let alone a Cup win, will never wear off. Three out of five cups would be fantastic if we could do it. I imagine a Pats/Rovers final would be close to a sell out, but not counting any chickens with regard to Cork away. I think we'll be favourites, but its not a gimme by any means.

[Roones26]

I see the Kerry Rovers game will be on TV. What’s the odds it’s as bad as Athlone Dundalk game in ‘20?

[culloty82]

Oddly enough, we only lost 3-0 to Rovers in a pre-season friendly that was scoreless at the break - much change in both squads since then, of course, but should be able to avoid a total blowout, at least.

[2 Year Contract]

I see the Kerry Rovers game will be on TV. What’s the odds it’s as bad as Athlone Dundalk game in ‘20?

In fairness to Athlone that game came a full month after their last game and they were absolutely miles off it fitness wise which compounded the already huge gap in quality. I’d imagine rovers will play a mainly second string side with Europe 3 days previous, they should still win handsomely though and can always throw a couple of the starters on from the bench on the extremely off chance that things aren’t going well

[culloty82]

Anyway, that game has been fixed for 6pm on the Sunday, so very much looking like the wee small hours before the away fans would get home!

[sbgawa]

We only beat Longford 2 nil with the second string and only then after throwing on the bomb squad after 65 mins.
First or seconf string Rovers the most important thing will be to go out and compete, that was what was missing against Longford , you could see the lack of zip in Rovers with everyone waitng for someone else to do something.
Ill be praying Cork pull and upset off over PAts, the final coming back from Athens on the Friday or Saturday will be a tough ask against a decent Pats team.
In terms of managing players if we can wrap the league up early he could give decent rests to some of our guaranteed starters, Pico, Grace, Cleary. Healy, Honohan,Burke in the last few weeks of the season

[outspoken]

We only beat Longford 2 nil with the second string and only then after throwing on the bomb squad after 65 mins.
First or seconf string Rovers the most important thing will be to go out and compete, that was what was missing against Longford , you could see the lack of zip in Rovers with everyone waitng for someone else to do something.
Ill be praying Cork pull and upset off over PAts, the final coming back from Athens on the Friday or Saturday will be a tough ask against a decent Pats team.
In terms of managing players if we can wrap the league up early he could give decent rests to some of our guaranteed starters, Pico, Grace, Cleary. Healy, Honohan,Burke in the last few weeks of the season

HOW DARE YOU......It was 2-1

[MoydowMonty]

In fairness to Athlone that game came a full month after their last game and they were absolutely miles off it fitness wise which compounded the already huge gap in quality. I’d imagine rovers will play a mainly second string side with Europe 3 days previous, they should still win handsomely though and can always throw a couple of the starters on from the bench on the extremely off chance that things aren’t going well

If I recall correctly their keeper was injured and they had a teenager make his debut in goal. Felt sorry for that poor fella, the baptism of fire to end all baptism of fires

[Dermobohs]

We only beat Longford 2 nil with the second string and only then after throwing on the bomb squad after 65 mins.
First or seconf string Rovers the most important thing will be to go out and compete, that was what was missing against Longford , you could see the lack of zip in Rovers with everyone waitng for someone else to do something.
Ill be praying Cork pull and upset off over PAts, the final coming back from Athens on the Friday or Saturday will be a tough ask against a decent Pats team.
In terms of managing players if we can wrap the league up early he could give decent rests to some of our guaranteed starters, Pico, Grace, Cleary. Healy, Honohan,Burke in the last few weeks of the season
Now there’s a double edged sword , sbgawa, cork would be already relegated, pride stung, up against a shower of arrogant dubs, they’d tear into it I reckon, probably backed by a big support having a last hurrah for a while.
Pats have more quality but a few chinks in the armour, maybe there would also be less complacency among rovers’ players v pats?
They’ve looked a bit less than focussed this season when facing “ lesser” opposition, stung by Bohs 3 times, arguably could have won two of them?

[sbgawa]

The last match against bohs we certainly didnt look up for it at all tbf.
Insuppose any 1 off match against anyome is tricky but cork have looked dire every time weve played them

[CorribsideSteve]

No Bray-style year for us like 1999 when they won the cup and got relegated. It's just the latter part that's still a prospect for us now. Pity Kerry didnt get Cork. You'd expect Rovers to beat them 5 nil.

[Nesta99]

Dundalk rlegated in 2002 also. One of the better teams in LoI to get relegated imo, of course it was league restructuring that denied us a play-off at the least.

[culloty82]

Shamrock Rovers have put the Kerry allocation on general sale - presumably the East Stand is the usual away end?

https://www.shamrockrovers.ie/away-fans-tickets/

[placid casual]

The 1st competitive game between the two sides, unless I'm mistaken.
Hopefully a good away support from Kerry, possibly increased by Dublin based kerry folk looking to support their county for the day.
Hopefully Rovers take the game a bit more seriously than the last game against the culchie boez.
Have a sneaky suspicion cork may do Pat's in the other semi now,I'll be interested to see the Cork team tonight and their attitude.

[Neish]

Anyway, that game has been fixed for 6pm on the Sunday, so very much looking like the wee small hours before the away fans would get home!

Provided the game doesn't go to extra time and penalties , it won't be that bad. On the road by 8-830pm be back in Tralee for 12:30-1am, there has been plenty of times I havn't got home from an Harps away day to 3am or 4am

[nr637]

The 1st competitive game between the two sides, unless I'm mistaken.
Hopefully a good away support from Kerry, possibly increased by Dublin based kerry folk looking to support their county for the day.
Hopefully Rovers take the game a bit more seriously than the last game against the culchie boez.
Have a sneaky suspicion cork may do Pat's in the other semi now,I'll be interested to see the Cork team tonight and their attitude.

Kerry will bring 500+ for this game.

[EatYerGreens]

Kerry will bring 500+ for this game.

That would be some achievement if so. Hopefully they'll be give as many tickets as they want.

[Nesta99]

Kerry will bring 500+ for this game.

Just out of interest, what do you think would max out Kerry support in terms of size currently. Say you drew Cork, home and there werent ground limitations, and Cork away?

[culloty82]

Difficult to know - for league games, the fact that there's little turnover in clubs each season means the novelty factor has gone, which has affected the average. That said, the fact that the Sligo match sold out with a fortnight to go shows that you could probably sell 2,000-2,500 tickets for high-profile ties, be that in the Cup or if Cork visited.

[legendz]

Kerry's win over Sligo was building over the last few years. Gave Drogheda a good game in 2023. Brought Bohs to penalties in 2024. Achieved the mighty scalp of a Premier opponent at the third attempt!
The semi final draw is the obviously the toughest they could have gotten. Doesn't take much for the grounded realisation of the daunting challenge ahead.
Kerry's CEO Billy Dennehy enjoyed good success with Rovers in his playing career. Secured a loan deal for Barrett in 2023. The clubs played a friendly in early February.
Billy Dennehy played for Rovers against Tottenham in White Hart Lane in the Europa League in 2011. Probably a similar magnitude of the challenge for Kerry FC travelling to Tallaght Stadium!
I think with this being Kerry's third year, it is the first year they can actually qualify for Europe. Pipe dream stuff obviously. 14 years on from Billy Dennehy playing in the Europa League, not bad going as CEO to have Kerry 180 minutes away from the Europa League qualifiers.

[nr637]

St. Pats 4 Cork City 0, is that Pats setting out a prew-view for the FAI Cup Semi Final clash in Cork later! :confused:

[placid casual]

That would be some achievement if so. Hopefully they'll be give as many tickets as they want.
I'd be shocked if Rovers didn't offer Kerry as many tickets as they require. If it's 500 coming then happy days I hope they enjoy the day out, hopefully the weather won't be too bad.
It's freezing in tallaght during a heatwave so wrap up warm would be my advice,and steer clear of the maldron hotel across the road as the pints are woeful- there's a few pubs in tallaght village that have decent enough pints.

[desaintsno.12]

St. Pats 4 Cork City 0, is that Pats setting out a prew-view for the FAI Cup Semi Final clash in Cork later! :confused:

Cork were terrible last night. I fully expect a much tougher game in TC.

[Real ale Madrid]

Cork were terrible last night. I fully expect a much tougher game in TC.

I wouldn't.

[sbgawa]

I'd be shocked if Rovers didn't offer Kerry as many tickets as they require. If it's 500 coming then happy days I hope they enjoy the day out, hopefully the weather won't be too bad.
It's freezing in tallaght during a heatwave so wrap up warm would be my advice,and steer clear of the maldron hotel across the road as the pints are woeful- there's a few pubs in tallaght village that have decent enough pints.

We allow Pats and Bohs / Shels bring 1000 if they want so there is no way we will be restricting Kerry.

[pateen]

Cork were terrible last night. I fully expect a much tougher game in TC.

You're a tad kind with that

[placid casual]

Have heard that Kerry are offering fans who buy match tickets free travel to the match in tallaght from various places around Kerry, a great initiative and shows a team trying to connect with a future fanbsse

[outspoken]

Have heard that Kerry are offering fans who buy match tickets free travel to the match in tallaght from various places around Kerry, a great initiative and shows a team trying to connect with a future fanbsse

They've been running free away busses all season

[TonyD]

Have heard that Kerry are offering fans who buy match tickets free travel to the match in tallaght from various places around Kerry, a great initiative and shows a team trying to connect with a future fanbsse

Good to see, and is the kind of thing that can only help foster a good fanbase. On the other semi final, I fully agree with desaints who said we'll have a much tougher game down in Cork. They'll surely rally with a big home crowd behind them ? Would love to make the final again though, it's becoming a nice habit every couple of years. If its against Rovers we could see a record Aviva crowd for a final.

[AULlegend]

Unbelievable from Kerry. That's how a club should be ran.

[pineapple stu]

In fairness, it's not every club can afford to run free buses to all games. How much would that cost over a season?

[sbgawa]

away bus from Dublin to places outside the Pale is around 600 but tbf Kerry would proably be paying more as they would have longer trips

[listowelceltic]

Doubt you'd have change from 1k for a return trip from Dublin. Give Dublin as an average trip at 18 trips you're around 20k. All guesswork of course .
4 free buses for semi final from various parts of county. Great work from the club.

[pineapple stu]

Sounds reasonable guesswork though. It's a lot for a First Division club to splash out though. Kind of shows the backing Kerry have relative to other clubs in the division.

(A Cup semi is a different matter of course - even UCD arranged a couple of free buses to our 2019 semi-final in Oriel)

[EatYerGreens]

Doubt you'd have change from 1k for a return trip from Dublin. Give Dublin as an average trip at 18 trips you're around 20k. All guesswork of course .
4 free buses for semi final from various parts of county. Great work from the club.

Presumably they've got sponsors for these? I can't imagine them running so many buses so often without someone effectively paying the bill (and/or them receiving a healthy discount for the vehicles).

[2 Year Contract]

What sort of crowd are Cork expecting for the semi final do any locals know? Not sure what the away allocation is for the semi but it sold out yesterday afternoon, surprised an additional allocation hasn’t been added yet. Even if they extend the allocation I wouldn’t say the crowd will match the 1200+ that travelled to the semi final down there 2 years ago with that game being a Sunday afternoon and this one being a Friday night which can be harder for people to get off work at relatively short notice

[culloty82]

Presumably they've got sponsors for these? I can't imagine them running so many buses so often without someone effectively paying the bill (and/or them receiving a healthy discount for the vehicles).

John Wall has put €1.5m into the club, but I believe that was a multi-year investment, so presumably €250-300k per season, in addition to whatever contributions the other board members and the KDL are committed.

[nr637]

What sort of crowd are Cork expecting for the semi final do any locals know? Not sure what the away allocation is for the semi but it sold out yesterday afternoon, surprised an additional allocation hasn’t been added yet. Even if they extend the allocation I wouldn’t say the crowd will match the 1200+ that travelled to the semi final down there 2 years ago with that game being a Sunday afternoon and this one being a Friday night which can be harder for people to get off work at relatively short notice

Cork usually give an allocation upwards of 800 depending on Garda advice. The away support can be located in one whole section of the St Anne's end in covered seating.

[pateen]

I'd have expected an extra 500 on the night of the game if we got something up in Richmond Monday

[legendz]

Kerry supporters will be in the East Stand. Is that likely to be a section or two in one corner towards the North or South Stand?

[sbgawa]

Beside the north stand is always the away section. U have your own food tru k tgere as well

[legendz]

Beside the north stand is always the away section. U have your own food tru k tgere as wellOk, thanks!

A question for away supporters who've been to Tallaght Stadium:
I'd be familiar with going to LoI games in Jackman Park, Thomond Park and Markets Field from a past life experience! Familiar with Turners Cross as well. From an away LoI supporters perspective, how does the area around Tallaght Stadium compare with Jackman Park, Thomond Park and Markets Field in Limerick, and Turners Cross in Cork?

[2 Year Contract]

Ok, thanks!

A question for away supporters who've been to Tallaght Stadium:
I'd be familiar with going to LoI games in Jackman Park, Thomond Park and Markets Field from a past life experience! Familiar with Turners Cross as well. From an away LoI supporters perspective, how does the area around Tallaght Stadium compare with Jackman Park, Thomond Park and Markets Field in Limerick, and Turners Cross in Cork?

If you’ve ever watched the Walking Dead, it’s like an episode of that ;)

[culloty82]

The Tralee supporters bus has already sold out, would imagine the other three will swiftly follow over the weekend.

[redarmyfaction]

Ok, thanks!

A question for away supporters who've been to Tallaght Stadium:
I'd be familiar with going to LoI games in Jackman Park, Thomond Park and Markets Field from a past life experience! Familiar with Turners Cross as well. From an away LoI supporters perspective, how does the area around Tallaght Stadium compare with Jackman Park, Thomond Park and Markets Field in Limerick, and Turners Cross in Cork?

Awful location, by far the worst in PL, the surrounding area resembles some soulless city in the US sunbelt, except it's up a windy rainy mountain, I recommend ye bring the sandwiches with ye and have a picnic out of the boot of the car in Lidl carpark.

Nandos in the Square is the best thing in Tallaght.

[vinnie]

Awful location, by far the worst in PL, the surrounding area resembles some soulless city in the US sunbelt, except it's up a windy rainy mountain, I recommend ye bring the sandwiches with ye and have a picnic out of the boot of the car in Lidl carpark.

Nandos in the Square is the best thing in Tallaght.

Lads don't park in the LIDL car park if yer driving up, you'll defo be clamped, park in the Square car Park, only 2-3 yoyos but safe as a house and only 5 mins walk

[placid casual]

Awful location, by far the worst in PL, the surrounding area resembles some soulless city in the US sunbelt, except it's up a windy rainy mountain, I recommend ye bring the sandwiches with ye and have a picnic out of the boot of the car in Lidl carpark.

Nandos in the Square is the best thing in Tallaght.
You mucksavages are mad for the hang sanwitches and flasks of tae 😄

[redarmyfaction]

You mucksavages are mad for the hang sanwitches and flasks of tae 😄

I never drank a single cup of tea in my life, anyway sheepshagger I am from London.

[redarmyfaction]

Awful location, by far the worst in PL, the surrounding area resembles some soulless city in the US sunbelt, except it's up a windy rainy mountain, I recommend ye bring the sandwiches with ye and have a picnic out of the boot of the car in Lidl carpark.

Nandos in the Square is the best thing in Tallaght.

But you have to queue for Nandos during busy times, there is a pretty good family run Italian chippy out at Citywest but it's a few minutes drive from the ground.

[ontheotherhand]

Ok, thanks!

A question for away supporters who've been to Tallaght Stadium:
I'd be familiar with going to LoI games in Jackman Park, Thomond Park and Markets Field from a past life experience! Familiar with Turners Cross as well. From an away LoI supporters perspective, how does the area around Tallaght Stadium compare with Jackman Park, Thomond Park and Markets Field in Limerick, and Turners Cross in Cork?

Not much around the ground but if you're ok with a 20-25 min walk you've got tallaght main st which has 2 decent pubs and the new Priory Market which has good food options and a brewery. Lovely addition to the area. If you hate yourself but want a pint across from the stadium there's the Maldron.