Games weekend 21st to 23rd February

[sbgawa]

Premier Division

Friday 21st (All 19:45)

Drogheda v Sligo
Galway v St Pats
Waterford v Shelbourne
Derry v Bohemians

Sunday 23rd

Shamrock Rovers v Cork (18:00)

First Division

Friday 21st (All 19:45)

Wexford v Longford
Finn HArps v Dundalk
Cobh v Kerry
UCD v Bray
Athlone v Treaty

[outspoken]

Going to take a while for our lads to get familiar with each other. Manager has a big call to make with the GK already does he keep faith or does he give young McCarthy a crack at it? I do think we'll improve as the season goes on but Wexford obviously hot favourites after what they did last week. Then again, I've seen Longford bounce back from woeful opening days before and claim good results the week after, it's all a bit unpredictable this time of the year as we saw with Pats v Drogheda

[Dermobohs]

I fancy a draw in drogheda, I reckon pats and shels will pinch away wins, probably by one goal but look comfortable enough.
Derry surely can’t be as poor as the were v shels but if they are bohs will possibly win there.
If shams have Burke noonan and watts available I’d say they’ll be too sharp for cork.

[thebronze14]

Keep it tight and hope to sneak one on the break be our best hope. Can't see anything bar a comfortable Dundalk win though

[sbgawa]

We really need the 3 points against Cork , i dont want to be going to Tolka the week after with 1 or zero points.
Big the game already for the Champions elect (i'll leave it after this week) with Pats heading to Galway off the back of a dissapointing point against Drogs.
Too early to call Drogs Sligo a relegation 6 pointer, lot of pressure on Sligo for a decent performance after the loss at home to Waterford.

In the first division Dundalk started well with a home win over Athlone but can they do it on a cold wet night in Ballybofey when needed.

[redarmyfaction]

LOI gets coverage in the Graun.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/feb/20/record-crowds-record-transfers-irish-football-reaches-a-watershed-moment?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=bsky_gu&utm_medium=&utm_source=Bluesky#Echobox=1740041926

[dansultheman]

Drogheda 1-1 Sligo
Galway 1-1 St Pats
Waterford 1-2 Shelbourne
Derry 0-1 Bohemians
Shamrock Rovers 2-0 Cork

First Division

Wexford 3-1 Longford
Finn HArps 1-1 Dundalk
Cobh 2-2 Kerry
UCD 3-1 Bray
Athlone 2-0 Treaty

[culloty82]

Drogheda 1-1 Sligo
Galway 1-1 St Pats
Waterford 1-2 Shelbourne
Derry 0-1 Bohemians
Shamrock Rovers 2-0 Cork

First Division

Wexford 3-1 Longford
Finn HArps 1-1 Dundalk
Cobh 2-2 Kerry
UCD 3-1 Bray
Athlone 2-0 Treaty

Wrong thread, Dan! ;)

[Bunny Kelly]

Any issues with the weather, Wexford’s pitch didn’t stand up to much at this time last year

[sbgawa]

I know i said it above but we REALLY need the 3 points against Cork
OF the 11 who started last night Burke i doubt will play so that brings Greener on at the start.
Watts and Cleary will be back from suspension and will start, so Honohan can go back to WB and Id drop Grant and keep young Cory O Sullivan as the other WB, Grant was beyond useless all night.
Not sure if any of the injured players are likely to be back, hopefully some of them for Shels next week

[2 Year Contract]

Any issues with the weather, Wexford’s pitch didn’t stand up to much at this time last year

Seems to be the case again this year. Wexford Longford called off

[joey B]

UCD/Bray off aswell

[ger121]

UCD/Bray off aswell

I only saw this a few minutes ago. Just as well, as I was going to take a spin up to the match.

[TonyD]

Pats up against it in Galway. Superb strike f4om Aidan Keena to get us back into the game. Very important not to go in 2 nil down. Galway look dangerous.

[yurt]

Was surprised that we were able to hold onto Pat Hickey after how he finished last season. It's a little hard to know how good he'll be in other squads given how perfectly he's suited to Galway's approach.

Keena absolutely welly'd that. What a strike. Great game so far.

[Bohtastic]

Derry 1 nil up. Very little quality on show on a windy night in the Brandywell, apart from Duffy's free kick. Jesus I'm fed up looking at him scoring against us.
Boyce very lucky to be still on the pitch
Yellow could have been a red, did a very similar foul five minutes after, no card. wouldn't be surprised if he was subbed at h/t.

[ger121]

Derry 1 nil up. Very little quality on show on a windy night in the Brandywell, apart from Duffy's free kick. Jesus I'm fed up looking at him scoring against us.
Boyce very lucky to be still on the pitch
Yellow could have been a red, did a very similar foul five minutes after, no card. wouldn't be surprised if he was subbed at h/t.

Both us and the pitch brutal

[Dermobohs]

Definitely should have got a red, boyce, but ref bottled it.
Derry on the overall play prob didn’t deserve a win but we didn’t test the keeper so they were worth it I suppose. Fed up looking at Duffy bashing it in our net I must admit, if I was manager I’d be telling them to lift the ****er in the first five minutes.
Fair lay Derry, after week 1 it looked bad but they responded well tonight.

[Jack B]

Shels may well walk the league just through being consistent.

Frustrating start for Pats. Weird game tonight where Galway's opener was a fluke, Pats had a lot of the play and maybe (though probably debatable to be fair) the majority of the chances, but on the balance of play Galway felt the more comfortable with how did game was playing out. What a strike from Keena though.

Nice to have that familiar feeling of disappointment back all the same, but not even specific to the Pats game tonight the early parts of the season can often feel like a drag on these pitches. Feels like it's a contributing factor to things taking so long to take shape.

[Nesta99]

Galway were solid and effective, will go better this season. St Pats were too laboured, more pace to play/passing was needed but that will happen on better surfaces.

Dundalk ticking over, Treaty looking full of goals and well beating an Athlone side that Dundalk spluttered against.

[total hoofball]

You could say that tonight at the RSC was a vintage 2024 Shels level masterclass of unspectacularly managing out a 1-0 away win even with a man advantage for final half hour

[joey B]

Harps did alright and on another night get a point…
Not too often you see 4 subs at HT but Athlone went for it tonight,made absolutely no difference and they conceded 2 more,some win for Treaty ….

[legendz]

Kerry were "resilient" in a scoreless draw away to Cobh. Frustrating to lose RK early. Hopefully the knee injury won't be as bad as feared.
Another 1-0 win for Dundalk. I'll be concerned that they'll find their scoring form in their next game. They will test Kerry's resilience for sure. Treaty in another 5 game match. This time they scored 5 instead of losing after a 2 goal lead. Disregarding their late collapse against Cobh, Treaty look to be in a good place for the season ahead. Look to have strong playoff hopes. Early doors of course. Pinch of salt and all that.
In the Premier. Good win for Derry. Shels win again. They'll have wanted to start the season strong. Pat's off to a sticky start. Not unknown for SK teams but they won't want to be too far off the pace. Superb win for Drogheda. Can it be called a "statement win"?

[Martinho II]

In all my years observing across the water I have never seen a goal of such quaity from Aidan Keena and flick and shot was with either foot! What on earth happened with the sendings off of AR & TL ? It was all out for leather stuff and hard to get a proper view of it!

[refjohn]

In all my years observing across the water I have never seen a goal of such quaity from Aidan Keena and flick and shot was with either foot! What on earth happened with the sendings off of AR & TL ? It was all out for leather stuff and hard to get a proper view of it!

From what I seen - Reynolds body checked Ferguson as he passed so his sending off clear. Lynch went into Bohs technical area and although I don;t see him pushing or hitting anyone, checked with a FIFA Observer who says crossing tech area aggressively is a straight ref - so assuming he said something.

[brendy_éire]

.... crossing tech area aggressively is a straight ref - so assuming he said something.

Didn't know that, but explains why Lynch was sent off, even if it was arguably not "aggressive".
Footage of it here. Reynolds was out of order.
https://x.com/KillianM2/status/1893062951428337892?t=LX6MClfIbfhn3gUTJlhA1w&s=19
There was some afters in the stand between the two managers then, but it all calmed down fairly quickly.

Felt like we really needed that win last night. Not the greatest of games, but a really physical battle. Another lovely Duffy free kick against Bohs. I get why they must be sick of the sight of him. Reminds me of us and Denis Behan of Cork.

As said, Ronan Boyce could well have been sent off, but ref played advantage, then Thomas committed a yellow card offence, so took the pressure of him.

Need to mention Keena's goal last night. Outstanding technique. Really special.

[Nesta99]

From what I seen - Reynolds body checked Ferguson as he passed so his sending off clear. Lynch went into Bohs technical area and although I don;t see him pushing or hitting anyone, checked with a FIFA Observer who says crossing tech area aggressively is a straight ref - so assuming he said something.

Looked more like he caught him with a punch, not hard but enough to have connected.

[sessylU]

As said, Ronan Boyce could well have been sent off, but ref played advantage, then Thomas committed a yellow card offence, so took the pressure of him.

100%. That Thomas foul looked very professional to me, he spared Boyce the second yellow. I always think it peculiar the way that soccer refs sort of forget (or at least don't act on) the foul before the immediate foul.

The red cards for managers..... meh. Nothing there, I think. But it probably does Lynch a bit of good in terms of squad building to get sent off like that. Possibly should have got better value for it, wee bit of aggro, etc.

[ger121]

Another pitch inspection in Tallaght at 4pm. Not great for travelling fans. 3 games in less than 72 hours on a sodden pitch not great.

[topia]

In all my years observing across the water I have never seen a goal of such quaity from Aidan Keena and flick and shot was with either foot! What on earth happened with the sendings off of AR & TL ? It was all out for leather stuff and hard to get a proper view of it!

Ferguson belted the ball towards the beach as Reynolds went to retrieve it.

[total hoofball]

Another pitch inspection in Tallaght at 4pm. Not great for travelling fans. 3 games in less than 72 hours on a sodden pitch not great.
The worst of the weather has certainly passed Dublin I find it very strange to schedule another pitch inspection in the afternoon two hours before kick-off

[ger121]

The worst of the weather has certainly passed Dublin I find it very strange to schedule another pitch inspection in the afternoon two hours before kick-off

So do I. Hopefully it goes ahead.

[El-Pietro]

Fully expecting the game to be called off just as we arrive in Tallaght

[Jack B]

The weather is grand in Dublin at the moment for what it's worth, and it's not due to rain anymore.

[Jack B]

The weather is grand in Dublin at the moment for what it's worth, and it's not due to rain anymore.

Never mind that last bit.

[passinginterest]

One of the heaviest showers I’ve ever seen in Tallaght at the moment. Might be the end of any hope the game goes ahead.

[cláirseach]

Both clubs have tweeted that the game is on.

The KO time and the weather could combine to cost Rovers a fortune here.

[D24Saint]

The weather is grand in Dublin at the moment for what it's worth, and it's not due to rain anymore.

It cleared up in Tallaght around lunchtime but the wind really kicked up and then the heavens opened.

[El-Pietro]

Got absolutely soaked running from the square carpark to the Maldron and then the rain stopped immediately

[2 Year Contract]

https://x.com/bazlastmanback/status/1893705884787757274?s=46

There’s an injury asking to happen on that pitch

[ger121]

Lad at the game says it is now postponed.

[total hoofball]

It's official postponed now 35 minutes before kick-off, what a LOI joke Bradley will be the happiest man in Ireland right now

[2 Year Contract]

Lad at the game says it is now postponed.
Yeah it’s been announced by the league now. Feel for the Cork fans having experienced it myself in around 2016, arriving to Finn Park 15 mins before kickoff on a Monday night wondering why the floodlights weren’t on, turned out there had been a failed 7:15pm pitch inspection with none announced prior to that

[El-Pietro]

I have the 9pm train booked to get home. When they said the game was on a 4pm i booked a back up air coach at 10 just in case I missed the train.
Thanks FAI/LOI for messing us around.

[oriel]

That's a disgrace calling it off so late given the distance the away club / fans were making. A final call should have been made at 2pm or so, would probably have been too late for travelling fans, but at least they could have made plans to turn back.

Arriving to a ground and soaked only to be told its off is really unacceptable.

Rovers are the only winners here.

[ger121]

I have the 9pm train booked to get home. When they said the game was on a 4pm i booked a back up air coach at 10 just in case I missed the train.
Thanks FAI/LOI for messing us around.

Sorry to hear that man. No way to treat supporters.

[sbgawa]

I agree but the pitch looked ok at 4pm and then a monsoon came down at 4:30 which killed it.
It was playable at 4pm.and at that stage anyone coming from Cork was on the way at taht stage. Still it's tough but we've all been there

[Kingswood Rover]

Was there a bit of messing outside of the Maldron by Cork fans??

[sbgawa]

The team put up on fai connect was good enough to beat Cork. Tbh I'd rather have played it, going to shels next Friday and they will be up for it big time, chance to go 8 ahead. We better not lose....here's hoping for a handy win

[Calcio Jack]

The team put up on fai connect was good enough to beat Cork. Tbh I'd rather have played it, going to shels next Friday and they will be up for it big time, chance to go 8 ahead. We better not lose....here's hoping for a handy win

Was Gaffney named to start or on the bench ?