2006 Season

[lofty9]

Daniel, calm yourself! We got plenty of credit. We finished second and at the start of the year ye would have bitten someones hand off if offered that. We were getting credit on tv with Osam, and even Shoddy Collins gave us credit. Its not up to posters here of other teams to give us any - in fact why should they? I don't see much praise coming from Derry fans to any other team, we weren't giving Cork much credit last year for finishing 2nd, and especially weren't giving credit to last years winners. That is football, enough of the Cork back slapping and get back to the real world in which we are supposed to hate each other's teams.

[pete]

The point i was trying to make is that europe has proven to take a lot mentally out of teams. We suffered a lot last season but learned from that experience & coped very well this year.

[Real ale Madrid]

One reason Derry will up there again - Stephen Kenny. Cork, Shels and Derry going hell for leather would be just fantastic and there is no reason why it cant happen. Kenny is a bit of a grump(i've never actually seen him smile) but he has done fantastically well wherever he has gone. All three teams should do well in Europe as well, making it a level playing field in that regard. Everyone thinks Shels great run in the league towards the end will mean they will win it this year - but Shels had practically given up hope of winning it at that stage so the pressure was off. I wonder what Shels record against Cork/Derry reads in all competitions - doubt if it makes nice reading for Pat Fenlon. On the other hand Fenlon is another good manager who can bring the best of the team so long as he knows what his best team is. As for Cork City - its a case of how do you top the last season? But with the pressure off Rico and the lads now there is nothing to say they cant repeat the feat again. I would expect City to come out of the blocks quick when the season starts because they will have big crowds at home for the first few games and big away support as well. And the feel good factor will still be lingering. With that i would like to think Cork May just edge out the other two but here's hoping for a close run season again.

As for everyone else i cant see Drogheda buying their way into the title race and everyone else is pretty medicore. I expect Sligo and the playoff winners to be fighting for relegation come next season.

[Block G Raptor]

. I expect Sligo and the playoff winners to be fighting for relegation come next season.


I think Sligo and Dublin City Might Surprise a few people Next year
I'm Tipping one if not both to avoid relegation

[Dricky]

I think most see it as City fans Bragging, we've earned those rights. However I think there are a lot of people missing the jist of the mail. The EL took a huge step forward this year as Shels hadn't it their own way, there were challengers from out side of Dublin, the list goes on. The El has got some great footballers with some class games not involving Dublin Derbies.

My worry for Derry was Kenny asked for a one year commitment from the players, I hope he can get the same from them next season because Derry do add to the excitment of the EL.

[Cosmo]

Next years headlines :

Michael Collins shoots down rebel Army!:D

Is collins a done deal? He'd be a great signing for anybody in the league - wouldve loved to have seen with with drogs :(

[Krstic]

Is collins a done deal? He'd be a great signing for anybody in the league - wouldve loved to have seen with with drogs :(

This is the first I've heard of it.
And to be honest the amount of players whom Derry have signed from Irish League clubs, that have been a success in the EL, is almost zero.

In fact I can only think of 2 players who came from the IL to El and were a success. Felix Healy and Johnny Speake.

Therefore I'm not getting too excited.

[Dricky]

This is the first I've heard of it.
And to be honest the amount of players whom Derry have signed from Irish League clubs, that have been a success in the EL, is almost zero.

In fact I can only think of 2 players who came from the IL to El and were a success. Felix Healy and Johnny Speake.

Therefore I'm not getting too excited.


totally off point but have Derry their Shirt sponsors sorted for next year.

[Speranza]

AFAIK our new tops will be avaiolble along with Season tickets for Christmas so I assume the sponser issue has been decided. There was a load of speculation about changing it but seems to have died out now.

[Slash/ED]

What's this nonsense idea everyone seems to have that Shels were awesome when they 'finally got it together' at the end of the year ?

They couldn't beat Cork at home in a key game that they needed to win to keep anything alight for their season ! That suggests to me that they'll be inferior to at least Cork next year.

what on earth are you on about? We didn't need to beat Cork, our season was over. All we could do was ensure Cork needed a win rather than a draw from their last game, win or draw was the same deal for us. And we drew/

And over the last series of matches, do that consistently and we'll win the league whether we beat Cork or Derry once or not.

Also, we did beat Cork last season, just not in the league.

I'm confident Shels will be challenging again next season. We were superb in the last series of games, playing everyone and loseing only once, winning most matches very comfortabley and playing, for the first time all season, proper football.

[dancinpants]

And over the last series of matches, do that consistently and we'll win the league whether we beat Cork or Derry once or not.

Yeah and at the start of the season if I told you that Shels would go on an 18 game unbeaten run and finish the season on 72 points (a point shy of the St Pats record) you'd have been convinced you'd win the league. your above statement holds no water.

I think next year we'll be looking at the same top 4.

Top 3: Derry, Cork, Shels (pick yer own order - too close to call)
4: Drogs
5: Bohs
6: St Pats

The rest? If Dublin City come up, they'll go back down. If not - sorry Bray :o

[pineapple stu]

6: St Pats
Why do you have Pat's so high up? They've been poor the last couple of seasons now, have little or no money and keeping McDonnell for another two years seems a curious move at best.

[Dr.Nightdub]

It's way too early to go posting specific predictions until we see what way the transfer dealings pan out, but I'm optimistic about next season. We finished the season far better than we began it - a better squad, playing better. From what we've heard so far, I think we'll start off next season better again.