Willie J. Doyle

[Poor Student]

Is he staying with us? I am actually wondering could he be like a new signing to us? I mean after his last season and a half of misery he would now have a proper chance to face a season fit. Is he good enough for the Premier? We've lost at least two forwards in Murphy and Dupuy so this does immediately push him up the list. There's also talk of Martin being on the way to Longford. He is our most prolific striker in one season, perhaps he's the answer to our striking worries?

[pineapple stu]

Haven't heard of anyone signing him, so can only assume he's still with us. I'd like to see Podge and Robbie up front, with Paul Byrne pushing close (and probably pushing Robbie rather than Podge at this stage). Then you've got Willie J and Conan, which is a decent bit of strength in depth. Or depth, at least...

[CollegeTillIDie]

Willie J got burned by his last escapade away from Belfield. Methinks he will stay put take stock and regain his reputation. Which could only be good from a UCD standpoint and from a WJ Doyle standpoint!

[Schumi]

I wasn't too impressed with WJ last year. I don't see why he wouldn't have been fit either.

[Poor Student]

I wasn't too impressed with WJ last year. I don't see why he wouldn't have been fit either.

He wouldn't have been fit for us since the resigning as he barely played for Waterford and barely played for us. He now has the chance to enter the new season with a fresh start if he stayed.

[ilovejam]

i think William is signing for Shamrock Rovers quite soon.

P.S i havenothing to do with ihatejam;) so you can take it without having to wonder is this another fib:D

[CollegeTillIDie]

Hmmmm Waterford United in 2005 and Shamrock Rovers in 2006.
Willie has a knack of signing for cash strapped teams !:p

[pineapple stu]

i think William is signing for Shamrock Rovers quite soon.
Gathering pace alright... (http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.cfm?id=606830&CategoryID=362984&startcat=1&ThreadID=2399058)

[Poor Student]

In that case we're down 3 strikers in Doyle (who replaced Whitmarsh who replaced Adrian Murphy), Anto Murphy and Dupuy. That leaves us with McWalter (is he a striker??), Martin (rumoured to be unhappy?), Conon Byrne (not good enough imo) and Paul Byrne (still relatively untested but I have high hopes), Sammon (not good enough I think) and Brophy (not good enough if he's still here). Anyone worried?

[John83]

In that case we're down 3 strikers in Doyle (who replaced Whitmarsh who replaced Adrian Murphy), Anto Murphy and Dupuy. That leaves us with McWalter (is he a striker??), Martin (rumoured to be unhappy?), Conon Byrne (not good enough imo) and Paul Byrne (still relatively untested but I have high hopes), Sammon (not good enough I think) and Brophy (not good enough if he's still here). Anyone worried?
Not really. We always have a rubbish attack.

McWalter is definately a striker, and I withdraw anything nasty I've ever said about him there - he's come on a lot this last year. Martin will probably stay and we're allegedly looking for a striker anyway.

Has Adrian Murphy been released? He was only farmed out on loan last year.

[Poor Student]

I'd imagine Murphy was only on a one year contract. The thing about Pat, yeah I felt his game was coming on throughout the season but at most he's a 10 goals a season striker. I'm well aware we've nearly always had poor strikers but at the end of the day we were only a whisker away from the playoffs and poor strikeforce played a major part in it. A couple of key injuries to the defence like last time and we'll be leaking them in and not scoring.

[pineapple stu]

The thing about Pat, yeah I felt his game was coming on throughout the season but at most he's a 10 goals a season striker.
Don't knock ten-goal-a-season strikers in this league. Podge got 7 in the league last season, I think, which actually made him joint-eighth top scorer in the league. Two players were on eight; only five players in the entire league managed more than 10. If we could get another seven-goal-a-season striker, we'd be doing alright.

[Poor Student]

Don't knock ten-goal-a-season strikers in this league. Podge got 7 in the league last season, I think, which actually made him joint-eighth top scorer in the league. Two players were on eight; only five players in the entire league managed more than 10. If we could get another seven-goal-a-season striker, we'd be doing alright.

If you really harbour any ambitions of that 6th next season you predicted then settling for joint 8th top scorer probably won't do. It might do while the defence remains solid. We'll see, I'd be gladly proved wrong but I reckon it's the bottom 4 for us.

[pineapple stu]

Longford's top scorer had 4. Drogheda's had 8. Bohs' had 7. I think what we missed last year was someone to score goals from outside the front two. Our midfielders and defence didn't contribute as many as they normally do. And obviously our defence was more porous than in recent years. Though obviously a more prolific goalscorer wouldn't go amiss.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Longford's top scorer had 4. Drogheda's had 8. Bohs' had 7. I think what we missed last year was someone to score goals from outside the front two. Our midfielders and defence didn't contribute as many as they normally do. And obviously our defence was more porous than in recent years. Though obviously a more prolific goalscorer wouldn't go amiss.

Ok lads in our entire EL history we have only had a handful of 10+ goals a season strikers. The club record is 15 and that was only set 2 years ago.
Mick O'Byrne's 14 from 1994/95 and 1995/96 stood for almost a decade
And the year Martin Moran became the first one to record 10 (1980/81) he was playing centre-half and was taking the penalties into the bargain. And that record stood for 10 seasons !
On several occasions the top scorer at the club has been a midfielder.
John Cullen (1983/84),Mark McKenna (1987/88 and 1988/89) and in more recent years Ciaran Martyn and Tony McDonnell have also topped the scoring charts.

Any time we get a half decent striker ( e.g. Robbie Doyle) he gets signed up by a bigger club usually!