Roy O'Donovan (F Newcastle Jets b.1985)

[jmurphyc]

Ciaran, as Tets stated he didn't play in the 7-1 defeat. Your beloved Harte did however play in the 7-1 defeat to Everton and he's a defender which is far worse. It seems as though you're just trying to make things up to suit your argument. You should really check the facts before posting inaccuracies. O'Donovan has played 413 minutes of football this season, hardly a figure that proves that he's getting chances left, right and centre. That equates to just over four and a half games.

[ifk101]

Ciaran's posts are of comedic value only.

[macdermesser]

How is being there top scorer last season "not doing it"?

I can't believe that are two people out there who are Connolly fans .. I can only conclude that Ciaran is also The Worm :-)

[fergalr]

Starting games in the Premiership is one thing, but Roy can only consider himself well and truely arrived when the Irish Times realise that he is Irish (and start listing him in the "Irish in Britain" section thingie: http://www.ireland.com/sports/soccer/2008/0224/weekend_soccer.pdf).

[finnpark]

The striker heirarchy at the moment is

Jones
Murphy
Chopra
Prica
Stokes
Waghorn
O Donovan
Connolly

In short, it's not going to happen for him bar an injury crisis or if he takes the rare oppurtunities he gets.

The striker hierarchy is actually

Jones
Murphy
O'Donovan
Chopra
Prica
Stokes

O'Donovan is definitely better than Prica and Stokes.

[carloz]

No it's not and no he's not.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the last we'll see of Roy O'D in a Sunderland shirt tbh

Mate where in gods name did you come up with a stupid logic like this. O'Donovan had a very decent game at the weekend and really has the attitude that im sure Keane would like in his players. He was more impressive in last weekends game than Stokes has been in any this season

[pete]

No it's not and no he's not.
I wouldn't be surprised if that's the last we'll see of Roy O'D in a Sunderland shirt tbh.

It would be harsh to drop a player after his first start as forward was against Chelsea. It is hard to judge the order of forwards as Keane only plays 451 so everyone bar Jones plays wide in 5 man midfield. O'Donovan did start ahead of Prica (hard to understand why bought him) on Saturday.

[tetsujin1979]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the last we'll see of Roy O'D in a Sunderland shirt tbh.
Quiet a sweeping statement there, you really think he won't play one minute against Aston Villa, West Ham, Fulham, Man City, Newcastle, Middlesbro, Bolton, or Arsenal?
Then get sold in the summer?

[tetsujin1979]

He's made what 2 starts all season? 4 as a sub? There's 8 games left, and 8 crucially important games. Keane needs to stick with the tried and trusted Jones, Murphy and Chopra.
From http://www.chatsoccer.net/irishabroad/playerDetails.xquery?playerID=47075&seasonID=137
4 Starts, and 13 introductions

Sunderland have played 32 games so far
4 starts/32 games = Donovan has started 12.5% of all games so far
12.5% of 8 games is 1, so if Keane sticks on what he's done so far this season, Donovan has 1 start left

13 introductions/32 games = Donovan came on as a sub in 40% of all games so far
40% of 8 is 3.25, so if Keane sticks on what he's done so far this season, Donovan will come on in at least 3 more games

[gustavo]

I dont see how Chopra , Jones and Murphy are triied and tested , I think its their first full season in the Premier League for all 3 , and none have exactly been banging in the goals.

[jmurphyc]

He's made what 2 starts all season? 4 as a sub? There's 8 games left, and 8 crucially important games. Keane needs to stick with the tried and trusted Jones, Murphy and Chopra.

He's made 3 starts and has come on 8 times in the league. In total, he's played 4 starts and 9 as a sub. I don't mean to be a pedant, but it's not particularly difficult to find these figures out before you post messages.

[DmanDmythDledge]

I dont see how Chopra , Jones and Murphy are triied and tested , I think its their first full season in the Premier League for all 3 , and none have exactly been banging in the goals.
In fairness Jones has been very good this season, 5 goals and 9 assists from 25 games back that up. Murphy and Chopra haven't done much but have made more of an impact that O'Donovan.

[Razors left peg]

No it's not and no he's not.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the last we'll see of Roy O'D in a Sunderland shirt tbh.


Ridiculous statement.Was one of Sunderlands better players at weekend and Im sure the lad is improving and learning all the time, its a big jump to straight from Eircom League to Premiership. Even people like Henry sometimes take a season to adjust properly to the Premiership, not saying hes near that class but Im sure he will prove to be a good player in time. If Kevin Doyle can do it theres no reason why O Donovan cant if he works hard. Lots of Cork fans would say that O Donovan was better than Doyle for City

[jbyrne]

Prica (hard to understand why bought him)

looked really handy when he scored on his debut. hardly seen anything of him since

[pete]

Lots of Cork fans would say that O Donovan was better than Doyle for City

Nope. Doyle had an excellent football brain even at City so contributed a lot even when not scoring. O'Donovan very quick (he even looks quick in PL from what I have seen) & excellent finisher. Overall Doyle was more mature too.

[eirebhoy]

Mate where in gods name did you come up with a stupid logic like this.
Ciaran likes to get as big a reaction as possible.

[finnpark]

It would be harsh to drop a player after his first start as forward was against Chelsea. It is hard to judge the order of forwards as Keane only plays 451 so everyone bar Jones plays wide in 5 man midfield. O'Donovan did start ahead of Prica (hard to understand why bought him) on Saturday.

Prica is not a great player tbh. It was a mistake buying him.

He failed to make it in Germany which is way weaker than the Premiership. The only positive thing about him was finishing top scorer in the Danish League last season, a bit like finishing top scorer in Scotland for Hibernian or the like.

[zenokelly]

I think a lot of people on here give too much lenience to former LOI players for some reason or another.

The fact of the matter is, O Donovan is NOT a premiership player, anyone who's watched most of the games in which he's played this season will agree, and he would fit into a moderate championship team in my opinion.

Keane has made some woeful signings, which could result in relegation (Chopra 5.5m is the big one) and I don't think in hindsight, Keane would rate O D as a great signing, considering he hasn't really forced his way into the starting line-up.

If I was to put money on it O Donovan will be sold over the summer or loaned out next year, if Sunderland are still a Premiership team.

I hope that doesn't happen but I have a feeling it will.

[irishfan86]

I think a lot of people on here give too much lenience to former LOI players for some reason or another.

The fact of the matter is, O Donovan is NOT a premiership player, anyone who's watched most of the games in which he's played this season will agree, and he would fit into a moderate championship team in my opinion.

Keane has made some woeful signings, which could result in relegation (Chopra 5.5m is the big one) and I don't think in hindsight, Keane would rate O D as a great signing, considering he hasn't really forced his way into the starting line-up.

If I was to put money on it O Donovan will be sold over the summer or loaned out next year, if Sunderland are still a Premiership team.

I hope that doesn't happen but I have a feeling it will.

While I would agree that he's not Premiership standard just yet from what I've seen, he does seem to have a lot of the tools necessary to be successful, certainly physically. Whether he's got the brain for it yet, I'm not sure.

Sunderland is a hard place to be right now for a young player. You're not allowed to make mistakes, and the pressure to get points in order to avoid the drop is tremendous.

For offensive players, this situation is especially frightening. Offensive players will lose the ball maybe 4 out of every 5 attacks.

But when losing the ball can be so costly, it sometimes becomes less about scoring as it does about keeping the other team out.

In addition, most games Sunderland will have less possession than their opponents, and yet O'Donovan's strengths lie on the ball, not off it.

Trying to judge a young player like O'Donovan in this situation is extremely difficult, especially when he is being played out of position on the right side of midfield.

I think a top coach or scout would have trouble evaluating him in this situation, let alone the likes of us who mostly see him on TV.

One thing I will not do though is write him off at the age of 20 while in the midst of a relegation battle with an inexperienced manager who chops and changes the team every week.

[Soper]

Having actually seen them both play in person a few times, O'Donovan is better than Chopra

[pete]

O'Donovan is not a Premier League player but same could be said of Sunderland. Besides Jones there is not a single player who would be bought by Premier League side should they get relegated.

[citizenerased]

Gordon? Richardson? Reidy? bardsley?

[BigmanCas]

Johnny Evans, Carlos Edwards

[shakermaker1982]

Dwight Yorke :) *

*Please note I'm joking.

[finnpark]

O'Donovan is not a Premier League player

I could have sworn that he was playing in that league last weekend and should have won a penalty against England's top rated central defender. It must have been a different Roy O'Donovan :rolleyes:

[pete]

Top scorer in Denmark isn't good enough but top scorer in the eircom league is? :rolleyes:

Age, potential & 1/4 the price.

Prica a strange purchase mid season when already could field nearly a full team of forwards.

[irishfan86]

Age, potential & 1/4 the price.

Prica a strange purchase mid season when already could field nearly a full team of forwards.

In fairness none of them had more than 4 goals, so you can understand him looking at another option.

[ifk101]

I'd have O'Donovan and Stokes in the Sunderland team before Rade Prica. Agree that he was another poor signing by Keane and he doesn't offer anything that wasn't already in the Sunderland squad.

Rade Prica has shown that he can score against lesser opposition in the Danish and Swedish leagues. But O'Donovan and Stokes have also shown their goalscoring abilities at Cork and Falkirk respectively. IMO Stokes' goalscoring record at Falkirk, in a league that's higher ranked than the Danish league, is more impressive than what Prica did at Aalborg.

In the case of O'Donovan, I don't think Keane has given him a decent chance to prove himself yet. It's difficult to show what you can do when you're only getting a few minutes here and there to play. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Keane, for the most part, has used all his substitutions in each premiership match. This highlights he doesn't really know what his strongest line-up is as he's unprepared to let his starting line-up finish the game. It's difficult for O'Donovan to prove himself when his manager can't stop tinkering with the team.

[livehead1]

Difficult one to judge the likes of Solksjaer and Flo (I'm sure there are many others but I don't have the time to think of them!) came over to the english leagues and did very well; there is always a risk when buying players that are unproven, Keane I feel, has been unlucky in that the club can't attract the level of player required to prosper in the premier league at this moment of time. Therefore he has to buy players with a risk value attached. He has also been unlucky in the sense that normally one or two would have turned out to be good! I think O'Donovon has shown glimpses that he could be a good footballer some day, but with sunderland embroiled in a relegation battle its probably not the best of breeding grounds for him.

[Razors left peg]

No it's not and no he's not.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the last we'll see of Roy O'D in a Sunderland shirt tbh.


well hes starting against Aston Villa again today

[Closed Account]

“We saw his quality on the training pitch last week and we’re seeing it in games because he’s getting fitter, stronger and sharper. Reidy will have a big part to play. At this level, sometimes it’s down to a set-piece. We lost a game last weekend and all it took was one quality ball in.

“Hopefully, the likes of Reidy, Carlos Edwards or Roy O’Donovan, who have come back into the team, can provide that.”


From the examiner.ie

I think NeilMcD's quote of an examiner article explains a lot why O'Donovan is starting again today, and I don't just mean for set-pieces. Keane has spoken a lot in the last two weeks how the quality at training has been higher than the rest of the season and obviously O'Donovan impressed more than most and deserves his chance. Best of luck to him. Looks like he's playing upfront with Murphy. Hopefully they strike up a good partnership and give Keane a few options.

[zenokelly]

He's played woefully so far in this match.

Has missed 2 extremely good chances.

His passing is very poor.

& he's squandered a couple of through balls he's got from Reid.

I don't like to be too critical, and I don't think I am being so on this occasion.

[jmurphyc]

I'm not watching the game, but it's unfortunate that he's probably really badly lacking match fitness.

[theworm2345]

I can't believe that are two people out there who are Connolly fans .. I can only conclude that Ciaran is also The Worm :-)

Oh man, how have I missed this thread ;)
SAFC finally put up yesterday that Connolly has a groin strain. And no, he hasn't been there before unless you count his 5 starts (1 this year, 4 with Wigan), one of which he scored in, another he got hurt in, and another he played with Michael Chopra. He hurt his hamstring and missed 4-5 months if I recall and after Camara hit form he was limited to 5-10 minutes at the end of matches. He also scored 2 goals in the cup against EPL teams with Wigan. By the way, Ciaran, you are my new best friend :D

O'Donovan has the same problem the SAFC fans say Chopra and Stokes do and that is that he has been played on the wing too much. I haven't watched any Sunderland matches this year as DC hasn't been playing so I'm not really sure.

[Risteard]

They're all the same standard really as far as I'm concerned.

[carloz]

He's done that every time he's played. It's beyond me why he's being played when there's people like Chopra, Stokes, Connoly or Prica who are much more capable being left off the team.

What are you basing that on. Go onto a Sunderland fans forum and see what they think of O'Donovan in comparrison to the players you mentioned. Maybe then you will know why he is playing

[Razors left peg]

I actually thought he did ok today,yes he missed a couple of chances but his work rate was brilliant and he didnt give the Villa defenders a second on the ball, it set the tone for the rest of the team.

[Dodge]

He's played woefully so far in this match.

Has missed 2 extremely good chances.

His passing is very poor.

& he's squandered a couple of through balls he's got from Reid.

I don't like to be too critical, and I don't think I am being so on this occasion.

I'm far from O'Donovans' biggest fan but you were being over critical. He worked hard, and did as well as any forward on the pitch. Link up play was OK too

[gustavo]

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=317171
Sunderland fans dont seem to think too much of him

[theworm2345]

What are you basing that on. Go onto a Sunderland fans forum and see what they think of O'Donovan in comparrison to the players you mentioned. Maybe then you will know why he is playing
I wouldn't bother, the folks at RTG are half retarded. I'm sure they are split on him, just like they are on every issue, "Should Roy be fired" or "Is Chopra good enough," "Is Connolly good enough," "Are we going to stay up." They're pretty much all split down the middle and opinions tend to fluctuate each game :o

[shakermaker1982]

How did Reidy get on today? That win takes Sunderland one step closer to safety, the Toon look safe now as well (if he persists on not playing Duffer though I might start wishing em to go down haha!!!).

[Carrigaline]

How did Reidy get on today? That win takes Sunderland one step closer to safety, the Toon look safe now as well (if he persists on playing Duffer though I might start wishing em to go down haha!!!).
Reid was very solid as usual today. Didn't lose the ball, passed and crossed well, threaded a few decent balls through for O'Donovan and Murphy.

To put it simply, Reid has the footballing brain of an Italian, but in a teletubbies body :p

[finnpark]

I wouldn't bother, the folks at RTG are half retarded. I'm sure they are split on him, just like they are on every issue, "Should Roy be fired" or "Is Chopra good enough," "Is Connolly good enough," "Are we going to stay up." They're pretty much all split down the middle and opinions tend to fluctuate each game :o

Like this forum you mean :D Its all about opinions and some people think they are never wrong ( like Ciaran ;) )

Anyway, Sunderland's style of play doesn't suit Roy; hoof ball after hoof ball. He did well but hes not 6 foot 5 inches so he was never going to do too well. He was better than the average Sunderland player and he has a very bright future. There are a few much better footballing teams in Ireland.

[jmurphyc]

and he has a very bright future.

Well, he plays in the Stadium of Light.

[Shane H]

Roy O'Donovan needs a few goals. I remember another kid from Ireland interesting a lot of football clubs here in England some years ago - Ross O'Donovan??
Any info on this guy? Is he still playing? And Where?

[Mayo_Bhoy]

O'Donovan linked to UK club, gets first thread in Ireland forum. :rolleyes:



And where exactly do you suggest this should be posted???:rolleyes:

[Dodge]

And where exactly do you suggest this should be posted???:rolleyes:

Well at the time he was a league of Ireland player...

[gustavo]

Roy O'Donovan needs a few goals. I remember another kid from Ireland interesting a lot of football clubs here in England some years ago - Ross O'Donovan??
Any info on this guy? Is he still playing? And Where?

Not sure about football players but theres a guy Ross Donovan who plays gaelic for Sligo was nominated for an All Star last year

[fergalr]

O'Donovan linked to UK club, gets first thread in Ireland forum. :rolleyes:


Not quite! http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=84195

[bohsRap]

Not quite! http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=84195

This is a two year old thread!