Longford 1-0 UCD

[mcglinchey]

i give up after that result. this is a f**kin joke at this stage,we cant even beat crap like that. we have to start asking questions about pete mahon at this stage.

[CollegeTillIDie]

McGlinchey

We haven't scored in four games. We haven't kept a clean sheet in four games.
We have no points from four games. Basic really!

[CollegeTillIDie]

UCD above any team have no devine right to win or beat any other team in the league.. The reason you can't bear "crap like this" is that you are probably are it as well.

Well it took ye 25 years to win a League game in Belfield Park!

[Poor Student]

UCD above any team have no devine right to win or beat any other team in the league.. The reason you can't bear "crap like this" is that you are probably are it as well.

You tend to have a feeling of expectation for the victory when you play the teams below you in the league, if you didn't you'd expect to finish bottom. What an utterly irrelevant post.

[DmanDmythDledge]

UCD above any team have no devine right to win or beat any other team in the league.. The reason you can't bear "crap like this" is that you are probably are it as well.
Longford were ****. If we played half as good as we are capable of we would have won 3 or 4 nil. That's his point (or something along those lines).

We were truely awful, which can be gathered by the scoreline. Our only shot on goal was in the 85th minute, which was over. Very few players can hold their head high after that performance. It was one of the worst I've seen in a few years. We had absolutely no attacking threat- hoofing the ball to the wingers just doesn't work. What happened to the good football we played on Monday?

Quigley made a few decent saves- good to see that Gregg was dropped. Also McFaul got injured in the warm up and Tony Mc came into the side, and played well enough. The full team was:

Quigley, Mahon, Kenna, McNally, Bermingham, C Byrne, Tony Mc, Finn, Doyle, Sammon, Forsyth.

I'll post the report sometime tomorrow.

Also the officiating was dreadful, even by eL standards.

[Poor Student]

Bad game. Poorest performance I've seen by the team in ages. Longford are a very limited team but they put in a good effort and deserved at least a point if not their win. Fair play to the fans who still turn up and make an effort to chant.

[Bald Student]

i give up after that result. this is a f**kin joke at this stage,we cant even beat crap like that. we have to start asking questions about pete mahon at this stage.I don't think there's much Pete can do. We have a good defence, a descent midfield and no one scoring goals.

I'm getting more and more frustrated with Sammo as the season goes on. About once every second game he'll run at the defence and usually does OK when he does. Every other piece of possession he gets falls into one of two moves. A bit over half the time he receives the ball with his back to the goal and a defender behind him, with his first touch he puts the ball away from goal about two feet further than he can reach it and there's a scramble for possession in front of him. His other move is to receive the ball in the same position but place it a little closer to him, so as he can just about reach it to poke it with his toe in the general direction of a UCD player, this leads to a scramble for possession a little bit away from him.

We haven't scored a goal in I don't know how long and I don't think that's about to change.

[DmanDmythDledge]

We have a good defence, a descent midfield and no one scoring goals.
We didn't have a good defence or midfield on Saturday though. Doyle is useless, can't control the ball, has no pace- all he can do is pass the ball 5 yards. Conan had a poor game, he let his frustration get the better of him. Most of the balls he was getting were high but when he had a chance to run at the full back I don't think he got past him once. Tony Mc had a good game- won almost everything in the air, broke up their attacks but his distribution is terrible. All he can do is pass the ball back to the defence who hoof it.:rolleyes: We badly missed McFaul to dictate the tempo. Finn was decent enough when he got the ball but most of the time he was looking at it go over his head.

[Schumi]

Conan had a poor game

I thought Conan did OK. Didn't get many crosses in but had no back up.

[DmanDmythDledge]

UCD fell to their fourth straight league defeat tonight with a 1-0 defeat against Longford Town at Flancare Park. Despite enjoying more of the possession the visitors created hardly any chances and Longford ran out worthy winners.

Pete Mahon made four changes to the team that started against Shamrock Rovers- Matt Gregg was dropped and Darren Quigley returned to the staring line-up for his first league game in almost four months. The three other changes were forced- Derek Doyle came in for the injured Shane Fitzgerald, Shane McFaul injured his hip in the warm up and was replaced by Tony McDonnell and Darren Forsyth deputised for long-term absentee Paul Byrne upfront.

Longford had the first opportunity of the game after 18 minutes. Some poor UCD defending allowed Patrick Sullivan to pick out Dave Mooney with a through ball. However he skewed his right-footed effort well wide of the goal. Robbie Martin managed to prevent the ball going out for a throw and picked out Dessie Baker at the edge of the box, who forced a good save from Darren Quigley.

Baker again almost opened the scoring after 42 minutes. He received the ball in space and hit a low, well struck shot from 25 yards. Quigley was at full stretch to pull off a magnificent save, pushing to the ball away from the goal and to safety.

The second half was an extremely drab affair. The first goalscoring chance of the half came after 71 minutes and it was again Longford who almost broke the deadlock. Sullivan whipped an inviting cross into the box; Baker rose highest but he could only get the slightest of touches on the ball and headed wide.

This seemed to spark some life back into the game and Longford came even closer to taking the lead. On 80 minutes Baker was one-on-one with Quigley. The Irish B international was quickly off his line to pull off a good save. The loose ball fell to Mooney who seemed destined to score. However Alan McNally was able to clear his goal-bound effort off the line.

Longford continued to press for a winner and Quigley had to be at his best to keep UCD in the game. The UCD defence failed to defend a corner; Damien Brennan rose unchallenged and headed towards goal. Quigley made a wonderful save, reacting quick to tip the ball around the post.

UCD's first chance of the game came after 85 minutes. Derek Doyle made space for himself just inside the Longford area but his right-footed shot was narrowly over.

With the game seemed to be heading for a draw Longford scored a dramatic late winner. Robbie Martin laid the ball to Gary Deegan who struck a well placed shot into the bottom corner of the net, out of the despairing reach of Darren Quigley to send to home side's supporters into jubililation.

UCD: Quigley, Mahon, McNally, Kenna, Bermingham (Crowley '71); C. Byrne, McDonnell, Finn, Doyle; Forsyth (Purcell '85), Sammon.
Subs not used: Gregg, Shorthall.

[mcglinchey]

Doyle is useless, can't control the ball, has no pace- all he can do is pass the ball 5 yards. .

never a truer word spoken,how he is in that team is beyond me. he is pure ****e,hes a disgrace and shouldnt be playing in the eircom league,its players like him that are draging this team down. out with him i say.

[thegit]

i still think UCD'S problems start at the full backs.... Alan Mahon is past it sure he has been a good reliable player over the years but I think his best days are gone. Teams get at him all the time. Every time the full backs pump the balls up to the front two they loose it and then the pressure starts on the midfielders who run around like headless chickens trying to get the ball back. Pete Mahon needs to start letting his players play and not being so direct. During the Rovers match the comentator said its been 190 games since Mahon has scored and maybe its gonna be another 190 if that free kick was anything to go by.... yet weekin weekout he still takes them:confused: Sorry lads rant over.

[Aberdonian Stu]

In fairness to Mahon when he takes free kicks he rarely shoots, it's almost always to set up a cross.

As for his goal scoring record, well that's the stuff of legend. He's never scored in the league and his sole goal for the club came in a 1-1 draw in the FAI Cup away to Rockmount.

[Poor Student]

never a truer word spoken,how he is in that team is beyond me. he is pure ****e,hes a disgrace and shouldnt be playing in the eircom league,its players like him that are draging this team down. out with him i say.

I'm a critic of Derek Doyle myself but that's not on. He's a limited enough player but he's not the worst in the world and he doesn't deserve that kind of criticism. He makes an honest effort and I wish we had a better left winger but you can't castigate him like that.

Unfortunately Tony was well off the pace in that game. I don't know if it's lack of match practise or if sadly his legs are begining to fail him but he wasn't keeping up with the play in central midfield. I think Pete realised this and shifted him to centre back to accommodate him by bringing on Crowley for Bermingham.

Conan Byrne did fairley well given what was going on. He beat his man a few times and whipped in at least a couple of dangerous crosses in the second half. As has been well documented in this thread the service to him was hoof balls well away from his reach. The defenders, Alan Mahon particularly are banging the ball into the air when they have time to distribute it on the ground. Alan Mahon has taken 5 or 6 direct free kicks this season, 3 of which were very threatning. It's not a problem and I haven't seen anyone else in the team do much better.

[Bald Student]

I don't think it's fair to say our problem is with the fullbacks, Birmingham's a good player.

[Poor Student]

Yeah, he does bring the ball forward a lot and tries to work it with the left winger. He had an unusually poor game against Longford, only got forward once.

[mcglinchey]

I'm a critic of Derek Doyle myself but that's not on. He's a limited enough player but he's not the worst in the world and he doesn't deserve that kind of criticism. He makes an honest effort and I wish we had a better left winger but you can't castigate him like that.

well im sorry poor student doyle is crap and i hope he reads this and maybe he will get the finger out for once. he can never take the ball by the full back,NEVER,always goes inside and does nothing with the ball,hes worse than limited,you must be wearing rose tinted glasses watching him play.hes rubbish. doesnt look bothered when hes playing by the way.

[Sonic]

Your all gettin very big for your boots over here! From what Ive seen from UCD in a few games ive seen on four different occasions you yourselves are a very limited team. The result was fully deserved simple as that! The better team won.

[thegit]

To be fair to Doyle he isn't that type of winger, he never had pace but he has a trick or two and he'll have a go if he gets near the box. Birmingham is a good player but all the full backs do is play the long ball in the air up to the forwards one of which is Sammon who for some reason know only to himself is afraid to head the ball or he really does have the worst timing for jumping i have ever seen EVER! I have never seen Mahon score from a set piece why notlet other people have a go I'm sure Mcfaul or Finn are due a turn. Also think Quigley has been treated a bit s***y this year he would get into any other team in LOI.

[Bald Student]

Also think Quigley has been treated a bit s***y this year he would get into any other team in LOI.And he will as soon as one of them ponies up the cash, that's how the system works. He's looking for a transfer so Pete signed another keeper. It's harsh on him that he's not playing as much but it would be equally harsh to have dropped Greg.

[thegit]

Harsh Gregg had one bad game and he was dropped:eek: is that not harsh?

[Bald Student]

Harsh Gregg had one bad game and he was dropped:eek: is that not harsh?It's less harsh than dropping him more often which, I think, you're suggesting.

[thegit]

Thats not what Im saying at all I just think QUigley didnt deserve to be dropped in the first place.... Yes he might want a move to a different team but if he isnt playing your not going to get the money you want.... I just think its stupid to not be playing your best players and he is a better player than Gregg, fact! maybe if he played more you wouldnt find UCD in the possition there in.:rolleyes:

[Bald Student]

Playing Quigley more often means playing Gregg less often, there's no getting around that.

I don't think we'd be much higher in the table if Quigley had been playing. I can't think of any points Gregg cost us except the one against Shams and there's no guarantee that Quigley wouldn't have had the odd blooper had he been playing all season.

[thegit]

Fairenough! its all opinions. maybe gregg might get the next ireland B cap:rolleyes:

[Poor Student]

Quigley got injured, Gregg played ok in his place and Quigley seemed/seems to be for the off so Gregg wasn't dropped again to accommodate him. If you think Quigley's dropping is harsh just remember how he won his place in the team.

[Bald Student]

Fairenough! its all opinions. maybe gregg might get the next ireland B cap:rolleyes:I think he's english but, in any case, I think we'll agree that there are bigger problems in the UCDD team. Either keeper is up to standard.

[Schumi]

Dropping Gregg after the Rovers game is no more or less harsh than dropping Quigley after missing a game earlier in the season. Both are good keepers and I'm quite happy with either in goal. I marginally prefer Quigley because he's generally more composed with backpasses but it's not a big deal.

Goalkeeper is the least of our worries at the moment, we've only conceded just over a goal a game. It's surely painfully obvious to anyone that our lack of choice of strikers and (more importantly IMO) the lack of link play between midfield and strikers is more of a problem than our embarrassment of riches between the posts.

[thegit]

I think its a bit s****y actually he put in some pretty good performances over the last two or three years and because he wants to try get away he gets dropped, a little bit of loyalty by Mahon wouldnt have gone astray! ...... maybe it s a bit of karma coming back to him with the bad results lately. I mean how long will Alan Mahon play for ? do you think he will ever be dropped? Im not having a go at him cause he is a nice passer of the ball but i think he is the achilles heel of the team on a lot of occasions.

[Poor Student]

A solid goalkeeper was dropped three years ago just to make way for Quigley. As I already said Quigley was injured when Gregg came into the team, he wasn't just ruthlessly dropped.

There's no signs of Alan Mahon ever being dropped. Some of our fans who attend U-21 games rate the right back there quite highly, think Declan O'Donnell is his name.

[thegit]

yeah but lets face it Quigley is better than the average solid keeper.... Mahon on the other hand must realise that his legs just cant keep up with the opposition every week.

[Poor Student]

yeah but lets face it Quigley is better than the average solid keeper.... Mahon on the other hand must realise that his legs just cant keep up with the opposition every week.

I understand that, but you've got the average solid keeper who has played well and seems to be taking over soon anyway. Do you drop that keeper or blood him in now for the whole season?

[thegit]

Or do you show a bit lof loyalty and play the best keeper you have and help him to get away and make the club a few quid? if Alan Mahon had a chance to go away do you think he would be dropped in such a vital year in his career :confused: I think not! On another note i think Tony Mc could easily play at the back for a few years yet, he cant keep up with the pace in the middle but he could easily do a job along side mcnally

[Titan]

[QUOTE=thegit;731011]Or do you show a bit lof loyalty and play the best keeper you have and help him to get away and make the club a few quid? if Alan Mahon had a chance to go away do you think he would be dropped in such a vital year in his career :confused: I think not! On another note i think Tony Mc could easily play at the back for a few years yet, he cant keep up with the pace in the middle but he could easily do a job along side mcnally[/QUOT

Loyalty my arse! If you want to speak about loyalty then Darren isnt showing Pete Much by wanting a move!

To be fair Loyalty doesnt come into it in Football. Everyone does whats best for them so you cant blame (a) Darren for wanting to move to (possibly) a full time club or (b) Pete for looking to the future.

Has there been an official transfer request?
Is he really going anywhere?
I dont know

[John83]

Yeah, he does bring the ball forward a lot and tries to work it with the left winger. He had an unusually poor game against Longford, only got forward once.
I thought Birmingham was poor against Longford and was happy enough to see him, but that's near enough the first time I've had to say that of him.


well im sorry poor student doyle is crap and i hope he reads this and maybe he will get the finger out for once. he can never take the ball by the full back,NEVER,always goes inside and does nothing with the ball,hes worse than limited,you must be wearing rose tinted glasses watching him play.hes rubbish. doesnt look bothered when hes playing by the way.
That's very harsh. He certainly likes to cut inside with the ball, but he often beats a couple of players to do it, and he gets around the outside occasionally too. He works reasonably hard too. He's useful, and we're not exactly stocked with options on the left wing.


...Sammon who for some reason know only to himself is afraid to head the ball or he really does have the worst timing for jumping i have ever seen EVER!
This is a favourite theme among the group I watch the games with. It's frustrating, especially given our current goalscoring problems.


I have never seen Mahon score from a set piece why notlet other people have a go I'm sure Mcfaul or Finn are due a turn. Also think Quigley has been treated a bit s***y this year he would get into any other team in LOI.I don't recall him taking them before this year, and he's been fairly good with them so far. I'm in no rush.


Your all gettin very big for your boots over here! From what Ive seen from UCD in a few games ive seen on four different occasions you yourselves are a very limited team. The result was fully deserved simple as that! The better team won.
I don't think it's out of any disrespect for Longford Sonic. We're just frustrated at yet another defeat. Longford earned it on the night (though it's sickening to lose to a 91st minute goal), and mostly we're complaining about how poor UCD were. We've seen better from this team, and it's very annoying.


I think its a bit s****y actually he put in some pretty good performances over the last two or three years and because he wants to try get away he gets dropped, a little bit of loyalty by Mahon wouldnt have gone astray! ...... maybe it s a bit of karma coming back to him with the bad results lately.
If karma came into this, Quigley would have died at the hands of a certain committee member years ago. No, Quigley wanted out, he's getting it. It's not our problem that he's failed to earn a contract on trial elsewhere.


I mean how long will Alan Mahon play for ? do you think he will ever be dropped? Im not having a go at him cause he is a nice passer of the ball but i think he is the achilles heel of the team on a lot of occasions.Alan Mahon plays because we don't have great alternatives. Pete will bring an U21 into the team when he thinks he's ready, and in the mean time, I'd rather Mahon at right back and leave Kenna in the middle where he belongs.

[pineapple stu]

In fairness to Mahon when he takes free kicks he rarely shoots, it's almost always to set up a cross.
Not true; almost any free within shooting range this season has been a shot by Mahon. He's been unlucky on more than one occasion though, so at least has earned a right to take a few, if not all.

This place is getting worse than the Bohs forum.

[Schumi]

This place is getting worse than the Bohs forum.If you'd seen the performance in Longford, you'd agree with plenty of it.