Cup final

[d rovers]

The day after and still gutted. We have had some great days with the rovers but yesterday was as low as i have ever felt. We left it behind us. I'm not going to get into the analysis of who played well/who didn't, cos it is still hard to be objective. All i know is in a few months time we will be back for more drama, heartache and some great days. Its all part of following the rovers, we never do it easy. Very proud of the whole club yesterday, the supporters were immense as usual. When we win a bit of silverware yesterdays experience will make us appreciate it all the more.

[Scram]

WELL DONE FINGAL!!!

A well deserved win for a tactically and technically better team. Great for the game especially for the supporters coming from real footballing areas.

Good to hear the Shamrock Rovers fans in attendance at their home ground still shouting “Rovers” .

[MarkyH]

So disappointed this morning. So near and yet so far. I don't think we played as well as we could, especially in the 1st half. When we scored I felt we would need a 2nd, but it looked like we were closing the game out.

6 mins to go and Keane's only mistake all day and then Zayed was through to win the pen. I have seen it a couple of times on TV and feel we were somewhat unlucky. Kelly wasn't even looking at Zayed he was trying to reach the ball and Zayed fell over his trailing leg. I don't even think the ref was 100% convinced it was a pen, as why didn't he book/send off Kelly?

Kelly's head was gone then and he started flapping at everything. He was rooted to his line for the 2nd goal when o'neill headin in from 5 or 6 yards out. Fair play to SF as they did look the most likely to win it at that stage and played right to the end.

It's hard to get over now, but it's the heartache of days like these that make any success we do get all the sweeter when it does come along. My grandad followed the rovers for over 40 years and never say them win anything, while my dad has seen us lose 4 finals.

It's been a real rollercoster of a season. Real highs and lows. Who would have thought we would have played 8 games in the cup, including beating cork, derry and bohs and then fall short 6 mins from the end. But come march we will have re-grouped and be ready to go through it all again

[Brian Boru]

Ireland have the best supporters in international football. We have the best supporters in Ireland. Rovers till we die!

At the game I didn't think it was a penalty. Ref took a while to award it. He wasn't certain. I checked out the RTE player and I do not think it was a penalty! Zayeed ran into Kelly; not vice versa. My brother said at the game that the only way Kelly could have avoided the clash was if he ran in the opposite direction! That wasn't an option. Kelly was very unlucky. It was not a penalty. Don't look at the replays lads you'll just get even more disappointed. However, it does provide closure on the Thierry Henry incident. Injustices are part of football. We'll just have to get over it.

[Captain2007]

Sligo were very good for 85 mins, Boco, Doyle, Cretaro, Blinkhorn, Peers were all excellent, Fingal got a break with the penalty and there was only ever going to be one winner after that and that was Fingal,must be gut-wrenching stuff for Sligo players and staff having dominated for so long.Credit to Gary O Neill thought he was Fingal's best player always looked dangerous and took his chance very well.

[mint sauce]

other than the score a great day,

arrived in dublin just before midday, few sligo shirts at time floating about busarus, o'connell street, and having the breakfast in the cafes and bars (including my self seeking the cure from the night before).

made way up to tallaght about 1 pm to meet the other lads, the square shopping centre and the maldron hotel were like a subsitute team head quaters, sligo shirts everywhere, bumping into so many people i knew, there was a great buzz and a sence of ocassion about the place

tallaght stadium, not a bad place, the county council made a good job of it, sitting beside the signing section, you guys done a brilliant job, never stopped signing through out the match, really gets behind the team, loved the new chants, loved the colour, especailly the huge flag that floated over the crowd at the start, mum if you were watching i was under that some where

unfortunate about the score, it would have created the perfect day, all the wind and the rain would have been worth it, well done to all those in the north stand who endured it

fingal, you were deserved winners, you may not have many fans (yet), can see good things from you in 2010

roll on 2010 as well for the bit o red, keep the flag flying, see you back at the showgies in the new year, with hopefully some new fans as well

and as the crowd said theres only one f**king rovers

[Rover'n'out]

Could not believe it yesterday. I was still reeling from the Ireland v France shambles on wednesday. Two major disappointments in quick succession is hard to take.

To be honest we were not the same after Raf went off. Not saying he had his best day for Rovers but he was a threat they had to be aware of. Then tactics were all wrong sorry. Ok try and hold what we have, but leaving Blinkhorn alone up front by himself absolutely gave them the initiative and allowed them on to us and eventually that leads to conceding goals. Also I thought some of the lads seemed very nervous on the day (certainly last 15 - 20 minutes) as if they were afraid of trying to advance, kept giving the ball away etc, ok yes I know the conditions were not great but Sporting Fingal seemed at least able to string a few passes together in the last 15 mins.

Great support. well done everybody, i was proud to be from Sligo, but I am afraid to say that was the best chance we had in 15 years and those chances dont come around too often.....

[rovers100%]

all i will say is shocking. ryan is **** and danny forza ventre ! captain. pure sh1te. a lot of players should be ashamed after that

[sligofan4ever]

all i will say is shocking. ryan is **** and danny forza ventre ! captain. pure sh1te. a lot of players should be ashamed after that

Ventre struggled without O' Grady, Ryan did little or nothing to help him, O' Grady would help Ventre close down a player and get himself into position for passes. Ryan offered nothing for Ventre to work with going forward, when you're supplying fprwards you need to be looking for the passes rather than forcing Ventre to pass it out wide.

[dong]

all i will say is shocking. ryan is **** and danny forza ventre ! captain. pure sh1te. a lot of players should be ashamed after that

Absolutely. The point has been made on here that Doyle had a good game. He did okay. None of them put in a great performance. I'm thinking of performances like Harry McLoughlin and Stenny in 1983, Gavin Dykes or Gerry Carr in 1994. Performances worthy of winning a cup final.

Any news on Raf's health? Looked like a dislocated shoulder maybe?

[rovers100%]

all the clowns here saying ryan is a great player, best passer and all that bull i hope ye have finally woke up. he is crap. ventre is limited at best. he should never have been captain. cash, ventre ryan, kelly and kendrick were pure muck. kendrick was lucky not to give away a peno. i know the weather was a big factor but too many players froze and were not effective at all. i konw i will get people here saying now that giving out bout them does not help but lets face facts we had the cup in our grasp and they threw it away. after all the effort of going to game and being froze its a pity certain players didnt put in that effort themselves. im sick today, absolutely sick. this has been a hard year as a rovers fan but i will be back again for next season as the pain will have eased shortly. i for one hope cash, ryan and kendrick wont be taking my money as a paid player.

[sligofan4ever]

all the clowns here saying ryan is a great player, best passer and all that bull i hope ye have finally woke up. he is crap. ventre is limited at best. he should never have been captain. cash, ventre ryan, kelly and kendrick were pure muck. kendrick was lucky not to give away a peno. i know the weather was a big factor but too many players froze and were not effective at all. i konw i will get people here saying now that giving out bout them does not help but lets face facts we had the cup in our grasp and they threw it away. after all the effort of going to game and being froze its a pity certain players didnt put in that effort themselves. im sick today, absolutely sick. this has been a hard year as a rovers fan but i will be back again for next season as the pain will have eased shortly. i for one hope cash, ryan and kendrick wont be taking my money as a paid player.

I agree with you about Ryan, but why Cash ? sure he didn't set the game alight yesterday, but since August he's been a consistant player and works his arse off, this and Bohs away are the only bad games hes had since August AFAIK, he'd still make a good impact sub IMO.

[clubman]

Absolutely gutted. Haven’t been as disappointed with a Rovers defeat since we lost to Bohs in the final in 1970 with the same scoreline. Honestly I never thought I could possibly be as disappointed again.
Yes the weather was brutal but it was the same for both sides. Personally I’d have chosen to play against the wind in the first half and have the advantage of playing into the Rovers end in the second. It was always going to be a case of which team would suffer the less with nerves and with Fingal having the upper hand in the experience department I guess it was inevitable they would finish the stronger. With six or so minutes remaining I was certain we had it, but there still remained a niggling feeling of doubt which I suppose comes from supporting the Rovers for so long when one always expects the unexpected. If only Morrison had converted that great chance from ten yards then things would have been oh so different. The penalty incident devastated me, 1978 all over again! 30 minutes of extra time seemed the likely outcome and then bang – our hearts were broken.
Looking around prior to my departure the look on the faces of the sea of red said it all. The manner in which our supporters took defeat really spoke volumes for our club. My heart really goes out to the players but when we consider the damage this defeat has cost not only financially but also in the prospect of attracting top quality players only time will tell how bad this loss will be for the club. This morning Raf has already being quoted as saying it was his last game in a Rovers shirt. Already down 25K as runners-up, not qualifying for Europe and the loss in appeal to better players coming to us really makes for worrying times.
Like all supporters on here this defeat has numbed me, a shocking way to finish the season. As Cookie said in his TV interview no one remembers the loosing finalists, hopefully we can pick up the pieces over the coming months, regroup and come out the end of this dark time a stronger and better outfit. We have been around for a long time and with support such as yesterday’s we’ll be around for a long time to come. Come on the Bit O’ Red!!!!

[MMVIII]

Who else could have been captain but Danny V? Peers hates being captain. Danny V always takes charge when O' Grady is out and the players normally respond to it.

Also calling us all clowns, good one. Grand saying it behind a username.

Anyways, couldn't give a ****e what you think. Too gutted to care.

[avvenalaf]

Lets face facts, guys. We rode out luck so much on our way to the final that it seemed our name was on the trophy. But SF have better players than us, technically, and Eddie Gormley wasn't far wrong when he said they're a top four Premier team. Added to that, we didn't play at all in the first half and we had, in Kendrick and Ryan, two players who are not worthy of a Rovers shirt and I hope I never see them wearing one again. Raf has turned into a Robbie Keane with the arm waving and shouting at refs and it would be interesting to see how he would operate out of his comfort zone.
Unless we get a centre half, left full and striker to play off Blinkhorn, next season will be a struggle again, Turner or no Turner.