Cork lose, Shels in the final

Brilliant :D :D

Cork really are poor when they have to break a side down, it was obvious today why their home form is so inferior to their away form. Portadown, for a team of part timers after their season is over, were absolutley incredible. Arkins worked his socks off and Hamilton, before his sending off, showed some class. If he is south bound like the rumours say he'll be a very good player. At ten men they understandabley went defencive and Cork are simply not capable of playing against that kind of team.

The fans would want to cop onto themselves though, apparently chanting against Rico and chanting for Dolan. Even if that's your opinion keep it to yourself for the sake of your team, you'll only really really mess up the season of a very promising team with that rubbish. Which is nice :) .

Cork were poor tonight, but if thats how they play at home against 10 men, its hardly surprising their home form is somewhat lacking this year, but I daresay they'll turn it around. They are afterall a quality team. But, I'm delighted, I get to spend €15 on Saturday! :D

Hamilton's sending-off cost Cork (sic) the match. Portadown simply dug a trench on their eighteen-yard line thereafter and Cork didn't have the wit to break it down (opting for the WWI wave-of-bodies approach instead.)

Everytime I watch Vinny Arkins in this tournament, I become increasingly baffled by his thirty-goal-a-season average up North. He's certainly a hard worker and inspirational captain, but he just doesn't look like a goal threat at all.

Odd tactics from Cork too. Ports reduced to playing one, ageing striker up front and Cork maintain a back four for the majority of the match despite having O'Flynn on the bench and needing at least three goals? Gamble is also far better than O'Brien.

****, forgot season tickets don't count :mad: Where the hell do I pull €15 from???

It'd be a bit cheeky useing a season ticket to get into a final anyway :D

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

Odd tactics from Cork too. Ports reduced to playing one, ageing striker up front and Cork maintain a back four for the majority of the match despite having O'Flynn on the bench and needing at least three goals? Gamble is also far better than O'Brien.

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Odd is an understatement!

[SIZE=6]Ah well ...... Come on Linfield !! ;) [/SIZE]

I didn't get to see the game tonight .... can a few of the neutrals that saw it (not City of Shels fans) give us your opinion ??

Commiserations to you City fans. I thought that goal should have been given, by the way. The young Daly lass who was lineswoman is from up my way. Her dad, Frank, was a Ros. Lge. referee too so I hope you lot won't be too cross with us. :o

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

Brilliant :D :D

Cork really are poor when they have to break a side down, it was obvious today why their home form is so inferior to their away form. Portadown, for a team of part timers after their season is over, were absolutley incredible. Arkins worked his socks off and Hamilton, before his sending off, showed some class. If he is south bound like the rumours say he'll be a very good player. At ten men they understandabley went defencive and Cork are simply not capable of playing against that kind of team.

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i agree, apart from the arkins working his socks off bit; he just harassed dan murray for the game.

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The fans would want to cop onto themselves though, apparently chanting against Rico and chanting for Dolan. Even if that's your opinion keep it to yourself for the sake of your team, you'll only really really mess up the season of a very promising team with that rubbish. Which is nice :) .

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nobody was chanting against rico or for dolan.

the nearest thing to "against rico" was begging him to bring on two of our best players while semi-pro billy woods and former ireland u21 international :eek: denis behan remained on the pitch.

the corner boys did sing "pat dolan's rebel army", in recognition of the fact that our popular (despite what eanna will say) former manager was in the stand opposite them.

What was the protest after the game and the Rico out chants at Richardson about then?

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

What was the protest after the game and the Rico out chants at Richardson about then?

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first ive heard of it.

"what a load of rubbish" was sung, which unfortunately made kev doyle look sad :(

not much of a protest

Pitch looked terrible on TV. Looked like it had been dug up before the game.

It looked like a Compton-esque tarmac'd basketball court, complete with blood stainings around the halfway line, covered with a very fine rug. Of course, there wer ethe desert patches too. Every time someone kicked the ball you saw more sand than ball initially. Pitch was a disgrace.

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

i agree, apart from the arkins working his socks off bit; he just harassed dan murray for the game.


nobody was chanting against rico or for dolan.

the nearest thing to "against rico" was begging him to bring on two of our best players while semi-pro billy woods and former ireland u21 international :eek: denis behan remained on the pitch.

the corner boys did sing "pat dolan's rebel army", in recognition of the fact that our popular (despite what eanna will say) former manager was in the stand opposite them.

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The whole fact that your fans were singing "Pat Dolans Rebel Army" is a joke, and disrespectful to Rico.

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Originally Posted by EnDai

It looked like a Compton-esque tarmac'd basketball court, complete with blood stainings around the halfway line, covered with a very fine rug. Of course, there wer ethe desert patches too. Every time someone kicked the ball you saw more sand than ball initially. Pitch was a disgrace.

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that must be why we beat you 1-0. you're so used to the bog of tolka.
get this lands, once again im going to be a bit mad and make a crazy suggestion: maybe its because we've had about 4 inches of rain all year.

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Originally Posted by Hibs4Ever

The whole fact that your fans were singing "Pat Dolans Rebel Army" is a joke, and disrespectful to Rico.

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well, ignoring the fact that it was just the 10 or so "corner boys", and that the aner brigade in the shed booed them for it, i think rico deserved all the disrespect he got last night.

denis behan is a sound man, and has talent. unfortunately, he was having one of those days when you've put on a metaphysical monaghan united jersey, and despite the obvious nature of what should be done about it, he was left on the field to have to deal with the fans bing livid that he was.

denis' playing ability is controlled by his confidence, he can be playing terrible and get a goal and suddenly hes a different player. being humiliated like that last night has probably made him want to check out noel down in limerick.

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Originally Posted by A face

I didn't get to see the game tonight .... can a few of the neutrals that saw it (not City of Shels fans) give us your opinion ??

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If I was being neutral, Cork Citys disallowed goal seemed to be a goal alright, the sending off was extremely harsh. I felt Damo left the game alone far too long and made very little proactive dchanges to deal with the numerical advantage. Overall, I was surprised by the commitment Portadown played with and thought it was very decent of them not to just lie down after a very successful cup final.

If I was not being neutral, I'd point and laugh at Corkies, especially one's who booked tickets to the final. Counting chickens eh!! :)

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Originally Posted by Gareth

If I was being neutral, Cork Citys disallowed goal seemed to be a goal alright, the sending off was extremely harsh. If I was not being neutral, I'd point and laugh at Corkies, especially one's who booked tickets to the final. Counting chickens eh!! :)

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there were no tickets to the final booked, cop on. That early goal would have no doubt changed the game but officials ain't being too kind to us this year. I can't imagine Ports would have shown the same fight had they gone a goal down. Agreed the red was harsh, i didn't think he'd even book him but overall the ref was far too lenient on the persistant, cynical fouling.
Pitch looked awfully poor, As the ground is owned by the MFA, there are a lot of Cup Finals being played there at the moment and this isn't helping, hopefully when the local off season comes it'll improve.

As a neutral, I thought Cork were kicked off the pitch in the first half. The referee allowed the Ports kick lumps out of the Cork forwards until he decided to book a cork player for a trip. He then decided to send off Hamilton for a yellow card offence.

Although Cork had lots of the ball they were far too lightweight up front. O’Calaghan seemed to be trying too hard and eventually burnt himself out. However he was singled out for some rough house stuff in the first half.

The bottom line is that Cork are a better team when counter attacking than when they are dominating a game. Portadown covered themselves with honour in the dogged manner in which they tackled the game. The young lad from Dundalk in goal had a blinder. Good entertainment for a neutral.