Eir's listings on Sky have MLS and other stuff down for the Thursday. Hopefully that's just because they haven't got round to updating their schedule yet, but they should get a wriggle on with it!Quote:
Originally Posted by PartySaint
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Eir's listings on Sky have MLS and other stuff down for the Thursday. Hopefully that's just because they haven't got round to updating their schedule yet, but they should get a wriggle on with it!Quote:
Originally Posted by PartySaint
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019...e-of-the-post/
I can still remember the miss, from robinson I think, it was harder to miss but somehow he skyed it over the crossbar!
Edit:Hmm i thought i remembered one going off the crossbar when the goal was open
Prepare yourself lads for a months worth of supportive "but they're crap really when you think about it" posts from pauloshea....
Welcome Kingdom for your sole contribution. Did you watch the game in question or just come on to add some more nonsense? Besides a months a long time in European Football :P
Dundalk, Rovers and Cork all to go through.
Pats to go out.
Id say be our tie will be similar to our games v Odense a few years back. I think we can be competitive in the home leg but fear a hiding in the away game.Quote:
Originally Posted by PartySaint
I don't want to say "I rest my case", but....Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
https://foot.ie/search.php?searchid=330
Hughes put it over the bar with the goal open, Robinson's shot hit the post and went across the face of the goal.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Interesting results tonight were lower seeds outperforming seeded teams.
AIK were the lowest seeded team but the Armenian team were also ranked very low. AIK have an away goal so i suppose still all to play for.
While the Macedonian team was seeded, the away win v Estonian opposition will stand to them and should also be a good example of what Irish teams should be aiming for. (edit: apparently Macedonia as a whole is ranked higher than Ireland so :s )
Great comeback from the Maltese against Lux opposition should give hope to Cork.
Red Star Belgrade were held 0-0 away from home but against Lithuanian opposition.
The kosovo teams are still unknown and clearly building their coefficients well but a 2-2 away from home against Welsh powerhouse TNS (both goals in the dying minutes) was also interesting.
Dundalk should be aiming to win tonight
but also the other teams should be taking heart from the ability of other teams with less of a footballing tradition to do well at this stage.
Important year for the LoI as we've already dropped a place by losing 2014/15, and could drop more places this year.
Luxembourg would have gone ahead of us had Dudelange held on against Valletta. Their manager just jumped ship to the Belgian second tier, taking half their team with them, so I can't see them repeating last year's heroics.
TNS will be kicking themselves for throwing that lead, but Kosovan teams appear half-decent. That said, they're out of the bottom 4 now, which means no more easy points from the pre-qualifying, so while it looks like they'll storm past us, their rise should slow down now. Ditto Gibraltar actually.
Luxembourg, Bosnia, Finland, Malta, Latvia and Armenia are all within touching distance (less than 0.500) of us, Finland and Armenia by virtue of winning their first legs tonight.
After next year, we lose Dundalk's group stage, and if we haven't replaced it with something similar, we could actually be in real danger of dropping down to the Europa League pre-qualifying.
It's a nerve wrecking spell between now and tomorrow night. I really dont like the unknowns about this Riga side. I think they will be a right handful and it could be a difficult night for us. The ramifications for the club and then the league ranking could be significant. Of course we could bring our A game and cruise the game tomorrow and finish the tie.....just no soft goals just before HT after doing the hard work and no defensive gaffes!! As is always the case we cant be missing sitters expecting a load of chances, we need to make opportunities count. When you consider the headed sitter miss v Rosenborg and Kilduffs sitter off the top of the bar, hitting the post twice in St Petersburg 2016 and Sava's error against the same in Tallaght. 4-5 proper chances to progress further in those years including last 32 of EL. There is all the talk of Drogheda v Kiev etc. Chances just have to be made count and I'm not sure we are firing on all cylinders to do that.
Your captain is always good for a gaffe in European football!Quote:
Originally Posted by Nesta99
This Riga team are definitely no mugs, ridiculous amount of internationalists too in their squad, they’ll be well pleased to have drawn us. From our side, this is of course one of the better draws, avoiding the Polish team was key, and a few more, but make no mistake Riga should not be taken lightly, and this could be a lot tighter than some are making out.
Any win will do tonight, and a clean sheet please.
I think Dundalk and Cork will sneek through. Pats and Rovers will go out. Hope i'm wrong on the last 2 though.Quote:
Originally Posted by PartySaint
Best of luck to all clubs in their European ties and to the Irish Universities Women's team in their semi-final this afternoon. You're only Jong unce!
I'm really looking forward to catching the Euro games, as always, but I've a gut feeling we're going to do well. It's hard to see Pats turn it on, but I've a snakey feeling Cork will do well.
Dundalk will qualify.
Dundalk to win.
We are in a 50/50 tie - need a positive result tomorrow night.
A repeat of last years performance might be good enough for Rovers but up against it also.
Pats have no chance.
It's conceivable that all four teams will fall at the first fence, but I suspect that two from Dundalk, Rovers and Cork have a realistic chance of progressing
Dundalk may be marginal favourites to go through, but it is very obvious from listening to Vinny Perth and others within the squad that they fully realise that Riga (with their 12 internationals) represent a big challenge
I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that all four Irish sides will be put out in their first round.
Weighing it up, I think Dundalk are the only ones with a chance of progression.
Which one? Garts away to St Petersburg wasnt Captain that time, Boyle's handball peno was harsh in the play-off round.Quote:
Originally Posted by swinfordfc
Sava's sliced clearance is the standout one in a close fixture. Ganno concussed in Rosenborg but still should have gone through on away goals when Kilduff clipped the bar from 8 yards - if he'd scuffed it it would would have gone in - small margins!
Swiss refs in Richmond tomorrow night they should be at a decent level compared to our clowns.
They should be neutral anyway, and their flag is a big plus.Quote:
Originally Posted by D24Saint
Thanks for that, I laughed more than I should and snorted a mouthful of tea at the same time....nervous tension released!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A
Not a whole lot in that latvian team, if Dundalk can snatch a one nil tonight will be great. Might be nice if Duffy could keep hold of the ball too..............
I can imagine Dundalk fans starting to get a bit worried at this stage, especially given how last year's tie went.
This one has 0-0 written all over it
Pardon my ignorance but would Dundalk be expected to progress in this tie?
The way the RTE commentary and pundit team are talking they should be winning this easily.
Decent game and not much in it.
They're the seeded team and the ones who've been in the group stages in fairness. So I think they should be slight favourites, but it was never a 4-0 aggregate kind of game.
Latvian sides have won 3 of the 5 European meetings between the countries, including the most recent one, 4-1 against Pats in 2015.
I know 0-0 means an away goal in Latvia would be big, but I think Dundalk need one here, even just to prove they can.
Riga staying very structured and keeping us at arms length. We are obviously nervous about the away goal. If its stays as it is I think the away leg will be more open. The early free header missed by Hoare is the example of chances that need to be taken. Benson has helped and with more gametime under his belt could start in Riga. A trademark late penalty will do nicely for us!!!
When Shields went down injured you could tell from the silence of the crowd how important he is for us!
I think ye have been better since Shields went off to be honest.
Concentration key in these last few minutes.
Excellent Ref in Oriel.
Broken record time but you'd think if Dundalk were serious about Europe they would install a grass pitch.
Poor enough game. I was surprised by Riga they clearly showed they are no mugs and that tie is very well balanced ahead of the second leg.
Ordinary enough from Dundalk. Really struggled to carve out chances.Benson made an immediate difference when he came on though, so hopefully he's more match fit for the away leg and starts. Overall though, Riga nullified Hoban to a large extent. Terrible miscommunication between Shields and Cleary. Hope he's alright. They have it all to do in Riga.
Jeez Dundalk great team and all that but the ground looks gank on TV, Come Louth Co Co, Dundalk owners and the FAI sort out
Are they not still in hot soup with council over the building behind the ground ? Or what was the issues with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingswood Rover
No any issues with the associated planning levies on the YDC have been resolved, that was part of the initial stand-off between Gerry Matthews and the Fastfix lads after the 2016 European moneypot was earned. Also that he built the YDC partly on his own land and partly on the Casey Trust held land has also been resolved between Des Casey and Dundalk FC and that GM sold the Hiney Park parcel of land to Dundalk Grammar School since - the YDC was taken in to the Casey Trust area. Des Casey's issue was the lack of courtesy by the former club owner who took some liberties with the positioning of the building and that the council granted permission for a building that straddled two owners land!?
Dundalk weren't clinical enough like they normally are in Europe and missing that bit of accuracy they've shown in previous years. I think they were trying too hard to score instead of making building up play there was a lot of rushing forward and hitting the pass or cross everytime that never bet the first man. They played some lovely controlled football in the middle but up front they were blunt and awkward.
Riga could have had a man sent off with all the late and off the ball stuff. They looked to be physically bullying them at times and were a bit quicker at times hopefully that's all they have and Dundalk can be confident of getting an away goal out there.
That Dundalk pitch is disgraceful and was one of the reasons a shot was skyed over for Dundalk.
Naw he didnt award us a penalty!Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalymountrower
In general he was good, maybe could have booked their centre half earlier for the fould that stopped a decent break. Got a yellow soon after though for similar a similar indescretion. He let play go mostly with only the odd soft free awarded. I thought he got caught in the way a couple of times on the edge of the box after some quick passes from Gannon to McEleney arriving from deep but Im nit picking there!
No away goal was first target, we didnt play that well either but still had the better chances. I think we will play with a bit more freedom and it will be Riga that will be tentative in not conceding an away goal. It wont be a Larnaca repeat (??!!!) as 1st leg last season was their first competative game for starters, heat and injuries and their quickfire early goals had us reeling. That was a chastening experience so the lads will have learned from that.
Hoare's early chance is the stand out missed opportunity. Benson showed his importance but also Shelids will be a loss if it turns out that there is a fracture of the jaw/eye socket. Hoare was good at times when he moved in to midfield but he doesnt have the ability to consistantly pass accurately in that position. Shields and Benson in the same midfield is a different proposition for Riga to face. Hoban put in a shift but was never in with a shout of scoring and similar to his league type form. His link up play and work rate was ok.
For as bad Oriel is and controversy on the pitch, we've only lost twice in 10 games at 'home'. Levski we were never at the races with that side and were lucky to hang on in Lux. Hadjuk was a young inexperienced side that gave too much respect and then went and won away and could have won the tie. So playing at our own home has its merits. The strict conditions on seating and capacity does mute the atmosphere. The pitch isnt an advantage with so many clubs especially in Europe playing on artificial surfaces regularly. Is it a disadvantage to us though? We should be used to it especially when it rains heavily after being watered also. Players should have a change of boots ready if the surface is as wet as it was tonight. They shouldnt be losing footing and with Cleary at the end it could have been costly. Kelly when he came on also lost his footing a few times. I would expect the players to be prepared for a greasy grass pitch also!
Why does he stuff keep flying up when they get the foot stuck in though? And the ball clearly bobbles. Thankfully yer players seem to be able to play enough to control it but it causes issues in attack.