Cup Final

Oh my God, what a day. I thought we would lose after dominating for good spells of the game. It would have been a travesty to lose it but I've witnessed plenty of those against Shams over the years! We missed Ryan and Blinks to be sure but had enough in the tank to scrape over the line.
It seemed Kelly had his homework done, particularly on Turner who tends to hit them high.
Awesome support, from both sets of fans. Looking forward to next season, I think we could give them a real run for the title IF we can hold onto our key players.

Great game, great atmosphere, great occasion. The better team definitely won in the end. The only downside was the National Anthem. What the hell was that about? Nobody could hear it!

Enjoyable game alright; right team won. Whole thing looked very impressive on the telly; fair play to all concerned.

As a bit of trivia, I remember after the League Cup Final a couple of years ago when Derry beat Shels that Pat Jennings - who saved all three penalties in the shoot-out - was the only keeper ever in senior football to have saved every penalty he faced in a shoot-out (or maybe it was in cup finals?). Amazing coincidence that Jennings was in the Rovers squad this time. (Did he make the bench? Can't remember)

Delighted Sligo won, they were the best side, worked harder but were handicapped without a striker. It's great to see Shamrock Rovers' bubble burst so soon after winning the league, they are the worst league champions I've ever seen.

I don't see any of the event junkies going to see any LOI matches after today. Aside from a decent atmosphere at the goals ends, I thought the game was pretty poor, it badly needed a goal, and the quality of the penalty shootout with the exception of Ciaran Kelly was awful. The new Lansdowne is all style and no substance, the upper tier was nearly something out of Hillsbrough and the lack of catering facilities is seriously bad up there. Also too many annoying kids running around the place and kicking seats but you would have expected that with €5 tickets

By the way does anyone know what happened in the VIP suite in the lower West stand during the first half? I could see a mass of paramedics and stewards stretchering someone of the area.

I preferred the part where we won the title...

I thought it was a fairly poor game, not helped by Rovers not turning up.

Not overly impressed by the substance of the Aviva. The PA system was poor and very unclear, no evidence of the national anthem played other than applause, not great toilets. Turnstile N and O is just beyond the dart station, yet there was a tour of south Dublin to get to them.

Well done to the four ex GUFC players in todays Cup Final.

Terrific occasion and quite a decent game. Great support for both with a very large amount of neutrals.

Shamrock Rovers looked very unfit and couldn't last the distance. How many of them were getting cramp?

They played for penalties from about 70 minutes into the game but it was no surprise, given their exhaustion, that they couldn't score any.

However, I have to congratulate their fans who applauded Sligo at the end.

Fair play to sligo. better team won in the end.
our penos were rubbish, as was the ref who was really fussy and killed the game a bit.
assuming sligo keep the guts of their squad they, along with Derry will be our main challengers next season.

ah well , we won the league, bohs are about to die, life is good.

see you larries next march.

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Originally Posted by placid casual

Fair play to sligo. better team won in the end.
our penos were rubbish, as was the ref who was really fussy and killed the game a bit.
assuming sligo keep the guts of their squad they, along with Derry will be our main challengers next season.

ah well , we won the league, bohs are about to die, life is good.

see you larries next march.

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Cant see us being challengers tbh, mid-table will do us

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Originally Posted by total hoofball

By the way does anyone know what happened in the VIP suite in the lower West stand during the first half? I could see a mass of paramedics and stewards stretchering someone of the area.

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We saw that as well. Looked serious enough but they acted quickly.

Better team on the day won, though it was a pity there wasn't a goal in the first half to open up the game a bit more. We must be the most awful team in the history of penalty kicks. Hopefully we'll be back next year,and hopefully with a few less players out injured.

Oh, and thanks Dessie.

When Cork won the league in 2005, comments came about them going on to dominate the domestic game, mainly from themselves though mind, but only 2 weeks later they lost to Drogheda in the FAI Cup final. This had a similar ring to it, Shamrock all talk of dominating the domestic game and Sligo come in today with a wake up call. We could be looking at the start of a good domestic rivalry? Hopefully both clubs will keep their finances in order. The Drog's won the league two years after that 2005 success and look at both themselves and Cork now.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Enjoyable game alright; right team won. Whole thing looked very impressive on the telly; fair play to all concerned.

As a bit of trivia, I remember after the League Cup Final a couple of years ago when Derry beat Shels that Pat Jennings - who saved all three penalties in the shoot-out - was the only keeper ever in senior football to have saved every penalty he faced in a shoot-out (or maybe it was in cup finals?). Amazing coincidence that Jennings was in the Rovers squad this time. (Did he make the bench? Can't remember)

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The other weird coincidence is that Jennings and Kelly were Derry's goalkeepers at the start of the 2004 season.

Great day out my first trip to the Aviva and I loved it it truely is an amazing stadium , yes the speakers didnt work properly but hopefully just a once off great to see so many neutrals , 36,000 fans all il say is ARE U WATCHING IRFU , cant wait 2 go back on wed and 10 euro off!!

National Anthem was a joke. Also, am I right that the players didn't even turn to face the flag? Fans should've stopped singing uring it and it should've been played louder.

More importantly, was fantastic seeing so many people there creating such a good atmosphere. Very happy for Sligo after last year, hopefully you'll draw the floaters in for next year.

Thought it was a very good game, Sligo played super stuff and should have won it within the 90.

This could have just from where I was sitting but it looked like Sligo Rovers had just as much if note more fans than Shamrock Rovers?

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Originally Posted by fionnsci

Also, am I right that the players didn't even turn to face the flag?

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I've never understood the practice of turning around and facing the flag. Looks contrived and smacks of trying too hard to be "patriotic".

Let's leave that stuff to the Americans and North Koreans.

Sligo deserved the win .

Great day out I have to say. Great advert for the league and hopefully they can take this on board.
All of this talk about the irfu needing to learn a lesson is silly. They learnt their lesson long before today and admitted as much. I think the FAI need to learn the lesson. Watch the disaster that's coming on Wednesday night.

On an aside having been to all soccer matches (bar that bull against man yoo) in Lansdowne 2.0 so far without doubt the noise and passion generated today was immense and a credit to all that were there. Not a lull for over 2 hours says something about LOI fans. A proud day for the league and some if the quality of sligos play was top drawer.

However, I'd to endure a gang of barstoolers during the match and in several occasions had to bite my lip.