Derry given new lease of life in the title race

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Originally Posted by patsh

Well somebody should tell your "manager" that.
He seems more than happy with a scoreless draw at home, and in comments to the press before the game, said all we wanted to do was to stop City from scoring.
Why doesn't he make statements like "I want Longford to go out and score and win the game" instead of getting petty digs in at Rico who rightly pointed out the downside of matthews approach to the game.
Plenty of you seem happy to grind out results, but it's not only City fans who think Longford under Matthews are negative and suffocating, even Longford fans are staying away in their droves.

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It's obvious that Alan's mindset of management is defensive based but as an understudy to Keeley what else would you expect.But it has won us 3 trophies in 2 years and no LTFC fan in their wildest dreams would ever have dreamed that.I mightn't always agree with his tactics but he is the manager of our team so i will support him and that's it.BTW we don't play negative in every game but some games Alan deploys tactics to avoid defeat and 1 point is better than none.

Not overly bothered by the result.
Longford were always going to be backs to the wall to prevent us from scoring and they succeeded, they are not 4th for nothing I guess.
Our lads were bound to be a bit jaded. Prague was tough going.
Next league games see us at home to UCD and Shels going to Derry so we could see some other interesting outcomes here.

Horrible game, terrible crowd & cold as feck. Longford calls for return to winter football are a bit bizarre as if cold in september will be bloody freezing in the depths of winter.

Poor hoofball tactics by Longford but eventually we resorted to the same tactics. In hindsight i think an effort to get behind the Longford bus before they parked the bus. We never looked like losing the game though.

I am concerned by our inability to score goals now. I have doubts if O'Flynn will ever score again for rest of the season. I also understand how Longford don't score many goals as forwards are a lot worse than ours.

Greg O'Halloran was my MOTM.

Still top of the league with 1 game in hand isn't bad place to be.

If Shels beat Derry could be extremely close end to season. The team that wins the games against the other top 3 may win the league similar to Irelands World Cup qualifying group.

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Originally Posted by Cop on

Rather than concentrating on the same old humdrum $hite you've been spewing this last few months

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I'm glad you have realised your problem at long, long last....

I'm sure no Cork fan here needs reminding of that famous final day tussle between themselves and Dundalk at Turners Cross back in 1991. Cork only needed to draw, Dundalk had to win...up steps a little Scot and the proverbial hits the fan for City![/QUOTE]

I'm almost 100% certain that if the game had been drawn there would have been a playoff as the teams were level on points.

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Originally Posted by pete

I am concerned by our inability to score goals now. I have doubts if O'Flynn will ever score again for rest of the season.

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Don't understand why Bruton wasn't given a run, he couldn't have been any worse than Flynnie and might have been better.

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I'm almost 100% certain that if the game had been drawn there would have been a playoff as the teams were level on points.

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Thought Cork were one point ahead going into the game.

Nothing quite beats the day Bohs blew the title needing just a point when "guess who" snatches a winner for Dundalk (who had nothing to play for). The title did go to a legendary play-off that year which Cork duly won, having finished level on points with Shels and Bohs. don't care who wins it this year aslong as Shels stay well out of it, but a final-day showdown at the Cross would make for a fitting end to the season.

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Originally Posted by mypost

I still don't think it will come to that. Derry have been struggling lately, and Cork are the better side of the two. It's still in Cork's hands, and I can't see them losing the title at this stage, and I'm sure they would like to win it at Waterford, sending their neighbours down while they do it.

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And how exactly have we been struggling ??? Final of league cup, quarters of FAI, 2nd in league ?
And for what its worth we have a decent record in Turners cross !!

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Originally Posted by mypost

Derry have been struggling lately, and Cork are the better side of the two. It's still in Cork's hands, and I can't see them losing the title at this stage, and I'm sure they would like to win it at Waterford, sending their neighbours down while they do it.

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I wish LTFC could struggle like Derry City,the most in form team in the league.

I was thinking during the game that Rico needed to make a chamge but Behan wasn't available. Bringing Bruton on would not have changed things & becoming impossible to play through Longford & longballs were only option.

We are top of the league because of our away form & mean defense. Our strength is when we take the lead in games are rarely pegged back but we still need to score goals to win matches.

I though Murray and Coughlan were good, Murray has impressed me whenever I've seen him live. Your defence is very very tight, ours isn't too shabby either. 0-0 wasn't all that surprising really

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Originally Posted by dortie

And how exactly have we been struggling ??? Final of league cup, quarters of FAI, 2nd in league ?
And for what its worth we have a decent record in Turners cross !!

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TC is a fortress, you have already lost there this season, and very few teams win there, only one this season. I can't see Derry winning there if they needed to, to win the league.

Yes, you have struggled lately. You've dropped 2 points to Bray, Pats, and Drogheda in the last few weeks, the kind of games you need to win, to win the league. Cork don't do that. If you had collected 9 points from them instead of 3, you would have been in a very strong position. As it is now, Cork are a better side who have been through all this before, are top of the league with a game in hand, and have yous at home on the last day, so I can't see them throwing it away.

I would think that considering Derry City are level but one game extra played would settle for last day showdown of winner takes all?

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Originally Posted by Poor Student

Longford held Cork to a 0-0 draw. Am I the only one who finds this hilarious given how badly Cork fans take this result to this team? :D Derry and Cork now level on points with Cork having a game in hand and better goal difference. Derry still have their work cut out but at least the league has a tight and intriguing race as we near the season's end. We can only hope both teams can take the title when they face on the last day. What a spectacle that would make.

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don't see what's so hilarious about it. we didn't play well. instead of playing football, we allowed longfor to drag us down to their level and we started hoofing it. the sad thing is that on the few occasions longford actually started passing it, they looked very good- further proof that matthews is holding them back. still, we got the point we needed to go back on top, despite not playing well, and therefore the result is something to be happy about. that said, it was possibly the worst game of "football" I've ever seen.

Come on...

"worst game of football you've ever seen"

No way

oh yes. it certainly was

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

If Shelbourne make second it will be a remarkable season. 1st is a bit of a pipedream IMHO

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For who? If you mean Shels you must be having a laugh. The wages your players and numerous coaches(what a waste) get and you think finishing second and not getting to a Cup final is 'remarkable' :confused:

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Originally Posted by pete

I was thinking during the game that Rico needed to make a chamge but Behan wasn't available. Bringing Bruton on would not have changed things & becoming impossible to play through Longford & longballs were only option.

We are top of the league because of our away form & mean defense. Our strength is when we take the lead in games are rarely pegged back but we still need to score goals to win matches.

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What impressed me most was the fact that not only do you try and play football but when you didn't have the ball you closed down players and space and made it difficult for us to try and play and i think that has stood you well in Europe.On the down side you didn't seem to have a plan B when we smoothered the game to stop you playing and you need a goalscorer like ourselves.The game was no classic but the two defences were very impressive and some of the Kirby-Kearney tussles were funny.

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Originally Posted by Wiseguy

I wish LTFC could struggle like Derry City,the most in form team in the league.

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By what criteria are Derry the most "in form" team in the league, a title not worth having if there ever was one.

Surely Shels are the most in form team in the league over the last say 5 league games, with them having won them all and everything.

Over the season so far surely Cork City are the most in form team since we've the same number of points as Derry from fewer games.

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Originally Posted by paudie

By what criteria are Derry the most "in form" team in the league, a title not worth having if there ever was one.

Surely Shels are the most in form team in the league over the last say 5 league games, with them having won them all and everything.

Over the season so far surely Cork City are the most in form team since we've the same number of points as Derry from fewer games.

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Maybe i should have worded it better but they haven't lost a game in their last 20 where as city & shels have so they are one of the most in form teams in the league.