Week 26 - 26th Sept onwards

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Originally Posted by monkey9

We are the Champions playing around Oriel tonight?

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Originally Posted by geysir

The 15 minutes of league fame was nice for Dundalk.

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No fanfares and no despair around Oriel tonight.

Although it was a disappointing end to a brilliant odyssey chasing the improbable, the season is far from over for Dundalk. With a bottom half budget Stephen Kenny has assembled a team who have played attractive football and displayed commitment and resilience in abundance. A Europa League place remains probable and the FAI Cup Semi-final is imminent

Even in the unlikely event that Dundalk lost every remaining match through October the season has surpassed all expectations.

The future - both short term and in the next number of seasons - looks full of exciting possibilities

There's been a fair bit of sourness from various people about Dundalk doing well that I find amusing.

Delighted for Athlone as well. A great addition to the Premier Division.
Going to enjoy watching them and Roddy next year.

It's them Shamrock Rovers fans, I swear. If they're not waving umbrellas and sending in pensioners posed as Pat's fans to rattle gates, they're being sour on the internet.

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Originally Posted by monkey9

We are the Champions playing around Oriel tonight?

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Are you Anto Flood?

Congrats Athlone Town players, staff and supporters. One of the, if not the oldest clubs in Ireland back in the division they have waited so long for. Will be a great addition to the league. The attendance tonight shows that one of the really football towns still have the following that was there in the 80's after so long in the wilderness. Talking to so many supporters of the club in work yesterday, the attendance will be exceptional next season too.

+1 looking forward already to our first visit to your new stadium next year. Well done to all its great getting out of the graveyard!!

Congratulations to Athlone. Looking forward to our trip down there next season, hopefully we go there as Champions. It's not over yet we still have tricky games where we have to pick up points.

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Originally Posted by Ezeikial

With a bottom half budget Stephen Kenny has assembled a team who have played attractive football and displayed commitment and resilience in abundance.

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bottom half budget. Snigger

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Originally Posted by Dodge

bottom half budget. Snigger

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At the start of the season the teams with a substantially bigger budgets were

Shamrock Rovers
Sligo Rovers
St Patricks Athletic
Derry City

Limerick and Cork were also generally acknowledged to have had bigger budgets

Stephen Kenny probably started with the 7th or 8th highest budget and was certainly ranked number 8 in the pre-season bookies odds.

Dundalk were expected to finish in the lower half of the table by most observers and will certainly have exceeded expectations by seasons end

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Originally Posted by Ezeikial

At the start of the season the teams with a substantially bigger budgets were

Shamrock Rovers
Sligo Rovers
St Patricks Athletic
Derry City

Limerick and Cork were also generally acknowledged to have had bigger budgets

Stephen Kenny probably started with the 7th or 8th highest budget and was certainly ranked number 8 in the pre-season bookies odds.

Dundalk were expected to finish in the lower half of the table by most observers and will certainly have exceeded expectations by seasons end

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By who? unless of course by "acknowledged " you mean " Some mad Cork lads said Limerick had huge budget so we all decided they were right".

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Originally Posted by Ezeikial

Dundalk were expected to finish in the lower half of the table by most observers and will certainly have exceeded expectations by seasons end

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BY many yes, and a top 3 finish is an excellent season for kenny and Dundalk. But they were certainly not in the bottom 7 budgets for the year.

Fair play to Athlone. Have some good memories of visting St. Mels as a young lad so looking forward to seeing their new ground as Ive never been in it. Another trip away from Dublin too aint a bad thing either.

Athlone town fans were great supporters of us in our top flight days so I have no problem goin to their games if i am still workin in Dublin nxt season... Athlone was always more of a soccer hotbed than Longford ever was.. We wont go up either this year and it serves us right for turning down Roddy Collins five long years ago now.. what goes around .... btw massive congrats to Athlone and to a few of the long term fans that I have the pleasure of knowin over the years.. ye will be a superb addition to top flight.. Why TC let go James O Brien and Aidan Collins I never know.. The man should be shot!

Yeh i think Aido proved last night that TC letting him go was a terrible move. He has been the best defender in the league by a long shot this season. Our player of the year easy imo. James O'Brien has been fantasic too. Since his debut away to Harps 14 games ago we have not lost. He controls the game so well.
Not looking good for Longfords playoff chances at the moment. Mervue have 2 very winnable games left while Longford have us in Athlone. Will be an interesting end to the season for sure.

No midlands clasicos next season... will the economy collapse?

Pat Dolan said every time he was on MNS "limerick spending the money" in fact he couldn't even say "limerick" without saying spending the money.

To be fair to Pat, every team in the league is spending the money. Except for Dundalk, whose budget I hear was so low they had to use imaginary numbers.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

To be fair to Pat, every team in the league is spending the money. Except for Dundalk, whose budget I hear was so low they had to use imaginary numbers.

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...C_logo.svg.png

Ciaran Bond, Chairman of Dundalk publicly said what it was costing per week to run the club including team budget, couldnt be bothered looking for it but certainly was on the more modest side and a lot less than what previous managers including John Gill had to spend. How is it though that so much seems to be known about the budget of clubs by supporters throughout the league? Do you have a network of spys infriltrating the boards of every club Dodge?

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

Ciaran Bond, Chairman of Dundalk publicly said what it was costing per week to run the club including team budget, couldnt be bothered looking for it but certainly was on the more modest side and a lot less than what previous managers including John Gill had to spend. How is it though that so much seems to be known about the budget of clubs by supporters throughout the league? Do you have a network of spys infriltrating the boards of every club Dodge?

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We know as much about Dundalks budget as Dundalk fans know about everyone else's.

12K is not small. I'd call it upper-medium sized.

Any public commentator discussing Limerick's finances has generally been talking nonsense, seeing only dollar signs due to the owner.

Well done to Athlone, lets just hope it isnt end up like Roddy's last foray into the top tier.

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Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter

Well done to Athlone, lets just hope it isnt end up like Roddy's last foray into the top tier.

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People keep saying this but look at the 2 clubs. Monaghon didnt even have a sponser. And Even when they went up they had no fans. At least the last few months we showed there is interest in the club, and there is a big potential fan base there. I wouldnt be worried.

Athlone is a solid football town that won two league titles previously. They attracted 2k home fans to a FD match this weekend.

I think they will cope fine with the adjustment of PD life, it will be a tough, but nothing less challenging that any other promoted side but they should be much better placed than Monaghan I would think.

Expectations and how to manage it is key, for example they will go from losing less than 5 games to possibly more than 10. Possibly some very bad hammerings too and winless months but it's all about finding your feet and consolidating, fans need to have patience and more importantly be realistic when (most) sides get promoted. And to stick with your team.

Exactly. Id honestly take staying up by a point next year. Survival is all that matters next season. Then we build on that

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

Do you have a network of spys infriltrating the boards of every club Dodge?

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Yes, that's exactly it. Just like Ezekial does

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Originally Posted by MiniMourinho

12K is not small. I'd call it upper-medium sized.

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Are you talking thousands or iches?

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Originally Posted by MiniMourinho

12K is not small. I'd call it upper-medium sized.

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That's includes all weekly running costs and not just the team for DFC as confirmed by Bond

Anyway back to the actual matches.

A return to winning ways by Dundalk tonight against Derry will secure European football next season, and with it a top 3 finish. This will be the highest league finish since we last won the PD in 1995.

Derry can join us in Europe if they finish 4th and either Dundalk or Sligo win the cup.

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Originally Posted by Quayman

That's includes all weekly running costs and not just the team for DFC as confirmed by Bond

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They are in their eyes running the club for 12 grand a week.

Putting the wage buget at 7800.

With 4200 left over for everything else.

Not that I give one, it's just a bit much to expect everyone on here to be as gullible as Ciaran Bond apparently thinks Dundalk fans are.

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Originally Posted by oriel

Derry can join us in Europe if they finish 4th and either Dundalk or Sligo win the cup.

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Seriously doubt we'll be finishing in 4th spot based on recent performances. Shams are three points behind, albeit having playing a game more.
Coming down off Glenshane atm, in the rain, overlooking a cloudy, grey south Derry, I can't see anything other than a Dundalk win tonight.

Congrats to Limerick on a third win on the trot within a week.

Great result for us tonight, drawing away to Sligo. We really have turned a corner the past couple of months.

That result should also mean that Pats can't be caught, still a few games left but they'll be tough to catch now.

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Originally Posted by Lim till i die

They are in their eyes running the club for 12 grand a week.

Putting the wage buget at 7800.

With 4200 left over for everything else.

Not that I give one, it's just a bit much to expect everyone on here to be as gullible as Ciaran Bond apparently thinks Dundalk fans are.

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Gullible TCM's may make those books balance!

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Originally Posted by adamd164

Great result for us tonight, drawing away to Sligo. We really have turned a corner the past couple of months.

That result should also mean that Pats can't be caught, still a few games left but they'll be tough to catch now.

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Good result alright. On current form, it's a pity there isn't another Munster derby, I'd like to see how that clash would go. Still, Limerick can be satisfied with having won 2 of them! :p ;)

Pat's should be able to free wheel it in to the title from here. At least Pat's v Sligo will still have some edge to it, despite the gap and games left.

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Originally Posted by legendz

At least Pat's v Sligo will still have some edge to it, despite the gap and games left.

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No it won't, very few of our players will actually be interested in it.

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Originally Posted by legendz

Good result alright. On current form, it's a pity there isn't another Munster derby, I'd like to see how that clash would go. Still, Limerick can be satisfied with having won 2 of them! :p ;)

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True, yet we're above them in the table.

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Originally Posted by sligoman

No it won't, very few of our players will actually be interested in it.

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They will if Pats don't beat UCD. As it is, 6 points from 4 games is what Pats need.