Who have we signed stronger than you thought? Please don't say Sean Russell cos if you thought we were signing wesker than that then we would just be playing a selection of overweight fans like myself.
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We managed to hold on to Will Fitz and Karl O'Sullivan which was good news, but apart from that we haven't done anything impressive at all. Robbie Williams is coming back, and that's not a bad signing, but the fact that it's not a bad signing tells you where we are.
It will be interesting to see the prices once the betting firms publish their 2019 odds. It won't determine who'll win it, but they wont be far out in most positions. I think Cork started as slight favs last year, or defintely were at some point in round 1.
I'd say Rovers will be priced close to Dundalk next year but a little higher, with Cork a little bit back in the betting. Hard to know who's best placed for 4th at the minute, will depend on how all clubs complete their business.
Who has gone out and who has come in for Cork?
Although 7 in total from those posts gone from Cork, probably only 3 were first team regulars / contenders, Sadlier, Beattie & McNamee, O'Hanlon possibly making it 4.
It’s still 3 of decent quality who are leaving, McNamee probably wasn’t used as much as he should have been, but maybe he just didn’t settle.
I honestly didnt realise McNamee started that many games.
Let me ask a genuine question then, would you boys have liked him to stay?
Fair enough, ps my comment on 'maybe just didnt settle' was more on the location. Personally I thought he would have been one of your better players when he signed, then again I thought that about Barry too. He looked more than decent when he was at Derry.
McNamee did well enough but wasted right wing. Barry was shocking, very disappointing.
There's just something terribly uninspiring about Cork at the moment. Their squad is obviously very good in the grand scheme of things, but in Sadlier and McNamee they've lost two of possibly their only real flair players who could offer something a bit different from functionality when necessary. And there's not a huge amount of room for replacements when taking a glance at their squad and the amount of players already signed up. As it stands I'd still probably trust them more than Rovers to mount some semblance of a challenge to Dundalk (aka finishing second), but I wouldn't be instilled with confidence if I was a supporter.
Place,Logue and Burke sign back on at Harps.
Comings and goings so far at Finn Park by my account of things:
In:
Daniel O'Reilly (Longford Town)
Sam Verdon (Longford Town)
Colm Deasy (Drogheda)
Caolan McAleer (Sligo Rovers)
Raf Cretaro (Sligo Rovers)
Also Sam Todd and Niall Logue who have signed permanent deals following loans last season from Derry.
Out:
Paddy McCourt (retired)
Aidan Friel (Shelbourne)
Ciaran Coll (Derry)
Tommy McBride (released)
John O'Flynn (released)
Mark Hannon (released)
John Kavanagh (end of loan, Cork)
Couple of players yet to sign or not from last seasons squad, but good to see us getting business done early. Ollie Horgan said at a public meeting tonight that he's in talks currently with a couple of players outside the country too.
Based on the players in and out so far, combined with the form shown over the latter part of last season, my hunch is that Rovers are probably more likely to present the bigger challenge.
It's still relatively early and the transfer movements next month could change the picture significantly.