Games Friday 10th to Saturday 18th September

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Originally Posted by Dalymountrower

Bizarre game, Drogs well worth the lead at half time but Bohs wasted 4 great chances in 2nd half.Stunning goal by Burt.Top class saves by Drogs keeper.
Lose on Monday and cup is only real option for Bohs to qualify for Europe.

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I’ve been reading some harsh words about bohs first half performance but most teams would have dropped the heads - bohs dialled up the gears and really threw everything at us and on another night may have won, they should take the positives from that.

For Drogs that’s 7 points from 9 (Dundalk Sligo bohs) so hopefully that’s us pulling out of our mid season slump - the signing of McRedmond was a coup as it sorted our defense out. Lyons back training so hopefully he’s back soon too.

Everyone can relax now into their usual positions.
Order has been restored.

Add Rob Harvey(again) to the list of incompetent referees from last night. Waterford fans were already dreading him refereeing for Shamrock Rovers before the game and he lived up to expectations. The usual response of the FAI is to ban managers who speak out about referees instead of trying to improve standards of referees or dropping the ones who are causing problems every week.
It was the same in the Sligo v St Pats game when there was a blatant trip on a St Pats player in the box in the 2nd half and ref was looking straight at it and waved play on.

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Originally Posted by placid casual

Everyone can relax now into their usual positions.
Order has been restored.

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The cream always rises to the top, Dundalks has soured but thats a temporary issue. Rovers have give no shortage of chances to make this and interesting title race but no one is able to step up. If its not the classic worst league season ever, it will certainly rank as one of the easiest ever where champions can drop points, play poorly, have a load of players out so using a patched up team and still just do enough. If it wasnt for Bill and rowing in messing on playing affairs, this may have been Dundalk's cakewalk!

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Originally Posted by trevy

Add Rob Harvey(again) to the list of incompetent referees from last night. Waterford fans were already dreading him refereeing for Shamrock Rovers before the game and he lived up to expectations. The usual response of the FAI is to ban managers who speak out about referees instead of trying to improve standards of referees or dropping the ones who are causing problems every week.
It was the same in the Sligo v St Pats game when there was a blatant trip on a St Pats player in the box in the 2nd half and ref was looking straight at it and waved play on.

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The defender blocked the ball with his hand cast iron free kick.
To be fair to Harvey he was about 5 yards away and gave it instantly, i was 50 yards away and it was an obvious handball. i didnt think yellow card but i dont know if the rule is yellow for goalbound handball tbh
Complaining about the ref when you were lucky to get out at 2 nil rather than 5 nil is stupid. Waterford have been great recently and Bircham has done a great job turning it around but sometimes you just arent good enough and its nothing to do with the ref

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

The cream always rises to the top, Dundalks has soured but thats a temporary issue. Rovers have give no shortage of chances to make this and interesting title race but no one is able to step up. If its not the classic worst league season ever, it will certainly rank as one of the easiest ever where champions can drop points, play poorly, have a load of players out so using a patched up team and still just do enough. If it wasnt for Bill and rowing in messing on playing affairs, this may have been Dundalk's cakewalk!

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I would agree up to a point.
Rovers had a thin squad last year and were lucky with injuries compared to this season.
The difference was Jack Byrne and Aaron McEneff were special creative players and that was how come we won so easily.
We weren't lucky to have them though they were sought out and signed by the manager.

Take those two out of the team and it was always going to be closer.
The squad is still relatively thin hence we had that really bad run of 7 or 8 matches when we had a load of injuries/suspensions.
The Dundalk league winning squads had much more depth after the first couple of years allowed them strengthen.
I'm hoping the euro money this year as well as the Scales / McEneff/ Zefi/Bazunu extras allow us to add more depth so if we have a load of injuries next year we have a bit more cover.
Luck?? you have to take advantage and you do kind of make your own as well.
We will need to strengthen as Derry look to be about to mount a charge Pats will improve and will have euro money to look forward to and Dundalk cant be as bad again.
Bohs might be regretting giving such a long contract to Long if they dont win the cup, lose to Harps on Monday and thats 10 losses this year from 24 matches. With a decent budget and the young players coming from St Kevins youd think they should be doing better (in such a weak league)

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Originally Posted by sbgawa

I Dundalk cant be as bad again.

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Why exactly?

Seeing the footage from last night McGinlay seems to throw a punch although doesn’t connect. I am all for plenty of leeway so would be accepting of a booking for it but rules as they are probably justifies his sending off. Can’t see any reason for Thomson’s red. Again though it shouldn’t be hyped out of proportion, it was a scuffle over a football.

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Originally Posted by DCWA

Seeing the footage from last night McGinlay seems to throw a punch although doesn’t connect. I am all for plenty of leeway so would be accepting of a booking for it but rules as they are probably justifies his sending off. Can’t see any reason for Thomson’s red. Again though it shouldn’t be hyped out of proportion, it was a scuffle over a football.

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Joe Thomson escalates the whole situation though,fair enough Sadiki shouldn’t of held on to the ball but I don’t think there’s a sending off if Thomson doesn’t launch himself into Sadiki,anyway not gonna change anything now!

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Originally Posted by DCWA

The answer to both of these questions to be honest is yes, absolutely. They did not “batter” Sadiki obviously that’s a fair bit OTT and in any case given the size of our Canadian comrade only 3 players is probably leaving themselves short staffed for the task of battering him.

Good game, wasn’t anything particularly nasty in it for me even including the brawl. I don’t think there should have been any reds. Harps really have it over Derry at the minute, have our number every time recently and full credit for it.

Again hate seeing this hyped up on social media / forums etc a lot of sh!te spoken (I don’t use any social media platform but do see screenshots etc of things circulating whatsapp). Need to take a deep breath and realise it was just an entertaining game of football between two okish mid table teams.

Olawabi who always impresses me was up front was poor tonight I thought especially with the timing of his runs, Higgins might reconsider that one yet.

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Fair post. Draw fair result. We were lucky to be level at half time. We were much better second half but dropped too deep. Incident at the end was much ado about nothing. It's a derby game, good to see a bit of passion and indeed an open game. Great to see Harps go in these days with no fear against Derry. Hup Ireland's shame:D:bigsmile:

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Originally Posted by DCWA

Why exactly?

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Why do I think Dundalk can't be as bad again? I just can't believe a squad including the core of a multiple league winning side can be as bad two seasons in a row. Even a blind dog finds the odd bone and u can't imagine the transfers being any worse than this years.....oh and they will surely sign a keeper

Tomney sends off a longford player for tripping a dundalk player who had three quarters of the pitch and 10 players to go.
Unbelievable decision , longford down to 9 men for last 5 mins ....

Blackburn were relegated withing 5 years of winning the Premiership in 2000. Atletico Madrid got relegated 3 years after winning La Liga in 1997. I'm sure there's a few other sizable additions in the context of unlikely relegations not long after success. Are Dundalk going down? They ARE actually running out of time to avoid it now (or at the very least the Playoffs). I actually have a soft spot for them but this is as bad as they've been since the 2010's surely. Great win for Sligo last night after a woefully horrendous run both Domestically and in Europe, and Pats will feel they left that one behind them. Coughlan and especially Forrester had really poor games. Shamrock Rovers workmanlike steady plod to the title continues however. I would love to see Galway back in the top flight. Getting rid of Tommy Dunne when they were solidly midtable in the Premier have resulted in a few years wandering the graveyard. Hopefully they go up and Caulfield stays on a bit, as much as I've denounced his Wimbledon 1990 approach to style of play in the past.

Tomney sent Han off so it was 10 against 9 and then bottled it by not sending off cleary in the last minute when he took Nugent down who was clear on goal admittedly on the half way line but he sent off a Longford player for tripping a dundalk player way further out

Longford 1-0 Dundalk .. 2 sendings off … as a Drog I enjoyed this match :)


Well fought Longford

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Originally Posted by SeanDrog

Longford 1-0 Dundalk .. 2 sendings off … as a Drog I enjoyed this match :)


Well fought Longford

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3 sendings off

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Originally Posted by sbgawa

3 sendings off

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I stand corrected :) missed the first one as game was on iPad while watching movie with the family :) even better result for Longford

It will be interesting to hear Vinny Perth’s post match reaction. I thought Dundalk would pull out of the play off spot but after tonight I’m not so sure.

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Originally Posted by sbgawa

Tomney sent Han off so it was 10 against 9 and then bottled it by not sending off cleary in the last minute when he took Nugent down who was clear on goal admittedly on the half way line but he sent off a Longford player for tripping a dundalk player way further out

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That man must be the most useless pencil neck referee out there. He is absolutely hopeless.

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Originally Posted by sbgawa

Tomney sends off a longford player for tripping a dundalk player who had three quarters of the pitch and 10 players to go.
Unbelievable decision , longford down to 9 men for last 5 mins ....

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Thought that sending off was ridiculous. Didn't look particularly dangerous- may have merited a yellow as it was two footed, but the Dundalk player was running away, and looked like he had his heels clipped.
Dunno about Cleary and whether it should have been a red- maybe there was a covering player?
Couldn't see the Han sending off- Tomney suggested a stamp, but at the time I was wondering if there was a degree of "let's even it up" after Manley going.

Well at least the referee is getting a good lot of the attention, good thing for Dundalk fans on this occasion...

The second red for Longford was ridiculous as was the Han one, definitely trying to even things up. Boyle was covering Cleary at the end so a yellow was correct.

By the end of the game I wasn't even angry anymore, it's comical at this stage. Glad we didn't equalise, would have been harsh on Longford who deserved it

Dundalk are in real trouble now to avoid / win the play off to stay up. VP has to be under real pressure after tonight, its obvious his return has not worked out as planned.

Filipo's league form was awful and we scoffed at 'only' finishing 3rd, (and winning the cup) but what a mess we are in now, and all blame cannot be at p6 (a lot is), but players have to stand up and fight, but they aren't............

Friday night in the cup is becoming Dundalks season definining game. Ollie will be delighted the spotlight is on Dundalk and not Harps. I’m looking forward to it.

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Originally Posted by Finlay Harp

Friday night in the cup is becoming Dundalks season definining game. Ollie will be delighted the spotlight is on Dundalk and not Harps. I’m looking forward to it.

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Nothing to worry about for Harps. Dundalk are a team with no leadership, no game plan, no fight and a terrible manager. And that’s just the on pitch shambles. Off the pitch it’s an even bigger joke.
There was a decent crowd down in Longford and the quality of the game was what you’d expect from the two bottom teams. The referee was as poor as was expected. I couldn’t believe he sent the second Longford player off and I don’t know why Han was sent off. We could still be there now and still wouldn’t score.
I have no hope of us getting out of this malaise as the players don’t seem to care that much. It’s hard to see where we’ll get a win and if we do end up in the playoff I don’t think we’ll win.
That’s all my pessimism that the journey home from Longford hasn’t changed.

Dundalk are the only team in the division that haven't beaten us this year. I've said this before but the heart and the fight that the players show in every game is a credit to them and the management. We're obviously lacking quality but the commitment has been unquestionable.

Pretty brutal assessment of the situation at Oriel from Perth here.

RTE news : Dundalk in 'dark place' as Perth bemoans injury woes

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021/...s-injury-woes/

If dundalk had little or no money, and had a similar injury problem I'd say many in LOI would have sympathy for their "plight".
They have managed to squander the best part of 7/8/9(?) million quid in the last few years, and now have diddly squat to show for it.
The most expensive squad assembled in LOI history, and yet they've had no-one of any commanding substance in the dugout - you marry that to a bunch of mercenaries turning up to play for the club and disaster is just not far away.
The big red flag should have been Shields abandoning ship during the summer.
Perhaps a spell back in the 1st division would be good for dundalk and its people, to contemplate what they really want out of their football club.

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Perhaps a spell back in the 1st division would be good for dundalk and its people, to contemplate what they really want out of their football club.

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I don't think a stint in the first division would provide any solution for Dundalk. What does any fan want out of their club , to win trophies & get success in Europe. The fans of Dundalk have had unreal success in recent seasons the stuff of LOI fans dreams. I know its great to have nice facilities and youth structures but they tend to be window dressing if the senior team isn't successful. I don't know what happened at Dundalk but looks like their golden run has ended. Making success sustainable has been an ongoing issues for LOI club and we have seen this cycle before i.e. Shelbourne.

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Originally Posted by D24Saint

I don't think a stint in the first division would provide any solution for Dundalk.

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Having watched considerably more First Division football than Premier in my time following the league I feel supremely confident in saying that a spell in the second tier isn't really a solution to anything for any club. It's a grim, thankless slog there for the most part, a place of purgatory where football dreams go to stagger around in mostly empty stadiums looking for an adequate place to die.

I wouldn't ever give up on it either though. 🙂

Dont let that last line by PC fool anyone as it is simply his hope and the desire to gloat if it comes to pass. There isnt a Dundalk fan under any illusions of how this circumstance has come to pass, and know quite well what is needed beyond this season and what is wanted from the football club - its no secret or rocket science and not unreasonable to expect. How that will be moved toward exactly will be based on how and where we finish this season. There would be nothing good about a year out in the 1st division bar delayng progress in areas of the club and allowing some opposition fans the be gluttons on gloating. We wont have had to scramble to save the club by using an examinership process. putting others out of business to save the club club or have leases on land confiscated etc. It will simply be a season of sucking it up and a lesson to bill to never fall for agents' spin or to cut loose people that might actually have some expertise in the areas he admitted he had none.

I can't see where the fight is coming from to win even one game at the minute with DFC, for me its trying to avoid or worse case to win the play off now.

Maybe its VP, it can't all be p6 to blame for the players b/s performances, which are now consistently poor, whatever the reasons, as long as we stay up, so many of them need to leave.

From my point of view.last night Tomney let the game get out of control. The first half was the complete opposite. In fairness with us we have made a game of it in a lot of our games and I do think its way too early to have got promoted but if we keep the majority of that squad too it could be character building and hugely beneficial. Serious crowd from Dundalk as for our fans no comment..

If I was a Dundalk fan what I saw on the pitch and from speaking to one of their fans its sad to see their decline!

I thought Perth was a generally poor Manager in the manner that Dundalk utterly capitulated to Celje a few years back. Several of their games recently have been reminiscent of that evening. Obviously big issues also with Bill and Peak6. Bill reminds me of that fuzzy eybrowed guntoting, stetson wearing fella from Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes cartoons, and it's looney times for Dundalk. Hope they can find a win from somewhere soon.

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Originally Posted by D24Saint

What does any fan want out of their club , to win trophies & get success in Europe.

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Yes and no.
Fans want the success, but most are aware that it can be short-lived.
To take Derry as an example, it's all well and good getting money from a billionaire pumped in every year, but we'd all like to see something a bit more sustainable put in place as well. A great academy, along with the facilities, for example.

Dundalk have nothing concrete to show for their efforts of the past few years. Great memories, yes, but not a decent ground, not a centre of excellence, etc.
It's not unique to Dundalk either, lots of clubs are guilty of this.

Be an interesting question to ask any loi fan. If you were guaranteed 5 leagues in 7 years and 2 group stage appearances would you take that and a relegation play off in the 8th session??. For Dundalk fans living through this seasons **** show its pull your hair out stuff but in 20 years people will look back and think wow great era

Shels fans are the poster boys for that question I guess.

Especially those Shels fans who are too young to remember the Depor/Lille games and are instead stuck in the First Division for most of the last 15 years because they ****ed away all their money and didn't build any solid club structures.

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Originally Posted by brendy_éire

Yes and no.
Fans want the success, but most are aware that it can be short-lived.
To take Derry as an example, it's all well and good getting money from a billionaire pumped in every year, but we'd all like to see something a bit more sustainable put in place as well. A great academy, along with the facilities, for example.

Dundalk have nothing concrete to show for their efforts of the past few years. Great memories, yes, but not a decent ground, not a centre of excellence, etc.
It's not unique to Dundalk either, lots of clubs are guilty of this.

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No chance. A very limited number of fans actually care much about sustainability or acadamies they want decent football and success.

At the end of the day the LOI lends itself to boom and bust practices, worst case (see Derry 2010) you start again in first div. A single rung in the ladder below where you left off

I would absolutely take another year in the 1st div with a reformed club (sure what’s another version between friends) if it had been preceeded by titles, cup finals and big European games. That is what football is all about as a fan.

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Originally Posted by sbgawa

Be an interesting question to ask any loi fan. If you were guaranteed 5 leagues in 7 years and 2 group stage appearances would you take that and a relegation play off in the 8th session??. For Dundalk fans living through this seasons **** show its pull your hair out stuff but in 20 years people will look back and think wow great era

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100% you would take it only an idiot would not. Until their dying day no Dundalk fan will forget those years of success with the best LOI team I have seen. A poor season with a relegation play off is easy forgotten.

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Originally Posted by sbgawa

Be an interesting question to ask any loi fan. If you were guaranteed 5 leagues in 7 years and 2 group stage appearances would you take that and a relegation play off in the 8th session??. For Dundalk fans living through this seasons **** show its pull your hair out stuff but in 20 years people will look back and think wow great era

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Is there anyone who wouldn’t take that scenario!?!

It doesnt have to be either or for a number of clubs and especially after a breakthrough is made. Yes Dundalk's current situation resembles how things have happened in the past. We got access to the sort of prize that Shels were chasing for example. The difference between this mess at Dundalk and a lot of other boom and bust is that our current mess hasnt been caused by a forced or desperation over stretch. Money was earned to set in motion and create sustainable model, allow improvement, while keeping competitive domestically, gaining from European participation. This implosion is different in its madcap mismanagement of the club, possibly spurning a very long term legacy. With a modicum of sense Peak6 were on the verge of achieving their original goals especially with the ECLs introduction. They botched things for the group of investors they headed up, and for fans of course. An all conquering side falters when a chairman interferes in football matters and the downward spiral has continued since and to halt the slide will take some luck and get to next season. Start to rebuild a squad over a few seasons, get back to qualifying for Europe before seeding is completely gone, and it doesnt have to be a decade before pushing for league titles again.

Fans of some other football clubs are breathing sighs of relief at what has happened internally at Dundalk and should be as it would have gotten harder and harder to keep pace - a position only Dundalk FC itself could really have seriously damaged and have done just that! Success will always be there to look back on but it may always be tinged by what could have been!!