LoI in Europe 2024

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Originally Posted by D24Saint

The weather isn’t too hot tbh. It is warm of course but not searing. We have a free shot tonight with nothing to lose. Let’s see how it goes.

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Not sure id call it a free shot you lose your out, Rovers had a free shot against PAOK as we had conference league.
I kind of know what you mean in as much as you arent expected to get anything out of it but the team (and certainly not the owner) wont feel its a free shot.
Hopefully you make it because if you do we move up one seeding and with another couple of surprises we might even sneak into pot 3 instead of pot 4.

Even leaving Rovers out of it , it would be great to see PAts make it as we would have a huge focus on the league between now and Christmas.
Little side benefit of both making it would be the ability to play eacjh other in friendlies through Nov Dec in off weeks , soe of the gaps are substantial

Pat's definitely hanging on a bit early on, but Melia also probably should have scored or at least tested the keeper more. Turks are playing better this week.

Pat's still look very dangerous on the break, the odd time they get a chance.

They just need to hang on until half time here. The clearance off the line was fantastic defending.

Fair play to Pats!! Tie is still in the balance after 135+ mins against Basaksehir. And they haven’t conceded in that whole time.
IMO the draw lat week was the best LOI result in Europe since Dundalk beat Sheriff, when you consider the level of the opposition.
Praying they can do the unthinkable here in the 2nd half…

There's a bang of Belgrade off this pats performance. It'll be great if they can get it done.
Melia will develop into a fine player,but he just looks a little lite playing against these hard nosed quality pros.

The heart can't take this.

I'd take pens

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Originally Posted by sbgawa

I'd take pens

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Everyone would take your hand off with that offer.

A lucky deflection to set that up unfortunately

Might have been a peno anyway if they didn't score. I have no idea what's a handball anymore thou :D

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Originally Posted by placid casual

There's a bang of Belgrade off this pats performance. It'll be great if they can get it done.
Melia will develop into a fine player,but he just looks a little lite playing against these hard nosed quality pros.

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In fairness he was absolutely excellent last week. Best player on the pitch

Deflection (handball?) but defender should have stayed on his feet.

They always had to score unless it was get to penalties scoreless, which was a tall order. Still in it.

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Originally Posted by ger121

They always had to score unless it was get to penalties scoreless, which was a tall order. Still in it.

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Into the last 10 mins now and still well in the tie. Excellent performances over the 2 legs no matter what happens from here.
Kenny must give LOI players some belief to play well above their station in Europe…

And that's a reason why Cork fans couldn't wait to see the back of Bolger

A perfect 2 minute summation of LOI in Europe

The red card is so bad, he's just on the pitch, should have the legs to track him another few feet and pull him down or something, the kick out is so incredibly stupid.

I think Pat's were managing being 1-0 down quite well and putting about as much pressure on as you'd hope they could given who they're playing.

So so dumb from Bolger. That killed any chance Pat's had.

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Originally Posted by Acornvilla

The red card is so bad, he's just on the pitch, should have the legs to track him another few feet and pull him down or something, the kick out is so incredibly stupid.

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One most ridiculous things I've seen on pitch. All he had to do was trip him and he goes and does that

Sounds like it was a stupid red. Valiant effort by Pat’s in what has been an excellent Europe campaign.

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Originally Posted by ger121

Sounds like it was a stupid red. Valiant effort by Pat’s in what has been an excellent Europe campaign.

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More or less kicked a man in the arse chasing him half way between the Istanbul box and halfway line.

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Originally Posted by niallsparky

So so dumb from Bolger. That killed any chance Pat's had.

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For an LOI team to cause a big upset in Europe they have to be near perfect for 180 mins, playing at the peak of their limits. If stupid things like that happen, you haven’t a hope.
Good performance for 170 mins tho.

Can't complain about the final result but it's a shame about the red card ending the game as a contest with 15 minutes left.

Pat's gave it a good go. Enjoyed watching their games in Europe this year.

Would wonder how much of a difference Palmer could have made. After 20 minutes they lost the ability to hold onto the ball for any period of time.

Bolger been stealing a living for years. Criminal to come on with fresh legs and then get done for a stupid straight red.

Pity but we were just beaten by the better team. Could have scored but against a team of Istanbul's quality you need to take all of your chances. Bolger's sending off was semi-comical but it's a shame that Keena didn't bring the Istanbul player down a second earlier. Still I'm proud of the team's performances in Europe this year, brilliant performances in every match including tonight, now we need to bring that performance level into the League.

A valiant effort from pats, the Turks were very wary of the pacy pats winger's who caused some problems but Pats struggled a bit in midfield. Thought it was gonna be a peno before they scored,and bolger leathered yer man when a quick drag back would have been sufficient.
Have a sneaky feeling Rovers will draw these guys in the conference league

Not sure if it's even accurate but it was put to Kenny on the Pats socials that 3 wins and 2 draws is the best run an Irish side has ever gone on in Europe? Not bad going if so, or even if not.

Basaksehir are obviously a much better side and we were going to have to ride our luck to come away with something. We did that at times defensively but not offensively, a couple of big chances spurned in the first half and then Bolger absolutely killed any chances with his absolutely preposterous red card.

It's a run that shows the potential of the squad all the same. I'm not expecting much for the remainder of the league season but hopefully we make the most of it that we can.

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Originally Posted by Jack B

Not sure if it's even accurate but it was put to Kenny on the Pats socials that 3 wins and 2 draws is the best run an Irish side has ever gone on in Europe? Not bad going if so, or even if not.

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Bohs did 5 games in a row with 4 wins and a 1 draw a couple of years ago....

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Originally Posted by Jack B

Not sure if it's even accurate but it was put to Kenny on the Pats socials that 3 wins and 2 draws is the best run an Irish side has ever gone on in Europe? Not bad going if so, or even if not.

Basaksehir are obviously a much better side and we were going to have to ride our luck to come away with something. We did that at times defensively but not offensively, a couple of big chances spurned in the first half and then Bolger absolutely killed any chances with his absolutely preposterous red card.

It's a run that shows the potential of the squad all the same. I'm not expecting much for the remainder of the league season but hopefully we make the most of it that we can.

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The Pats interviewer seems to be under the impression that we won away in Lichtenstein. (I’ve heard him repeat the “two away wins” line in a couple of interviews.) Unless I’ve serious memory loss it was a draw, meaning that it’s 2 wins and three draws.

Good effort tonight, but it just wasn’t to be. We had a golden chance to take the lead with Mason Melia, and you need to take those in these kind of games. Still we were in the game until the sending off. Proud of the lads.

Cheers lads, it sounded like it couldn't be true alright!

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Originally Posted by TonyD

The Pats interviewer seems to be under the impression that we won away in Lichtenstein. (I’ve heard him repeat the “two away wins” line in a couple of interviews.) Unless I’ve serious memory loss it was a draw, meaning that it’s 2 wins and three draws.

Good effort tonight, but it just wasn’t to be. We had a golden chance to take the lead with Mason Melia, and you need to take those in these kind of games. Still we were in the game until the sending off. Proud of the lads.

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Although it's 3 wins (Sabah x2 + Vaduz home), 2 draws (Vaduz away + Basaksehir "home") and 1 loss (today).

Good effort by Pats this year, playing in 3 rounds in Europe is impressive and not every year an Irish club will do that.

They most likely won't make europe next year, but they should look back on this year with their heads held high in that scene.

No hangovers now lads on Sunday, you need to win, you have my full support.

Double

One tbing it really brings home for me is what a calamity it is for Rovers to have ****ed this league away this year with the biggest squad and budget by far.
Making Group stages is next to impossible without the Champions route.
We need to get our budgets under control for next year as beating a team in the PO round for the conference is exceptionally tough if you even get that far.
Hopefully we can maximise the monry this year and get a decent squad on the pitch for next year.
Whoever wins the league between Shels and Derry this year will be the worst champions in my living memory with the lowest points total so unless they strengthen significantly will be there to be beaten.
Could be the widest open league in years next year.
Pats , Rovers (younger and fitter hopefully) , Derry . Shels probably in that order

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Originally Posted by sbgawa

One tbing it really brings home for me is what a calamity it is for Rovers to have ****ed this league away this year with the biggest squad and budget by far.
Making Group stages is next to impossible without the Champions route.
We need to get our budgets under control for next year as beating a team in the PO round for the conference is exceptionally tough if you even get that far.
Hopefully we can maximise the monry this year and get a decent squad on the pitch for next year.
Whoever wins the league between Shels and Derry this year will be the worst champions in my living memory with the lowest points total so unless they strengthen significantly will be there to be beaten.
Could be the widest open league in years next year.
Pats , Rovers (younger and fitter hopefully) , Derry . Shels probably in that order

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If Derry win the League, I could see them spend big in the off season (they have the money with or without CL) as the conference league group stage at a minimum should be every LOI champs plans now

Nothing much to do with the Irish in Europe but very good social media from Sparta Prague !!!!

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Originally Posted by Jack B

Although it's 3 wins (Sabah x2 + Vaduz home), 2 draws (Vaduz away + Basaksehir "home") and 1 loss (today).

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Yep, my mistake. (And after calling out the Pats interviewer for getting it wrong:eek:

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Originally Posted by joey B

Bohs did 5 games in a row with 4 wins and a 1 draw a couple of years ago....

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These things are happening a lot, it must just be spur of the moment, Gavin Cummiskey in Irish Times last week mentioning the chance of Pats making the group stage, made reference to it was only done only '3 times' previously by Irish Clubs, Rovers x 2 and Dundalk under SK in 2016, maybe his thinking was SK could do it a second time to make it 4 Irish clubs in total when it would have been 5, as it was also done in 2020 which he failed to mention.

Amazing how these things get past Editors, plus there were some really good games in that 2020 group stage, Dundalk losing 4-3 away to Rapid Vienna was probably the highlight, should really have got a draw there, and possibly a momentous win if McCarey wasn't in goals, also scored twice v Arsenal, but end of the day it was still 6 defeats in the group.

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Originally Posted by sbgawa

One tbing it really brings home for me is what a calamity it is for Rovers to have ****ed this league away this year with the biggest squad and budget by far.
Making Group stages is next to impossible without the Champions route.
We need to get our budgets under control for next year as beating a team in the PO round for the conference is exceptionally tough if you even get that far.
Hopefully we can maximise the monry this year and get a decent squad on the pitch for next year.
Whoever wins the league between Shels and Derry this year will be the worst champions in my living memory with the lowest points total so unless they strengthen significantly will be there to be beaten.
Could be the widest open league in years next year.
Pats , Rovers (younger and fitter hopefully) , Derry . Shels probably in that order

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Were you not around for Dundalk's last day surprise league title win in 1995 under Dermot Keely? Not a lot of glamour in that team, and had former Down GAA player Peter Withnail upfront and scoring for a few months when down to bare bones' Think we won 4 or 5 of the last 6 games to win the league, won it by a point in the end, Derry were clearly the better side that season, but fluffed their lines away to Athlone.

Wasn't a single Dundalk player in the team of the year either.

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Originally Posted by joey B

Nothing much to do with the Irish in Europe but very good social media from Sparta Prague !!!!

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Well, Rovers are in there (and for a second I thought it was Brian Kerr at the beginning).