Games weekend Thursday 7th to Friday 8th July

said it a few weeks ago but harps need a new manager. ollie is done. an absolute travesty of a GK situation they have aswell. two lads who cant catch a ball

I think UCD look nailed on to overtake a Harps team that are probably only better than Athlone and Cobh of all the teams in LOI. Can't see that Harps team picking up a single point, so it will boil down to the remaining head to heads with UCD. One of these teams could get a play off spot with 14 points. Wouldn't fancy either against Cork or Galway, but that's a one off game, so anything could happen.

Dean Williams continues to prove his worth to Rovers. 👍.
Away from the oriel pk pitch dundalk look laboured & a bit lost.
Derry looked a mess the other day in Europe, but maybe that was due to the opposition. Any other takers?

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

I think that's a bit over-dramatic to be honest. I mean yes, the style of play this year (or last year for that matter) isn't vintage UCD. The game out in Bratislava was one of the best games I remember us playing, or we destroyed Shels in Tolka in 2009 when we both ended up challenging for the title, or we went toe-to-toe with Dundalk in the FAI Cup semi in 2018, having deservedly beaten Waterford in the quarters. We're not playing like that now, and I'd rather we were.

But no senior club exists to give its U15s/17s/19s a place in the senior squad. If they're good enough, they'll get a chance. None of the players who have left made any real impact on the first team (that's from a footballing point of view of course; if there's behind-the-scenes reasons they're leaving, then that's another matter).

There's no big plan? I don't really agree. Three years ago this week, we had two players on the bench and were really short after a number of players left in the summer (O'Neill, Molloy, Farrugia, Crowley, McDonald, Davis, Scales for a while). We had to bump up players who really weren't good enough, and we only beat Harps 1-0, an embarrassingly poor margin :)

It felt like we got caught on the hop there when a great team all moved on at the same time. I don't get that feeling now. Kerrigan and (essentially) Whelan have moved on as expected, but we've already started on the next generation with Moore, Lonergan, Duffy, etc. I'd argue the academy is (a) for the benefit of the players more than the clubs, so we do utilise that when signing Moore/Duffy/Lonergan, (b) is to supplement, not replace, the long-standing scholarship model and (c) is to build community links. In that regard, it's working fine I think.

As far as I can see, the plan is to keep the show on the road with a tiny backroom staff by mixing the best players from the underage teams as they come through with signings from other clubs (effectively the same as any other club) and to keep punching above our weight in that regard (certainly with regards crowd numbers). I'm not sure what more can really be expected. It'd be great to have the budget of, say, 1995 to 2005 and keep players for longer after they finish college - then we could be back to being a solid mid-table Premier side occasionally challenging for Europe. But we don't, so we can't.

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I remember well the day we had only 2 on the bench, and we went unbeaten in 3 or 4 games from that game, but didn't really sustain the recover, but still had about 6 more points at same stage that season that now. We might have more players on the bench this time around, but dont ve fooled by the nunbers, Myler usbusing the same 12 or 13 players week after week, because whats on the bench is mostly just filler. 5 of the deoartees would have been on the bench and most of them have doubel digit starts to their names and actually attend the college. Let's see how many of Lonergan, Moore, Duffy, Brennan, Ryan etc are in the squad start of next season, then we will have our answer.

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Originally Posted by ger121

There was a glimmer of a title race if Dundalk could win their 2 in hand and Rovers in Europe but that is extinguished now. That 4 in a row is getting ever closer. They’ve been singing about the last one for decades, imagine them now…

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3.5 in a row...

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Originally Posted by The Bowler

5 of the deoartees would have been on the bench and most of them have doubel digit starts to their names

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From a footballing point of view, "most of them have double digit starts" isn't really as impressive as I think you're trying to make it out to be. Eóin Farrell, for example, had 17 starts over three seasons.

And there's 15 players have started in the last five games, or the last double header (now 6/7 games ago) saw 16 different players start, so it's not the case Myler is using the same 12/13 players week after week.

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Originally Posted by ger121

There was a glimmer of a title race if Dundalk could win their 2 in hand and Rovers in Europe but that is extinguished now. That 4 in a row is getting ever closer. They’ve been singing about the last one for decades, imagine them now…

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Ah well we don't all have real footballing achievements like friendlies in Berlin to sing about ger. But we make do.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

From a footballing point of view, "most of them have double digit starts" isn't really as impressive as I think you're trying to make it out to be. Eóin Farrell, for example, had 17 starts over three seasons.

And there's 15 players have started in the last five games, or the last double header (now 6/7 games ago) saw 16 different players start, so it's not the case Myler is using the same 12/13 players week after week.

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OK, a few forced starts with injuries perhaps, for no other reason the same core 9-10 have started pretty much every game when available. He makes very occasional rotation at right full, and since he's moved that articulated vehicle Keaney back to centre back, that has resulted in a little bit of rotation in midfield. Put it this way, the next generation of lads have walked out the door, and the cupboard will be bare next year. Farrell is 19 or 20, the other departees the same age profile, one probably has the guts of 40 appearances, another with 20 appearances, another with 35 LOI 1st team appearances (20ish somewhere else before coming to UCD). Every one of them under the age of 21. You have done your homework better than me on actual recent stats, Im always happy to defer to you on the detail. But the real story isn't in the stats here, it's what's coming down the track, let's see where it all lands next year. Hopefully, a good sweep out and we get Ryaner back, but he may have his sights set now on bigger days out than UCD.

Honestly not seeing the problem in having a reasonably settled first choice. And the double-header wasn't rotation for injury purposes (and similar has happened on previous double-header weekends)

Players come and go. If there's trouble in the camp that's obviously bad. If it's just natural turnover it's less of an issue. Let's see who comes in in the next few weeks too.

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Originally Posted by sullanefc

3.5 in a row...

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Getting a wee bit ahead, 2.5 but this time next year 4 could be on the cards if Higgins doesnt get his Derry galacticos going!