That shouldn't really matter. We only got Finn because Sporting Fingal went bust and look how that worked out.
Printable View
Let's hope so eh.
I dont agree they didnt want to come to rovers , they could have stayed at dundalk if they wanted to. The 12 month contract issue wouldnt have been an issue for either as does anyone believe theybwouldnt gat a club at the end of next season if dundalk decided not to go again. The reason they left os likely to be because of the lack of respect involved in offering such short contracts as well as a general happiness to play for Rovers. Most pros are happy to play where they are respected and feel they can win things.
Brian Murphy is the first player to sign for Waterford’s 2021 squad.
Didn't realise Galway were going to a full time set up next year. Looks like it's going to be themselves and Shels fighting it out given Cork's travails.
It seems a bit of a risk releasing both keepers without a backup plan in place. Even if Kearns is only a reserve, he's more than Pats have now.
Yeah, will be impossible to replace what is going out, but Long has done well in the past so will be interesting to see what he conjures up. As for the out goings...
Grant -irreplaceable, a hammer blow.
Lunney - he never convinced me last year, Levingston re-signed, so no problem there
Mandroiu - did nothing all year, was outperformed by Ward and Devoy, looked more likely to get a red card than a goal when we did see him. No real loss but will be made out to be a big deal because of who he signed for.
Kirk- wasn’t getting his game, good luck in Longford, he will do well for them.
Corcoran- A great servant who is the wrong side of 30 and injuries catching up. A high earner, not surprised he’s been moved on, could be a steal for Drogheda.
Wright - will be very tough to replace if he stays in England, not sure who we have up front at the moment!
Lyons- Massive loss, very polished player
Twardek- Another huge blow, no surprise our form dropped off when he left.
Casey- potentiality out the door too. Got a few centre halfs signed so not the end of the world.
So a big overhaul needed in a relatively short time, we’ll be doing well to finish top 3 at the moment, but it’s still early days.
Tyreke Wilson is a quality addition to the squad, but much more needed.
Kevin Sheedy and Mike Newell coming in has got the fans interested again. Fans were getting frustrated at usual end of season uncertainty and lack of signings so good move by the club. Lee Power certainly knows how to pull a rabbit from the hat whatever else people may think of him.
Anything to the rumour Ronan Finn is leaving Rovers?
Not a chance
he's welcome back in oriel anytime! he could be joining st pats as part of his retirement!
See Danny OReilly has left shels to go to Drogheda. Would have loved to have seen him back with us.Ah well.
Didn't play much at Shels last year but Morris got nothing out of a talented squad so won't read too much into that. Was Harps POTY the previous year which is more encouraging. Squads nearly finished now bar a backup GK and maybe one more outfield player. Great to get the business done so early.
Waterford have been linked with Gearóid Morrissey, not sure what to make of it.
I'll repeat again as a Shels fan who watched all of our games last season that O'Reilly was very poor for us and it was nothing to do with Morris or our overall shambles as Luke Byrne, Dan Byrne and a makeshift Oscar Brennan all played better at centre back with their own poor moments. He was signed as Derek Prendergast's replacement and he was no Derek Prendergast who we badly missed last season, looks like signed again as a replacement for him. Between the Deegan signing I'm confident the writing is on the wall for Drogheda next season
DFC confirm Mountney, Corcoran , Oduwa all left the club and finely get around to saying a brief all the best to Hoare and Gannon add Rogers retirement in as well.
I guess this means they are at least talking to everyone else.
Only maybe two starters in the above list so if everyone else signs back that is a pretty strong team for next year
Darryl Murphy is the second player to sign for Waterford. Didn’t set the league alight by any means in the tail end of the 2020 season. But hopefully a injury free preseason and Darryl has a good impact. Nonetheless it’ll be great to have his experience around the younger lads.
Two others from last season’s squad have reportedly signed also but there hasn’t been an official announcement as of yet.
It will depend on who we get in as replacements, but first 3 def not starters, regardless if Rogers had stayed, new no 1 GK was coming, as much as I would have kep Hoare, he had slipped down the pecking order. As for Gannon, he's a huge loss and insulting to only offer him 12 month deal.
Reports locally at the weekend were saying Duffy will sign back, and also Gartland had already, nothing of course confirmed, and updates from dfc.com/twitter is like getting blood out of a stone.
Is it possible that Dundalk got the best out of Gannon already, given that he's been there several years? I know he's only 29 and should be at his peak, but he was well off the pace anytime I saw him this year. Beaten a lot more to crosses by wingers etc. Nesta mentioned on another thread that a good idea would be to try for more Euro-tpe signings like Colovic. I second that. Both Dundalk and Rovers should start casting their net towards similar teams in Europa League that might have players out of contract/cheap enough. Surely they'd be a step-up from doing the rounds of the lower leagues in England for out-of-contract players once again.
There are a couple of snags to the Coloivif Euro-type signing theory:
1) He has been inconsistent and has hardly set the league on fire so far
2) As fans we obviously have no informed idea of cost - some suggest that he is on a 2 year super deal, and few argue that he is an obvious low-cost value for money player
Maybe that is part of the plan, but with Bungalow Bill's meddling (madness?) it's hard to know if there is a cohesive plan in place.
Kristzian Adorjan was reported to be on huge money (a big portion of which was allegedly carried by his parent club). Talented player, but it took him half a season to get to the pitch of the league and then he was gone because others controlled his contract. Hardly a formula to follow on a consistent basis?
Chevdukis or Tagbajumi were both diasters
I wonder is Adorján a potential signing going into the new season for the current management team? Seems to be a free agent currently anyway.
in fairness i do advocate spreading the net wider as i do believe there are quality players that wouldnt necessarily command the wages of higher rep irish lads or those from lower leagues in england (though covid football economics could cause and an adjustment there). Portuguese, some eastern european leagues among others would have a lower average player wage. problem is the risk to picking up duds is higher without protracted scouting and even then there is no guarantees. if i name checked colovic it wasnt the soundest of examples, adorjan on the other hand could have been a real success, as could colovic yet. the like might even accept shorter term deals if terms a generally better though to really tap in to that market, like everywhere else you pay for what you get. it is based mainly in hoping that p6 have something of a scouting network that could be utilised. luxembourg sides have managed to lift their standard with access to french, german players et al and they may not have to uproot family. there are some eastern european spots that make ireland/dundalk comparable tp an island paradise - irrespective of some irish club fans calling pripyat. its not a new idea, cypriot sides (with more (dodgy) resources flooded their sides with spanish players with success. that all said the core of the team needs to be kept as was over the last successful period to try and keep that driven ethic, in balance and check to the odd half assed journeyman ala our chevdukas experiment.
(for some reason i can use any caps, not just being lazy).
*i forgot about tagbajumi, but thats not hard!!
Ronan Coghlan to Pats and Georgie Kelly to Bohs......
I'll take that all day. Don't like to get on the backs of players but Kelly was an absolute disaster for us, could well be a success for Bohs but Coughlan is the more talented player and suits us better.
Coughlan is a pats type of player.
Personally think Kelly will really thrive at Boez, if they can provide him with the service.
Pats winning the pre season again :)
Kelly was a huge disappointment at Pats, big difference in coming on as an impact sub at DFC when teams are tiring and having the responsibilty of being the starting number 9...big season for him coming up but he is no Danny Grant thats for sure