The positive thread!

In light of the huge amount of negativity surrounding clubs, the league and this forum, let's have a thread where we talk about good things.

What do you most like about the league or your team? What was the single best moment you've had supporting your team?

For me, the best moment supporting Sligo Rovers has to be last season when Bohemians came to the Showgrounds. The 'deserter' Sean Connor was (and still is, to some!) a hate figure, and there was a real sense of 'we need to stick it to him'. With the score at 1-1, we got an injury time penalty, and Faz stepped up to score. It was magic!
I think the whole main stand stayed behind to clap the players off the pitch that night. It really kick-started the season for us, and we went on an awesome run throughout June/July/August.

Anyone else?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qTaZnSHlgI

What I like most about the league is the way some of its fans can't help but start a thread, supposedly purely to focus on the nice things, and then, not 4 lines in, start going on about 'deserters' and 'hate figures'. :p :D

After Harps beat us in the playoff last season, our fans went onto the pitch, there was a brief moment where we all dwelt on how our season had gone to ****e etc., fans and players and the management. Then seconds later Dundalk fans went over to the Harps crowd behind the goal, and what happened then was one of those moments that will stick in the mind, fans clapping each other, singing to each other, swapping scarves, it just showed what real fans are about.

Last season, 1 nil down to Rovers at Daylmount with less than 10 mins to go. Crowe levels it and then big Jay McGuinness steps up and heads it over Murphy.

This season, our 2-1 win away to Drogheda featuring "Brennan's peno" in the last minute felt great. That said, I may revise my decision at the end of the season...

eventually..a positive thread!

what i like most is just the whole ethos that is Sligo Rovers. Goin to The Showgies every second saturday night, travellin every second week, trains, planes, etc. Just the general craic of the League Of Ireland. The one moment that still sticks in my head, is Paul McTiernans goal V Killester in 2006 in extra time at Tolka Park, it may have been against a junior side,and not exactly have been a pivotal moment, but i remember the corner coming in from Kopuno Low i think, and the ball ping-ponging about and McT getting his foot in, at covered stand (Lego Stand some people call it) where all the Rovers fans were going mental, and after the game singing "Killester-United" with all the staff and players from each side applauding us in front of the tunnel.

its what its all about

One of my best moments as a City fan was in Cyprus for or CL game. Being in CL for the first time(while i was a fan) was a huge thing in itself but despite winning te first leg 1-0 we went over wit a lot of people expecting to lose.

The atmosphere in the stadium was crazy, they as well as being loud liked to throw all manner of things onto the pitch.

We were being outplayed completely in sweltering heat, and sure enough they scored. The way we were playing everyone thought that was it, tey'd score again and we'd be out.

But the goal seemed to wake us up, we started playing some football and I turned to the person beind me and said 'Dan's gonna score'.

Couple of minutes later, up he comes for a corner and absolutely rockets the ball into the back of the net. Cue mayhem. About 150 of us going mental with thousands of them booing their team.

The rest of the game is a blur, which involved plenty of pelting stuff at our players by the Cypriots, full time whistle went, celebrations carried on and a fella tried to jump te moat onto te pitc and fell breaking both legs.....was funny at the time :)

We were going home the same night on the charter. At the airport when the players came in all the City fans starting applauding and chanting, locals must have thought we were crazy.

Toni Izzi scoring 4 in one game.

Fran Hitchcock going into goals after Brian McKenna had been sent off and successfully facing 2 penalties to secure a 1-0 win against .

Daithi McMahon scoring a looping last minute header to get a draw against Waterford and give us a chance away to Cork to get into the 'top six'.

Sam Allardyce crashing a header past the St. James Gate goalkeeper.

Howie King putting us ahead in the promotion playoff away at UCD (shame about the rest)


Having a club which you can feel part of on a frequent basis, and knowing that you arent just being courted for your cash (The club does want your cash, obviously). Knowing that team represents you in a real way.


And more recently, watching as an already-relegated Yokohama FC beat table-toppers Urawa Reds on the last day of the season and cost them the title.

You just can't beat being at a game.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

Fran Hitchcock going into goals after Brian McKenna had been sent off and successfully facing 2 penalties to secure a 1-0 win against Frogheda.

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Fran Hithcock, one of my all time favourite Rovers players, really nice fella too. nice to see his name mentioned.(Mc Kenna also played a few games for us from what i can remember)

I didnt really start becoming a regular at the Showgrounds until mid 2005 so best moment for me was Rovers was gaining automatic promotion to the premier division. Followed by the 2-1 win in the Showgrounds over Bohs last season.

I've had loads supporting City. Winning two FAI Cups, seeing my team win the league for the first time as a fan in 2005, knocking Djurgardens out of the UEFA Cup in 2005, beating Shelbourne in the Setanta Cup when we hadn't done it in yonks and they were arguably the best team in the country, coming back from 2-0 down to beat Rovers 3-2 at Turners Cross in (I think) about 2002, and loads more.

Kevin Murrary scoring up in athlone last year to win us the league!! That feeling will NEVER be beaten!!!

Usually the European trips are my favourite time of the year. Everything is new, everything is tense, and its different being underdogs (although at this stage we're not often underdogs in the first few rounds).

In recent times
going up to richmond last season and beating pats 2-1(derek glynn scoring 2 great goals) when nobody expected us to get anything from the game. We were 7/1 in a bookies in galway. the fella behind the counter was nearly laughing at me taking the bet. i took a lot of pleasure in going back in collecting my money

one of the best games i watched was when we played limerick in 2006. 1 nil down with around 20 minutes to go and dave o dowd came on scored a hat-trick and we ended up beating them 5-1 great night.

Obviously winning the cup in 91 and winning the league cup in turners cross on new years day in 97

Gary Haylocks double to win us the cup against Bohs,Mick Doohan scoring countless late goals to win us matches in Oriel.

But some of my favourites were in more low key games.I remember in one of dermot keeleys 1st games in charge,ironically up in tolka against shels we were leading for most of the match only for shels to snatch what seemed to be a last minute equaliser.Next thing Trevor Donnolly(a bit of a cult hero at the time ) runs the pitch to win it for us.
Another was in the brandywell against City.They were cruising to a 1nil win and but for Steve Williams would have been out of sight.Then in the last couple of mins Brian Byrne and Mick Doohan stole it for us.Will never forget Felix Healys face as we all sang "ur goin down with the Drogheda"
I also remember a game in the showgrounds where we were 2 down at half time and managed a 3all draw,a game in which Falcon Rose got a hat-trick for sligo.
All of those moments and there have been many more just really make u feel alive,we are lucky to be part of our clubs,and to be there for the highs lows is incredible.Every week is all about the build up to the match and i for one LOVE the league of ireland.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

Fran Hitchcock going into goals after Brian McKenna had been sent off and successfully facing 2 penalties to secure a 1-0 win against .

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Game was in Whitehall. Think it was Home Farm or Dublin City.

I can't speak so much for other clubs but CCFC have improved so much in the last 10 years.

The cross has gradually been upgraded to best football ground in the country. Hopefully roof for St Annes End will complete that. The whole "match day experience" as some like to call it vastly improved too.

Europe is certainly the highlight. I always make an effort to get to home as not easy to travel away any more. Summer of 2004 was the best year as was able to travel to Sweden-Holland-France in the space of 5 weeks. :cool:

On the pitch the players are much higher quality. We continue to sell players to the UK but are getting better prices every year. Best moment was the shed going crazy when Kearney scored the second goal of 2-0 win to beat Derry on the last day of the 2005 season. Never seen a LOI game sell out 2 weeks in advance in my lifetime. Official attendance did not do justice to how full the ground was. The gracious behaviour of the Derry fans reflected on all that is good with the league.

obviously the title win last year and the 3 cup wins before that were great but for me my favourite eircom league memory was the promotion/relegation playoff against galway in 2002 or 03. drogheda were two down on agregate but scored twice to get level. galway had a last minute goal dissalowed for offside which would have relegated us. we then went on to win in extra time. for me the best night as a drogheda fan because if we didnt win none of the recent success would have been possible.

Winning the league in Kilkenny on the last day in '98

One of the happiest days of my life!

Ricky O'Flaherty going in Nets down in the shed end when (I think?) gareth byrne was sent off... Obviously Ricky Fla saved the Peno!!
St Pats V Celtic in Tolka, think it was 98? swapping scarves, hats etc... singing songs and sitting side by side with Scottish Celtic fans... it was probably the only time ive ever booed Henrik Larsson!! after himself and Brattbrak scored.... good times... anyone remember the chance Martin Reilly had in Park head? think it was Reilly? my memory is a bit of a blur....

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Originally Posted by Row Z

Ricky O'Flaherty going in Nets down in the shed end when (I think?) gareth byrne was sent off... Obviously Ricky Fla saved the Peno!!

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I remember that! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Row Z

St Pats V Celtic in Tolka, think it was 98? swapping scarves, hats etc... singing songs and sitting side by side with Scottish Celtic fans... it was probably the only time ive ever booed Henrik Larsson!! after himself and Brattbrak scored.... good times... anyone remember the chance Martin Reilly had in Park head? think it was Reilly? my memory is a bit of a blur....

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@ 1.24

So close!

March '07, Ferrycarrig Park. Coldest day I ever spent at a football match in all my 46 years but LOI football came to Wexford, happy days.

Two away games stand out for me.

Obviously Derry v Gretna because of the fantastic travelling support, the great goals and the nicest fish and chips in Scotland:)

The Derry v Cork game on the last day of the season in 2005 was bittersweet.Having known we only needed to draw to take the title, we were 2-0 with about 10 or 20 mins to go and the Derry fans started singing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life:).
Having a joint rendition of "City till I die" with some Cork fans just after the game was pretty special too.

My favourite moment following Shels happened, ironically enough, in a pub. Having been to Iceland for the first round of the CL, I simply could not afford to travel to Split for the second round. The night of the game, myself and my mate went up to the Station House in Raheny. My other mate, who was at the game, was sending me regular text updates. I had given up all hope when I got a text saying it was three one to Split. The two of us were fairly gutted to say the least. We just sat watching the time tick by, then at quatre past nine the phone beeped again. I was literally afraid to look at it for a minute or two. When I eventually opened the text, it read : 3-2 Moore 90 mins! The two of us went crazy in the pub. Nobody had a clue what we were so happy about and we got some funny looks but, needless to say, we didn't give a damn! I think that goal was easily the most important one we scored that year. What a night, what a summer...never forget it. I'm smiling here just thinking about it.

Since our demise, there's one night that sticks out for me - our first league game in the 1st division, I'm almost certain it was against Kildare. We were one down for quite a while but got an equaliser late on and the place erupted. Up until a few weeks before the game, I wasn't even sure whether we would be able to field a team. The players must have thought we were mad as we celebrated as if we had beaten Hayduk all over again. The look on eyerybody's faces told its own story, yes we were in the 1st division but the Reds were back!

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Originally Posted by gspain

Game was in Whitehall. Think it was Home Farm or Dublin City.

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The game where Hitchcock went into goal was definitely in Rathbane, against Drogheda. Kevin McCarthy scored, then McKenna and Steven Craig were both sent off, but the Drogheda striker (John Ryan??) missed both.

Tomorrow I'll be shouting me lungs out for Drogs in the Connaght St stand, (& in the long bar after)
then on Thursday I'll be shouting me lungs out for Pats in Richmond Park (& maybe 1 or 2 after that too)


It's gonna be GREAT!

In the last twenty one years, we've had no home, had to endure boycotts, played our "home" games at five different venues, almost went of existence, went through examinership and had some very dark days indeed. Yet we've come out the other side beating the GAA on our way and even though we were "homeless" we still managed to add another league title to our portfolio. We gave everyone else had twenty one years to catch up on us, but we're still standing tall with 15 league and 24 cups. Yet Bohs call themselves "the Big Club" :D

Roll on Tallghtfornia.