QuoteIt's advantage to Dundalk but it is not over.Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
It's the hope that kills you.
Hopefully it's not over yet.
It's advantage to Dundalk but it is not over.
It's far from over. 4 points is easily catchable with 5 to go.
One game at a time is all we can do.
On the game I am delighted we put in a performance like that. We were well written off pre match and cork were lauded up with thrashing a poor galway,longford and rovers.
How was greg bolger and holohan not sent off? We seriously had to beat 12 men out there.
Really don't understand where Caulfield got that we intimidate officials. Connolly must be on corks payroll
I expect cork to get 15 from their 5 games. They have no one really to play and they'll all roll over for them. Next up is the ogres and an injury list that's getting longer after each passing game. I wonder if we can play 11 for the last game but thats a long way off
Don't worry, Finn Harps will put you all out of your misery next season and win the league.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
And best of luck to Dundalk in Swan Lake. Rehearsals going well by the looks of things tonight.
Some of it was cringe alright.
Best team won last night and they are the best team this year! .... the rest of this month is crazy for them though!
Even if we win the Cup I think Caulfield should be sacked. I accept that he is trying to win the league against the best ever LOI team (hat's off to them) but this season he had a golden opportunity with the extra games Dundalk have in Europe and he couldn't take advantage. Last season and the season before I wasn't too disappointed to finish behind them as they had the same amount of games as us and with a level playing field Dundalk will always finish ahead of us.
We should be four points clear at the top, not four points behind. We didn't lose the league tonight, we lost it in the three games against Sligo, Bohs and Derry where we only took two points (Dundalk lost two games in a row during that run).
Caulfield doesn't have the tactical ability to change things when we run out of ideas. His only solution is to throw on Marky Sull and hit it long (he did that again last night). If FORAS keep him on they are basically saying they are happy to finish second and say "we gave it a go" rather than actually win things. It'll be even harder next year as Dundalk will have spent their UEFA booty to improve the squad (good luck to them, we'd do the same if we could).
Best team won. Ref was atrocious. Doesn't matter, Dundalk deserved their points.
Big win for Dundalk, and big changes too with Sava and Keane coming in, both were excellent. Huge call on dropping Rogers but his confidence must have been low and the mistakes were becoming too regular.
This has been a notable feature on Dundalk's last few seasons that players can come into the side and settle in very quickly. This is also the case when making changes, Shields for example would consider himself very unlucky to be left out, yet came on for the last half hour and gave a tremendous display.
Thought we definitely deserved to win and apart from a short spell in the first half we were better and quicker in MF, the trio of Finn, O'Donnell and McEleney worked very well. Horgan as he said himself after on tv had better games but two brilliant goals. Great work by McEleney and McMillan pulling the defence wide for Horgan to sprint through the middle and finish.
I think Dooley was Cork's best player and yet again i was surprised to see O'Sulliavan not start, he always causes us problems, Gartland was excellent against Maguire and he needed to be. Cork are a big strong side and overall it was a very tough match for us, no doubt about that.
It's definitely not over, still going to be a big ask for us to win all of the remaining games, I suppose we only have one additional match on Cork, but its v Zenit, so one game at a time stuff, but we're definitely in the driving seat.
We should see it through now, but just like the events last Sat night, things can change very quickly.
Last edited by oriel; 12/10/2016 at 10:43 AM.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), only Irish club to win a game / points in Europa League Group Stage (2016).
While the league is not over yet, I think you are correct on all points here.
On the ref - while the free that lead to the first goal was soft, Cork got the benefit of dubious decisions with the handball incident and Bolger inexplicably not getting a second yellow card. Nevertheless Tomas Connolly did not determine the outcome of the game
Dundalk were the superior team, as they have been in most encounters with Cork over the last few years
Last edited by Ezeikial; 12/10/2016 at 10:44 AM.
To be fair, Bolger not getting sent off is just one in our favour, while over the past three years Stephen O'Donnell could have been sent off in almost every game we've played against you. O'Donnell gets booked and is then on diplomatic immunity for the rest of the game.
Crikey - why limit the discussion to just the last 3 seasons?
There used to be a time when Cork committed no fouls at all.
Take yer oil
Need I point you to my previous post? No complaints here.
They have just one more fixture than city.
Just a wee trip to Russia, Imagine we had Wexford away instead
Yeah just ignore the fact that we've had this crazy schedule for the last few weeks as well. Selective memory must be a Cork thing!
Bigtime. Stonewall penalty not given for Dundalk and Bolger should have seen red.
The congested fixture list affects both teams although the Europa League match against Zenit next Thursday makes it more complicated for Dundalk. Despite this and the more difficult run-in opposition, the bookies seem convinced that Dundalk will retain their title (unbackable at 1/7 with Cork now at 9/2 for the league title).
The bigger issue is the added demand to play the Zenit away tie in St Petersburg on the Thursday prior to the Cup Final. This gives Cork a significant advantage going into that match, so silverware remains a real possibility for Cork this season. It would be a huge disappointment for this Cork team if they ended up with nothing again this season
Some home truths in the Echo
http://www.eveningecho.ie/sport/cork...games/2546264/CITY HAVE YET TO LEARN THE ART OF WINNING THE BIG GAMES
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016
John McHale
Soccer
ONE of the main reasons Dundalk are the best team in Ireland for the past three seasons was evident in Oriel Park on Tuesday night.
They know how to win the important games, against the best team or teams, at the important time of the season, when everything is on the line. Cork have yet to learn that art.
Let’s look at the stats from this season. By the time it ends, Cork will have played Dundalk five times. With three wins from their first four meetings, Cork, the stats will show, regardless of the result in the final game on November 6 in the Aviva Stadium, will have had the better of Dundalk this season.
If Dundalk win the final game, the FAI Cup final, those stats will be a lie.
Dundalk, thanks to their recent success, and the craft of manager Stephen Kenny, have learned that the games to win are the ones that matter against your opponent for the title, that the games to win are the ones that change the destiny of the title, and that the games to win are the ones that bring you silverware.
Despite success against Dundalk early in the season, Cork and John Caulfield have yet to achieve guile. That craft comes from winning the big games and lifting trophies that matter, not the President’s Cup.
Dundalk have this craft.
Cork have yet to achieve this status despite all the progress they have made this season.
There is no doubt that Cork are a much better team this season, but the Dundalk players know what needs to be done to win those key, season-changing, defining games. Cork have yet to develop this skill set.
There is no shame in that, Dundalk are still ahead of Cork in terms of development, but at some stage this season, this must change if City are to stop Dundalk from becoming champions for the third year in a row and doing the double for the second year in a row.
Cork huffed and puffed, showed plenty of perspiration, but very little inspiration, as they were second best, particularly in the first half.
Their marquee players, Horgan, McMillan, O’Donnell, Gartland, McEleney and Finn were better than Cork’s. That’s why they won.
Seldom have you seen a game where Kevin O’Connor, Steven Beattie, Greg Bolger, Karl Sheppard, Stephen Dooley and Sean Maguire had no impact other than a negative one.
Seldom have you seen these players come out on the wrong side of a duel with their opponent, but that is what happened Tuesday night.
Dundalk, when it mattered, were better in all areas of the pitch and while Cork upped their game at the start of the second half thanks to the introduction of Mark O’Sullivan, they didn’t do enough to win this game. Only O’Sullivan left Oriel Park with his reputation enhanced and that is what will annoy the Cork players the most.
With Martin O’Neill watching, I’m sure several of them would have hoped to impress, but they never got to the grips with the windy conditions, the awful pitch and the occasion.
The good news is that there is still time to turn this loss into a positive. As John Kavanagh, coach to Conor McGregor says, you either win or learn; that was a night of learning for Cork. The league is out of their hands, they are depending on others to help them, but there is a cup final to be played and that is a game that simply has to be won.
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