Fixtures weekend 20/23rd Feb

[Dalymountrower]

For me, its way worse than what happened st Rovers.

Every club has a moron who does something stupid. And Rovers fans at least sorted that problem out themselves to their credit.

Their is a difference with the official ultras group going to a game with the sole purpose of throwing flares around. The idea of their tifo display was to vandalise the pitch and cause damage. Burning a 12 year is just another consequence of their moronic behaviour.

Drogheda will protect them like they always do.

Sorry to hear that happening in Dundalk.
Hope the kid is ok.
Footage of fireworks being fired out of the ground onto Dundalk fans on the street too.
Time for those ultra groupds to he charged with reckless endangerment if thry irgsnise flare" displays"
On a positive note,limiting away fans to members only , sensible PSNI and clubs advice to travelling fans and friendly stewarding meant the game in the Brandwell went off peacefully last night.
Bohs were very good at times .Derry were very disjointed.Mc Clean as midfield playmaker is killing them.

[ontheotherhand]

Rovers very comfortable against pats despite starting a few that won't be in our best 11. Pats, outside of a 10 mins spell offered nothing and I don't really see what Kenny is trying to do there tbh. Maybe just need to get players back but I'd be concerned if I was a pats fan.

Adam Brennan had one of the best debuts I've seen. Already looks a level above and if he keeps it up he will be gone soon. Wasn't sure we'd be able to replace Honohan but Brennan did everything Josh used to do. Defended like a demon and his attacking play was unreal. Some of his first touches were just sublime.

Bohs winning the league in February, two months ahead of schedule. Fair play to them.

McClean and Derry doesn't seem like the match made in heaven it was supposed to be.

Early days all round of course. Great to be back.

[WoodquayBoy]

Hammer the club (Drogheda) with a big fine and then watch them weed out the troublemakers. Same with any other club - if your fans cause trouble, you’re paying the price, might force clubs who don’t act to do something about the problem.

[wonder88]

A positive result and a vital first point for Galway in an engrossing game in Tolka last night. It is very much a new Galway team, but there is some encouraging signs there. Shelbourne have some really good players and will be up near the top of the table I expect. Good to see the repairs to the new stand behind the goal nearly finished and the pitch looked good also. I didn't get to the home game 2 weeks ago, so it was great to be back. ( With the Irish weather, do we start the season 2 weeks too early?).

[oriel]

Most but not all clubs have a minority who get drawn into trouble, the common theme is age and possibly under the influence and maybe encouraged by older fans. No one minds banter, its actually important for the atmosphere, the classic Bill Shankly line 'football without fans (cans) is nothing' it adds to the atmosphere.

Last night was the first game in well over a year where over 100 away fans attended, Drogs didn't quite sell out their 500 but it was 400+, this time though the % of those looking to actively and pre arrange vandalise and destruct property was clear, it was up to 50 people possibly more.

1/ Brand new fence in front buckled in two sections, ripped apart.

2/ Up to 20 seats ripped up from solid foundation and 2 seats burnt beyond use.

3/ Lost count, was 30 at the last time of checking that high burning (not the standard) flares thrown at a low angle to cause immediate damage on impact to the new pitch (first time visiting supporters attending).

Dundalk fans have been no angels at times, but last night was a disgrace by Drogheda, up to 20 volunteers gave up Sat mornings in Jan and Feb solely to work on the away end, fencing, painting, power hose (contractor), the massive clean up behind with jcb's, it was just depressing to look at the damage to the area and black burnt patches over the pitch.

The place looked so well too overall with new lights and the badly needed new pitch, great buzz entering the ground and just under 4k at it, then the away fans started their organised plan.

[Nesta99]

I have seen a pic of the kid that was injured, its nasty enough, whole side of his face burned. He is very very lucky that it looks to be superficial. Any worse and someone was in trouble for GBH and a Garada invetigation would be underway. There still could be if a report is made by his graudians to Gardai. I wont post a link up, its out there if people want to look for it. Its no the smartest of things to do moments after the Minister for Sport, responsible for grant funding, had just opened the new pitch. These things can influence the decision makers. New Dundalk CEO is recently retired Director of Services with Louth CoCo. When it comes to who pays for repairs he's still a highly regarded and connected to another organisation you need on your side for well a lot of stuff. It may not be too easy to brush off in the coming days.

[nigel-harps1954]

I just don't know who gets enjoyment out of criminal damage. What possesses anyone to rip up seats, fencing, and burn a pitch in the manner they did. This is definitely the worst case of vandalism the league has seen in quite some time, and the FAI need to come down very hard on Drogheda here. Dundalk need to be sending repair bills for the pitch to Trivela, and there needs to be a stadium ban for Drogheda supporters. I don't care if it seems harsh, or an overreaction, but a proper example needs to be set here.

[Nesta99]

Most but not all clubs have a minority who get drawn into trouble, the common theme is age and possibly under the influence and maybe encouraged by older fans. No one minds banter, its actually important for the atmosphere, the classic Bill Shankly line 'football without fans (cans) is nothing' it adds to the atmosphere.Last night was the first game in well over a year where over 100 away fans attended, Drogs didn't quite sell out their 500 but it was 400+, this time though the % of those looking to actively and pre arrange vandalise and destruct property was clear, it was up to 50 people possibly more.1/ Brand new fence in front buckled in two sections, ripped apart.2/ Up to 20 seats ripped up from solid foundation and 2 seats burnt beyond use.3/ Lost count, was 30 at the last time of checking that high burning (not the standard) flares thrown at a low angle to cause immediate damage on impact to the new pitch (first time visiting supporters attending).Dundalk fans have been no angels at times, but last night was a disgrace by Drogheda, up to 20 volunteers gave up Sat mornings in Jan and Feb solely to work on the away end, fencing, painting, power hose (contractor), the massive clean up behind with jcb's, it was just depressing to look at the damage to the area and black burnt patches over the pitch.The place looked so well too overall with new lights and the badly needed new pitch, great buzz entering the ground and just under 4k at it, then the away fans started their organised plan.

Im more surpried today at the amount of Drogheda people laughing or dismissing what happened, a lot of thats what you get for using an artificial surface or 'bouncy castle' that some super witty person came up with years ago. They are not kids either. There hasnt even been any widespread criticism of the fact that there was somone injured during this messing. Whatever about the pitch I thought there'd be some copping on that this was dangerous and beyond targeting a rival club when your own fans were hurt.

[nigel-harps1954]

I have seen a pic of the kid that was injured, its nasty enough, whole side of his face burned. He is very very lucky that it looks to be superficial. Any worse and someone was in trouble for GBH and a Garada invetigation would be underway. There still could be if a report is made by his graudians to Gardai. I wont post a link up, its out there if people want to look for it. Its no the smartest of things to do moments after the Minister for Sport, responsible for grant funding, had just opened the new pitch. These things can influence the decision makers. New Dundalk CEO is recently retired Director of Services with Louth CoCo. When it comes to who pays for repairs he's still a highly regarded and connected to another organisation you need on your side for well a lot of stuff. It may too easy to brush off in the coming days.

I had my own 12 year old and 9 year old sons in Finn Park last night and I shudder at the thought of my child being badly burnt by fireworks or flares. Its utterly shocking behaviour and I can only hope that lad makes a full recovery and isn't scarred for life either from the firework, or the thought of attending his local LOI ground. In a time where the very same lads who throw these fireworks will call others barstoolers or bemoan the lack of crowds at games, they'll be the very same people who put others off attending.

[dundalkfc10]

The Drogheda ultra group have a video on their socials laughing about what happened last night After all there statement's during the week about Joanna (which were 100% correct)!If they are not banned from games, Drogheda obvs don't care about kids getting hurt On the game, sickner to lose the win at the end like we did but that's 2 games now and we will easily finish well away from relegation if that's the standard of teams we are playing

[Kiki Balboa]

What's annoying me this morning is Drogheda Fans online almost feel entitled to cause damage in Oriel. Lots of justification of their actions, while their ultras group are openly celebrating it (again shows their entitlement and how they are coddled by the club).On OrielWeb, they are saying the damage could be as much as E100k, and Dundalk might not be able to host home games for a while. Hopefully that is wrong, and Drogheda foot any bill.

[sbgawa]

Your earlier post Nigel about "who takes pleasure in criminal damage" is a good questionIn my experience its people who dont contribute anything to the club beyond a ticket , never volunteer, never fund raise , sell raffle tickets etc. when you know how hard people in the league work to put facilities in place you wouldnt dream about wrecking them

[dundalkfc10]

Your earlier post Nigel about "who takes pleasure in criminal damage" is a good questionIn my experience its people who dont contribute anything to the club beyond a ticket , never volunteer, never fund raise , sell raffle tickets etc. when you know how hard people in the league work to put facilities in place you wouldnt dream about wrecking them

The sad part about all this is the F45 group do volunteer around Drogheda and are happy about what happened. Celebrating it on their socials
Not one word about the poor kid though so clearly they are just a bunch of scumbags volunteering or not

[ger121]

Optics are an important thing. There was a lot of news about the new pitch and it was a positive story. I believe there was even Government politicians at the match. This therefore looks quite bad. My feeling is that this one won’t pass without a serious sanction for the Drogs. The FAI will be looking to make an example of someone. It’s always about the optics…

[ger121]

The sad part about all this is the F45 group do volunteer around Drogheda and are happy about what happened. Celebrating it on their socials
Not one word about the poor kid though so clearly they are just a bunch of scumbags volunteering or not

I did not know about the kid till I read it here. That makes it when worse. I hope he will be ok.

[Inchicore]

If the 1st two games are anything to go by, Kenny hasn't changed anything regarding his approach. So much for spending time shadowing coaches in England.

He needs to play 1 or both of forrester and Palmer on Friday v Dundalk. Nothing, absolutely nothing going forward in both our games so far.

On a side note, have we lost our identity of having one of the best pathways for academy players since Kenny arrived?

He would rather pay high wages to mercenaries than give our academy players a pathway.

[D24Saint]

If the 1st two games are anything to go by, Kenny hasn't changed anything regarding his approach. So much for spending time shadowing coaches in England. He needs to play 1 or both of forrester and Palmer on Friday v Dundalk. Nothing, absolutely nothing going forward in both our games so far. On a side note, have we lost our identity of having one of the best pathways for academy players since Kenny arrived?He would rather pay high wages to mercenaries than give our academy players a pathway.

The whole SK era looks like it’s going to be an expensive dead end. The chap looks washed up as a coach at the moment. He might need a break from the game. I find watching his teams very frustrating since the start of last season. There is very little identity to the side and it’s all a bit paint by numbers for my taste.

[Inchicore]

He got this job on the back of what he did at Dundalk. OK he built the team up but he had the biggest budget, biggest squad, league was a 2 horse race and some teams were still part time. The league is a different animal these days and he hasn't been able to adapt to it.

Comes across as a nice guy but can't see him being here for the summer transfer window.

With that, our DOF should go too. Talks a good game but hasn't a clue. Unfortunately he has GK wrapped around his finger.

From top to bottom as they say......

[Nesta99]

What's annoying me this morning is Drogheda Fans online almost feel entitled to cause damage in Oriel. Lots of justification of their actions, while their ultras group are openly celebrating it (again shows their entitlement and how they are coddled by the club).On OrielWeb, they are saying the damage could be as much as E100k, and Dundalk might not be able to host home games for a while. Hopefully that is wrong, and Drogheda foot any bill.

Im genuinely baffled by the wider response south of the county. Has there been a case where Rovers or Bohs fans go to a game against each other with the open sole intent to just to cause as much damage as possible. Yes seats get broken, idiots dancing on them, some halfwit might smash a toilet or something. But I dont recall large amounts of a travelling support collectively behaving in such a way in LoI. Its beyond fights on the street after which would have angered me for disgracing my club. On this I feel like the parent of a seriously out of control teenager that is hurting people with real malice. Its like diappointment, concern and fear (that its not being roundly condemned overwhelingly....what ha gone wrong with people, a serious erosion of cop on. Maybe we've alll gotten older and wiser together on this forum as in the past there would outrage and finger pointing in ridiculous 'our schooligans are slightly less worse than yours' way. This was more sinister than stupidity and mischief. I think a lot of people are missing the real issue with this - saying that searches were inadequate, that others will just do the same (which I actually dont believe, an individual can alway let everyone down but I dont think fan groups across the league would be going to Oriel Park thinking this is what we are going to do); people referring back to Dundalk fans in United Park doing something. Lots of justification but few just coming out and saying it was bad form, its a bad look for our club, expressing embaressment, club statement condeming it (even if its just due to the injured kid, which according to his family his coat was alight also along with the flash burns to the face). It should be a wake-up call not denial and deflection, where were werent far off one of the worst incidents in LoI if that kid had been a bit less lucky. For Dundalk too in terms of how they police games. Netting will probaly go up now, just to make the away end an even more welcoming experience. think Deuty Drog used to post here and he is the only Drog fan Ive seen expressing embaressment, where are the rest?

[MeathDrog]

I can only echo what has already been said here. I can't understand the mindset that not only condones but cheers on what happened last night.

I've seen comments made by Drogheda fans on FB who really should know better. People who are married, have kids etc. You could understand it if it came from an immature teen. The whole incident (and week) has left me feeling depressed tbh.