Tonights Action 17-4-09

[holidaysong]

Thought UCD lacked leadership but perhaps can be expected off such a young side.

How ironic is that coming from a Youths fan?

[irishultra]

Bit harsh, Derry's goal was very well worked.

it was but i think they managed one proper chance in the second half, might have been morrow who played a nice ball into the box, but the bray defender made an excellent block.

i have no idea who was is in midfield for bray, looked very poor though..ciaran martyn is a good midfielder, a bit like a frank lampard of the loi arriving late in the box as he did tonight but he's not one to get on the ball and dictate a game imo. when you have two midfields where neither two men demand the ball it leads to a terrible game. just my opinion. i might be being a bit harsh, afterall i was watching diego in action for werder bremen against udinesie during the week just before i went out.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Great performance by the Youths tonight as they deservedly got the three points. Youths played their best half of the season in the first half and should have gone in two up. Peach of a goal from Locky who volleyed from 25 yards through the remains of a corner. Youths did a number on Ronan Finn by playing a full-back on him who tracked him everywhere and he did little in the match. Thought UCD lacked leadership but perhaps can be expected off such a young side. Youths football style greatly improved by the addition of Locky and Jimmy Keohane to the starting lineup.

UCD fared better in the second as Mick's catenaccio took over but rarely threatened. Best chant of the evening "Where's the keeper in the red"?

I'd agree with most of that. Wexford defended from the front right from the start and really unsettled our side. They were controlling the game long before they scored. No real stand out performer- just a very good, solid team performance.

We definitely lacked leadership- I said something similar to somebody during the course of the game. Needed somebody to take charge and settle everyone down. Our captain barely opened his mouth all night.

Fair play to Wexford- definitely deserved the win. Great away support too.

How ironic is that coming from a Youths fan?

UCD's average age tonight- 18
Wexford's average age tonight- 26

[pineapple stu]

Great performance by the Youths tonight as they deservedly got the three points. Youths played their best half of the season in the first half and should have gone in two up. Peach of a goal from Locky who volleyed from 25 yards through the remains of a corner. Youths did a number on Ronan Finn by playing a full-back on him who tracked him everywhere and he did little in the match. Thought UCD lacked leadership but perhaps can be expected off such a young side. Youths football style greatly improved by the addition of Locky and Jimmy Keohane to the starting lineup.

UCD fared better in the second as Mick's catenaccio took over but rarely threatened. Best chant of the evening "Where's the keeper in the red"?

Yep, fair enough summary. Youths defended very well and hassled us at every opportunity; deserved the win. The fans need to come up with some more original songs though - "Did you get your homework done?" - YAWN!

The defeat will be good for us though; give the lads a kick (such as they got at half time, leading to a much better second half) and we can kick on from this, I think.

UCD's average age tonight- 18
Wexford's average age tonight- 26

Really? Interesting stat. Thought Wexford looked fairly big alright.

[MickNolan]

Twigg hat-trick for Shamrock Rovers.

Pitch invasion.

2 fans got onto the pitch and got straight back off...

[gufcfan]

2 fans got onto the pitch and got straight back off...

See for yourselves.

Galway United v Rovers Highlights

High definition - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEpBKXDfujM&fmt=22

Normal quality - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEpBKXDfujM

[brianw82]

Twigg's first was a quality header. Second definitely had a touch of offside about it. Third was just bundled home.

[MickNolan]

See for yourselves.

Galway United v Rovers Highlights

High definition - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEpBKXDfujM&fmt=22

Normal quality - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEpBKXDfujM

And from what i can see.. 2 Fans

Black Jacket:


Blue Jacket:


Anymore??:

[sligoman]

Pitch invasion.

See for yourselves.

Galway United v Rovers Highlights

High definition - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEpBKXDfujM&fmt=22

Normal quality - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEpBKXDfujM

Eh? Where's the pitch invasion?

[OneRedArmy]

bray vs derry was an absolutely woeful game. did kenny and gormley purposely avoid picking central midfielders? it was like watching ireland vs bulgaria, the only difference was both teams were playing like ireland.

Anyone with half a football brain would realise our problems stem from two wingers(Kearney and McGlynn) who cut inside too often, therefore offering no width and confine the play too much.

Also if you think we only had one chance in the second half you obviously left early.

But given your posting history I'm not surprised....

[irishultra]

lol, i wondered when the legendary foot.ie bitterness would pass by my way.

not once did either of your two midfielders demand the ball or look to do anything with it, it was constant up in the air stuff, i would have expected a lot better from Derry, not a patch on Bohs anyway. If Bohs played Bray they would teach them a footballing lesson, Derry looked marginally better than Bray and that was mainly in the physical department.

maby not what you want to hear but its fact. you have a long way to go before you are league champions again.

[gufcfan]

Eh? Where's the pitch invasion?

There was none, just two young lads ran on and were promptly removed again.

[RoversHead]

Roddy was right about Galway's relegation battle beginning now.

A big thank you to Bray from all up here BTW

Well if Roddy said it,I mean he`s always on the money.As for thanking Bray Im scarlet for ya

[OneRedArmy]

maby not what you want to hear but its fact. you have a long way to go before you are league champions again.

I agree completely. But not because of centre midfield. Our lack of wingers and slow centre halves will be our undoing.

And we'll see how Bohs do against Bray on Friday. I'd be surprised if many teams teach Bray "a footballing lesson" this season.

[sonofstan]

I agree completely. But not because of centre midfield. Our lack of wingers and slow centre halves will be our undoing.

And we'll see how Bohs do against Bray on Friday. I'd be surprised if many teams teach Bray "a footballing lesson" this season.

I'd agree. although it's already looking as if it will be us and youse neck and neck for the season, I'm not convinced there's any huge gap in quality between us and the rest.

We rode our luck outrageously last season, and i'd be the second to admit - after Fenlon? - that the margin flattered us; we were good, but not that good. A few things went our way that just shouldn't; the robbery in TC, the peno out in Belfield, Kalonas showing up at just the right time.

We've a weaker squad this year, in my view, or at least weaker than the one we ended up with: Burns and O'Donnell will be missed more and more as the season goes on, especially with possibly 10-12 more matches (CL and Setanta). Ndo's great, but he's also potentially a sick note in waiting. All our strikers are 30ish - we badly need some youthful pace up front.

Derry have only really lost McGinn, and Kearney's not a real replacement - I reckon you'll chase us the whole way. After that, there's a big pool of mid-table teams (basically, everyone except Drogheda) who'll take points off each other, and nick a few from us and Derry as well.

As for teaching footballing lessons - it was noticeable last season that all our best performances came against the better sides; if Pat's or Cork or last years Drogs put it up to us, then we respond well - less so against less imaginative teams. so no, no 'footballing lessons'

[thischarmingman]

bray vs derry was an absolutely woeful game. did kenny and gormley purposely avoid picking central midfielders? it was like watching ireland vs bulgaria, the only difference was both teams were playing like ireland.

I have no idea what game you went to- it was a very good game to watch. We were excellent in the first half, some of our passing and movement was terrific. And Bray were full value for their point. It did become more hoofball in the second half but that was more to do with Bray closing us down far quicker and us having to clear more often.

Agree with all the previous comments about our width though McGlynn did have a good game and showed some nice touches. Jennings should be made to spend the whole week practising his kicking although I'm reluctant to blame him for the Bray goal without seeing it again as I think it may have taken an awkward bounce on the way in.

We won't win the league this year: when we're good, we're excellent and we can tear teams apart, but it doesn't happen often enough and we have a total lack of options. When Bray regrouped last night, closed us down faster and quickened their tempo it meant we couldn't pass them out of the game as we had done earlier so we went to plan two- hoof it to Farren/Stewart. Our last 4 games have included a home defeat, a home draw, and an away draw. Just not good enough.

[superfrank]

Derry played some good football last night. They passed it around brilliantly in the first half. Their goal was well-worked and Stewart's chance in the first half, where Gray knocked the ball all the way across pitch, was another one. Bray also had a few good passing moves. Admittedly, the second half did have a lot of hoof-ball.

Derry do have a very good side and, dare I say, they are a better footballing side than Bohs. However, Bohs last season were incredibly efficient and they could finish teams off consistently or they could scrape a victory. I don't think Derry can do that as much.

[osarusan]

Limerick 3 Kildare County 0.

First goal was a glancing header from an inswinging free kick that made it in at the far post. Second was a penalty. Third was an own goal from Baba Issaka - he chested an outswinging cross back to where he thought the keeper was, but the keeper had come out to catch it.

Kildare were very poor - no midfield presence at all, and never troubled us at the back. Limerick got in behind them all night, and should have pressed more.

Att. 457 (I think)

[holidaysong]

UCD's average age tonight- 18
Wexford's average age tonight- 26

Perhaps they should rethink the Wexford Youths name then..

[passinginterest]

UCD's average age tonight- 18
Wexford's average age tonight- 26

A bit high with average age of Youths. It's 23.55. Adding the likes of Holden and Breen has helped to bring up the average age, only three teenagers in the Youths starting eleven.

Holden - 29
Breen - 30
White - 22
Russell - 27
Flynn - 24
Sinnott - 23
O'Loughlin - 23
Kearney - 19
McCurtain - 19
Keohane - 18
Doyle - 25

That's going by the DoB's on the Youths website.

Still I'd imagine that's older than people expect, it's easy to forget that this is the third season for most of these guys so even the ones who were only 18 starting out are 20-21 now, it makes a big difference in terms of physical strength.