City v Scum thread

**patsh** · 26/03/2004, 4:08 PM

Whats the bets Moons will have a blinder tonight, just to show Dolan who should have been in goal?

Updates when possible......

All over
City 1 - 2 Scum
Fenn

Sweeny and Byrne on for Kearney and Hoggie
Dan had a header taken off the line
Behan on for Kevin Murray

Poor result.
We must be able to beat shambles like the sum to have any hopes for 1st or 2nd

**pete** · 26/03/2004, 4:15 PM

Bong bong bong....

**SÓC** · 26/03/2004, 4:31 PM

I think Mooney will play well but at least the City players know what he's like and his weakness. Near post shot plus Noel Mooney = goal

**CorkCityFootie** · 26/03/2004, 4:36 PM

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**Gary** · 26/03/2004, 4:58 PM

What does cork city fooooooooty have that this site dont?????

Blatant plug if ever i saw one

Anyway, as for a prediction, Ill go with the general thinking, Mooney to have a blinder, and Shams to go over us 2-0

**Gary** · 26/03/2004, 5:09 PM

Its not the defence Id worry about, but the midfield.

My God, i cant believe after that long close season, we are still lacking in that dept. IMO we really should have tried to get Rennie back, as much as he sickens me for leaving.

**ian** · 26/03/2004, 5:45 PM

I go 2-2 and it will be a good match for us both.

**Gary** · 26/03/2004, 6:07 PM

You sound like your surprised that he is fit Xtreme?

Last week it was Dan Murray, even leading Corner and What Biy to tell us he was defo out.

It was Flynn this week.

Who next will fall victim to Dolans "...... is doubtful ploy/virus".

Neil · 26/03/2004, 6:10 PM

Are we winning yet?

**patsh** · 26/03/2004, 6:20 PM

Anyone know how many City fans at the game?

**Gary** · 26/03/2004, 6:24 PM

We are 2 down

**Gary** · 26/03/2004, 6:30 PM

The Midfield should protect the defense. However, there is no legislating for sloppiness from set pieces.

Anyway, theres a long way to go yet. Cmon City

**ian** · 26/03/2004, 6:43 PM

I was talkng to one of the lads that is up in dublin and he says there is about 40 up there in all.

**Snatch** · 26/03/2004, 10:12 PM

Far from a championship wnning performance tonight. City were totally inept in the first half. Rovers weren't much better but didn't have to be with City's defending form corners. Both goals were identical and within five minutes of each other! Two free headers in the six yard box from the same corner.

Dolan switched things at half time. Hoggie and Kearney went off. CT went to right back where he did well. Georgie went wide on the right. Willie Byrne came on and looked our most solid defender. Murray moved to midfield were he was as anonomous as he was in defence. Why he stayed on for nearly 90 minutes is beyond me. He didn't even look interested. Sweeney came on in the middle and controlled things, tidying everything up as City turned up the pressure on the retreating Rovers. There was one problem as City had nobody on the left.

Fenn who was City's best player with some beautiful touches, got one back. We had several chances from crosses but it was all very scrappy. Flynny and Doyle looked good but once again City lacked cohesion. A draw would have been a fairer result but we some serious improving to do.

**TommyT** · 26/03/2004, 11:23 PM

O'Callaghan wasted tonight that far back, cheers Dolo always knew you'd forgive us for the Cup Final.
Fenn had a lot of space playing off the strikers but could've done more with it. Your Centre-Halves look well dodgy. Hopefully Ronan Seery has a big brown one in his kaks after tonights result.

**Colm** · 27/03/2004, 11:02 AM

Apart from a 10 to 15 minute spell during which Rovers scored their goals, we played very well last night.
Fenn was outstanding but Flynny looked like he wasnt fully fit. George did quite well. Colin T was outstanding at right back in the second half and Willie Byrne was good when he came on.
Kevin Murray was dreadful and I think it should be clear by now that he simply isn't good enough. Devine was at fault for both goals and his distribution was very poor, he'll need to improve or else letting Mooney go will prove a very costly mistake.
Talking to Mooney after the game and he said "I don't think I've ever been so lucky. I don't know how ye didn't fcuking hammer us".
We really should have won by a few goals, we were all over them for most of the game. Rovers played horrible football and as we learned with Pats last season it's very hard to combat that.

Hopefully, this defeat won't damage the lads confidence too much. If we create as much chances against Longford as we did last night, we will beat them easily. However, we musn't underestimate them.

**ccfcman** · 27/03/2004, 12:13 PM

[QUOTE=xtreme rebel]Kearney is far too weak imo. Woods must surely be pushing hard for Kearney's place now. QUOTE]
i agree whole heartedly,kearney is a nippy little f*ck w/ the odd nice touch,but woodsy has to return wide on the left,imo danny mrph LB Woodsy LM

**Troy.McClure** · 27/03/2004, 12:55 PM

I thought that we were poor last night, although it was an end to end match to watch, the standard of football was quite poor overall. It was my first time seeing Fenn playing and I was impressed. He seems to have the best control of the ball, even better than George, but I wonder if he would be better in midfield ala Scoles and bring back the JO'F/GO'C partnership up front.

It was really like 2 city sides played. In the first half I thought that we played the better football and that their goals came out of the blue (although they did have a good spell after they got them). Id say that Rovers will be happy with them coz they looked like training ground moves. K Murry is the same at centre back as he is in midfield, so I cant understand how he is in the squad, let alond ahead of Bennet and Greg. Colin T did nothing in midfield. He was always available to take the ball but never got stuck in to win the ball. I dont think that Hoggie or Karney did anything to deserve being taken off at H/T but something did have to change.

In the 2nd half we went all or nothing and Im ammazed we didnt conseed another goal because we were really pushing forward. I think that its more of a sign that Rovers wont be up to much this year that they couldnt punch through our midfield which was really just Sweeny (good for winning the ball but didnt always make the best choice when passing it) and K Murray (ye know yereselves). George was on the right wing and JOF went to the left side of attack but didnt look fully fit and prob has one of his poorer games last night. Colin T had a great game at RB and Danny Murphy looks like a solid LB. The fanastically named Willy Byrne came on and did ok. He's one of those thug defenders who puts in crunching tackels and lets you know that he's around but doesnt know what to do when he has the ball. He's better than K Murry but not as good as Derek IMO. Id rather have Bennet there though.

Alot of people gave Devine stick last night which I thought was kind of harsh. I dont think that Id blame him for the goals (although I still havent seen them on tv). I think that most peoples problem with him was that he was slow in giving the ball out. If thats the worst you have to complain about with your keeper then I think that theres not too much wrong!

Other than that though I thought that we can do much better and that we have to start thinking about what we are doing on the pitch and start making passes and crosses.

One last thing though, Eric's 'megaphone'was class! Keep those ring-tones comming!

**Troy.McClure** · 27/03/2004, 1:01 PM

From FAI.ie . I think that its a fair summary of the game.

Shamrock Rovers get first win - 26 March 2004

Shamrock Rovers opened their account of the season on Friday night recording a 2-1 victory over title pretenders Cork City at Richmond Park.

Elsewhere, Waterford United came from behind to draw 2-2 with Bohemians and missed the chance to win the game from the penalty spot while St Patrick's Athletic picked up their first win of the season beat Drogheda United 1-0.

In the eircom First Division, UCD beat Athlone Town 4-3 at Belfield Park to maintain their 100 percent record while Kildare County beat Monaghan United 1-0.

Shamrock Rovers 2-1 Cork City
Palmer 18 Fenn 55
McGuinness 21

Goals from centre back pairing, Terry Palmer and Jason McGuinness, in a three minute burst midway through the first half put Rovers in the driving seat although they had to endure some nervous moments in the second half after Neale Fenn had pulled a goal back for Cork City.

Unsurprisingly, considering both goals came from centre backs, Rovers biggest advantage over Cork was their aerial ability.

However, the work rate of all ten outfield players was also an important factor in the match with Cork's technically gifted midfield and attack never given a second on the ball.

This was to prove vital as Rovers victory was the result of hard graft, particularly early in the first half and for almost the entire second half when Cork laid siege to the home side's goal.

In the opening minutes, it was Cork who were on top. Mark Rutherford headed a high Shane Robinson cross wide of the target, but that was the home side's only chance of note as Cork looked to build on last week's 3-1 victory over Dublin City.

With John O'Flynn, Neale Fenn, George O'Callaghan, Kevin Doyle and Liam Kearney all starting, City had plenty of attacking talent available and time and again they threatened to unhinge the Rovers' defence.

O'Callaghan shot straight at Noel Mooney from 12 yards after a Kearney free kick fell invitingly for him after a miscued clearance by Palmer while the midfield playmaker went close again shortly afterwards after running unopposed to the edge of the area.

But, against the run of play, the home side took the lead.

Shane Robinson won a free kick on the right hand side and Keith O'Halloran swung it over invitingly for Palmer to rise highest and power his header beyond the outstretched palm of Michael Devine.

A second goal almost arrived moments later when Trevor Molloy raced though only for Devine to block his shot with Liam Kelly's follow-up deflected wide by Kevin Murray.

But from the resulting corner, the home side did grab their second when Keith Doyle's brilliant inswinging corner from the right has the Cork defence struggling and McGuinness bundled the ball over the line from close range.

Rovers were by now playing with great confidence and every time they went forward Cork looked like they could capitulate. A wonderful piece of play by Rutherford and Tracey on the left almost set up Trevor Molloy for a third in the 30th minute while Devine needed to save a McGuinness header, after yet again, a Hoops' free kick wasn't dealt with by the Cork defence.

However, Rovers' didn't add a third before half time and at the start of the second half, it was clear what Pat Dolan's view of the opening 45 minutes was when he replaced Liam Kearney and Neal Horgan with Willie Byrne and Brendan Sweeney.

The move didn't have any immediate affect as Rovers continued where they left off and Molloy almost made it 3-0 with a shot from inside the area after he had brilliantly controlled a Robinson cross before slipping past Dan Murray.

But on 55 minutes, Fenn gave City a life line when he rifled the ball home from inside the six-yard area after Kevin Doyle had headed down a deep Danny Murphy cross from the left.

The visitors changed their formation to have three in attack and set up camp in the Rovers' half for the rest of the game. But despite nearly 100 percent of the possession, they couldn't find their way past Noel Mooney.

Murray had a header cleared off the line while O'Flynn fired a shot across the face of goal, though for much of the game, Cork were guilty of being wasteful with far too many crosses ending up going out for goal kicks while McGuinness and Palmer dealt with everything else reasonably comfortably to send Rovers fans home celebrating.

Teams:
Shamrock Rovers: Mooney; Gough, McGuinness, Palmer, Doyle; Robinson, Tracey, O'Halloran, Rutherford; Kelly, Molloy.
Sub: O'Brien for Rutherford (90 mins).

Cork City: Devine; Horgan, K Murray, D Murray, Murphy; Doyle, O'Brien, O'Callaghan, Kearney; Fenn, O'Flynn.
Subs: Byrne for Kearney (half time), Sweeney for Horgan (half time), Behan for K Murray (86 mins).

Referee: D McKeon (Dublin).

**tiktok** · 27/03/2004, 9:04 PM

let's sum it up....

we ended the first half with
Devine
Hoggy DMurray Kmurray Murphy
Doyle George ColinT Kearney
Fenn Flynn

we started the second with
Devine
ColinT DMurray Byrne Murphy
George Sweeney KMurray Fenn
Doyle Flynn

anybody else think that it was madness.

we comfortably ran the game for the first twenty minutes, should probably have been ahead. then in the space of three minutes found opurselves two down to carbon copy set pieces. I think (despite being one of his harsher critics) that the criticism of devine is harsh (although his distribution was brutal again) in any event, he was offered no protection by a fast asleep CB pairing.

we picked it up again though and were probably on top in a scrappy game for the rest of the half. Dolan then, after the horse had bolted, decides to add a bit of height to proceeding and completely reshapes the team.

IMO George was lost in midfield and Flynn looked out of sorts. the changes that should have been made were Byrne for KMurray, and Sweeney for Flynn, allowing George to get up front. People were critical of Kearney, and last night there was probably a case for woods, but he was very good in the first half. So was Hoggy, and between Doyle and himself got a lot of ball into the Rovers box, why that was changed to a pairing who (while they did well) have never linked before is beyond me.

Despite the result, there were a lot of positives. In the second half, despite at times looking all over the place, we should have come away with a draw at least, we never looked like conceeding from play, and the set-piece defending should be easily remedied (especially considering Dolans experience). Byrne and Sweeney both did well on their league debuts, and IMO should both start against Longford. To top it off, Fenn looks a great player, was our MOTM.

I thought there were about sixty/seventy fans there, a lot spread out from the noise however, credit to those who turned up for the noise made though.