LOI Series 5/6. Thurs 28/3 - Tues 2/4

[redarmyfaction]

what a result for us this evening. played pats off the pitch in the first half. sat back very deep in the second. thanks brendan clarke.

Delighted for Kenny I thought he was shoddily used last year also pleased for John Dillon he was well regarded down here he just wanted for consistency.

[Jofspring]

We actually panicked when Rovers went down to 10. We tried to rush things and push too much for the second goal instead of just playing away as we where and then push on in control. Rovers were dangerous on the counter and had the better chances in the second half.

Great to see us mixing it with the bigger teams and happy to get the point. For us we need to be picking up 3 points against the teams that will be near the end of the table, anything we get from the top half will be a bonus.

Dave O'Leary made a huge difference returning for us. We were like a different team in midfield with him.

[dong]

Fantastic result alright for Dundalk. Delighted for Kenny who is an absolute gentleman. Pats seem to have gone backwards though.
What now for TC and Shams?
This must be a worse start than Kenny's reign. Bit of a humiliation for them to see his team ahead on the league table as well even if it is early days.

[Dillonman]

Delighted for Kenny I thought he was shoddily used last year also pleased for John Dillon he was well regarded down here he just wanted for consistency.

Aye Dillon is top scorer for us atm. three been pens though. he nearly scored a peach of a goal from 30 yards in the first half. drifts in and out of games but has one hell of an eye for a pass. can beat his man but whats annoying some fans is he wont go in full force in tackles and tends to pull out.

[redarmyfaction]

Aye JD can strike a ball alright, but probably lacks for physicality a good few here were unhappy to see him go and Greene come back but we learned to repent of that view.

[Charlie Darwin]

We actually panicked when Rovers went down to 10. We tried to rush things and push too much for the second goal instead of just playing away as we where and then push on in control. Rovers were dangerous on the counter and had the better chances in the second half.

Great to see us mixing it with the bigger teams and happy to get the point. For us we need to be picking up 3 points against the teams that will be near the end of the table, anything we get from the top half will be a bonus.

Dave O'Leary made a huge difference returning for us. We were like a different team in midfield with him.

Not sure Rovers are a bigger team at this stage. Guaranteed draw for everybody in the league. This season has 35 points written all over it.

[Jofspring]

Not sure Rovers are a bigger team at this stage. Guaranteed draw for everybody in the league. This season has 35 points written all over it.

I was still impressed with Rovers tonight. Maybe they need to change the formation or something cause Quigley on the bench and not even getting a run is a sin if you ask me, especially when ye are lacking goals. I was impressed with Rovers work rate to be honest, they put in a very good shift but like ourselves missed that cutting edge up front. It seems to be a recurring theme though. Pats good on the ball but didn't have that final killer instinct up front from what I saw, same with Cork, ourselves and Shamrock Rovers.

[oriel]

Pure madness leaving a player like Quigley on the bench, if there was a player to unlock a defence it would be him. Poor start by Rovers, but they are still unbeaten. If they are to mount a challenge to Sligo over the season, you would think they will have to beat them when they play next, anything else than a win there, and it would probably be a bridge too far.

As for us, who would have thought we could be 3rd in the league after 6 games (granted a long way to go), however as Kenny said himself earlier, we have now played the top 4 from last sesason, and only Sligo have beaten us. At the start of the season, I said Id be happy with 6th, prob upgrade that to a dizzy 5th now. But.........I have memories of both of Foster's sides dying out before the summer ended, so if we are competitive on Sept 1st, I'll consider that a good season.

Dillon was a smart move, never really going to pin down a starting xi spot in Sligo, walks into our team, seems a perfect fit.

[Charlie Darwin]

I was still impressed with Rovers tonight. Maybe they need to change the formation or something cause Quigley on the bench and not even getting a run is a sin if you ask me, especially when ye are lacking goals.

If you saw Quigley on Friday night, he played 90 minutes when clearly still working his way to fitness and he was very ineffective. I'd have Killer ahead of him any day at the moment. I wasn't in Limerick, but I see a team still finding its feet, but with the potential to really hurt teams once they get going. The 35 points thing was a joke but I think there is something missing in attack, whereas defensively they'd been stone solid until Jaycist got injured.

[sligoman]

[PartySaint]

Pats seem to have gone backwards though.

We definitely have. I'd image we will finish 4th or 5th this year. Killian Brennan has been our only real positive so far this season, a class above.

[Ezeikial]

If you saw Quigley on Friday night, he played 90 minutes when clearly still working his way to fitness and he was very ineffective. I'd have Killer ahead of him any day at the moment. I wasn't in Limerick, but I see a team still finding its feet, but with the potential to really hurt teams once they get going. The 35 points thing was a joke but I think there is something missing in attack, whereas defensively they'd been stone solid until Jaycist got injured.

According to extratime.ie on the bench alongside Quigley were Kilduff and Stewart. It seems incredible that Croly has got so few points with such a talented bunch.

Croly must have little faith in Quigley if he kept him on the bench with Rovers level tonight

[Charlie Darwin]

According to extratime.ie on the bench alongside Quigley were Kilduff and Stewart. It seems incredible that Croly has got so few points with such a talented bunch.

Croly must have little faith in Quigley if he kept him on the bench with Rovers level tonight

Oman's sending-off screwed everything up, and he seems to see Stewart as a more mobile option to bring on around the hour mark. Quigley is a great player but if you have 10 men he's not going to be hassling the opposition midfield. If Rovers had have had 11 men I think he'd have come on.

[Nesta99]

Quigley is a great player but if you have 10 men he's not going to be hassling the opposition midfield. If Rovers had have had 11 men I think he'd have come on.

You must have missed his time at Dundalk ... battling, tracking back and stopped a few on the line, when he wasnt banging them in for us. Before he signed he had a rep for being lazy, he certainly was not while at Oriel Park!

[pineapple stu]

Not sure Rovers are a bigger team at this stage. Guaranteed draw for everybody in the league. This season has 35 points written all over it.

Woo hoo! Up to four points!

[AlanOB]

Lucky escape for Limerick last night, despite playing against 10 men for almost 45 minutes.

There were some positive signs early on. O'Leary was surprisingly fit to start alongside Gamble. And from the kick-off, Danny Galbraith was clearly playing more of an outside left role, hugging the touchline, which is something I've been calling for for the last few weeks. Shane Tracy again played tucked in on the right. Stephen Bradley was the number 10, with young Rainsford dropped.

Again this was a problem position for Limerick. With Chambers playing as an anchorman for Rovers, Bradley seemed to be dropping deep to find space and time on the ball, isolating Curran. In addition to this, the distribution from deeper areas was very poor. O'Leary was quiet. Gamble was appalling - he slows the tempo down and takes far too much time on the ball. This of course led to the opener, with Sean O'Connor (*spit*) dispossessing him and finishing extremely well. Folan, who originally looked like the ball playing centre back that we need in this system was again very shaky, misplacing numerous passes. He did however put a few decent free kicks in the area, one of which led to Curran's equaliser.

The poor distribution meant that Galbraith was again starved of service wide on the left. The first time he was found, he picked out an excellent cross which resulted in Limerick's best chance of the game. Shaun Kelly couldn't convert at the back post.

The sending off looked like it represented an opportunity for Limerick to wrest dominance of the game from Rovers, but it didn't turn out that way in the slightest. Rovers were brave - they kept O'Connor and McCabe/Stewart high in a 4-2-2-1 type shape. It wouldn't be outlandish to say that Rovers actually looked more dangerous after this point, hitting the woodwork twice.

Limerick brought on Gaffney for Bradley, and again put Tracy (who played well) in the number 10 position. Curran was shunted out wide left, with Galbraith now oddly playing as an outside right. Only Tracy really benefited from those changes, showing again that of the three players we have tried "in the hole" as they say, he's made the strongest claim thus far.

Rovers really should have won this.

[passinginterest]

What I've seen of Rovers so far this season the players just lack a bit of creativity and intelligence for playing 4-3-3. Particularly the three in the middle, Chambers is the most "creative" with his range of passing but he sits very deep, Finn is the one they look to, to make things happen, but he's more of a direct runner than a creative passer of the ball and he seems to get totally lost in the three, Rice or Robinson make up the third man, both bring a bit of hustle and bustle, Robinson would be expected to be more of an attacking threat but hasn't shown it at all, he was lost against Cork, Rice brings work rate and ball winning ability but is never going to be much of an attacking threat despite the licence to attack with Chambers holding.

The wingers too lack much in the way of a footballing brain; they can't seem to connect with the centre forward at all, whether it's Quigley or Kilduff. Quigley drops deep and gets it to feet so needs the wingers to get beyond him but too often they just put the heads down and run away like headless chickens, never checking back to take a pass to feet and creating no options, Kilduff is the opposite and the wide players just never seem to get in the right positions. McCabe is the most likely to make something happen but he's maddeningly inconsistent, Dennehy is much more suited to playing in a 4-4-2 where he knows he just has to hug the touchline all day and O'Connor is somewhere in between. Sheppard doesn't look half the player he was before going to Reading and nobody seems to know where Stewart is best played.

Croly really has a tough task figuring out a way of either making the 4-3-3 work or switching back to a more conventional 4-4-2. Kilduff and Quigley should, theoretically, make a good pairing but Finn and Chambers wouldn't really work as a two behind them and that's where Croly's task really gets difficult. It'll be interesting to watch them progress and to see if Croly has it in him to upset some players he's mates with for the greater good of the team.

[DannyInvincible]

Just getting chance to watch Monday's MNS now. Lovely build-up and passing from Derry for Patterson's opening goal against Shels. He's really on form this season and will be crucial in helping Derry continue the push for title contention. Shels maybe unlucky not to get a penalty early on due to McEleney's apparent hand-ball, although virtually impossible to tell for certain whether it should or shouldn't have been from the single camera angle offered by the analysis. Burdon not as impressive in the Shels goal this week. Perhaps there's little he could have done for the own-goal and he did do well to stop Griffin's penalty. Before it rolled back into the net, that is.

[poster]

Oman's sending-off screwed everything up

He won't miss any Leinster Senior Cup games, will he?

[dong]

The problem for Shams as I see it is that they are attempting to play a system without having the players good enough to do it in the crucial areas.
They are attempting to play something similar to what we were playing under Cook's tenure with Chambers in the Richie Ryan role.
Thing is, Chambers isn't nearly as good as Ryan and in this system this position is critical.