League of Ireland in Europe 2017

Originally Posted by El-Pietro

And we;re apparently negative too. 6 goals over two legs to add to just the 54 in our 19 league games. We're somehow negative and pourous all at once. Impressive that we win any games at all with such obvious flaws.

To be fair, it's hard to accurately judge a team when you only take a critical interest once a year.

That was two good wins last night. I thought Rovers were comfortable enough despite the couple of chances Stjarnan had in the second half. Much tougher opponents next week but you can't argue with home and away wins in the first round, doesn't happen too often. Unfortunately the less said about Derry the better.

At one stage I thought Caulfield was going to be eating his loose words about the opposition not going to score 3 times. Fair play to Cork for steadying the ship and responding when needed.

Fair play to Shamrock Rovers. Their players will have a decent test as they put themselves in the shop window for potential Championship offers.

Derry desperately unlucky with the tough opponent they drew. Still, Cork and Dundalk would probably have done better and those clubs are settling the standard for LoI clubs in Europe.

With the league's champion likely to have a Europa League safety net from next year, I'm hopeful, while aware of the European knockout qualifier rounds being fraught with danger, that the league can get two clubs to ELQ3 more often than not, with at least one making the playoffs. It's not beyond the league. The qualifiers are the league's level. Maintaining interest for the duration of the qualifiers, with the playoffs essentially being cup finals, will be a decent level for the league to maintain if possible.

Originally Posted by sparky12345678

Anyone have a list of unseeded teams that went through tonight?

I think of the 50 ties 12 unseeded teams qualified.

Maguire is grand and all but I can't really like a man who spells his name 'Seani'. Put an 'e' on the end man for the sake of decency.

Seani Maguire is now City's best ever player IMO. He now overtakes John O'Flynn, George O'Callaghan, Dave Mooney etc.
Last night was the best individual live performance I've ever seen. And that includes games in Old Trafford, Anfield, WHL etc. Outstanding. We'll miss him.

Rovers did very well leaving no doubt in this contest, though a few times depending on the goalie's excellence last night, they were always in control of the tie and even if Stjarnan got one past the goalie, Rovers looked to have enough on hand to impose themselves again.

Rovers have a more than a good chance to get past this Czech team in the 2nd round This will be the Czech's first competitive outing and they're an average bunch. I'd assume they're seeded because they've benefited from inheriting the Czech league's coefficient, not on merit.

Originally Posted by geysir

Rovers did very well leaving no doubt in this contest, though a few times depending on the goalie's excellence last night, they were always in control of the tie and even if Stjarnan got one past the goalie, Rovers looked to have enough on hand to impose themselves again.

Rovers have a more than a good chance to get past this Czech team in the 2nd round This will be the Czech's first competitive outing and they're an average bunch. I'd assume they're seeded because they've benefited from inheriting the Czech league's coefficient, not on merit.

I thought they made hard work of it to be honest. They had the quality to totally dominate stjarnan but they say back too much and let stjarnan come at them for the whole second half. They got a couple of lucky escapes.
Mlada Boleslav have played in Europe before. I was there a few yrs ago. They'll be a slightly higher level than Rovers but anything can happen.

Originally Posted by Nah Nah Nah Nah

Only 467 in The Showgrounds tonight

Does anyone know the smallest crowd for a home game for a LOI team in Europe?

Disappointing but not unexpected result last night in the Showgrounds.

There's obviously a huge gulf in class between the teams, but I do think if we were better organised defensively the score would have looked a bit better. Looking at the match, it reminded me and when we played Aberystwyth a few years ago, there was that much of a difference in levels. TBF to ourselves, when a side is bringing fellas worth €3.5 million off the bench, and turning down €8 million bids for others, we haven't much of a chance really.

Our pricing for the game was all wrong too. Should have been €15, even as a pre-draw price. I spotted only two other LoI tops at the game (both Longford).

Just a note on the Showgrounds, thought the pitch was in great condition, and the main stand is nice. Just makes it harder to accept the horrible space away fans get put into there. There's Derry fans that won't go to Sligo because of the awful view/toilets, but if away fans were to be put in the main stand, they'd certainly change their mind.

Originally Posted by PartySaint

Does anyone know the smallest crowd for a home game for a LOI team in Europe?

How many were at Dundalk v Linfield in Holland?

Originally Posted by brendy_éire

Disappointing but not unexpected result last night in the Showgrounds.

There's obviously a huge gulf in class between the teams, but I do think if we were better organised defensively the score would have looked a bit better. Looking at the match, it reminded me and when we played Aberystwyth a few years ago, there was that much of a difference in levels. TBF to ourselves, when a side is bringing fellas worth €3.5 million off the bench, and turning down €8 million bids for others, we haven't much of a chance really.

Our pricing for the game was all wrong too. Should have been €15, even as a pre-draw price. I spotted only two other LoI tops at the game (both Longford).

Just a note on the Showgrounds, thought the pitch was in great condition, and the main stand is nice. Just makes it harder to accept the horrible space away fans get put into there. There's Derry fans that won't go to Sligo because of the awful view/toilets, but if away fans were to be put in the main stand, they'd certainly change their mind.

I think they would have comfortably dispatched any Irish side. Perhaps we woudl have kept it tighter over the two legs but even our makeshift defence would struggle to stop them scoring at all. Thought the goals you conceded in the first leg were a mix of disastrous defending and an inability to deal with their pace and quality.

Originally Posted by PartySaint

Does anyone know the smallest crowd for a home game for a LOI team in Europe?

Home Farm v Racing Club Paris , about 2/300

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

How many were at Dundalk v Linfield in Holland?

Around 2000 according to the Dundalk website.

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

How many were at Dundalk v Linfield in Holland?

A few hundred. Mostly locals

Originally Posted by PartySaint

Does anyone know the smallest crowd for a home game for a LOI team in Europe?

I was in Tolka for Dundalk v Varteks in 2002, lost 5 or 6-0 in the first leg, and there was definitely well below 1000 at this game. I would say more than 467 though that was in Sligo last night, maybe not that much more though ! That was a dreadful Dundalk side, easily the worst that ever played in Europe, already relegated and would play 7 consecutive seasons in the FD.

why were the legs reversed for the City v AEK tie?

Domino effect - basically it came down to the fact that AEL Limmosol also play in Larnacas stadium (apparently).

Unfortunate really, much prefer to be at home the second leg, especially since it was originally drawn that way

Originally Posted by El-Pietro

I think they would have comfortably dispatched any Irish side. Perhaps we woudl have kept it tighter over the two legs but even our makeshift defence would struggle to stop them scoring at all. Thought the goals you conceded in the first leg were a mix of disastrous defending and an inability to deal with their pace and quality.

Have Cork and Dundalk done better against similar opponents?

Originally Posted by patrickccfc

Unfortunate really, much prefer to be at home the second leg, especially since it was originally drawn that way

Once Cork were drawn away for the first leg, can Cork not maintain that it's kept that way with their opponents having to play the home tie in a different ground?