What would people think of their clubs being in this? Personally I'd love for us to get in once for the novelty of it.
Say nothin til ya hear more!
What would people think of their clubs being in this? Personally I'd love for us to get in once for the novelty of it.
Sounds like great craic.
Dunno how cheap it is for a club to travel to a match in, say, Elgin, but as a fan, I'd like us to be involved.
Don't know if there's any concerns this (and the U20 sides) could be denying small Scottish clubs a cup final out.
The Scottish FA are paying for the LOI teams' expenses aren't they? Presumably in lieu of any prize money. Wouldn't mind a trip over there. Hopefully it would go better than our last UK excursion.
Upwards to the vanguard where the pressure is too high.
I'm torn between it sounding like a lot of fun, and being somewhat derogatory to be asked to play against lower league and reserve teams from Scotland.
I maintain that the top teams in Ireland could beat any Scottish team not named Celtic and would not be overawed in a game against them even. I don't think theres a huge difference between the two divisions, other than the nice stadia and ... Celtic.
If the competition was the league cup it would be something. My hope is that Sligo or Bray go on and win the thing, theres no reason they couldn't do it, unless one of them *cough Bray* goes bust before then.
On the other hand it will of course be a load of fun for the fans, and its great that we now have 6 teams who will be involved in international tournaments this year, and that gives something for the likes of Limerick, Galway and Harps who haven't had European competition in some time to aim for.
Funny that, 12 teams, 3 relegated, 3 Euro places, 2 Scottish Challenge Cup places, plus the cup winners. We could have the whole division with something to play for in the latter weeks of the season. Even more so next year in a ten team division, though with 1.5 less relegation places.
I like it. I'm glad the top teams are not involved. To easy for Cork and Dundalk and we have enough games. Not as good as Eruopa league but better than noting (maybe better than Setanta cup, time will tell)
west cork district league
west cork commandos
I take it the Welsh and teams from the north are still involved, if so, this is a step forward for the league(sorry for being too lazy to follow link, if answer given there).
I would be careful in claims that LoI standard is comparable to Scottish league(minus Celtic), the standard/quality of players is still well ahead of us I think. But it is a an achievable/realistic level that we can aim for.
I think its a great idea.
The FAI should encourage it by giving a bonus for each round progressed as it benefits the league.
Champions league,
Europa League,
Europa League,
Europa League,
Scottish cup,
Scottish cup
Mid table obscurity
Last day survival
Last day survival,
Relegated
Relegated
Relegated
Position 1-12 next year, don't think there will be many teams with nothing to play for.
I think the Scottish cup thing is a brilliant idea, chance of a trip into "Europe : )" and a few pints of Scottish beer.
Our league is almost impossible to compare to a league in Scotland or England, because of the enormous difference between our top and bottom clubs. Imho Dundalk and Cork would be at a similar level as most Scottish teams apart from Celtic, and could hold their own in League 1 in England. They might not win it, but they wouldn't finish bottom either. Derry, Bray and Rovers aren't far off either.
On the other hand, Longford last year wouldn't have been even been capable of staying in the 5th tier of English football, such in the gap in quality within our league.
A lot of people suggesting Pats might struggle this year, how likely do Pats fans think that is?
I thought the addition of Irish and Welsh League clubs last year was a brave and interesting step by the SFA, and this is one further.
The fact that the top 2 sides in the Irish League enter, whilst it's the 5th and 6th placed in the LOI, is an implicit recognition of how dramatically stronger the LOI is to the IL (and our likelihood to progress further in Europe). It should burst the bubble of those fantasists north of the border who claim there's little real difference in standard between our best and theirs.
It would be a curious thing, but a genuine possibility, to see Crusaders play Sligo Rovers in a Scottish League Cup fixture. This could grow into an interesting alternative to the Setanta Cup, and an embryonic Celtic Cup.
There’s a lot of if’s and buts going into the season for us.
If the likes of O’Hanlon, Treacy and Peers turn out to be decent with Fagan up front and the likes of Conan Byrne scoring goals we could have a decent season.
On the other hand, If O’Hanlon isn’t any good and Treacy doesn’t sign or even worse, signs and has another season like last year, all of a sudden we have a pretty poor midfield, an ageing Peers with a slow Darren Dennehy at the back and Billy Dennehy on the wing surrounded by a load of kids, we could struggle badly, especially if we get off to a poor start and with 3 going down, that’s a massive worry.
I think we’ll be ok because of the likes of Fagan, Bermo and Conan but wouldn’t expect much higher than 5th at best
Here on a technicality.
I beleive that they would be kept apart. The Welsh and Norn Iron teams were kept apart this year, so I guess Pats and Bray are unlikely to play a Welsh or Northern team unless some combination of 5 of the 6 teams into the quarter final or of 3 of those 6 teams get to the semi's
west cork district league
west cork commandos
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