$hels v Portadown

[drummerboy]

Thought the game was very entertaining. Ports didn't allow Shels play the ball through midfield hence a lot of long balls. Richie Baker had a great game. Rogers was poor in first half as was Crawley. Jamie Harris was an absolute disgrace when he came on. Was the cause of all 3 goals. Crowe and Byrne don't seem to play well together, but time will tell. Would have gone to match myself with my kid but was a bit worried about security. Everything seems to have gone off well.

[monutdfc]

Who is the presenter standing next to Dolan? Would i have seen him elsewhere?

Is it Paul McDowell, formerly of John Craven's Newsround? (seriously)

[joeSoap]

Although that Collins guy deserved a red card twice! Raised his hands to Heary and went in with the studs on Byrne I think it was.

Agreed...what a piece of filth....however, Heary should have gone too, as he also raised his hand to Collins. I can never understand all of this mamby pamby shoving and blowing kisses and waving handbags malarkey. If its a red card offence, then get value for your red card....instead of gently shoving, give him a proper lash for gods sake !!

[centre mid]

Is it Paul McDowell, formerly of John Craven's Newsround? (seriously)

Whats the story with his eyes

cracking second half - good football and goals, goals, goals

great advert for the EL

[patsh]

great advert for the EL

More like a great advert for the NI league, as they have the upper hand after the two games played!.

[eirebhoy]

I honestly don't it was a good advert for the EL. I think all this years Old Firm games were poor quality football and that was the case last night. The ball was not on the ground anywhere near enough. The Irish U-21's were at the match, a lot of them it would have been there first time, and I think they'll be walking away having expected a lot more from a team aiming to get to the CL group stages.

[Shelsman]

One thing I was thinking though is would it not be better to have more clubs involved. If there were 2 groups of 5 teams with 2 home games and 2 away it would be the same number of games for each team but more teams involved.

I would go for just one group, then Longford would play Ports and Shels would play Linfield and Glens. The thought of clubs from the same jurisdiction playing each other hardly sets the pulse racing so I would be in favour of each team for eL playing only IL opposition in one big group ( home and away ), then whoever tops the group are champions.

[Shelsman]

Jamie Harris was an absolute disgrace when he came on. Was the cause of all 3 goals.

Makes you wonder how much blame Fenlon should take if his defence had kept a clean sheet up until he changed it..........

Hawkins looked good last night but Harris and Rogers were class last season. I know no-one is guaranteed their place but my loyalty would be to Harris first, not sure there was a need to sign Hawkins when the above two were so good but I suppose having a top class player on the bench is always a bonus.

[Shelsman]

I honestly don't it was a good advert for the EL. I think all this years Old Firm games were poor quality football and that was the case last night. The ball was not on the ground anywhere near enough. The Irish U-21's were at the match, a lot of them it would have been there first time, and I think they'll be walking away having expected a lot more from a team aiming to get to the CL group stages.

To be fair it was only Shels second game of the season and both teams were finding their feet in the competition. I expect the standard to improve after each club has played at least one match each.

[Éanna]

Harris is totally overrated. The guy has no positional sense whatsoever. Entertaining game, and good to see Shels leaking goals. Also good to see a team take the fight to them and hit back- hopefully the city players will have picked up on that and give Heary similar roughhouse treatment. Looking good for City at the moment IMO.

[pete]

Collins should ahve been sent off - take your pick of offenses. Sure he was even gesturing at the other bench when he was subbed.

I don't understand why people complaining about shel$ hoofing as they always do that. Last year i spoke to non-eL people who thought shels passed well against Hadjuk but IMO they hit long balls to opposition half before passing the ball.

IMO we all need to learn the art of hype. Bar Stoolers don't have a clue about quality football & have jumped onto the Premierhype goals galore. 3-3 & poor play seems to be better than 0-0 tactical game for the neutral.

At least Setanta will have a few good goals to show for match previews.

[thejollyrodger]

One thing Shels (and other EL) teams have to do, is take the ball down and pass it around, slow the game down a little bit and make better use of the pitch.

There is lots of running around and a high tempo game but that doesnt make for good TV and certainly wont get results in Europe.

[Shelsman]

One thing Shels (and other EL) teams have to do, is take the ball down and pass it around, slow the game down a little bit and make better use of the pitch.

One thing I have always felt about Tolka and a lot of other eL grounds is that the pitches are too small, this means the team without the ball can close down the opposition too easily, making for a scrappy game ( literally! ) and teams are pressured to play long. Dalymount is a nice sized pitch but I believe the bigger the better.

If Shels move to a new stadium I hope they have the cop on to make the pitch as big as possible. I know some might argue that means we might get creamed in Europe as a result ( I wouldn't necessarily agree with this notion ). That said, Shels did reduce the Landsdowne pitch vs Deportivo...

If a bigger pitch means that it's easier for Shels ( and their opponents ) to play good football every time they play then well and good.

[thejollyrodger]

good point. Shels would be playing week in week out on a bigger pitch and would have that advantage over the other clubs. It would also stand to them when the are playing in Europe since most of the away matches would be on bigger pitches.

[Colm]

Also good to see a team take the fight to them and hit back- hopefully the city players will have picked up on that and give Heary similar roughhouse treatment.

Yeah definately. It was great to see him rattled. Teams need to plays Shels at their own game more often. They're quite content to act the thugs themselves but don't like to be on the recieving end of it.

[Poor Student]

Is it just me or is that not a great crowd for such an event? Did Portadown bring many fans?

[Schumi]

My estimate was 3-400 Portadown fans, hard to tell from a distance though. I'd say the overall crowd was a bit lower than against us. I thought there might be more but the early start and it being on TV might have had an effect.

[Beats]

Ports brought just under 500 and sung like there was 10,000!!!

Collins was lucky to get away with that tackle but the ref wasnt great for both sides and let shels away with some dodgy tackles and off the ball incidents! shels number 3 pushing Kyle Neill in that face, or did the Shels fans miss that?

thought i match was great and my voice is still suffering....good start to the setanta IMO!

[EnDai]

2,711

[TonyD]

I'd have to disagree, thought it was quality watching shels getting kicked around the place as opposed to them doing the kicking. Although that Collins guy deserved a red card twice! Raised his hands to Heary and went in with the studs on Byrne I think it was. But I wasn't bothered too much

Should be a good game next monday at the cross with shels needing a win.

Collins v Heary just before he was subbed was great stuff altogether. Hilarious. I can't wait for the re-match. (Always thought Heary was a thug and he met his match last night.)