Apologies folks, I haven't a breeze on how to upload videos, but take a look at this from Sean Gannon last night.
Scarleh for the boy.
https://twitter.com/seidodge/status/...668336643?s=09
Shamrock Rovers- Where trophies are won and envy is scarce
In fairness if you had seen the whole game you’d understand why he did that. The Andorrans were at that the whole game and the ref kept falling for it and that was why Boyle ended up with two yellows. Sometimes you have to play the ref and I only wish we’d been doing it from earlier in the game.
Ah, you can go down injured for a little bit to time waste, but the fake hit on the head is actively looking to get the guy sent off. No excuse for that. Doesn't matter if the Andorrans were at it.
The ten second delay before he tries it on is what makes it really funny.
You can't spell failure without FAI
That is funny! but not for the seeming impetulance or trying to get a player booked; It was exaggerated as a point to ref that he was awarding frees for amatuer dramatics, and not for a foul unless the player yelped or rolled around. Tbh I have never seen such a performance by a ref which says plenty as a LoI fan. It wasnt just poor reffing, it was just bizzare.
Ok maybe it was an after thought by Gannon, but that clip is going to haunt him irrespective of context!
Last edited by Nesta99; 18/09/2020 at 10:28 AM.
Not sure why anyone would be surprised at Gannon reacting like that. He’s been at that sort of stuff for years.
Another good draw for Dundalk. If we manage to get past Sheriff we’ll be home to either KI or Dinamo Tbilisi for a place in the groups.
Dundalk will probably never get a better chance again to qualify for the Europa League group stage. It'll take a huge effort to get past Sheriff, but they've a very winnable game after that if they can manage it.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Worth noting that KI are still in there by beating Slovan Bratislava on default after Slovan had two full teams come down with covid.
Not Dundalk's fault of course - but does show how there's some nice draws to be had this time around (for unfortunate reasons)
Never get a better chance again? Do you know something the rest of us don't about the future of this competition?
It's the best draw available and gives a glint of hope of making the group stages if Sheriff can be sorted. The odds will be stacked against us - but thats just one of the exciting parts of European football
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA...ference_League
Reckon they could have come up with something better.
Dinamo Tblisi needed a last minute (deep into injury time) winner to get past Connah's Quay last night. Considering where Dundalk were the week of losing to Celje and Perth leaving, avoiding both Legia and Qarabag and ending up ending up with two tricky but very winnable one-off ties to get to the group stages is the best thing that could have happened them. I still have fears that defensive howlers will thwart their progress however, especially against Sheriff, but I live in hope.
Yep. The LoI champions will still start in the CL, and will drop down to the EL when they lose, and then drop down to the Conference League if they lose again - so three bites at the cherry.
The other three qualifiers will all start in the Conference League. Next year's Europa League will be a much smaller affair, with only clubs from the top 15 countries getting a place in it by right (as opposed to dropping down from the CL). Group stage is going from 48 teams down to 32.
It's probably fair to note that the pandemic has everything up in the air, but at the moment it certainly seems reasonable to suggest that this is going to be Dundalk's best chance at an EL group spot for a long time.
Edit - actually, if the LoI champions are knocked out in the first round of the CL (as happened Dundalk this year), then they would bypass the EL and drop straight to the Conference League.
Last edited by pineapple stu; 18/09/2020 at 1:31 PM.
I wonder will this actually go ahead next year with all the Covid uncertainty.
On the draw, it’s obviously very favourable to us and it would be nice to have a home game to get to the group stage. I think the next game against Sheriff is the harder game than the potential playoff. They are like a Qarabag lite, with being bankrolled and dominant in their domestic league and the squad is filled with non Moldovan players.
I suppose in theory there's no particular reason not to go ahead with it (provided football goes ahead of course). You'd be talking about changing what this year's domestic leagues qualify you for, for a start, and I don't think UEFA like doing that.
But yeah, everything has to have a question mark over it at the moment.
I don't know if there's a specific TV deal for the Conference League and if that's still going to hold up; that could impact things?
Thanks for the "honesty" and charm in your post - although I'm not sure it's in keeping with guidelines to avoid personalising posts
Shamrock Rovers are likely to be in contention next season via the Champions League - as previously the Europa League is the step down competition.
Europa League including the group stages will continue to exist.
I fully expect Dundalk to be in contention for group stages in the future - hopefully from 2022
Last edited by Ezeikial; 18/09/2020 at 1:39 PM.
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