Cork lose, Shels in the final

[GavinZac]

Portadown covered themselves with honour in the dogged manner in which they tackled the game.

this being the waterford school of 'honour', yeah?

[Drumcondra Red]

there were no tickets to the final booked, cop on. That early goal would have no doubt changed the game but officials ain't being too kind to us this year. I can't imagine Ports would have shown the same fight had they gone a goal down. Agreed the red was harsh, i didn't think he'd even book him but overall the ref was far too lenient on the persistant, cynical fouling.
Pitch looked awfully poor, As the ground is owned by the MFA, there are a lot of Cup Finals being played there at the moment and this isn't helping, hopefully when the local off season comes it'll improve.

Really? No tickets booked? What about the train to Dublin, which has been blocked on your MB by the way!!!

You are slowly turning into a joke, Cork!

[razor]

Really? No tickets booked? What about the train to Dublin, which has been blocked on your MB by the way!!!

You are slowly turning into a joke, Cork!

There were provisional enquiries about booking a train in the event we qualified for the final. Some of these things just cannot be booked a mere 5 days in advance and we can't all expect home advantage. Idiot !

[drummerboy]

this being the waterford school of 'honour', yeah?

Well they could have rolled-over. Afterall they had little to play for except pride. In would have made a mockery of the tournament. As regards the Waterford school of honour, its not that long ago that teams could expect a good kicking down in Cork.

[BohDiddley]

As a neutral, I thought Cork were kicked off the pitch in the first half. The referee allowed the Ports kick lumps out of the Cork forwards until he decided to book a cork player for a trip. He then decided to send off Hamilton for a yellow card offence.

Spot on.
Another Setanta game where the outcome was determined by dreadful officiating, once again favouring Shels. I know it's easy to blame the ref, but if I were a Corkie I'd be hopping mad.
Ports hacked their way through the first half with impunity, were given an outrageous lifeline by the lino (what was she thinking of?) scored a neat but quite lucky goal against the run, packed their own box and were saved by a brilliant goalkeeping performance.
If there's any justice, Linfield will turn Shels over, but of course that's highly unlikely given the shocking choice of venue and the pattern of refereeing so far.

[Gareth]

there were no tickets to the final booked, cop on.

Awh I was only kiddin, I couldn't really help it I really wasn't expecting that result either to do honest. Hoped it would happen but wasn't really confident.

[Gareth]

If there's any justice, Linfield will turn Shels over, but of course that's highly unlikely given the shocking choice of venue and the pattern of refereeing so far.

Where did you expect the game to be played? It couldn't be held in Cork (pitch is terrible, unlikely to feature in the North and Longford's ground wouldn't be prime for a cup final. Dalymount could of been an option but tolka was free and its hosted cup finals, b internationals etc before......

As for the goal decision last night, it was a tough break alright but please don't start saying its a Shels coup....

[razor]

its not that long ago that teams could expect a good kicking down in Cork.

Happy Days.

[BohDiddley]

Where did you expect the game to be played? ... Dalymount could of been an option ...

Your very own Q + A.
More generally, anywhere neutral might have been good! Dalymount, or even Richmond. How many are expected now that it's 'only' Linfield?
Have to say, I'd go if it was anywhere else, if only to support the competition, which I think is a very good idea. But attending as a neutral what is essentially a home game for Shels is just too weird, so count me out.
What a pity they've made such a mess of it.

[Hibs4Ever]

Your very own Q + A.
More generally, anywhere neutral might have been good! Dalymount, or even Richmond. How many are expected now that it's 'only' Linfield?
Have to say, I'd go if it was anywhere else, if only to support the competition, which I think is a very good idea. But attending as a neutral what is essentially a home game for Shels is just too weird, so count me out.
What a pity they've made such a mess of it.

Agree with you totally. I even feel the UEFA Cup final is very unfair on CSKA Moscow.

[Gareth]

Richmond is NOT an option for anything. Stand is awful and the surrounding area is useless. Most Pats fans agree with me on that when I talk about it.

Dalymount would of been an option but in recent times Tolka has got the nod. I understand it is an unfair advantage but I am sure Setanta selected the venue based on options.

[Éanna]

the corner boys did sing "pat dolan's rebel army", in recognition of the fact that our popular (despite what eanna will say) former manager was in the stand opposite them.

whats that meant to mean? Dolan was/is popular- I know that

first ive heard of it.

"what a load of rubbish" was sung, which unfortunately made kev doyle look sad

not much of a protest

so you come on here mouthing off, and you didn't know what was going on- typical

[EnDai]

Another Setanta game where the outcome was determined by dreadful officiating, once again favouring Shels. I know it's easy to blame the ref, but if I were a Corkie I'd be hopping mad.

I know its easy to hate Shels for some people, but seriously grow up with this sort of crap. The referee gave cork a 60 minute extra man advantage, for something that was worthy of a yellow, nothing more. I suppose Ollie paid him to do that? Alot of people expected Portadown to turn up and do nothing, but they didn't. That was the biggest deciding factor in the game. No team would have put 3 past a team defending so well with a keeper on such fine form.

[pete]

About 20 people chanted for Dolan near the end but were quickly drowned out by the shed. About 15-20 people (Maybe a Home Farm fan can tell if that qualify as a crowd?) protested outside afterwards which is 0.00005% of the home crowd.

Can't comment on offside goal - couldn't tell from where i was was.
Ref was very poor in first half. He was blowing whistle too much for minor things like foot a bit high. Then not giving yellow cards for heavy tackles whenever city player was breaking forward. This directly lead to the Hamilton tackle which i though was a yellow card but i think someone said he kiced George when was on the floor. Ref did not cost city the game though.
The only time you'll see defending in depth like Ports will be if non-league team plays top Premier side in the FAI Cup. I think Portadown did themselves & their league no favours by kicking freekicks to touch deliberately.

[Schumi]

Not a good game to watch, far too much hoofing from both sides. Portadown were very dirty, the red card was harsh (I initially assumed that it was for something extra to the foul) but probably deserved for the consistant fouling. Cork's red looked harsh as well, it was hardly a clear goalscoring opportunity out that near to the touchline. Cork seem completely incapable of breaking a defensive team down though and that's why they lost.

[pineapple stu]

get this lands, once again im going to be a bit mad and make a crazy suggestion: maybe its because we've had about 4 inches of rain all year.

Eh?! There's been about four inches of rain in Dublin as well, and Belfield Park for one is in perfect nick! That's no excuse!

About 15-20 people protested outside afterwards which is 0.00005% of the home crowd.

Cork City in average gate of 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 shocker! Knew yez were exaggerating down there!

The referee was shocking, it has to be said. Hamilton's red card was a disgrace - yellow yes, but if that was a red, then every game would be abandoned by half time due to to few players remaining. The gas thing was he let so many tackles go before that. I can only assume he sent Hamilton off as a warning to the rest of the players, which was still ridiculous. Second red was funny though! Great goal from Hamilton. Kearney was the only Cork player to really come out of the game with any credit though - the rest were so leaden-footed it was untrue.

[pineapple stu]

Cork's red looked harsh as well, it was hardly a clear goalscoring opportunity out that near to the touchline.

In fairness, if the keeper comes out that far from goal and fouls, he's always going to get sent off. A goalscoring opportuinty is far clearer if the keeper's on his arse behind you!

[higgins]

More MOANING from you lot
Even have some bohs fans on your side now!

Tolka was picke dot host the fianl as its probably the best stadium in the country at the moment. Dalymount is the only other option but how many seats does that have?

We want to show off this competition to fans outside of the Eircom League and Irish League and I think tolka is the best bet for this. Tolka is still a dump but in EL terms its all we have. You dont see UEFA changing the the location if the home team makes it to the final....

If anyone wants to do up their ground to a better standard (wouldnt be hard!!) and keep the pitch in as good as condition as Tolka currently is then do it and get in touch with setanta about using it. To moan just because shels are there is a little childish. Its not Shels fault they put 10,000 seats into their own ground!!!

[pete]

Cork City in average gate of 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 shocker! Knew yez were exaggerating down there!

No need to mock. Just cos you students have computer thingies

Ok. 0.5% which on UCD attendances would be 2 people protesting

Yes pitch is really poor. Not sure how can be fixed.

[pineapple stu]

Ok. 0.5% which on UCD attendances would be 2 people protesting

Touché!

I think the computer thingies you're on about are brains which can do easy maths, by the way!