Dundalk 1 Rovers 2 !!!

[redrov2005]

What a strange game. By half time we could have been 3 or 4 up and at the end we were so lucky to come away with a win.

In the first half we took them apart. Faz was on song and his great cross was headed home by Sean Flannery.

Some very good performances in the first half right around the pitch.

But in the second half we just went to pieces. We went missing in midfield and they were totally on top.

The og was bizarre and then just when we thought job done the lads conceded a sloppy goal to leave us sweating right to the bitter end.

Really missed O'Grady in midfield. Stephen O'Donnell is not fully fit and struggled as the game went on.

Steve Feeney doesn't do enough in my book.Raf was excellent in the first half,but has to learn that you can't give away silly frees.

O'Hara made one excellent save,but he won't come and claim a ball into the area. Great shot stopper but he needs to command more.

Why Sean subbed McT so early in the second half mystified me,but we hung on and that's the main thing.

Great to get back to winning ways,but we should have had it wrapped up by half time.

[garykelly]

A much needed three points but Rovers should not have had to depend on the post to come away with three points.

Rovers played wonderful in the first half. Faz was class on the wing. Rovers showed how average Dundalk are and basically played them off the park. We should have been 3 up at half time. Raf headed over, McTiernan missed 2 half chances and one very good chance.

But for some reason , Rovers didnt look interested in the second half. They let Dundalk play which made them look good which they are not. A bizarre own goal from 30 yards proved to be the winner but i'm not sure why rovers were so lax in the 2nd half. It seemed every single player turned off.

After 90 mins it was 2 nil. almost all dundalk supporters had left. then rovers dont bother defending and it's 2-1. No problem here comes the final whistle. Raf concedes another free kick. It comes in hard, flicked header. off the post and cleared from danger. cud have been 2-2. But rovers deserve a bit of luck that the likes of dublin city seem to rely on. It's three points so fair play to the team. Its good that a team can get 3 points and not really play well enough.

O'hara - made some great saves but must try and dominate his area more. A poor kickout off a dundalk player could have been costly

Low - different class. Doesnt do the wrong thing. great player

McNamara - excellent first half. but seemed to back off in the second. letting a long ball run to the keeper almost let dundalk in.

Burns - again different class. made some vital interceptions throughout

Gallagher - time for Phillip to make way. He's decent enough but has now been identified by a number of teams as the weak link. Everything dundalk had came down the right.R O'Donnell is still injured. Chris Cotterill will be the right back come July and will shore up that side of the defence

Cretaro - had a very good game. committed and caused problems for dundlak. gave away too many free kicks when reverting to right back. width of the post saved raf from costing us points 2 games in a row. but good throughout in fairness

Feeney - made some good tackles, but generally wandered from central midfield and needs to get more involved. a very good player who will improve if he can get a good run in the side

O'Donnell - played well. strong player and made some good tackles. ran out of steam in the second hallf. will become an important player and more games will improve his fitness and sharpness.

Faz - has looked uninterested on the wing previously, but last nights display was brilliant. took on players and got by and every chance. crossed with both feet. a class player who would be a top player in the Premier

McTiernan - linked up well with Flannery. caused all sorts of problems for dundalk with his pace. unlucky to not have scored.

Flannery - Worked his socks off all night. battled with the dundalk centre half. got frustrated but kept on going. scored a good headed goal. should get better as games go on

Deans (Dundalk) - 10/10 - top goal from 30 yards. keeper had moved left of his area to receive the back pass as Alvarez chased down deans. Deans didnt look up and hit a solid back pass into the net which evaded the scrambling keeper

Great to see Gary Curran make his first senior apperance this season.

Roll on Galway. A win is vital !!!

[nephin]

An excellant win.
If you look at it we're joint top and haven't really played well.
If we got a string of wins together we could really walk this league.

[gustavo]

yeah thats the good thing in a way isnt it the old cliche that a sign of a good team is that they can play badly and still win ? well hopefully this applies to us and now we can start maybe playing a bit better but obviously one has to say that sean has exceeeded expectations so far. does help when you have so many premier class players in your team as opposed to maybe one or two last year.