Games 4th November to 8th of November (The final fence)

[sbgawa]

Wednesday 4th

Shamrock Rovers v St Patricks Athletic 19:45

Sunday 8th (All Matches 19:30)

Dundalk v Sligo
St Pats v Bohemians
Shelbourne v Shamrock Rovers
Finn Harps v Waterford
Cork City v Derry

Friday 6th November
Play off Semi Final
Longford v Galway 19:45

[sbgawa]

In theory if Pats were to lose heavily to Rovers and then also lose to Bohs then a Harps win over Waterford combined with Shels and Derry getting something from their matches Pats could still get relegated via the playoffs........on the other hand win both their matches combined with Harps beating Waterford and Sligo not beating Dundalk by 4 or 5 and they could qualify for Europe

I fancy Harps to beat Waterford, Derry to get at least a point in Cork and Rovers to beat Shels which would put Shels in the playoffs.

ANYTHING is possible and if Waterford win and Dundalk lose to Harps then Dundalk will be hoping one of Rovers , Bohs or Waterford win the cup to get Europe for DFC (or indeed themselves of course).
Every match will have something on it which should lead to a few Bumper final day crowds
I am assuming Derry will forfeit the unplayed match against Rovers.

[kksaints]

In theory if Pats were to lose heavily to Rovers and then also lose to Bohs then a Harps win over Waterford combined with Shels and Derry getting something from their matches Pats could still get relegated via the playoffs........on the other hand win both their matches combined with Harps beating Waterford and Sligo not beating Dundalk by 4 or 5 and they could qualify for Europe

I fancy Harps to beat Waterford, Derry to get at least a point in Cork and Rovers to beat Shels which would put Shels in the playoffs.

ANYTHING is possible and if Waterford win and Dundalk lose to Harps then Dundalk will be hoping one of Rovers , Bohs or Waterford win the cup to get Europe for DFC (or indeed themselves of course).
Every match will have something on it which should lead to a few Bumper final day crowds
I am assuming Derry will forfeit the unplayed match against Rovers.

The Derry scenario is problematic. If they have all gone into self isolation from last Tuesday I don't think they can play against Cork on Sunday. If they forfeit for both matches three nil, it puts them at risk of the playoff position. Forfeiting the Rovers match 3-0 will also cause the FAI issues as the match was originally moved back because of Rovers players contracting covid and having to self isolate a number of players. It seems unfair on Derry if they have to forfeit the match when Rovers got the match postponed and moved back for exactly the same thing particularly when Rovers could have played players from their second team in the Premier Division match as it seems they have registered them in the Premier Division and the second team continued playing at the same time as their first time was unavailable. I'd say the FAI is hoping that Derry don't fall into the playoff spot otherwise there could be a host of issues.

[sbgawa]

The fact that the game was put back becauae of rovers covid cases is irrelevant the rules at the time were different same as when pats galway and wexford had postponements.
Dont disagree its tough on derry though.

[oriel]

A Rovers win over Shels, and FH beating Waterford solves the problem for the Derry scenario.

DFC will prob limp over the line into 3rd, have to be brutally honest here, not even sure post covid if we deserve it, obviously I will be delighted to qualify, but the performances overall in the league have been mostly poor since end of July re-start.

[pineapple stu]

In fairness, if ye get third (which looks likely now) ye'll deserve it if for no other reason than np-one else did.

[oriel]

Well to be fair, 3rd place opportunity was wide open for a host of clubs to take advantage of DFC's decline this year, and especially in August, and little headway was made. I think its actually possible we can lose on Sunday and still come 3rd, a draw definitely seals it though.

[Nesta99]

As the last league matchday thread - Ive given up trying to gauge Dundalk's season. League form always suffers when in Europe, why ye need to hit the ground running the 1st 2 rounds before summer. It was looking ok and even the Rovers game, well we were in front and let it slip and Rovers raised their game but it was no disaster, the better team won on the night but there werent major alarm bells going off, bar that Rovers were the real deal this season and there would be damn all room for error. League postponed and tbh we still dont really know what happened upon resumption. Yeah there was madcap stuff from Bill but the players had stopped playing for VP. A European run out of nowhere along with a manager out of nowhere. He got the players on side, has gotten us defensively working as a full unit front to back (even Oduwa before injury), started squad rotation well and we all thought it was under utilised before.
I think on the balance of things we probably are the third side in the league this season, just about and so should be there. FG can certainly talk the talk, is ambitious and talking up development of parts of the club we feel is weak eg youth development. We have had a couple of 'must win' games to secure Europe for next year but like the entire league season have stuttered, and thats a worry. FG had a decent run of games to bed in initially. The cup might tell us more on a few things like handling win or bust domestic games, where the squad is at having to put back to back results in if there is any chance of a cup win. Who is in and who is out close season. The role of Shane Keegan going forward.

I'll be happy to see the end of the league campaign hopefully with the needed points for third and the relief on that. Enjoy the remainder of the EL group games with the little expectation there all things considered. A cup run, win, however unlikely with the possibility of having to beat two sides ahead of us in league terms, I think is more important than just getting the hands on a trophy as it really could set a tone for 2021 and a manager getting off the mark with silverware is always important.

All damn bizzare in 2020, even with FAI Nua on the go. For all the sniping, winding up, or asterick talk, it has been an impressive league campaign for Rovers. The disruption effected clubs differently but Rovers were relentless. It can be debated to death what might have been over 36 games but there are no real signs to suggest that Rovers couldnt have gone 36 games unbeaten though I think that Dundalk's start to the league was building momentum aslo so could have kept closer. Bohs have once again shown that they are not far off being fully in the mix - time to quit with the poor mouth routine ;p Sligo's recovery was one of the impressive things of this season. Shels shouldnt really be at risk of a play-off position. Harps I still think are a better side than a play-off position too, with a full season and on current form maybe they'd be nice and safe now and looking to a cup run with optimism even from Ollie. Mixed bag from everyone else, O'Donnell might be under a bit of pressure next season if Pats cant get some consistancy. Devine also if Derry look like they are going backwards at all which would be a bit of history repeating itself. Still pretty crazy they way things have ended up for Cork, as much as Fenn grinds my gears still, I thought he'd have had enough about him not to be relegated in a truncated season with 2 or 3 games to go. 1st Division was a breath of fresh air...for the first division, its great to see a bunch of clubs slug it out and shows what a damn hard division it is to get out of. So onwards to securing Europe and the cup!!

[trevy]

The final round of games is moved to the Monday night as the Shamrock Rovers v Derry game is now going ahead on Saturday. It's only fair that Derry are given the chance to play this game. European football is still up for grabs with Dundalk needing a result to guarantee 3rd and Waterford, Sligo, St Pats and Derry all going for 4th. If Dundalk lose to Sligo and Waterford win away to Finn Harps we get 3rd. That's a long shot but the fact that Dundalk still haven't wrapped up 3rd place shows how disappointing their league form was this year.
Our record in Finn Park is poor and with Finn Harps in with a shout of avoiding the play off and the terrible pitch up there if the weather is bad will be hard to get 3 points.

[sbgawa]

Do do do do do do do do do do do do do doooooooooo
Think Steve McQueen in a Harps Jersey

[DCSIL]

Do do do do do do do do do do do do do doooooooooo
Think Steve McQueen in a Harps Jersey

Or in Derry Shirt if we somehow scrape Europe. Won't happen, Dundalk will get the result they need and Waterford come in Fourth, with Pats standing by looking for a loophole.

Good weekend of football now, Friday, Saturday and the league finishing on Monday.

[D24Saint]

Are Galway showing their game on YouTube ?

[atfconline]

It's on FAI YouTube page.

[Longfordian]

The stream is really good. Having replays and two knowledgeable commentators makes a big difference.

[D24Saint]

The stream is really good. Having replays and two knowledgeable commentators makes a big difference.

It’s very good. The replays are a must for watch LOI going forward a co commentator is a huge plus aswell. The viewing figures aren’t bad three thousand watching.

[joey B]

Any bad goalkeeping you seen last night, Galway's keeper out did it there,shocking.....

[Longfordian]

It’s very good. The replays are a must for watch LOI going forward a co commentator is a huge plus aswell. The viewing figures aren’t bad three thousand watching.

Yeah I watched the Town UCD game streamed by Doppler as well. The stream was excellent and Jamie Moore very enthusiastic on commentary but the co-commentator improves it so much.

[Nesta99]

Am I seeing things or did a Caulfield side just put a few passes together across the back and some nice switch of play from wing to wing. Its not ending up with too much getting the ball forward but less direct that I'd have expected.

[DCSIL]

Good performance from Longford and great goal by Aodh Dervin for the second.

[Longfordian]

He's a cracking little player. Harps will probably be too strong for us if we end up against them. Shels I'd be less worried about actually but then they kept managing to grind out wins against us last year without being particularly impressive.