As a neutral....looks like Rovers have brought in their own referee to bolster their title defence this year....that McCann has the potential to be the biggest harsehole in the league this year?
This will be the least tense penalty shoot out in history.
1-0 to the tea lady.
The useless keeper is the hero
Decent game for what it was. Unbelievable technique from Scales for the goal. Never ever a red card for Nattestad who clearly won the ball, yellow card at worst for the way he jumped into it. Some good saves from Abibi in the shootout to set up possibly the most depressing trophy lift I’ve ever seen as Shields lifted the President's Cup in silence bar one man standing right infront of him applauding
Sack the board.
Tasty enough affair in the end, ruined by the conditions and a ref ****eing his jox halfway through cos he had no control of the game.
For Rovers, McCann looks decent, mandriou was anonymous and Gaffney still looks crap and unsuited to this Rovers team. What a goal of the cruyff-like Scales tho!
Real business starts next week for Rovers against the dundalk retirement home.
Rovers should have put it away in normal time. Decent game for entertainment. Does the red bring a suspension in the league
I resent that comment.Real business starts next week for Rovers against the dundalk retirement home.
Poor from SR, a feeble (asterisked) title defense beckons.
Good man yourself.
Thought it was a decent game, well first half our perspective, two good teams having a right good go at each other. Sending off ? Not sure how Ref can give a yellow then change mind to a red so quick, can that even happen unless something quick happens after the yellow?
Anyway was also surprised how lack of penetration Rovers had last 30 v 10 men, granted DFC just defended, but not sure it was anything less than comfortable defending. Finn / McCann look to be a poor mans McEneff / Byrne, but its really only a friendly, DFC managed the game out and the pens better, but two very poor efforts by Sloggett and Boyle mind, decent saves by Abibi though.
(Edit, to be fair McCann raised his game later in the match)
Sonni looks like he can be a big player this year, Stanton showed glimpses, McEleney driffted out (a worry) but great options having McMillan first 45 then Hoban second half. GK, Abibi, well he made two good saves in penos, this was a big game for him, he deserves a chance.
Conclusion, not sure too much to gain from the game to what 2021 will be like, as I said two good sides, decent game, but all changed after the sending off.
Just great to see LOI football back.
Last edited by oriel; 13/03/2021 at 6:34 PM.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
Enjoyable enough game that was scrappy in spells though with the conditions. Surprising to see any surface water on the Tallaght pitch but it didnt cut up at all which was the main thing. Some good moments of play from both sides and will improve with more games. The sending off seemed harsh but the letter of the law is if a player is no in control of a tackle then there is little choice for the ref but Nattestad is a big lad and while initially lunging from a bit of distance by the time he was at the player was in control, feet low, no studs up and cleanly got the ball with minimal contact with the player, there wasnt much follow through either. It wasnt from behind either. But I can see why a red was given from the initial phase of the tackle. Yellow at worst and imo was a good solid tackle that wasnt dangerous. VAR would have overturned a red as at full speed may be a bit harsh to be very critical of the ref who wasnt bad overall either. Though the Rovers players over reacted particularly O'Brien and Sheilds at each other just out of camera. There was a risk of the game getting too feisty so the few yellows including to Bradley was no harm. Do cards get carried over to the league?
The defensive performance from Dundalk was positive with no complete confusion with zonal marking. When down to ten men Rovers were kept at arms length and Dundalk managed the game circumstance. The bit of guile that Byrne/McEneff bring to teams would probably have created more clear cut chances when Dundalk were defending deep. Lovely control and finish from Scales. Nattestad is like a battering ram for attacking corners but he was let get free too easily for the Dundalk goal imo.
Little between the sides tonight even with the red card and with players to come back from injury so ye'd have to be more positive from a Dundalk perspective with the unknowns. Keeper did his day job well and then was good for the penos. The ones that were missed off target were so similar ye'd have to think that the surface and conditions played a part but then ye have to play the conditions and not go for the top corner,
The little niggles that happen between Finn and some of the Dundalk lads makes me laugh, there is no love lost any any chance to land a nudge and put him on his arse is taken Conversely it was good to see Hoare and Gannon with the Dundalk players and coaches so obviously no hard feelings there.
So that's 2 solid preseason games v the champions and runners-up, and a battling win in a derby match. If we can keep solid early on, start quickly and build momentum well it could be an interesting league season. Im looking forward to Sligo now as one of the dark horses.
Last edited by Nesta99; 13/03/2021 at 12:59 AM.
That was a mad game. More niggle than you'd see at your average friendly - two teams don't like each other very much. I thought it was even enough first half and we were poor on the goal. Dundalk will probably say the same about our goal, but you have to applaud Scales for how he took it. Dundalk are very well-organised and saw out the last half an hour well. Less said about the penalties the better, for both sides. Although Abibi looks like he has a few peno saves in him.
Farrugia and kavangh would have offered more as left wingbacks then scales, unfortunate to have them both out but dfc had players out as well so both teams can probably take positives out of it.
Rovers should have taken a chance when down to 10 men but even if they had dfc could have argued it was even steven 11 against 11.
Rovers look more comfortable on the ball at the back than dfc byt dfc look more dangerous on the break. Should be an interesting season
Entertaining enough game without a massive amount of chances or standout performances really. I thought Gannon did very well and Leahy really struggled to deal with him. Shields was decent in patches. Jurkovskis looked lively as well but his decision making in the final third was poor and end product was lacking. McCann looked very comfortable on the ball, but Gary O'Neill has to start at 6 for me. His energy was badly missed in there especially with McEneff gone. It's gonna take time to work out that midfield setup after it kinda picked itself last year.
The ref was awful throughout, and the sending off was harsh enough even if it was a bit of a bizarre lunge. Either way it killed the game, and Rovers struggled to break down the 10 sitting in. I actually think we would have been more likely to score against 11 tbh, but it will be interesting to see if we can replace Jack's creativity especially when teams sit in a low block. Pat's will be an interesting challenge next week because they successfully parked the bus against us twice last season.
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