Premier Division
Friday 21st May
Waterford v Derry City 17:45
St PAts v Bohemians 17:45
Dundalk v Shamrock Rovers 19:45
Finn Harps v Drogheda 19:45
Sligo v Longford 19:45
Monday 24th
Derry City v St Pats 17:45
Bohemians v Dundalk 17:45
Shamrock Rovers v Sligo 19:45
Drogheda v Longford 19:45
Waterford v Finn Harps 19:45
First Division
Friday 24th (All 19:45)
Cork v Galway
Athlone v Cobh
Wexford v Bray
Cabinteely v Treaty
Shels v UCD
Two wins for Rovers combined with a couple of difficult games for Pats and we could see a decent gap emerge but Rovers seem to have a big injury problem heading into a double match weekend. Only Gannon on the bench as a senior Pro plus a bunch of Kids against Derry.
With Watts out with a Hamstring (looked like anyway) and Hoare now suspended the team against Dundalk might be thin enough.
Harps v Drogs stands out as a chance for one of them to push right into the top 3 party especially with both of them having winnable games on the monday against Longford and Waterford.
Bohs Dundalk is a tasty one on Monday with both needing points.
Clash of the top two Shels v UCD in the first division gives Shels a chance to stamp their authority on division and UCD a chance to show they have title ambitions.
Watts,O’Brien,Kavanagh,Greene,McCann, Farrugia all currently injured and Hoare suspended - very difficult to see anything but a Dundalk win
Cleary, Dummigan, Gartland, Kelly, McMillan, Hoban all injured and playing like relegation candidates - very difficult to see anything but a Rovers win
Ooh, a game of injury crisis!
Healy, Kerrigan, Keaney, Osam, McEvoy, Gallagher - 5 of our opening day line-up all missed the Cork game (plus Osam, who's a right chip off the old block unfortunately)
Very difficult to see see yadda yadda Shels
would the FAI consider allowing us to do a 7 a side maybe?Originally Posted by mcgonigle
No offence but the overall loss to us is way worse - you’d been playing poorly with and without the above so injuries haven’t made any noticeable difference to the standard of your performances - we were struggling big time on Sat once we lost Watts - anyway we’ll see come Friday
Or we could bring Bradley, McPhail in - I’d fancy they’d still do a decent job in midfield
Last edited by Calcio Jack; 17/05/2021 at 4:19 PM.
Non taken but you obviously only see it from a Rovers perspective. Gartland would make a huge difference to us as he is a leader, Hoban was scoring before he got injured as was McMillan. Kelly is missed big time as we have no right winger.
Also the fact that Rovers could be worried about Dundalk given how we are playing is pretty laughable. Rovers fans have been at pains to point out how bad Dundalk have been (and rightly so) but now that we are playing each other we're a good team again? I think Rovers could be missing a few more and still be heavy favourites
I think it's the management of the players at dundalk, rather than their ability that is the problem in oriel pk. If they decide to turn up (for the 1st time this season) then it could be a difficult game for Rovers, considering the injuries they are carrying this week.
A boring nil all draw will do me.
Over 50 years following Rovers and I’m always convinced we’ll lose and the longer the unbeaten run continues the more convinced I get ( guess I’m like a stopped clock and will be right eventually ) plus last team to beat us was yourselves and we all know that in the irrational world of superstitious you’re a dead cert to win....
I think Dundalk v Rovers is one that the players on both sides will be up for at any time, your best performance this season was against us IMO.
Its as close to a Derby as you can get without it being one if you know what i mean.
Rovers have won matches this season late often because we are bringing on first string subs late in the game and overpowering teams with fresh quality in the last 20 minutes, that wont be the case for the next few weeks.
Part of me is glad to see some of the younger ones get a chance, it looks like at least 1 or 2 will start and then 3 or 4 more come on at some point.
Connolly, Sadiki, Folan, Boyd injured, Dunleavy, McEleney, Barry, Timlin and Foley playing through injury because of a lack of players...something something Drogheda..
All a bit have your cake and eat it. Rovers win as expected and you're all back on having a chuckle at the Dundalk circus. Lose and the excuse is oven ready. Lets hope you have to use it. A soft free kick taken from the wrong place, finished from a clearly offside position would do nicely.
Thats sinking like a concrete block! Not a hope of this Dundalk team and 'management' turning over Rovers realistically, i'd not back us against Waterford U19s tbh. Maybe its a turn the corner type game, even with injuries it would lift confidence but would be a shock.
Is it true that shields was dropped from the last game, or was he injured?
If he was dropped then maybe outright mutiny by the players is not far away- he'd, presumably, be the loudest voice in that dressing room, I would have thought.
I'll nail my colours to the mast, both teams have plenty of injuries but Rovers are down to what looks like 9 senior pros + academy kids, no point whinging about it but right now id take a draw away to Dundalk. If we line out with 1 or 2 senior pros on the bench id move that up to expecting a win.
Regardless of how unhappy DFC players are they will turn up and play.
I don't buy the unhappy dressing room stuff that's always thrown around when teams are losing.
When Vinny was winning things he was grand a few bad results and he had "lost" the dressing room.
Most pros just get on with it and play as well as they can when they go on the pitch
Last edited by sbgawa; 18/05/2021 at 8:40 AM.
He is one yellow away from suspension, they probably want him for the rovers match so didn't risk it.
He went off injured against us the game before
Stand to be corrected, but if he got booked against Harps, he'd have probably missed the Bohs game and not Rovers.
I dont know why you think we'd target the Rovers game and hold players back. Its 3 points for a win no matter who you are playing and we need to be taking wins from wherever we can get them. Tbh if he wasnt injured and he was being saved for an important game it would against teams below us!
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