No way ...
Shock horror.
"Now jump up there and stuff that son of a bitch in the basket, chief"
Will there be any streams for the others? LOITV maybe?
Listening to the LOI Central pod and there's a wild story where the LOI referee in charge of Hibernians game last year done them in with a few decisions. They went ballistic at full time and now have a considerable amount of players and management suspended for the games against Rovers.
Hilarious that Rovers are getting a massive lift from another controversial Irish refereeing display.
Presume it was their most recent game - Rob Hennessy was in charge and they conceded in the 96th minute to go to extra time, and conceded twice more there.
They had two players sent off in injury time too
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021...s_Path)#Q3_4.2
I have great sympathy for Hibs that it was Hennessy who reffed the game, but no surprise at his "performance".
He was like a small child the other night in the pats game, running around, completely clueless to the game going on around him - it's an embarrassent that LOI send this level of ref to European competitions.
Although I can't find it now, I briefly scanned an article the other day about IL clubs in Europe and the travel difficulties they are facing this season.
Basically the cost of chartering aircraft to fly to Europe has rocketed, to around three times the normal rate - I seem to recall that while it typically cost £25k to charter a plane to Western Europe this time last year, you could now be looking at £75k. This is because the majority of charter aircraft for this sort of business were/are Russian, and they've now been sanctioned. As a result, even if you can find an available aircraft (not at all easy), clubs simply cannot now afford to charter them, even if they sell spare seats to supporters to offeset the cost, as they often do.
As a result, most clubs will now have to try for scheduled flights, which is hardly ideal. Meanwhile, in typically jammy fashion, Linfield drew a Welsh team, TNS, so instead will get the ferry - I hope the waves are 30 feet high and they all get seasick!
(Thinking about ferries, Sligo have certainly done well, drawing Bala, then Motherwell, should they go through)
Did revers rest a few last night or injuries?
Seem a few missing from the first team
"Now jump up there and stuff that son of a bitch in the basket, chief"
Injuries..heading into Europe again with a few hobbled. Bit different to last year in that it's only one area of the pitch that's struggling but having our 3 most creative players out isn't ideal at all. Gaffney is doing a lot of work on his own at the moment. Any Irish team needs their best 11 performing at their best to do well in Europe and we aren't there unfortunately. Hibernians have a few banned so hopefully we have enough but Jack was supposed to be the difference maker for Europe and even if he does make it back he won't be fully match fit so I'm nervous enough now.
Who else is out
Byrne, Burke and Mandroiu. Just the three you'd be expecting to do the damage! Burke was supposed to be back this week and came on against Pat's but wasn't even in the squad yesterday. Danny should be the sharpest of the 3 as he is only recently out but I'm not sure how long he's gone for. Jack might start training on Monday after a 5 week layoff but he wasn't even really up to speed before he got injured so....
Farrugia is also out but less of a concern. He'd be handy though if we needed pace...and we do look a bit short of it. Towell is just back from an injury as well but he's replaceable.
So again, not as bad as last year when we had to start the game with lads who weren't even able to train...but not great. Still should have enough for Hibernians I think but I'm less confident than I would be with even 2 of the 3 above fully firing.
Last edited by ontheotherhand; 02/07/2022 at 3:43 PM.
Thats some of your biggest names. Its going to be very tight
"Now jump up there and stuff that son of a bitch in the basket, chief"
Have Hibernians any recognisable faces in their squad does anyone know lads?
Gary Cronin is he the right man to manage Longford Town?
Not ideal but we have Watts and Gaffney in reasonable form which will hopefully be enough against Hibernians who are missing some key players as well. I'm encouraged that Grace is fit and playing well so we should be better at the back than we were against Flora....that's a low bar though!
If we can get through this round and get the 3 lads back firing on all cylinders I'll be more confident. Was really hoping Jack and Danny would be ready to go. I think they'd cause any team problems even and maybe especially if we were under the cosh a bit in later stages.
The first leg between our potential opponents Sfîntul Gheorghe v NS Mura is on next week. I’d be shocked if Mura don’t progress as they featured in the group stages last year. They played Sturm Graz who finished second in the Austrian league recently and lost 3-2. Where Sfîntul Gheorghe finished forth in the Moldovan league last year and lost six nil to Steau Bucharest in a recent friendly.
https://youtu.be/_2vTnDbjvWc
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