Games Weekend 4th 5th March

**sbgawa** · 02/03/2022, 2:00 PM

Premier Division

Friday 4th March

Drogheda v UCD 19:45
Shels v Derry 19:45
St Pats v Shamrock Rovers 19:45
Finn Harps v Bohemians 20:00

Saturday 5th

Sligo v Dundalk 19:45

First Division

Friday 4th

Cobh v Treaty 19:45
Galway v Waterford 19:45
Wexford v Athlone 19:45

Saturday 5th

Longford v Cork 19:30

**sbgawa** · 02/03/2022, 2:06 PM

Drogs and UCD is it an early season six pointer?
Pats v Rovers gives Rovers a chance to put six points between themselves and last years 2nd place team but will need to improve on the Derry performance to do so.
Sligo v Dundalk is an interesting one, two teams that have stared well, one more win for either and they will be entitled to call that a good start.
Table will need a few more games to shake out but already a few interesting sub plots emerging, are Harps as bad as their results say? are bohs as good as theirs?

Waterford were unconvincing against Bray but a win against potential title rivals Galway will give them 3 wins to start the season and momentum is everything.
Caulfield will be anxious even this early i reckon, 3rd year with a full time Galway, promotion or the door??

**PartySaint** · 03/03/2022, 8:44 AM

Originally Posted by sbgawa

Drogs and UCD is it an early season six pointer?
Pats v Rovers gives Rovers a chance to put six points between themselves and last years 2nd place team but will need to improve on the Derry performance to do so.
Sligo v Dundalk is an interesting one, two teams that have stared well, one more win for either and they will be entitled to call that a good start.
Table will need a few more games to shake out but already a few interesting sub plots emerging, are Harps as bad as their results say? are bohs as good as theirs?

Waterford were unconvincing against Bray but a win against potential title rivals Galway will give them 3 wins to start the season and momentum is everything.
Caulfield will be anxious even this early i reckon, 3rd year with a full time Galway, promotion or the door??

There's no need for Rovers to be worrying about Pats this season. We look clueless.

**placid casual** · 03/03/2022, 8:59 AM

You've thrown the towel in there nice and early. I can only assume the pats players themselves haven't.
Rovers playing the potential bottom 2 and top 2 in our first 4 games is interesting. How we fare against the middle bit (sligo, bohs etc) will determine how the league goes, I guess.

Should be a decent crowd in Richmond tomorrow anyway. Hopefully the coked up young fellas will keep themselves in check should/if/when Rovers score.

**PartySaint** · 03/03/2022, 9:27 AM

Originally Posted by placid casual

You've thrown the towel in there nice and early. I can only assume the pats players themselves haven't.
Rovers playing the potential bottom 2 and top 2 in our first 4 games is interesting. How we fare against the middle bit (sligo, bohs etc) will determine how the league goes, I guess.

Should be a decent crowd in Richmond tomorrow anyway. Hopefully the coked up young fellas will keep themselves in check should/if/when Rovers score.

In terms of the title race I never had us in it, think I had us down for finishing 5th in the Prediction thread and so far we look like a mid table team.

It will be a sellout tomorrow, not many tickets left.

**pineapple stu** · 03/03/2022, 9:35 AM

Originally Posted by sbgawa

Drogs and UCD is it an early season six pointer?

Definitely. Even though there's another 9 games against the bottom four (if that's what UCD/Drogheda/Harps/Shels are), to be winless after the first round of those matches really wouldn't be great even this early on. We could even be goalless after them.

**Jd2793** · 03/03/2022, 10:25 AM

youd be worried for ucd if they shoot another blank here. huge game for drogs too though i can see it being very cagey. pats need to shape up quickly too , clancy has to sping a few changes from what i saw monday

**D24Saint** · 03/03/2022, 10:26 AM

The last game we needed tomorrow was Rovers tbh. I wouldn’t go as far as panicking yet but last Monday was definitely cause for concern. I think some of the pre season worries about how our squad was built have come to fruition very early. We need a big performance tomorrow to steady the ship as another defeat could cause heads to drop in the stands and in the squad. I think it will be 2-1 Rovers.

**Finlay Harp** · 03/03/2022, 11:10 AM

Third game for Harps. Time to start taking our chances. In front of a good home crowd we might finally kick in to action. It won’t be as easy for Bohs as some pundits are claiming.

**Bohtastic** · 03/03/2022, 10:05 PM

It never is easy for us up in Finn Park.
We could easily slip up on Friday .
Still thinking (hoping?) a win - Twardek is due a goal.

**oriel** · 04/03/2022, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by D24Saint

The last game we needed tomorrow was Rovers tbh. I wouldn’t go as far as panicking yet but last Monday was definitely cause for concern. I think some of the pre season worries about how our squad was built have come to fruition very early. We need a big performance tomorrow to steady the ship as another defeat could cause heads to drop in the stands and in the squad. I think it will be 2-1 Rovers.

Curious to know D24 where you see the weakness, as after the opening night 3-0 you looked in good shape, I suppose it is only 3 games in, but if you don't get a result tonight its a bad start.

Is it lack of cover / options in defence with Barrett out, or is it the MF that is the problem with likes of Lewis and Benson gone maybe?

I wouldn't be panicking, most clubs could drop a good few places after a few bad results, including Dundalk if we lose tomorrow, could go from 2nd to 6th. in saying that I fancy us to get a draw in Sligo.

**D24Saint** · 04/03/2022, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by oriel

Curious to know D24 where you see the weakness, as after the opening night 3-0 you looked in good shape, I suppose it is only 3 games in, but if you don't get a result tonight its a bad start.

Is it lack of cover / options in defence with Barrett out, or is it the MF that is the problem with likes of Lewis and Benson gone maybe?

I wouldn't be panicking, most clubs could drop a good few places after a few bad results, including Dundalk if we lose tomorrow, could go from 2nd to 6th. in saying that I fancy us to get a draw in Sligo.

The defence is definitely the weak point so far. I like the look of Redmond but haven't seen enough of Grivosti yet to judge. I think Abankwah has bags of potential but has a mistake or two a game in him at this point in his career. I thought Breslin was excellent versus Shels particularly going forward but his form has dipped since and id go with Bermo tonight. The biggest issue defensively so far has been RB the lad Scott just hasn't hit the ground running and had a nightmare last Monday.

**Shinkicker** · 04/03/2022, 12:03 PM

No bigger game than rovers, this could be the kick in the arse your players need to prove they are or could be possible contenders. BUT if you loose it could kill any confidence the squad has and make for a long season.

**Jack B** · 04/03/2022, 3:57 PM

Originally Posted by oriel

Curious to know D24 where you see the weakness, as after the opening night 3-0 you looked in good shape, I suppose it is only 3 games in, but if you don't get a result tonight its a bad start.

Is it lack of cover / options in defence with Barrett out, or is it the MF that is the problem with likes of Lewis and Benson gone maybe?

I wouldn't be panicking, most clubs could drop a good few places after a few bad results, including Dundalk if we lose tomorrow, could go from 2nd to 6th. in saying that I fancy us to get a draw in Sligo.

Midfield is the issue for me, was the one area of the squad I worried about prior to the season as well. Barrett is a loss but at least will be back and has decent enough cover in that position (though right back is a concern as Jack Scott is the only option there and has been a bit ropey so far to say the least), right now the midfield is entirely dependent on Forrester and he can't do it by himself. Tbf we have been playing wingers as 10s which I'm hoping Clancy will learn isn't particularly viable and then you'll see us improve. Feels like we've a lot of forward players that are trying to be shoe-horn in at the expense of balance, but if we start playing a Forrester-Lennon-O'Reilly/McCormack midfield then I think we'll end up somewhat back on track. Not replacing Lewis has definitely been the problem from the limited amount we've seen thus far.