Weekend games Friday 6th Monday 9th May

**placid casual** · 10/05/2022, 7:27 AM

A game of 2 half's in Tallaght, for Rovers anyway. First half was the worst we've played in a long time-neither Aidomo, Farrugia or Greener did themselves any favours. 2nd half changes brought urgency from Gaffney , control from McCann and finishing from Burkey. Agree that McCann really enhances the team now, so O'Neill may not be automatic first choice now. Sligo look a decent outfit but lack something up front to be contenders for anything.
Should be a decent game on Friday with a big crowd, just hope the wind doesn't affect the game like last night.

**sbgawa** · 10/05/2022, 8:17 AM

Originally Posted by Jd2793

have seen a good bit of him with ireland , stood out a lot more than heffernan to me. looks a great prospect. was there not talk that his father wanted him out of rovers due to him having no chance of breaking through? great call if so and if he kicks on (looks like he will) it'll put a seed of doubt into a lot of parents/players minds out in roadstone

Players move between the teams in both directions , generally Parents or Agents who are impatient are the problem, id say the likes of Zefi, Bazunu , Furlong and a multitude of others plus Aidemo starting last night would be more of an influence.
Moving is a gamble that can go both ways. Tomas Oluwa looked a real handful in a Rory Gaffney type way , left for more game time at Bohs and went backwards, now playing in Athlone.

**Jack B** · 10/05/2022, 8:57 AM

Can only reiterate what's been said above about Curtis, in two games he's gone a long way towards solving what up until then was looking a serious problem position for us given how sub-par Jack Scott has been. There can be a tendency to overstate how good players have performed due to their age but he probably was our best player last night and did an incredibly good job at largely subduing a extremely dangerous player in Matty Smith. Mad to think he's our youngest ever starter.

**Nah Nah Nah Nah** · 10/05/2022, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by placid casual

A game of 2 half's in Tallaght, for Rovers anyway. First half was the worst we've played in a long time-neither Aidomo, Farrugia or Greener did themselves any favours. 2nd half changes brought urgency from Gaffney , control from McCann and finishing from Burkey. Agree that McCann really enhances the team now, so O'Neill may not be automatic first choice now. Sligo look a decent outfit but lack something up front to be contenders for anything.
Should be a decent game on Friday with a big crowd, just hope the wind doesn't affect the game like last night.

With all the changes you made we needed to be more attacking in the first half when we had the gale. Not sure how many of those goals would have gotten past McGinty mind. Certainly the first and third ones were awful by Brush. Gaffney always causes us serious problems.

**2 Year Contract** · 10/05/2022, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by Nah Nah Nah Nah

With all the changes you made we needed to be more attacking in the first half when we had the gale. Not sure how many of those goals would have gotten past McGinty mind. Certainly the first and third ones were awful by Brush. Gaffney always causes us serious problems.

Is McGinty injured? More importantly, will he be out injured on Saturday?

**Nah Nah Nah Nah** · 10/05/2022, 10:59 AM

Not sure re Saturday. He got injured against Shels. Was named to start last night but didn’t make it through the warm up.

**brendy_éire** · 10/05/2022, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by TonyD

I think we played with a lot of fear tonight. Just set out to contain Derry. Perhaps understandable given the last game, but I’d like to have seen us show a bit more ambition. We got away with it I suppose, but still Derry could have been out of sight by half time again if they’d been more clinical. We only got into the game at all in the last 15/20 minutes, and as you say Forrestor could have nicked it near the end with a great chance. Now that would have been a proper mugging. Can’t complain too much I suppose, a good point in the circumstances.

Thought Pats were poor for most of last night, aye, but should have scored at the end there. Obviously playing for the draw, as we knew they would, with some expert time-wasting from the off (Anang, in particular).

Our lack of being clinical is again costing us, as it has been all season. I don't think playing McGonigle up front by himself is working, and it could be worth starting Akintunde up there with him.

Tallaght on Friday night will be seen as big, but it's not really. We could and win there, but it still won't affect the final league table. What has cost us is the likes of Pats last night, Shels at home, Drogs away, etc. No point winning the 'big' games if you don't win the 'little' ones.

**Glen Of Aherlow** · 10/05/2022, 2:39 PM

So Pats finished above you last season and won the cup and you see us as a 'little' game ...... serious notions since your chairman got that windfall

**sbgawa** · 10/05/2022, 2:59 PM

Originally Posted by brendy_éire

Thought Pats were poor for most of last night, aye, but should have scored at the end there. Obviously playing for the draw, as we knew they would, with some expert time-wasting from the off (Anang, in particular).

Our lack of being clinical is again costing us, as it has been all season. I don't think playing McGonigle up front by himself is working, and it could be worth starting Akintunde up there with him.

Tallaght on Friday night will be seen as big, but it's not really. We could and win there, but it still won't affect the final league table. What has cost us is the likes of Pats last night, Shels at home, Drogs away, etc. No point winning the 'big' games if you don't win the 'little' ones.

Well it kind of will...by six points at least if you win instead of us.
Are you seriously conceding the league this early?

**brendy_éire** · 10/05/2022, 3:08 PM

Originally Posted by Glen Of Aherlow

So Pats finished above you last season and won the cup and you see us as a 'little' game ...... serious notions since your chairman got that windfall

There are no 'little' games, that's my point. People talk about some games as 'big' (i.e. Tallaght on Friday), as if winning those will decide the title. It's all well and good getting the headline grabbing wins, but if you don't then go and win ones we're you're odds on, you're not going to win the league.

**ontheotherhand** · 10/05/2022, 3:08 PM

You can not lose if you do not play.

**brendy_éire** · 10/05/2022, 3:16 PM

Originally Posted by sbgawa

Well it kind of will...by six points at least if you win instead of us.
Are you seriously conceding the league this early?

I never considered that we would win the league this year. Some fans did (or maybe even still do), but we don't have the depth in the squad to do so.
I doubt we'll lose many games this year, but we'll certainly draw too many to keep up the pace.

I think we'll finish double figures behind Rovers, but not the 24 point gap it was last year. That'll likely get us second place too. Qualifying for Europe aside, I'm not particularly bothered about where we finish, just whether we've closed the gap or not.

**sbgawa** · 10/05/2022, 3:45 PM

Originally Posted by brendy_éire

I never considered that we would win the league this year. Some fans did (or maybe even still do), but we don't have the depth in the squad to do so.
I doubt we'll lose many games this year, but we'll certainly draw too many to keep up the pace.

I think we'll finish double figures behind Rovers, but not the 24 point gap it was last year. That'll likely get us second place too. Qualifying for Europe aside, I'm not particularly bothered about where we finish, just whether we've closed the gap or not.

That's a fair viewpoint.
I am confident we have the squad to win the league but Derry or someone else who can stay in touch have a chance in the run in particularly if we make it to group stages in Europe.
14 weeks of midweek matches will thin the Rovers squad out pretty drastically.