I think that's a bit over-dramatic to be honest. I mean yes, the style of play this year (or last year for that matter) isn't vintage UCD. The game out in Bratislava was one of the best games I remember us playing, or we destroyed Shels in Tolka in 2009 when we both ended up challenging for the title, or we went toe-to-toe with Dundalk in the FAI Cup semi in 2018, having deservedly beaten Waterford in the quarters. We're not playing like that now, and I'd rather we were.
But no senior club exists to give its U15s/17s/19s a place in the senior squad. If they're good enough, they'll get a chance. None of the players who have left made any real impact on the first team (that's from a footballing point of view of course; if there's behind-the-scenes reasons they're leaving, then that's another matter).
There's no big plan? I don't really agree. Three years ago this week, we had two players on the bench and were really short after a number of players left in the summer (O'Neill, Molloy, Farrugia, Crowley, McDonald, Davis, Scales for a while). We had to bump up players who really weren't good enough, and we only beat Harps 1-0, an embarrassingly poor margin
It felt like we got caught on the hop there when a great team all moved on at the same time. I don't get that feeling now. Kerrigan and (essentially) Whelan have moved on as expected, but we've already started on the next generation with Moore, Lonergan, Duffy, etc. I'd argue the academy is (a) for the benefit of the players more than the clubs, so we do utilise that when signing Moore/Duffy/Lonergan, (b) is to supplement, not replace, the long-standing scholarship model and (c) is to build community links. In that regard, it's working fine I think.
As far as I can see, the plan is to keep the show on the road with a tiny backroom staff by mixing the best players from the underage teams as they come through with signings from other clubs (effectively the same as any other club) and to keep punching above our weight in that regard (certainly with regards crowd numbers). I'm not sure what more can really be expected. It'd be great to have the budget of, say, 1995 to 2005 and keep players for longer after they finish college - then we could be back to being a solid mid-table Premier side occasionally challenging for Europe. But we don't, so we can't.
Wexford undoubtedly the in-form First Division team, but still surprising they're 2-0 ahead at the RSC! Galway, as expected, 1-0 up at home to Cobh, Treaty have finally taken the lead against Longford, and Athlone putting up a decent showing against Bray, but have now fallen 1-2 behind.
Galway and Treaty promptly double their leads as I type.
Is there a drone at the Drogheda game stopping play?
Yeah I paid the 7 euro to watch and def a low flying drone. Cameras showed it
Fair play to drogs , Rovers stay 10 points clear
FT Drogs 1-0 Dundalk
Shels 3-1 Harps
Drogheda United in this together
Only a matter of time before UCD overtake us.
Can sign all the players we want but until the tactics change, we're going down.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
We are shocking, can see UCD overtake us
Next month's game in the Bowl looks huge in terms of determining who goes down automatically and who goes down in a playoff
Treaty deserving of the three points after a strong second half ,Longford dominated first half though only created one chance ,after halftime they didnt turn up ,two pens and a fine Curran header did the trick for the Tribes...oops i mean Treaty men.About 500 there me thinks.
We’re just atrocious,we’ve now signed a random beanpole to knock it down to no one,relegation or play off I honestly couldn’t care less at this point...
It really was night and day at Tolka tonight compared to Harps 3-0 drubbing of us back in March
When we were on it going forward we were really slick and probably should have hit 5 goals tonight. Young players progressing really well in Duff's system, Hakiki inevitably will be in England in a year or two with his natural skill and low centre of gravity, Gavin Molloy who has quietly improved in every appearance had a breakout game tonight even setting aside his two goals and Jack Moylan is literally mocking Keith Long for being deemed not good enough for Bohs
Ollie has pulled off some great escapes for Harps before but that Harps team looked grim I think that clock is ticking down for them, you would have to fancy Cork/Galway/Waterford to do them over in a play-off and UCD overtaking them couldn't be ruled out
The Leinster Senior League needs a strong Bohemians
That’s the league over with anyway. Even if Dundalk win their game in hand, Rovers won’t blow a 7 point lead. Teams are just too inconsistent to mount a real challenge.
Treaty and Wexford wins tonight make the playoff race very interesting,opened it up big time…
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
Waterford have now lost 2 in a row after 8 wins in a row. We should have taken a lead near end of first half but new signing Aouchria blazed over. We conceded 2 poor goals in 3 minutes early in 2nd half and Wexford got a 3rd when more awful defending left their striker with a free header. Shane Griffin got a goal back and his efforts deserved that but other than that it was poor from the Blues. Wexford on a great run now and well worth their win.
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