Games weekend Thursday 7th to Friday 8th July

[pineapple stu]

You are correct Stu, it doesn't really matter, unless you are a u15/17/19 player at UCD who thinks that you have more chance at UCD than other clubs, and I guess that was my point. My comment was sort of linked to some of my prior posts about really excellent players walking away from UCD, the bulk of them came thru the ranks. As for Heist, not sure he was even in the country back then, could be wrong there but great to see him get promoted (someone told me he is 26, but that could be duff info and a suggestion he was in USA for years ?). I think Rovers have given more of their young lads senior team action in recent years but that's a sales strategy, play them, then see if you can sell them, nothing wrong with that if that's the model. And re the 17/18/19 year olds coming to UCD, I have heard that a fair few of the young lads in and around the 1st team squad aren't in UCD on scholarship, and are unlikely to be any time soon. They will all be gone as soon as an offer comes in from anyone better than Longford ! Sure UCD will continue to get walk ups who get the entry points and sensibly see that football + education is best of both worlds, when you are the biggest Uni in the state, that's assured. But there is no big plan, its finger in the air stuff and hope for the best, and the cupboard will be bare by the time they cop on to the damage being done under the current regime. I will be happy to see them go back to the basics of what this club is all about, and always be building for the future, playing the right way, with a freedom and fearlessness that we always got at The Bowl

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.

[SeanDrog]

Shels 1-1 Harps update

Half times

Drogs 1-0 Dundalk
Shels 2-1 Harps

[culloty82]

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.

[culloty82]

Galway and Treaty promptly double their leads as I type.

[brendy_éire]

Is there a drone at the Drogheda game stopping play?

[sbgawa]

Yeah I paid the 7 euro to watch and def a low flying drone. Cameras showed it

[sbgawa]

Fair play to drogs , Rovers stay 10 points clear

[SeanDrog]

FT Drogs 1-0 Dundalk
Shels 3-1 Harps

[nigel-harps1954]

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.

[MattB11]

We are shocking, can see UCD overtake us

[pineapple stu]

Next month's game in the Bowl looks huge in terms of determining who goes down automatically and who goes down in a playoff

[da bishop]

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.

[joey B]

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...

[total hoofball]

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

[sullanefc]

Do all fans not want managers of other clubs to fail?

This ☝

[ger121]

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.

[brendy_éire]

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.

It was always over, TBF. There is no team in a position to challenge.

[joey B]

Treaty and Wexford wins tonight make the playoff race very interesting,opened it up big time…

[trevy]

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.

[ger121]

It was always over, TBF. There is no team in a position to challenge.

There was a glimmer of a title race if Dundalk could win their 2 in hand and Rovers in Europe but that is extinguished now. That 4 in a row is getting ever closer. They’ve been singing about the last one for decades, imagine them now…