I know it was Derrys 'B' team, but I wonder how low they would have finished if they didn't sign Connolly.
So long Premier Division. It’s been emotional!
I know it was Derrys 'B' team, but I wonder how low they would have finished if they didn't sign Connolly.
i remain pretty unconvinced about higgins + derry.
Trust us to put in one of our best performances of the season in the last game. Hard to tell who will be there next season but a clear out would not be a bad start.
Yeah there's group of players you could do something with next season. Clarke, Doherty, Flores, McManus and Twardek from tonight starting line up I'd keep. Burt is probably gone and the rest I wouldn't lose sleep about leaving either.
There's definitely been an improvement since Devine took over but that wouldn't be hard after how bad the season was till then.
Lovely send off for Bermo in Inchicore tonight on his last appearance in LOI football after 13 season with the club. Shels had a couple of first half chances that Odumosu did well to save but they were an absolute basket case in defence as usual as the 13 goals pats have put past them in 4 games this season shows. Second half was a really poor watch and was real end of season dead rubber stuff. Good finish by Ben McCormack at the end though.
Paaatrick's Agletic
When Burt went off and gave the fans an applause, it looked like a goodbye. Would agree with the players you’ve listed, with the exception of Twardek. I just think he’s not good enough for us for where we need to go. Not sure what will happen with Coote. I’d also take a punt on Varian.
Yeah I’d give Varian a chance next year too. He’s shown enough flashes of quality. Had low confidence in front of goal because he went ages without scoring but after a couple recently he might be worth a try.
McDaid is worth keeping imo. Teardrop could be a fine squad player.
Tonight was my 1st time ever seeing McManus start a match and I thought he was a nice tidy player.
Just some notes on the final league table. Same amount of wins for Dundalk, Derry, and St. Pats, with St. Pats scoring the most goals. I think it is fair to say Connolly was the difference between them, but really, probably the squads had the same amount of talent.
Also, Dundalk and Derry finished on higher points than 2nd place last year.
There is a bigger difference in points between Shelbourne (7th, 41pts) and the last potential European Spot (St. Pats 4th, 61pts), and St. Pats and Rovers (1st, 79pts)
That was a very good performance by Dundalk last night, played lovely football passing in triangles all over the pitch, one of the best displays of the season actually.
Solid end to the season and worthy for euro qualification, just 2 goals away from finishing second outright.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
I think the disappointing aspect for Derry was that there were many opportunities to put real pressure on Rovers and challenging for the league, and despite many high profile signings in the offseason, they completely failed to do so.
They have shown they don't really have consistency to be a title contender, finishing 13 points behind Rovers is just as similar to Pats last season- and look what happened to them this year.
They haven't won a game since their semi-final against Treaty, and if they don't win the final, I think its a season that really failed to deliver on its promise.
I would say we aren’t in the business of making comparisons and all at Derry are happy with how the season has went.
If we were in the business of making comparisons then we would be looking toward Rovers as the benchmark and saying our biggest signing and arguably the leagues best player got injured after 9 mins and missed most of the year or else we just may have been a position higher.
Anyway, we will be very happy for people to be unconvinced by us I dare say.
Pats finished this season with just 1 point less than last season, scoring 1 goal more and conceding 5 goals less.
Considering the turnover of players in the offseason, rather than a Pats regression it mainly just shows that Derry and Dundalk of 2022 are far better than Sligo and Derry of 2021.
Paaatrick's Agletic
Only natural to compare your team to those around you, no? O'Donnell has done a fantastic job on a much smaller budget with a lot of lads who wouldnt get a look in with derry. Derry will no doubt spend a lot over the winter (as is their right with an owner like that) but after 18 months of Higgins im still not convinced hes all hes cracked up to be.
We were 2nd bottom (and in serious danger of being relegated or at least in the play off) when Higgins took over and he overseen an incredible turn around last season without significant investment.
Obviously it remains to be seen as if the team and manager can win a league but that is more down to Rovers being so far ahead of the pack than it is our manager, the job he has done at Derry to date is beyond question.
I think saying Duffy wasnt available is to easy an ansewer as all clubs (unless you are very lucky) have players out with injuries.
Burke and Byrne argueably our two best players played bit parts at best for most of the season and we lost Mandroiu in July (ironically he was injured until September anyway) even if he had stayed.
LEts say Duffy is fit and rareing to go next Feb , id argue if Burke and Byrne are fit you are further behind not closer.
Also Derry with Duffy in situ surrendered very meakly against Shels and Sligo before comeing to Tallaght and losing. If Derry dont strengthen significantly over the winter i will be surprised.
Whatever Higgins says publically he cant be happy with how the season has finished.
Last edited by sbgawa; 07/11/2022 at 11:59 AM.
Just watched back the highlights of the Derry Dundalk game yesterday. Had to laugh at McCourt pretending to be shocked when he eventually received his red card for a blatant punch to the head of Diallo
Paaatrick's Agletic
That's bizarre - how the ref sends Diallo off, having missed McCourt's actions, I don't know. I presume the linesman spotted McCourt and said he had to go too. It's just before the 1:00 mark here.
Also - and this obviously isn't purely a Dundalk issue - but every single player who crowded around the ref should be booked. And if the game ends up 8 v 7, tough.
Last edited by pineapple stu; 07/11/2022 at 12:37 PM.
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