2023 FAI Cup

[Nesta99]

Annoy yourself less by shaving the soul patch for charity. You can donate it to the fund to keep Pat Hoban.....

But it's nice you can be a neutral...I struggle with that. Although I'd love to go to a Derry v Cork final. or maybe a Louth derby final. Has there been one?

AAHHAHHHHAAAAAAHAAAAA! Thats the funniest thing OTH No never happened, Drogheda and cup finals are like hens teeth and required selling the family silver whenever. One day maybe and certainly would be fun but its as likely as Louth in an All Ireland final.

Caring about records like Cup Final attendance is beyond unimportant - as unimportant as Dundalk being the fist LoI side to play a home game under floodlights....its trivia questions stuff not rivalry stuff. Its far more important that the leagues showpiece game has roper credibility with a full national stadium and we've been growing toward that target - organically tbh irrespective from past contempt from the FAI.

[EatYerGreens]

as unimportant as Dundalk being the fist LoI side to play a home game under floodlights....its trivia questions stuff not rivalry stuff.

Was that not Dalymount ?

[Nesta99]

Was that not Dalymount ?

Yes a big ommission there, in saying home game I meant 1st home European ties actually at home, full circle playing games in Dublin again. First hoe games under floodlights domestically outside Dublin/Dalymount. Such was the novelty at that time that teams travelled from both England and NI for friendlies under the floodlights, large curious crowds went a long way to pay for them. Then again Oriel Park at that times was considered one of if not the best league ground in the country - brand new stand, proper terracing, floodlights, new pitch having been turned 90degrees so was actually level, 4 sided spectator areas, bar facility, soup/bovril/food hatches shedside, commentary and TV gantry, easy access and egress.... then time stood still. Too young to remember but there was a stand behind the town goal that I think came from a NI club i think?!

[joey B]

37500 tickets sold for the final so far!

[EatYerGreens]

Yes a big ommission there, in saying home game I meant 1st home European ties actually at home, full circle playing games in Dublin again. First hoe games under floodlights domestically outside Dublin/Dalymount. Such was the novelty at that time that teams travelled from both England and NI for friendlies under the floodlights, large curious crowds went a long way to pay for them. Then again Oriel Park at that times was considered one of if not the best league ground in the country - brand new stand, proper terracing, floodlights, new pitch having been turned 90degrees so was actually level, 4 sided spectator areas, bar facility, soup/bovril/food hatches shedside, commentary and TV gantry, easy access and egress.... then time stood still. Too young to remember but there was a stand behind the town goal that I think came from a NI club i think?!

I think you're over-egging the impact of floodlights at Oriel Park to be honest. Distillery was the first club on the island to get lights, as early as 1952. Dalymount then followed in 1962, and Oreil 5yrs later in 1967. So I'm not sure lights were the great novelty you claim - certainly for English clubs in the late 1960s, and also not even for Irish League clubs at that time? If NI clubs wanted to play under lights, they had 15years to do so in Belfast before Dundalk got on the scene.

[EatYerGreens]

37500 tickets sold for the final so far!

Good to hear. Is that figure from the FAI?

With a bit of decent weather it might just break 40,000 after all.

[joey B]

Good to hear. Is that figure from the FAI?

With a bit of decent weather it might just break 40,000 after all.

Bohs tweeted it there…

[D24Saint]

Defo has a chance of the record. It should be a great day out.

[Demesne Lad]

I think you're over-egging the impact of floodlights at Oriel Park to be honest. Distillery was the first club on the island to get lights, as early as 1952. Dalymount then followed in 1962, and Oreil 5yrs later in 1967. So I'm not sure lights were the great novelty you claim - certainly for English clubs in the late 1960s, and also not even for Irish League clubs at that time? If NI clubs wanted to play under lights, they had 15years to do so in Belfast before Dundalk got on the scene.

When did 'Sam Prole's fairy lights' go up at Tolka Park?

[Jamesie]

When did 'Sam Prole's fairy lights' go up at Tolka Park?

I remember my first cup semi there in 1976 under lights. It could have been the Maracana as far as I was concerned. Pure magic

[bohsmug]

I remember my first cup semi there in 1976 under lights. It could have been the Maracana as far as I was concerned. Pure magic

Still is something wonderful about a game under floodlights all the same. Love when the evenings get darker. Love seeing the lights as you get closer. You'd sound like a madman if you kept going on about it being magic but it is a bit :-D

On the final itself my objective side says something I don't want to hear, so I'm trying not to listen. Bohs are backed into a corner now on two fronts. On one end we really should've finished in the top 4 given the position we were in and on the other is the fact we're playing a team that have proved themselves to be better than us. There's a clear favourite in my view but hopefully something *ahem* magic happens. It will mean a hell of a lot to Bohs to go and win the cup. Our eggs have been in that basket for years.

[sbgawa]

I keep hearing people saying devine out if bohs don't win the cup. I don't get it 007 was there for 7 years and won nothing divine gets to a cup final in his first season and with half an hour gone on the final day of the season was in fourth. What did bohs fans expect this year?

[ger121]

I keep hearing people saying devine out if bohs don't win the cup. I don't get it 007 was there for 7 years and won nothing divine gets to a cup final in his first season and with half an hour gone on the final day of the season was in fourth. What did bohs fans expect this year?

Europe. He has a big budget which Long did not have for years. Expectations are higher now that we are spending more money on a squad and have gone full-time. To finish in the same position as Long did last season is not good enough.

[Jamesie]

Europe. He has a big budget which Long did not have for years. Expectations are higher now that we are spending more money on a squad and have gone full-time. To finish in the same position as Long did last season is not good enough.

Except for Shels and Drogheda everyone finished where their budget allowed. . We were 2 goals off 5th so it's way better than last year with the cup final. Don't think there was much between Bohs and Pats btw. 10 men for most of one game...even the 0-2 could have gone either way

[2 Year Contract]

Pats have now sold out of all available tickets for the final. The only general sale tickets currently available are 2 premium blocks while there remains a few thousand unsold Bohs tickets in the upper tiers which will be helped by neutrals having no choice but to sit there now unless they want to pay the extra price of a premium ticket

[Another Bohemia]

Except for Shels and Drogheda everyone finished where their budget allowed. . We were 2 goals off 5th so it's way better than last year with the cup final. Don't think there was much between Bohs and Pats btw. 10 men for most of one game...even the 0-2 could have gone either way

What does finishing where your budget allows even mean?

Pat's sacked their manager because they were 7th, 11 points behind Bohs in May. They then clawed back those 11 points and ended up finishing 4 ahead of us. Pat's won 15 more points than Bohs since May and you don't think there's a lot between us?

But we were only 2 goals off 5th so that's grand.... We were top of the league in May and didn't even finish in the top half of the table! That's terrible. You can't even point to a huge amount of injuries to cover for the poor performances. The only long term injury was Williams until Bucko got injured. It was a masterclass in bottling a good start to the season. I didn't think we would win the league but we should not be finishing outside the top half. You can cry on about it being on goal difference all you want but it's makes no odds. 6th place is 6th place. The cup final is only plastering over the cracks at the moment.

[JC_GUFC]

Pats have now sold out of all available tickets for the final. The only general sale tickets currently available are 2 premium blocks while there remains a few thousand unsold Bohs tickets in the upper tiers which will be helped by neutrals having no choice but to sit there now unless they want to pay the extra price of a premium ticket

By a very rough estimate it looks like about 400 Premium tickets and maybe 3k tickets in the South Upper.

Obviously hard to know if Ticketmaster have kept any back but certainly looks like it will probably break 40k attendance.

[D24Saint]

By a very rough estimate it looks like about 400 Premium tickets and maybe 3k tickets in the South Upper.

Obviously hard to know if Ticketmaster have kept any back but certainly looks like it will probably break 40k attendance.

Ticketmaster also had Corporate tickets for sale in that stand. Not sure how they sold ?

[Jack B]

What does finishing where your budget allows even mean?

Pat's sacked their manager because they were 7th, 11 points behind Bohs in May. They then clawed back those 11 points and ended up finishing 4 ahead of us. Pat's won 15 more points than Bohs since May and you don't think there's a lot between us?

But we were only 2 goals off 5th so that's grand.... We were top of the league in May and didn't even finish in the top half of the table! That's terrible. You can't even point to a huge amount of injuries to cover for the poor performances. The only long term injury was Williams until Bucko got injured. It was a masterclass in bottling a good start to the season. I didn't think we would win the league but we should not be finishing outside the top half. You can cry on about it being on goal difference all you want but it's makes no odds. 6th place is 6th place. The cup final is only plastering over the cracks at the moment.

Largely agree with you from the outside looking in, I actually quite rate Bohs' squad and while they overperformed initially in leading the league I've found the drop-off pretty surprising. I think we've the better individual players but on the whole your squad is better and more balanced throughout and spent much of the season thinking Bohs were a likely shout for 3rd, not managing even the top half was underwhelming to say the least

[SkStu]

The Derry fans on here got it spot on at the beginning of the season in terms of what it would look like under Devine. Awful league campaign.