There were indeed. The amount of fans coming back with trays of drink was something to behold. Have no interest in drinking during a game myself. Was a great atmosphere in the away end. Got a bit worried both times they scored, but luckily enough we responded fairly promptly both times. Tie was really on a knife edge after the second goal. One more for them and we were headed for extra time. Once Palmer scored we pretty much knew that it was done, but still didn’t stop the last few minutes being a bit hairy at times. They had an effort right at the end which I’m still not sure whether Anang got a hand to, or whether it just hit the bar. Haven’t seen it back
Flew back on the same flight as the team this morning, just about made the flight after all the trains to the airport were called off (someone said something about a fire !) Managed to blag a taxi, but they were hard to find too. No buses from the train station to the airport, oddly enough. We were talking to two lads who were heading back into the station just before we got a taxi. I’d be amazed if they didn’t miss the flight.
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
Still recovering from last night. Always a special trip when you see your team pick up a result away in Europe and even more so when there’s a sizeable away crowd. Spent time in both Zurich and Vaduz, both are absolutely beautiful parts of the world. Haven’t seen it back but I thought the peno looked harsh in real time, though despite it being at the Pats end, nothing I saw last night can be taken for certainty given the beer goggles. Really pleased with how the team reacted to all 3 Vaduz goals in the tie, killed their momentum with a goal in quick response each time
Paaatrick's Agletic
https://t.co/R9IslD7nFZ
St pats trying to make there own league fixtures
No, they’re making a perfectly legitimate request, which they are entitled to do. I expect the FAI to turn it down, but given the travel involved I don’t see the harm in asking. Of course Galway are not going to agree, but don’t tell me they wouldn’t be saying the same thing if the positions were reversed.
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
Whether other clubs ask is irrelevant to the legitimacy of the request surely?
I do think it's a bit minnowist that LoI clubs feel they can't play a European and a league game in the same week - and then turn in dreadful performances against clubs from Iceland or Gibraltar despite all the advantages they're given - but it's been asked for before. UCD asked for and got a postponement in 2015 when we got through to the second round for example.
I've always wondered how sports teams in the US can travel North America and play multiple games over a couple of weeks in play-off season especially. It may be comparing apples with pears, and there is scale and resources to consider, but how much of this thing about x number o games in y time is a cultural thing in soccer. It crops up in GAA and Rigby occasionally but to a much lesser extent and both sports are tougher physically on the body. Take Six Nations, run over about a month, squeezed between doestic and European comps, where the sport is full of 15-20stone lads crashing in to each other at full pelt for 80 minutes.
There is need to consider palyer loading and wanting to be fresh after travel but is it that finely tuned? Iirc Dundalk tended to be better when there were a lot of games between Europe and league/cup and looked stale when they had even a week off, even the 2016 cup final, played 3 days after a European game I think, and was only lost last kick of the game in ET. Squads are for handling and managing game time surely.
Malmo or PAOK for Shamrock Rovers if they get past Celje
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Hard to call who will be the loser from that tie. Malmo have been decent but lost the away leg to KI.An out of season PAOK stuttered in the home leg against Borac but won away in the 2nd leg.
I know it might all be irrelevant, but worth discussing while it still is a possibility.
So what? It's a six hour flight. Derry will spend as long on the bus today visiting Tolka.
Kenny is complaining about an early flight from Dublin on Monday morning. That's Pat's call. They could have flown in the afternoon, or even directly from Shannon after the Galway match. Or they could leave on the Tuesday, or even Wednesday. These are all choices they've made themselves.
And "hanging around in Turkey". It's a only refueling stop.
Derry played in Kazakhstan on a Thursday last year, and then played against Drogs on the Sunday, by way of comparison. And that's a longer flight with two stops on the way.
Yes, he can ask for the postponement, but there's no need for the sob story and trying to make it out to be a bigger deal that it is.
If Pat's are to end up drawing Chelsea doesn't fill me with the huge fear that it would have a couple years ago. Seeing them being involved in 2 finals where they would have brought 20k+ fans it gives me some hope that a fixture against a premier league team might not be the embarrassment we've seen with English sides being the home teams in games in Ireland.
I wonder if the Aviva would be looked at as an option. Could easily see them selling it out or having 40K+ at least. Could be a lot of money to be made regardless of how blue the stadium may end of being.
Possible opponents for Pats:
1. Chelsea FC (ENG)
2. FC Iberia 1999 Tbilisi (GEO) / ?stanbul Ba?ak?ehir (TUR)
3. FK Mladá Boleslav (CZE) / Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC (ISR)
4. Ilves Tampere (FIN) / Djurgården (SWE)
5. Molde FK (NOR) / Cercle Brugge KSV (BEL)
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
Pyunik or Ordabasy for Rovers if they lose in ELQ3.
What an awful draw for rovers Kazakhstan or Armenia. Cost a packet either way for charter
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