Games weekend 20th September to 23rd September

[Nesta99]

A dodgy peno last week and an even dodgier peno this week. The officials are a malignancy on the league

Utter Cnut of a ref and Lino….

That gob****e ref just handed the league to Derry. Shels falling apart and have to go to tallaght and Derry. Typical that a ref decides this league.

Ouch!!

[brendy_éire]

Was it a penalty? No. Do I care? Also no. Conan Byrne couldn't be clutching those pearls any harder on TV, good lord.

Not too sure now.

At the time, I thought it was a penalty, as did everyone around me. I couldn't blame McGraith for anything, and Bradley's comments are certainly unwise.
Fats had made the decision that he was going down. Most of the time you'll get contact, but not in this case. He was clipped after he was going down, but that's a VAR foul if we're being very, very generous.
I'm not comfortable with that sort of behaviour at all.
Being due a penalty for handball shortly before doesn't make it even.

Otherwise, it was frustrating to concede after our good start, but we can't be giving space to opposition as we did.
Rovers were comfortable after their goal, and we didn't have much of an answer until into the second half. They were a wee bit sloppy in the second half, passes astray and the like. Just a bit off their best. Story of the season?

League-wise, back to being in our hands, but Rovers still have the capacity to win it. Coin toss at this stage.

[Knocklyonhoop]

Not too sure now.

At the time, I thought it was a penalty, as did everyone around me. I couldn't blame McGraith for anything, and Bradley's comments are certainly unwise.
Fats had made the decision that he was going down. Most of the time you'll get contact, but not in this case. He was clipped after he was going down, but that's a VAR foul if we're being very, very generous.
I'm not comfortable with that sort of behaviour at all.
Being due a penalty for handball shortly before doesn't make it even.

Otherwise, it was frustrating to concede after our good start, but we can't be giving space to opposition as we did.
Rovers were comfortable after their goal, and we didn't have much of an answer until into the second half. They were a wee bit sloppy in the second half, passes astray and the like. Just a bit off their best. Story of the season?

League-wise, back to being in our hands, but Rovers still have the capacity to win it. Coin toss at this stage.

if we had of won I think we d have an outside chance but 3 Dublin derbies coming up, hard to see it now. Psychologically a win tonight would have been huge. Ye have the best run in and have a great chance but really think if Shels don’t win it’s a serious bottle job from where they were.

could be title and relegation all down to two head to heads, do RTE do red button/!

[TonyD]

Yeah Pats were battering Waterford for the first 30 mins or so, they struggled to get out of their own defensive third and the keeper produced some heroics. Waterford then had the better of the play for the last 15 mins of the first half but with their pressure in Pats final third they were too open at the back and susceptible to counter attacks and the pace Pats have on the wings killed them in that respect with the first two goals coming against the run of play during those 15 mins. Anang had a very good game and had to earn his clean sheet, Waterford unlucky not to have scored tonight. I thought Brandon Kavanagh was an absolute joy to watch tonight.

Agree about Brandon Kavanagh, thought he was excellent. Everyone played well though, and even when we were under pressure we didn’t cough up any real gilt edged chances. I’ll admit I wasn’t too sure about taking off the two wide players for an extra centre back, I thought we should have left one on to carry a threat. However, the switch worked. That’s why Stephen Kenny is manager and I’m not

[WoodquayBoy]

Rovers will rue that woeful start to the season as on the evidence of our last three games, which were at home to Derry, Rovers and Shels, Rovers are head and shoulders above the other 2.
Great support for Shels tonight in EDP, and plenty vocal as well compared to the other 2 (though in fairness, Rovers was a Monday game). That win tonight also means we are guaranteed to stay up, so that’s job done with 6 games to spare

[Buckett]

We've avoided automatic relegation but a point on Monday away to Drogheda Utd will guarantee safety!

[SwanVsDalton]

Not too sure now.

At the time, I thought it was a penalty, as did everyone around me. I couldn't blame McGraith for anything, and Bradley's comments are certainly unwise.
Fats had made the decision that he was going down. Most of the time you'll get contact, but not in this case. He was clipped after he was going down, but that's a VAR foul if we're being very, very generous.
I'm not comfortable with that sort of behaviour at all.
Being due a penalty for handball shortly before doesn't make it even.

It wouldn't have been even since the handball wasn't a peno either: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...04922460498133

Connolly's header is the marginal one for me since he looked potentially onside.

The thing about being uncomfortable with it is, in my view, we're mostly uncomfortable with how bad a dive it is (if McEleney throws his leg out and makes a bit more of a foul of it, we could turn a blind eye). Alas that dive was insanely wile.

[trevy]

Strange game at Richmond Park last night. Waterford played well at times but 2 well taken goals from Elbouzedi and Melia on the counterrace attack made it 2 0. Waterford started 2nd half well but couldn't get goal to bring them back into game and 3rd goal killed it. Was it over the line?
Anang was good in goal for Pats.
I'm not sure why Keith Long waited till we were 3 down to make changes.
European hopes are fading now.

[trevy]

Had a look at highlights and 3rd Pats goal is over the line so good call from officials for a change!

[2 Year Contract]

Thought I was going mad reading that "Galway United will never die" flag. They really should be adding "(again)" to it

https://x.com/pro_galway_ball/status...593535758?s=46

[Eminence Grise]

do RTE do red button/!

They have an in the red button, and they keep on pressing it...

[CorribsideSteve]

Galway have needed just 20 goals to get 12 wins (including 5 1-0's). Ten clean sheets from those 12 wins. Hard to score against too, 5 shut-out's from 9 draws, and losing by the odd goal in 5 of 9 losses. Brutal efficiency.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Poor judgement from Bradley...sure we all know Rob Hennessy is the worst ref in the league.

Amazingly wasn’t complaining about the gombeen who was reffing their game last week

[placid casual]

It's only blind loyalty that has you comparing the ref last week ( who made 0 questionable decisions)with McGrath last night- McGrath's actions have probably kiboshed Rovers chances of winning the league,albeit it's Rovers own fault for being in this position.

[harry crumb]

Game in Brandywell was a cracker in the end despite the dodgy refereeing.

[wonder88]

Referee decisions (bad ones) do effect the outcome of most games, is last nights one more important because Shamrock R lost out, how about the handball in Waterford not given (Dundalk must have felt badly done by) and the dodgy decisions that didn't go Sligo's way in the game v Shamrock R both last week. The later game was also live on rte. These bad decisions also have consequences for non-Dublin clubs.

The rte 'football correspondent' dismissed the claim by Ruairi Higgins of bias in their reporting by the Dublin media as an attempt by him to build a siege mentality within his squad, rather than address his point/allegation. However it was good to see a analyst from Donegal on the rte panel last night instead of the two blokes from Dublin as was the case last week for another game from the Brandywell. Diversity of opinion is always a good idea I think.

[Nesta99]

There will always be bias in opinion if you go looking. I think we all agree that there isnt biased officiating here but just pure imcompetance that effects all sides, its is just emphasised when it impacts a title tilt or relegation battle in the run in. There should be plenty of criticism of the player, it may be old school but I hate this 'creating' penalty opportunities, the Maguire special or giving the player a chance to dive, a dive is a dive is a dive. You occasionally see a ref telling a player to get up but where is the card then for diving or do they just not bother knowing that they will eventually book everyone in due course anyway. I actually did start thinking it was FAI pressure to keep the fine money rolling in. We dont have VAR but officials are that arrogant here that they would ignore facts that suggest they could be wrong. Dubln v non Dublin, I have heard it said for years and its not significant imo, sometimes commentary does come across as if say Dundalk was a foreign team playing RoI but so what. Its rare that LoI games on RTE dont have Alan Cawley as a pundit or is that just perception?

[Martinho II]

There will always be bias in opinion if you go looking. I think we all agree that there isnt biased officiating here but just pure imcompetance that effects all sides, its is just emphasised when it impacts a title tilt or relegation battle in the run in. There should be plenty of criticism of the player, it may be old school but I hate this 'creating' penalty opportunities, the Maguire special or giving the player a chance to dive, a dive is a dive is a dive. You occasionally see a ref telling a player to get up but where is the card then for diving or do they just not bother knowing that they will eventually book everyone in due course anyway. I actually did start thinking it was FAI pressure to keep the fine money rolling in. We dont have VAR but officials are that arrogant here that they would ignore facts that suggest they could be wrong. Dubln v non Dublin, I have heard it said for years and its not significant imo, sometimes commentary does come across as if say Dundalk was a foreign team playing RoI but so what. Its rare that LoI games on RTE dont have Alan Cawley as a pundit or is that just perception?

Yeah strange is right! AC was on RTEs game on before the game though.

[brendy_éire]

Competent performance from Longford tonight. Wexford, maybe bar early in the second half, didn't look good at all. Longford now off bottom spot.
Meanwhile, Harps are still in for a playoff spot, somehow. Fancy them to get there too. Just a case of who they'll replace, Wexford or Athlone?

[joey B]

Dundalk looking close to dead and buried after losing tonight,4 behind with an extra game played....