Well done Cork City

[thejollyrodger]

Hard luck lads, you deserved a draw tonight and its always hard crashing out of Europe.

Still, Cork have done the league proud over the three legs and played some great football and really boosted our co-efficent. Technically Cork matched Slavia but physically Eircom league players have a lot of work to physically.

Cork did create a lot of chances over the two legs but really needed a decent striker to convert them. I think Cork did miss Doyle. Hopefully the lessons Cork and Shelbourne have learnt over the few years can be put into practice for next years European run and we can match what was achieved this season.

Well done Cork !!!

[ccfcgirl]

Hard luck lads, you deserved a draw tonight and its always hard crashing out of Europe.

Still, Cork have done the league proud over the three legs and played some great football and really boosted our co-efficent. Technically Cork matched Slavia but physically Eircom league players have a lot of work to physically.

Cork did create a lot of chances over the two legs but really needed a decent striker to convert them. I think Cork did miss Doyle. Hopefully the lessons Cork and Shelbourne have learnt over the few years can be put into practice for next years European run and we can match what was achieved this season.

Well done Cork !!!

Well said jollyrodger .Hopfully aswell we start getting ranked better and maybe only play one team before we get into the first round .

[joeSoap]

Unlucky on the night not to eke out a draw against a far superior side. Same really with the first leg, which shows that ye're not really that far off the required standard. Great spirit and determination, and ye did the Eircom League proud.Well done.

Pity ye couldn't squeeze a draw last night, as that draw would have raised us above a lot of the minnow countries in the co-efficient. Theres always next year.

[EnDai]

Well played lads. A draw would have been a fair result, but learn from it to prepare for your Champions League onslaught next year!*

*me, tempting fate? never!

[tiktok]

I think jollyrodger's point hat we matched them technically but not physically is spot on.

The pace and strength (and lets face it, guile [I won't call it cheating]) they could use when they needed to was above the level we're currently at.

Thought we deserved the draw overall, two soft goals conceded IMO, to be fair though, I think they always had another gear.

[Peadar]

I think we made things difficult for ourselves by not holding the ball up in the centre of the park and allowing them to dictate the pace of the game for long spells.
Greg did well defensivly but he shouldn't have had to defend so much. We were dragged all over the park because we lacked the strength we needed above the defence.
Joe made a big difference when he came on because he was playing much further up the pitch and we created so much more. I think John O'Flynn is getting back to his best and is getting sharper by the game. He just needs to hit the target a little more.
Roy needs to control his aggression a little better. He was lucky to stay on the field last night. As much as I respect a comitted player, it's difficult to get results when you're a man down.

I like the idea of throwing Derek on up front but think that Liam is the wrong player to replace because surely you need crosses in to a big man!?

The better team, over both legs, won the tie.

Not sorry that the UEFA distraction is gone from us now. We've got a league to win. Champions League football next season is what we must aim for. That will be progress through the 3 UEFA competitions in 3 years.

Heads up lads, there's no shame in getting beaten when you play your hearts out.

[pete]

Very disappointed not to get some result in the 2 games. A draw last night would have set sus up nicley for 1st qualifying round seeding next season.

I think Rico was very accurate when earlier in the campaign he said that european football was all about pace. Big difference between Djungarden & Slavia was the pace & speed of passing.

[dahamsta]

Have to say, I enjoyed watching the match on the telly last night immensely, and that's something coming from me! I may be the complete opposite of an expert, but I reckon the lads played fantastically, and I agree that they deserved the draw. Well done City!

adam

[redgav]

The pace and strength (and lets face it, guile [I won't call it cheating]) they could use when they needed to was above the level we're currently at.

Thought we deserved the draw overall, two soft goals conceded IMO, to be fair though, I think they always had another gear.

You wern't as gracefull at full time last nite

[redgav]

I think we made things difficult for ourselves by not holding the ball up in the centre of the park and allowing them to dictate the pace of the game for long spells.
Greg did well defensivly but he shouldn't have had to defend so much. We were dragged all over the park because we lacked the strength we needed above the defence.
Joe made a big difference when he came on because he was playing much further up the pitch and we created so much more. I think John O'Flynn is getting back to his best and is getting sharper by the game. He just needs to hit the target a little more.
Roy needs to control his aggression a little better. He was lucky to stay on the field last night. As much as I respect a comitted player, it's difficult to get results when you're a man down.

I like the idea of throwing Derek on up front but think that Liam is the wrong player to replace because surely you need crosses in to a big man!?

The better team, over both legs, won the tie.

Not sorry that the UEFA distraction is gone from us now. We've got a league to win. Champions League football next season is what we must aim for. That will be progress through the 3 UEFA competitions in 3 years.

Heads up lads, there's no shame in getting beaten when you play your hearts out.

I wanted Greg ( or Colin ) on at ht in the away leg !!! and am glad that greg was played but Think Rico made a tactical misjudgement ...he looked at the away lag ,and like any of the rest of us ,could see that Joe was over ran in the middle ,but the fault wasn't with Joe ,afterall he was up against 2 very good players and he didn't get overly too much help from George....I really felt last nite that he should've started with Joe and Greg with george either on the right wioth roy up top ,or with george up top with flynnie ...we needed to protect our defence from their runs thru the middle and again we didn't do that last nite
We also saw a huge difference in the time you have on the ball ...week in week out when George or Liam get a ball , they have enough time to control, touch and pass , but the czechs were in their faces within a second and we didn't have time for that amount of touches ,so a lot of their attacks were caused by our own possesion getting broken up ...

[tiktok]

You wern't as gracefull at full time last nite

I was very emotional, that's all.

[patsh]

Over the last few years, both $hels and ourslves have gotten nearer and nearer to making the breakthrough. Only for Nuttsy's inexplicable tactics this year, I think $hels would have gone another round at least.It's a big improvement on years ago, when eL clubs were expected to go otu in the first tie, or just scrape through on luck.
I expect that next year Derry will make an impact as well, and 3 teams challenging for the group stages of Euro competitions gives us a much better chance. Hopefully Bray and Longford don't get anywhere near Europe, and Rico, Fenlon and Kenny can talk to each other and learn from each other.

[redgav]

I was very emotional, that's all.

I just keep thinkin back to dan murrays assaulton yer man in the last minute

[pete]

I was very emotional...

...and tired?

[redgav]

...and tired?

Can chalk that one down ..... on my 6th double expresso already today ....I'm gonna have the shakes till wednesday at this rate ...leaba Leaba ,cá bhfuil mo leaba

[tiktok]

...and tired?

I literally haven't done any work at all today.
Completely wiped out.

Driving back up after the match was daft in hindsight.

[Troy.McClure]

...and tired?

I can conferm that he was tired too, just not as tired as Mines A Bulmers though! God that guy can sleep through anything!

I think the 352 that Slavia played killed us, they over ran midfield and our strikers didnt get as much quality ball as usual. Kearney was the right person to bring off as he was totally out marked (maybe they got a copy of the home game against the gardeners?). The lads got a battering and Danny Murphy was wrecked towards teh end of the game, he couldnt even run!

All in all we were beaten by the better team, its just a shame we didnt get a coifficient point from it

[redgav]

I can conferm that he was tired too, just not as tired as Mines A Bulmers though! God that guy can sleep through anything!

Thats all those Hymns he sings

[ger121]

You did play very well 2nd half and maybe deserved the draw but technically I still think they were better as they retained the ball more and could turn defence into attack very quickly with some good passing. In the end it is all a learning curve and I think Cork have learned very fast. On another note hope Roddy Collins never gets on RTE again. He could barely hide his contempt for Cork and couldn't even bring himself to give them credit for the way they played in the 2nd half. Does no favours for the league.

[michael]

Take a bow City, you did the EL proud, one point though, Roddy alluded to, is the upper body strength of this type of opponent (Slavia), it is something EL sides have to work hard on if the all important group stage is to be reached.
As a TV viewer the overall impression I got from Canning was that of bemusement at the fact that an EL club could get this far. He should stick to Gaa.