2008 Season prospects

[CollegeTillIDie]

Well dmand reckons on another thread that we are going down.
Given that we have lost so many experienced players and did not succeed in getting two that we were being linked with , and also given that it's three down at the end of the season and how crap we were last year in the League I cannot argue with him. The new arrivals via scholarship etc may surprise everyone and hopefully they will but at present it doesn't look good for UCD.

What do the rest of you think?

[Poor Student]

Touch wood we're retaining Darren Quigley, Alan McNally, Conor Kenna, Ronan Finn and Conan Byrne, our best and key players. We only seem to operate in the transer market a few weeks before the season's start. I know a lot of players have been snapped up but I think Pat Sullivan and a few others would still be available. The likes of Finn, McFaul (in a roundabout way) and Conan Byrne are players who returned to Ireland from lower tier English clubs that we never even noticed joining the club. We may bring in more of this ilk before the season begins. There's also some talented young players coming through like MacMillan, Mullins and Tony Doyle. Hopefully Paul Byrne can steer clear of injury also.

If you look at the players we lost:

Tony McDonnell: His influence will be missed but he was waning in influence and had arguably dropped from a first choice pick

Ian Bermingham: Excellent player and a big loss but perhaps Killian Gallagher can somewhat fill the void. Looked promising before Bermo came in

Paul Crowley: A good professional and an experienced head but ultimately not hugely talented and was not a first choice pick

Shane McFaul: Another big blow. Will be missed. Brian King looked a good prospect last season however and hopefully he can help fill the gap.

Conor Sammon: A tough one to call. Arguably has as many short comings on the field as he has advantages. Not a lot of goals from open play. Paul Byrne being fit could mean we won't miss him.

We've lost three first teamers and two squad players. We have possible ready made solutions for the three first teamers though. The central midfield area has taken a bit of a battering in terms of squad strength but we were almost over supplied last season. It gives Kinger an opportunity to show his suitability for a role at the heart of the team.

Yeah we finished in a sticky spot last season, but up until 6 or 7 games before the season's end we were in a healthy position. Three clubs being relegated makes it difficult but at the moment Harps and Cobh don't look to have strengthened significantly nor have Galway. I'm hoping we can finish above those three clubs. I think Bray and Sligo will be comfortable this year and I don't think Rovers or the big full timers (Pat's, Bohs, Derry, Drogs and Cork) will be anywhere near the mix.

[KR's Post]

Feel for UCD, really do. Look Doomed. McDonell for me is the biggest loss.

[Angus]

Hard to argue that we will be one of 5 or 6 that could fill the 3 relagation places.

You would have thought that of the 12 sides in the league, Drogs, Bohs, Derry, Cork, Pats, Rovers and Sligo will be safe

You would have thoguth that the 3 spots will be filled by UCD, Galway, Cobh, Bray,and Harps.

I am more relaxed about Tony's departure than Sammo's - I think Sammo is a bigger loss than we realise. Finn and Kinger look like 2 top midfielders in the making and bear in mind that Podge should be fit and Doyler will be back.

[KR's Post]

I feel the Bray squad is very strong and will break into top 6. Of what you said about the bottom six, Bray have the strongest squad.

[pineapple stu]

McDonell for me is the biggest loss.

I disagree to an extent. We lost Tony at the start of last season. He started fewer league games last year than any season back to 1994/95, and even when he did play, his form was iffy 'cos he couldn't get a few games under his belt. We still got to the Cup semi and were challenging for a top half spot before the Cup semi distracted the squad. So he's a loss alright, but not for this season.

Have to finish above Cobh obviously; would hope to finish above Harps too. Bray look to have a decent squad this season, but Galway have signed First Division players and look the obvious target.

[mcglinchey]

can anyone actually confirm any signings? (and not young lads coming in on scholarships). personally i think we're going down.

[alans view]

no confirmed big name signings, only two new on scholarships this season pat mullins and michael kelly who are both defensive minded players and are very young for the premier division if played. need some attackers to be signed who have experience at this level. andy myler would have been ideal.

[DmanDmythDledge]

With our squad so small at the moment and no signs of any new players coming in it's hard to see anything but relegation this season. Cobh haven't made any signings and have an inexperienced side so we should almost definitely finish ahead of them. Harps have a couple of players who will do very well in the Premier (Shields, Gethins, Beckett) so won't be as bad as the last time they were in the Premier, Sligo have lost a few key players and haven't made a whole load of signings. Galway have a few decent players and have added O'Shea from Bray and Mark Leech so they should have enough to pull away from ourselves, Sligo, Harps and Cobh.

To have a chance of survival we need to sign a centre mid (preferably two, but beggars can't be choosers) and a striker. We've a number of promising young players but I don't think they're good enough yet to play a key role in the first team squad.

One thing's for certain though is that we will be chaniging the way we play now that Sammo has gone. Our tactics were focused around him for the past two seasons and it's effectiveness was there for all to see. Now that he's gone I think we should try and build our team around Ronan Finn and Paul Byrne. King will be in there breaking up opposition attacks and legs which will give Finn plenty of freedom to do what he does. Towards the end of last season he began to boss games from centre mid. He's almost the complete midfield player- he can run with the ball, rarely gives away possession, has an eye for a pass and has bundles of energy. We should definitely look the build most of our attacks through him.

After that it's how we can get the best out of Paul Byrne. He doesn't really have the pace to get on balls in behind the defence nor can he hold up the ball effectively. I think we should play someone alongside him who can link up with the midfield and hold up the ball (perhaps Finn even). Fran Moran looked decent enough when he got a chance last season but I'd still prefer to see us sign someone with more experience (see below ). After that it's lay it off to the wingers to cross or try and create a chance for Byrne. He's capable of scoring from outside the box so we don't have to rely on clear cut chances.

Of course you could forget about all of the above, play Forsyth and Byrne upfront and play route 1. I'd say it would be effective as Forsyth would win loads in the air but I think it would be pointless to play someone like Finn and then bypass him.

Anyway to give a simple answer I think we are going down, although it will be very close between ourselves and Sligo.

need some attackers to be signed who have experience at this level. andy myler would have been ideal.

Alan Murphy, formerly of Galway and Derry, is on the PFAI free agent list. I think he would be a very good signing- would link up well with the midfield.

[pineapple stu]

Galway have a few decent players and have added O'Shea from Bray and Mark Leech so they should have enough to pull away from ourselves, Sligo, Harps and Cobh.

Leech has never done it at Premier Division level, O'Shea isn't really rated by the Bray fans and Galway's squad was weak to begin with. They'll be in the mix.

Can't build our team around Paul Byrne as he'll miss half the year through injury.

Colin was saying that Pete likes to leave it till later to sign players, although even in previous years, there were a couple of posts on here saying we'd signed random punter we'd never heard of (Willie Doyle and Darren Quigley, for example).

Wouldn't mind Alan Murphy, although there's presumably a reason he's been poor for the past couple of years.

[U-C-D]

There is the rare possibility that conan could play up front to give that pace to play of paul byrne considering byrne wins nearly every single header! that could leave timmy or fitzer on the wing! it is an option, mind you conan has never been great up front in the past, and was class last season out wide!

[Poor Student]

For some reason it just doesn't work for Conan up front. He's ten times more effective on the right wing. I actually thought Conan was a poor prospect who wouldn't make the grade when he came into the team.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Leech has never done it at Premier Division level, O'Shea isn't really rated by the Bray fans and Galway's squad was weak to begin with. They'll be in the mix.

Leech never really got the chance at Drogs or Bohs. He's been capped for Ireland U21s- he'll be up to the standard of the Premier Division.

O'Shea was highly rated by Bray fans- just look at their forum.

O'Brien was in the team of the season, Glynn scored about a goal every second game, Keane and Fitzgerald in defence. And more importantly they actually have a squad of some sort. They're are certainly stronger than ourselves and Sligo as things stand.

Can't build our team around Paul Byrne as he'll miss half the year through injury.

Colin was saying that Pete likes to leave it till later to sign players...

Wouldn't mind Alan Murphy, although there's presumably a reason he's been poor for the past couple of years.

Not really building a team around, just saying how we should play when he's in the team.

And wait till they're all gone? Maybe we've had a whole host of players reject us but if he's leaving it this late it's stupid.

Doesn't have to be a reason. Cawley underperformed for a season or two and then had a very good season last year.

[pineapple stu]

Leech never really got the chance at Drogs or Bohs.

Might be a reason for that.

He's been capped for Ireland U21s- he'll be up to the standard of the Premier Division.

Meh. Capped once as a sub, and even then, you're basing your judgement of him on Don Givens' judgement. Six goals in 30 league games isn't a great return.

O'Shea was highly rated by Bray fans- just look at their forum.

Really? That's about the only strong endorsement either way in either the Bray or the Galway forum. Other posts vaguely note he could have been great or he could be playing LSL in a couple of years because of his attitude.

O'Brien was in the team of the season, Glynn scored about a goal every second game, Keane and Fitzgerald in defence. And more importantly they actually have a squad of some sort. They're are certainly stronger than ourselves and Sligo as things stand.

Glynn scored six in his first three games, and ended up with 8 in 19 (both the last two were against us). He started brightly and very quickly faded. Their defence is average at best - Charles is hilariously bad, Nooitjmeer faded towards the end of the season and Keane and Fitzgerald didn't play enough last year (12 and 14 games) to really get a strong opinion of them.

They struggled last year for a reason; they're trying to go fully pro but are finding there's not enough good players in Galway and no-one really wants to move to Galway, so they're stuck with journeymen like Leech who'll go wherever they can get a quick buck. They'll be in the mix.