Cork clearly didn't dominate Pat's. They might have edged possession but Pat's (excellent) defence always looked comfortable, the handball call and the off-the-bar effort apart.
Pats fans shouldn't worry about not getting credit. Even when the treble was still a possibility for us everyone was still overlooking us.
Also, in one of Derrys county newspapers a few weeks back Kenny, mentioned Drogs, Pats and Shels as the teams to beat this season (no mention of Cork). So SPA haven't escaped everyones attention!!
Couldnt agree more, securing a bright future for any club must come before short term gains which will jeaprodise the clubs long term viability.Originally Posted by A face
I grew up when there was no eL team in Cork and the stated goal of the current Chairman is to ensure a club exists long term.
Pats were very good on friday & shown by results this year that will not be struggling in the bottom half. It will be very difficult to break into the top 4 come the end of the season.
A good or bad european run can boost or kill squad confidence so July/August will be crutial time of the league.
Lots of sense being talked here for once but i don't think we're throwing a Shels.
First of all, we're not in the position of domination that Shels were in.
The title was well deserved, but there was only a two-point gap to Derry so it hardly takes a remarkable collapse to slip down the table.
Having said that, we're in a much better position now than last year.
Greg O'Halloran is crap. Granted Kearney is a big loss but i can see the two Lordans (hoping for a weekend signing), Admir Softic definately and maybe Vinny Sullivan improving the side this year.
This time last season we were much further off the pace.
A quick goalscorer (ie ensure a Flynny like striker playing) who can head the ball and i think it'd be hard for anyone to live with us.
P.s. I don't see how we can make a mess of every tournament we enter this year if we only just lost in extra-time of the Setanta Cup Final.
Onward and upward.
City definetly have the best bands playing at half-time.
O'Bama - "Eerah yeah, I'd say we can alright!"
G.O'Mahoney Trapattoni'll sort ém out!!
For anyone willing to watch the Setanta Cup game with no agenda its clear to see how much superior City were to Drogheda. I'm not trying to goat Drogs but the goal was probably the first Drogs put together 3 passes in the game. If you replayed that game into a computer simulator 10 more times City would win every time.
I don't see any chance of record league points total this year with a few different teams challenging. I hope Drogs & Derry get at least 4 games in Europe as its a big test to come back & play UCD on a Sunday coming back from Eastern Europe.
There isn't any question that though i think, lots of people have commented on the game and agreed tht City were the better side. And for City to be in final of the Setanta Cup given the other teams that were in the competition speaks volumes, hardly a side ready to throw the towel in.
Have to agree with Risteard though, its hardly like team is fit to scrap either, we are caught on one position and need to strengten in two others but its hardly a team coming apart at the seems. The players themselves on Saturday said as much. There probably are alot of alarmists out there but its nowhere near as bad as they'd have you believe.
Also have to agree, the debate is alot more reasoned now.
Last edited by A face; 01/05/2006 at 5:02 PM.
The SFAI are the governing body for grassroots football in Ireland, not the FAI. Its success or the lack of is all down to them.
Cork were very good in the final but I wouldn't say they were the better team. Corks strategy was all out attack - since they failed to score means they failed. Drogheda clearly were the more cautious side perferring to defend and hit on the break, they didn't concede hence they were successful and where the team to accomplish their goals. To judge who is the better team is to judge who were successful in their strategies not who ran about the pitch more.
The Drogs predicted Corks slide due to a small squad at the start of the season and we received plenty of cork abuse for it but to date our prediction has been spot on. Tonight will be another test for them (as Sligo are a tough team IMO) and if they don't get all 3 points they will slip even further behind. No doubting Cork have a good (very good) first eleven but it is a squad of players that win a league and Cork don't have a good enough squad in terms of depht.
IMO the league will be decided between Shels / Derry and Drogs. Regarding Drogs I think we still need to improve a lot more to keep Shels and Derry at bay. Our performances have yielded results but some performances have been below par and our front men need to start gelling (hopefully when barrett comes back) if we are to indeed be title contenders.
I'd agree. Derry have been the best side we've played this year IMO.
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
I always think you should wait till the end of the first series of games before coming to definite conclusions about how teams are playing.
city have 3 home games in a row (I think). If we win them all the St Pats loss will be forgotten. If we don't win any then it will have been the beginning of the end.
It goes without saying that we need to start scoring goals very soon.
The length of Drogs and Derry's Euro runs will also have an effect as most of those players haven't been in Euro competition for a few years
I'm what? I'm ants at a picnic?
We were in a worse situation this time last year and won the league with a record amount of points .... its far too early to even think of mentioning end, its unbelieveable actually to even say it.
The SFAI are the governing body for grassroots football in Ireland, not the FAI. Its success or the lack of is all down to them.
I'd have to agree here, most teams have improved *apart from us by the looks of thinngs !), especially St. Pats comparred to last season. They have a seriously experienced front 2 that will give most teams problems. Cork on the other hand lost a few very good players and have not replaced them, over the last few weeks they have dropped points away to UCD, Bray and Pats, all games you would have expected the league champions to win quite easily.
But in saying that they will be there or there abouts towards the end of the season, but i can't see them making any impact on Europe this year (hopefully i'm totally wrong there !)
Lets keep things in perspective here. We lost one first team player from our title winning side and the performances of Liam Kearney so far this season have proved what many of us have believed for while, he's overrated!
Admir Softic is forcing his way into the team and will be a real star for us. I believe he can do a job on the left when Georgie is fit. Brian McCarthy has shown a lot of potential and I believe we'll see that as the season progresses. We've had a lot of games recently and they have taken their toll on the moral and motivation of the players. The fact that it took Drogheda 382 minutes to score a single goal against us so far this season proves that we've got what it takes in every department, except up front when O'Flynn is injured.
Have Boot Disk, will travel
I hope so too Roo, i hope so too !!
The SFAI are the governing body for grassroots football in Ireland, not the FAI. Its success or the lack of is all down to them.
Not really.
We'd have budgeted on winning one of them but i don't think it'd be fair to expect 9 points 'quite easily'.
the home form is good.
Last edited by Risteard; 02/05/2006 at 2:04 PM.
City definetly have the best bands playing at half-time.
O'Bama - "Eerah yeah, I'd say we can alright!"
G.O'Mahoney Trapattoni'll sort ém out!!
Anyway. I haven't seen a team better than us this season (and we've played Shels, cork and Drogs) We deserved 7 points out of those and got 4. Thin line and all that crap...
Too many cork players looked disinterested on Friday, If I was a Cork fan *shudder* I'd be mightily pished at them for their lack of heart/effort
54,321 sold - wws will never die - ***
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and you are fifth in the table ??
If you have your first team (11 players) fit and unsuspended then no doubt one of the best teams in teh country - but the league needs a large squad and on the face of it to date Cork do struggle in this dept. This isn't a pop at Cork rather a commentary on perceived realities.
Poor drog, new to the eircom League and confusing it with the English Premier League. You might want to sit down because this may come as a shock to you but our league finishes in November. Being top in May doesn't mean you've won it.
Dodge is right. They have matched the "big" teams they've played this season and were, in my opinion, robbed against Shels and Drogs.
He is also correct when he says that too many of our players were disinterested on Friday.
I can't agree with Pete about us dominating. We may have edged it slightly until the first goal but Pats were fully deserving of their victory for their spirited performance.
Any team that has won the league recently will know that it's a long campaign and it's never decided in the first half of the season.
Have Boot Disk, will travel
fair enough if you want to ignore the rest of what was an attempt at an adults conversation then fine - should have known better than to try and communicate with you.
just making the point that you squad is light , acknowledged the strength of your first 11.
had my fill of smart Cork lads over the last few weeks. Cheerio
You've ignored my point that we've lost no one of note since we won the League last season.
If anything we've strengthened our squad. We've got players good enough to win the League and they now know what it takes.
Have Boot Disk, will travel
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