1st Divison run in!

[harpskid]

Good game in Oriel last night. Philly took his goals well and yer man Dunne's were good finished too. Was impressed with Dundalk after the initial exchanges when Athlone were on top.

Good atmosphere too after a rather dead opening.

[dapman1]

Prediction time again. Some very intersting games this weekend with a few potential hurdles, scores in brackets as before:

Shamrock Rovers (1) - Kildare County (1) 8:00
Limerick FC (2) - Kilkenny City (0) 7:45
14 October 2006
Finn Harps (1) - Galway United (1) 7:45
Cobh Ramblers (2) - Monaghan United (1) 5:00

Rovers V kildare finished in a draw the last time, and I havent seen any great improvements from either team since that game, hence the 1:1. Finn Park is always a hard place to go to, and although I feel that the force is with Galway at the moment, a draw is the most likely outcome. Looks like this could work out to be a very good weekend for De town.

[Conor H]

Harps away will be very tough.A win there and the momentum would once again definitley be with us.I'd love to sstick a few past Harps i've painful memories of the hiding they gave us in 04 when they won the league...come on utd!

[Jerry The Saint]

I'm shocked that this thread is so huge considering that the run-in is all but meaningless.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the difference in Premiership-points based on this season's league position roughly equivalent to the points gained for progressing a round in the cup competions - i.e. Shams already have more than enough points by doing well in the FAI Cup and the LEAGUE CUP (!) (not to mention the points built up during the previous 4 seasons when their reckless spending almost put them out of business) that they could probably afford to have ALL their points deducted and still get promoted.

And anyway this difference is only a small percentage of the overall tally for Premier qualification.

I can understand the 3 clubs involved getting excited about winning some silverware but surely it would be an extremely hollow victory if it didn't bring promotion

[oriel]

On the field performances over last 4 years only form part of the criteria of gaining admission to the premier, tax compliance, seating, other ground facilities, avg/potential attendances all will have vital points scoring to make up the 12. Finally, I dont think the fai can ignore the team that finishes first in this div if they meet all of these criteria (which Dundalk, Galway and Rovers do)

From our pt of view, if we come first, I reckon we`ll make the cut, 2nd place = only 50/50 chance, 3rd = see you next year.

In summary all 3 have as good a chance as each other, maybe even 2 will go get the invite who knows ? and all have to be better placed over all than likes of Bray, Waterford, + UCD (although it will be very harsh on UCD if they dont make it)

[oriel]

Can rovers fans explain why exactly they think or know they will be in the premier next year regardless of finishing 1,2,3 this year.

Surely if you had well documented financial/tax difficulties less than 12 mths ago and the fact that you dont have your own ground, will this not factor against you points wise

We know allabout tallaght, and fact that club appears to be very well run now, just curious why 100% of rovers fans say they will be in the premier.

Dont get me wrong, I think rovers in the premier will always be a great addition (see previous post by me re your travelling support) but why so confident taking into account ground and previous finance issues ?

Is it a case of being tipped off on what you had to do to gain admission ?

I read with interest in our programme last night the licensing officer said 'we have an option of installing an extra 500 seats on terracing front area of the stand'

Does that mean we also have been tipped off ?? But no Dundalk fans i speak to are anywhere less than 50/50 confident.

all very confusing

[Terry]

all very confusing

Thats it rapped up in a nutshell ! nothing is definite as realistically nobody in the first division has a clue what will happen to them or what will be decided in the end no matter of where we finish in the league. All we do know is the higher we finish the better chance of going up.

[seand]

Surely this process has to be transparent. What will be REALLY interesting will be to see if the FAI will release scores of each club, in each category. I can imagine the teams ranked 13 and 14 will be VERY interested in having a look at the scores achieved by the culb ranked 10, 11, 12!

[Poor Student]

If the FAI hadn't arsed around two deserving teams would more than likely have been promoted without any ambiguity or detracting stuff. I'd say any of Dundalk, Rovers or Galway would have been capable of beating Bray over a two legged tie. Dundalk are having an excellent season yet their fans can't enjoy it properly knowing that even finishing top may not be good enough. As a UCD fan, it's a very bizarre and annoying situation to be in. We'd be utterly safe by now any other season. We could still possibly finish in the top half, yet no one knows where we stand with regards to possible relegation. I don't know what the point of this is.

[Passive]

End of the day, nobody knows what's going on - you'd get inside the mind of Charles Manson quicker than you would the FAI.

Personally speaking, I'd be confident of Rovers being in the top flight, but I'm not taking anything for granted. One of Rovers, Dundalk and Galway is guaranteed a place in the new league, two will go up only if they decide to relegate either UCD or Bray. What they are thinking, nobody knows.

[Poor Student]

There's the possiblity they could promote all three and relegate Bray and ourselves. At this stage we've narrowed down the permutations though. Only three clubs can conceivably be relegated in UCD, Bray and Waterford (at a long shot) and only three can be promoted in Galway, Rovers and Dundalk.

[oriel]

Jerry the saint

I think you`re been really narrow minded saying things like 'you`re shocked
this thread has gone on so long'

Lets put things into place. and its really as simple as this, with Cork losing tonight and Derry also during the week, the premier div title is all but Shels, game over.

FAI CUP - great semi final draws, 2 north west rivals Sligo V Derry and two of DUblin oldest teams in the second game, both should get full houses.

International scene - well last wed was an improvement but the whole country is still a bit in shock in my opinion and we`ve no chance of making euro 08

First Div ??

Come on give us fans of Dundalk, Rovers and Galway a bit of credit, we`ve all come out in large numbers this season, some crowds over 3,000 and all averaging well over 1,000, thats a lot better than a lot of premier clubs. Generally this div is like a dead duck, trust me i`ve seen enough of it. Also with the lack of media attention, forums like this is our only way of communicating, not to mention the fun aspect. So thats why the thread has lasted so long. We`re having a bit of fun, as we`re all excited and very enthuaistic about the 3 teams we passionately support. no harm in that is there ?

Ps I`ve officially lost interest in this seasons premier div such is the ferocity of this year first div race.

No harm in that either


On another matter Galway fans - here is an hillarious copy/paste from John Gills weekly article on dundalkfc.com

****************
We kept a clean-sheet which is good for confidence, we go three points clear of Galway, they’ll be on the teletext tonight, I’m telling you, because I’ve done it, players will be looking ‘oh 4-0!’, physiologically it gets to them and it’s the manner of the defeat, they’ll see 4-0, it was like when they beat Limerick 5-1, I was sitting at home that night, I nearly had to take a valium. They’ll be doing the same tonight

******************

[holidaysong]

His weekly interview is always a good laugh.

[Frankfurt Hoop]

Oriel, you're spot on. The First Division is a three horse race and it's going right to the wire. The Premier, by contrast, is Shels' for the taking.

The other thing to note is that the top three in the First this year are probably better than anything outside the top 4/5 in the Premier. I've been surprised by the quality of football provided by Galway and Dundalk, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[mypost]

Actually you may not be top-depends on goal difference.

You gave us the challenge of winning the 6 points, and we won them, adding 5 goals to the gd, after finally having the same amount of games played.

Now the pressure is back on Galway to win in Donegal, then on Galway and Dundalk next week, while we head for 6 more banker points against Athlone and Kilkenny. Whoever loses that game in Galway next week, is officially out of the championship race. Whoever wins it, will attempt to play-off for it against us.

I'm shocked that this thread is so huge considering that the run-in is all but meaningless.

Yes, Pat's run-in is meaningless, and if we knock them out of the cup, it will be obsolete.

Can rovers fans explain why exactly they think or know they will be in the premier next year regardless of finishing 1,2,3 this year.

Tax compliance, club licencing, recent record, points this season, fan base, and most crucially, marketing potential will ensure we make it. We have all the boxes covered.

[Mental Man]

Lads just out of interest, John Delaney was just on Terrace Talk (which is a sports show hosted By a die hard Blues fans ) here on WLR fm and he even said it, no matter where you finish at either the top of the 1st division or the bottom of the premiere division you cannot either get promoted or relagated, its all down to past performances on the field since 2001, tax compliances, supporter base, infrastructures and future development for the club, also he said he wants to see regionalised clubs in the premeire division to break the mold of dublin congregation of clubs.
Now since the blues have met all the criteria in whats listed above and was talking to a member of the board of WUFC, were guarenteed a position in next years new premiere division.
John Delaney has been very good to us since he rose through the ranks of the FAI .

[Passive]

Mental Man: there is no way Delaney will relegate WUFC, you can take your place in the top flight for granted.

Rovers tick virtually every box, with the possible exception of stadium infrastructure (although that depends very much on the High Court outcome in December, and in any case the FAI will probably accept a tenancy deal in the same way as they do for the licensing). In terms of on-the-field performance, marketability, tax compliance etc. we're laughing.

What worries me is the issue of regionalisation. You can bet that the FAI don't want five Dublin clubs, which means that either UCD or Rovers will take the fall. Let's face it, UCD are more likely to be dropped than we are, which is, of course, very harsh on them. Bray are - at the risk of offending Co. Wicklow nationalists - basically a Dublin club, so this could go against them also.

If the FAI decided to keep both Bray and UCD, that would leave just one free space in the new division. Under the policy of regionalisation, that might well favour Galway, especially since GUFC are a fantastic club that are run well and have massive potential.

What they are thinking, we don't know. And while placings in the divisions don't officially mean promotion or relegation, there is a feeling that it would be very hard not to promote whoever wins the First Division, especially given the freakishly competitive nature of the division this season. Given that the decision making is largely out of our collective hands, this is the one issue that clubs can still try to better each other on.

Which is just a very long-winded way of explaining why we're all busting our balls trying to win the bloody thing.

[manic da hoop]

We're due to make our verbal presentation next week, and I'm confident that the lads involved (very impressive speakers with very professional attitudes) will put on a good show. I can only imagine the amatuer efforts some clubs will cobble together, and I wouldn't put it passed some not to turn up when invited to amke theirs!

[Mental Man]

Well i hope yer reps are good cos i would love to see ye back up in the premiere division, the league needs teams like rovers and the blues, too much history between them.
As far as i know weremaking our rep in 2 weeks time, we have 4 or 5 i think nominated to talk on the different aspects of the club within.
Heres to 2007 in the premiere division .

[hoopy]

Unfortunately there's a lot of clubs in the league with history who are going to be on the outside looking in next season. Some clubs haven't done themselves any favours but the people running the league haven't done their part either, nor have the general public. Whoever is in or out, there's gonna be clubs who'll feel hard done by