League of Ireland in Europe 2019

**ToberonaTornado** · 01/08/2019, 7:40 PM

Hard luck Rovers,gave it a right go.
Relief on the Appolon players faces at ft says it all.

**geysir** · 01/08/2019, 7:41 PM

That was disappointing, the way the game evolved Rovers could have gone through deservedly, but at least they put everything into the effort.

**White Horse** · 01/08/2019, 7:42 PM

Originally Posted by ToberonaTornado

Hard luck Rovers,gave it a right go.
Relief on the Appolon players faces at ft says it all.

They know they got out of jail. Finn going off cost Rovers, Carr did nothing when he came on.

**RathfarnhamHoop** · 01/08/2019, 8:01 PM

Is there some rule I'm not aware of that bars us from getting a decent set of officials? Could have at least booked the whole apollon team the amount of diving and kicking there was going on from them. Nevermind the stamp on Bolger they got a free for, as for the Grace first yellow, your man 20 wasn't touched all day but spent more time on the floor than on his feet. Ref only gave them the red because his assistant told him to.

**Nesta99** · 01/08/2019, 8:01 PM

Originally Posted by Dalymountrower

Yep.Should have won that.Cyprots no great shakes.
Carr excellent as usual.

Careful now or you will hurt RH's and Asterix's feelings!!

**Paulgufc** · 01/08/2019, 8:03 PM

Bloody hard luck Rovers. Ye did the league proud

**ger121** · 01/08/2019, 8:05 PM

Good effort but a pain to go out again in ET. Rovers have been great in Europe this season and can consider themselves a tad unfortunate tonight.

**dong** · 01/08/2019, 9:26 PM

Originally Posted by RathfarnhamHoop

Is there some rule I'm not aware of that bars us from getting a decent set of officials? Could have at least booked the whole apollon team the amount of diving and kicking there was going on from them. Nevermind the stamp on Bolger they got a free for, as for the Grace first yellow, your man 20 wasn't touched all day but spent more time on the floor than on his feet. Ref only gave them the red because his assistant told him to.

These are classic antics by those continental types that seem to work a treat year after year against teams from.our league.
Only saw a snip of Greene's goal and a few updates but seems that Shams put up a decent fight in the fuxture.

**TheBoss** · 01/08/2019, 9:53 PM

After his goal tonight, Aaron Greene becomes the 3rd player to score for 3 LOI clubs in Europe. The other players are Glen Crowe and Neale Fenn.

**sparky12345678** · 02/08/2019, 8:51 AM

Ireland's league drop down to 39, just ahead of Moldova and Luxembourg, just below illustrious Latvia and notably Albania and Macedonia have a higher league co efficient which was a surprise since we would usually expect to beat teams from there.
since the new QR round teams are able to pick up more points meaning a haul of 1.25 in a year wont be good enough over the 5 years...
case in point northern ireland would usually have a weak haul but this years 1.625 isnt due to some amazing heroics other than Linfield still being involved.

**disgruntled** · 02/08/2019, 9:29 AM

Originally Posted by RathfarnhamHoop

Is there some rule I'm not aware of that bars us from getting a decent set of officials? Could have at least booked the whole apollon team the amount of diving and kicking there was going on from them. Nevermind the stamp on Bolger they got a free for, as for the Grace first yellow, your man 20 wasn't touched all day but spent more time on the floor than on his feet. Ref only gave them the red because his assistant told him to.

Agreed. I thought the referee was out of his depth & was going to lose control at several times during the game.
I was not surprised by the play acting from Apollon as it seems par for the course in Cyprus.
There were 9 yellow & 2 red cards most of which came about because of all the diving.
Irish clubs should know at this stage what to expect & shouldn't allow themselves to be drawn into it. Grace's first yellow was a perfect example of that. The ball was gone so Grace shouldn't have given the Apollon player a chance to do a dozen rollovers.
Easier said than done I know especially in the heat of the moment.

**seand** · 02/08/2019, 1:45 PM

Originally Posted by sparky12345678

Ireland's league drop down to 39, just ahead of Moldova and Luxembourg, just below illustrious Latvia and notably Albania and Macedonia have a higher league co efficient which was a surprise since we would usually expect to beat teams from there.
since the new QR round teams are able to pick up more points meaning a haul of 1.25 in a year wont be good enough over the 5 years...
case in point northern ireland would usually have a weak haul but this years 1.625 isnt due to some amazing heroics other than Linfield still being involved.

The move to EL2 in 2021 is going to render this redundant in the short-medium term (as long as we don't drop another 10 places), though obviously we want the LoI as high as possible in the rankings.

**Martinho II** · 02/08/2019, 1:59 PM

any reason that ronan finn went off lads?

**ger121** · 02/08/2019, 2:49 PM

Originally Posted by Martinho II

any reason that ronan finn went off lads?

I wonder was it fatigue. I saw a photo of him from last night and he looked like he just stepped out of a shower with all his kit on.

**RathfarnhamHoop** · 02/08/2019, 3:21 PM

Originally Posted by Martinho II

any reason that ronan finn went off lads?

He was ******ed, same with McEneff. O'Brien was carrying an injury from Cork

**sbgawa** · 02/08/2019, 4:15 PM

I get the impression he has been told to run himself into the ground every match these days as we have cover on the bench.
The shifts he put in against Brann and Appolon were immense

**bohsmug** · 02/08/2019, 4:16 PM

Originally Posted by seand

I'm in favour of compensation for clubs having home games fooked around with for the Euro teams. Does a move to midweek cost the home club €20k though?

No. But you're assisting another club in their quest for millions. So it would be up to the European club to decide if switching the match is worth it.

**White Horse** · 02/08/2019, 6:18 PM

Originally Posted by sbgawa

I get the impression he has been told to run himself into the ground every match these days as we have cover on the bench.
The shifts he put in against Brann and Appolon were immense

You don't have cover for Finn on the bench. He is a natural at this level; passing movement, dictating play etc. He is a toroughbred and should not be instructed to run himself into the ground.

**joey B** · 03/08/2019, 12:03 PM

If Dundalk get past Slovan will the game against us on the 16th be postponed? The next Europa League round is the week after.....

**bennocelt** · 04/08/2019, 9:36 AM

Pairings for the draw out, if Dundalk win could they get Qarabağ again, can that be allowed to happen?

GROUP 2
Seeded (teams eliminated from the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round champions path)
Match 4: APOEL (CYP) / Qarabağ (AZE)
Match 5: PAOK (GRE) / Ajax (NED)
Match 6: Maribor (SVN) / Rosenborg (NOR)

Unseeded (UEFA Europa League third qualifying round champions path winners)
Winner match 6: Sutjeska (MNE) / Linfield (NIR)
Winner match 7: Ludogorets (BUL) / The New Saints (WAL)
Winner match 8: Sarajevo (BIH) / BATE Borisov (BLR)
Winner match 9: Astana (KAZ) / Valletta (MLT)
Winner match 10: Slovan Bratislava (SVK) / Dundalk (IRL)