Even happier to still be around; League of Ireland

[elguapo4]

Two games tonight in the Premier division.

Bohemians travel to Longford needing a win after a poor run of results leaving us eyeing the relegation playoff spot nervously. That being said, Derry City's defeat yesterday gives us a chance to get back into the top four, which will give a European place if St Patrick's Athletic win the Cup. The comeback has to start tonigh, and I think it will.

Vastly improved Waterford travel to Sligo tonight hoping to put more distance between them and the bottom two places. Sligo Rovers looks to have put their poor form behind them, and should prevail by the odd goal.

[Discordant Resonance]

Shelbourne closing in on victory over DLR Waves in the Women's National League, but both they and Wexford look set to lose out on the title to Peamount United, who have been the dominant female domestic force for a number of seasons now.

[elguapo4]

Longford Town 1 Bohemian FC 4

Sligo Rovers 1 Waterford 1

Bohs broke their recent run of poor form with this win, which wasn't as comfortable as it looks. We were one down at half time, and by all accounts playing shit. A 47th minute Georgie Kelly penalty and a brilliant free kick by Tyreke Wilson in the 55th got us back on track, with Kelly's second and a goal by sub Jamie Mullins late on made it comfortable. In the other game, 3rd place Sligo took the lead through Andre Wright and had numerous chances to finish it off, dropping points to a late Waterford strike.

I've said it before but this year is one of the most open leagues in years apart from the top two, Shamrock Rovers and St Pats, and bottom side Longford. Waterford are currently in the relegation playoff position, and are only nine points behind 4th place Derry City, with eight games to play, they could theoretically reach a European spot.

Bohemians have moved into 5th, one point behind Derry City with a game in hand. I just realised this morning that we have beaten everyone in the league at least once except for Derry City, and we've also lost to everyone except for Longford. I think most clubs this year could say that, it's been that sort of a season.

[elguapo4]

Because of international call ups, it was a quiet night in the league.

The main game, and only one in the Premier league saw Dundalk beat Shamrock Rovers 1.0 at home . The result wipes out Rovers game in hand over second place St Patrick's Athletic, although Rovers have 9 points and a superior goal difference with seven games remaining.

In the first division, champions Shelbourne drew 1.1 with Athlone Town, Cork City beat Wexford 4.0 and Cobh Ramblers beat Cabinteely 2.1.

[Discordant Resonance]

Athlone could technically edge into the First Division playoffs, but five points off that mark with two games remaining makes that a very fleeting prospect.

[elguapo4]

Bray's +19 goal difference means that they only need a point against Cabinteely and Wexford, very fleeting indeed.

[elguapo4]

Dundalk fans at the game against Shamrock Rovers threw a pigs head on the pitch, and waved fake money at ex players Sean Gannon and Richie Towell, which is hypocrisy of the highest order, when you consider how they built their team in the first place.

Ireland's under 17s team beat Moldova 5.0 in the European championships on Thursday. It was the first time in the 100 year history of the FAI that the starting lineup of a mens team didn't contain a single player from an English club, 8 league of Ireland, two Scotland and one Germany.

[seand]

Dundalk fans at the game against Shamrock Rovers threw a pigs head on the pitch, and waved fake money at ex players Sean Gannon and Richie Towell, which is hypocrisy of the highest order, when you consider how they built their team in the first place.

Ireland's under 17s team beat Moldova 5.0 in the European championships on Thursday. It was the first time in the 100 year history of the FAI that the starting lineup of a mens team didn't contain a single player from an English club, 8 league of Ireland, two Scotland and one Germany.

The pigs head thing was an absolute embarassment. Sean Gannon and Sean Hoare both ended up at Rovers when they were offered offensively derisory contract extensions at Dundalk. Towell left at his peak to have a good go of it at Brighton, Rotherham and Salford, it's not even clear if Dundalk offered him a contract to compete with what Rovers did in the summer. Nonsense stuff. I'm not going to applaud ex-players returning with rivals, but none of those 3 deserve additional greif, it just shows an utter lack of understanding of what's going on. More importantly though, Dundalk were excellent and underlined how criminally they've been underperforming all season

[Discordant Resonance]

Dundalk fans at the game against Shamrock Rovers threw a pigs head on the pitch, and waved fake money at ex players Sean Gannon and Richie Towell, which is hypocrisy of the highest order, when you consider how they built their team in the first place.

Ireland's under 17s team beat Moldova 5.0 in the European championships on Thursday. It was the first time in the 100 year history of the FAI that the starting lineup of a mens team didn't contain a single player from an English club, 8 league of Ireland, two Scotland and one Germany.

They also beat North Macedonia 2-0 to reach the next round with a game to spare.

[ursus arctos]

That is a remarkable stat about the U17 team that makes me wonder what has been the case with teams from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

[elguapo4]

There was a famous away game against Austria for the 1972 European championships, when the FAI,fed up with withdrawals of top players, played a League of Ireland selection, with Chelsea's Paddy Mulligan the only Anglo asked to turn up, we were walloped 6.0

[Discordant Resonance]

Shamrock Rovers have one hand on a second consecutive title, going 12 points clear with six rounds remaining, as they defeat Sligo 2-0 in Tallaght, while closest rivals St Pat's fall to a 1-0 defeat to Derry at the Brandywell. Longford are officially relegated following their loss to Drogheda, who nonetheless remain only four points off the play-off zone, after Waterford thrash Finn Harps, and Dundalk draw away to Bohs.

The penultimate round of the First Division sees Wexford finish bottom, after defeat to Galway, who are thus guaranteed the runner-up position for the promotion play-offs. Bray will at least be fifth, despite losing to Cabinteely, and Treaty United drew with Athlone. UCD's success against Cork means they will secure fourth place, at worst, and Cobh manage a consolation victory over Shelbourne, who were presumably phoning in their performance after their title success.

[elguapo4]

With six games to go, top and bottom of the league are pretty much sorted,even if the rest isn't.

Longford Town's defeat to Drogheda United last night sees them relegated after just one season in the top flight, 13 points after 30 games unfortunately shows how far behind everyone else they are. For a long time it looked like Waterford were odds-on to join them, but Marc Bircham has done a great job reviving them, and a 4.1 win over Finn Harps brings the Donegal men back into the mix, Dundalk and Drogheda United should be safe.

At the top,Shamrock Rovers are almost over the line in retaining their title, a 2.0 win over Sligo Rovers leaves them needing just two more wins to seal the title. With St Patrick's Athletic safe in 2nd, the battle for the last European spot could come down to the wire, Sligo are on 46 points, Derry City's win over St Pats brings them to 45, Bohemians are on 42 with a game in hand following a 1.1 draw with Dundalk.

[Discordant Resonance]

The rather farcical saga of Maxime Kouogun - lives all bar a few months of his life in Ireland, had Irish citizenship, yet by virtue of being born in Cameroon, his underage international career is prevented by FIFA bureaucracy.

[elguapo4]

Shamrock Rovers played old rivals Bohemians in the last game in hand. After Liam Burt gave Bohs a 37th minute lead, and then Rovers Roberto Lopes saw red just before half time, it looked like Bohs night. But Rovers re grouped in the second half, and equalised when Richard Towell's long shot was spilled by Bohs keeper Stephen Mc Guinness. Both sides had chances to win it, but a drawis probably the fairest result. One side note is that Rovers used 6 substitutes when only 5 are allowed. Nothing will be done of course.

[seand]

Shamrock Rovers played old rivals Bohemians in the last game in hand. After Liam Burt gave Bohs a 37th minute lead, and then Rovers Roberto Lopes saw red just before half time, it looked like Bohs night. But Rovers re grouped in the second half, and equalised when Richard Towell's long shot was spilled by Bohs keeper Stephen Mc Guinness. Both sides had chances to win it, but a drawis probably the fairest result. One side note is that Rovers used 6 substitutes when only 5 are allowed. Nothing will be done of course.

One was a concussion sub, no?

[elguapo4]

One was a concussion sub, no?

So Rovers are claiming, though at the time it looked like a muscle injury. Anyway, I thought that you could only use an extra concussion sub after you had used up all your regular ones. Doesn't matter anyway, even if they broke the laws,nothing will be done.

[seand]

I don't think the concussion sub rule was ever restricted to after other subs were used, but clearly it's open to abuse. From what I heard (from a Rovers fan) the player in question took a hefty knock, played on for quite a few minutes then went off with 'concussion' conveniently at the same time he suffered a muscle injury. Very hard for a ref to say "he's not concussed, this is a regular sub"

[elguapo4]

In fairness, both match reports said that they could use an extra sub. It seems that something that was brought in to avoid a team risking a player with concussion is now going to be used as a "get out of jail free" card. I'll be watching the weekend matches to see if O' Neill features..

[AMMS]

That is a remarkable stat about the U17 team that makes me wonder what has been the case with teams from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The most recent Scotland Under 17 squad of 19 players had 3 who were signed for English sides (2 Man Utd and 1 Everton) all the rest are signed for Scottish sides. This is not uncommon for Scotland, even when there were a lot more Scottish players playing in England the under age squads were dominated by home based players. The SFA favour players who have come through their performance schools, and to be fair they do tend to be the better players in their age-groups.

This is a great thread, my thanks to those who regularly update it.

[elguapo4]

Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers have been bitter rivals for many years, but this year the bitterness has gone up a level.

A couple of months ago, Bohs knocked Rovers out of the Cup, at that stage only home fans were allowed in. A week after the game, Rovers manager Stephen Bradley claimed one of his players was spat at by a steward, a claim he didn't bring any more evidence about. Since crowd sizes have increased, Rovers have refused to give either Derry City or Bohemians away tickets, and now Bohs have reacted in a tit for tat fashion for the last game against them, a game that has an ( outside) chance of being the title winning one. Watch this space, this one could rumble on next year.

[elguapo4]

Apologies for the late update this week, as I was busy in work, and busy, SPOILER ALERT, celebrating afterwards.

This weekend was FAI Cup semi final time, with Bohemians at home to Waterford, and St Patrick's Athletic hosting Dundalk. I was at the former.

While I have a lot of respect for Waterford, and the work that manager Marc Bircham has done, last night they came out with a formation so defensive, that it made Andorra away to France look like Brazil '82. Moaning aside, it was up to us to break them down, and a first half penalty miss by George Kelly aside, we barely had a shot on target, even after Waterford were reduced to 10 men with a second yellow for Ferguson early in the second half. Just at the time that it looked like Waterford had done enough, in the 88th minute man of the match Dawson Devoy sent substitute Promise Omochere down the right, and his low cross was finished by Kelly. Waterford finally woke up, and pushed defender Greg Halford ( the very same) up for the last few minutes, but Bohs easily saw out the rest of the game, and the Blues were reduced to 9 men, Niall O Keeffe walking for a last man foul on Devoy.

Bohs will play St Pats in the final, I didn't see the game, but Pats won it 3.1, with two long range second half efforts. Where this leaves Dundalk is anyone's guess, out of Europe and with nothing left to play for except avoiding the relegation playoff, amid rumours of massive budget cuts and players leaving, it could be a tough couple of years ahead for the Lillywhites.

[Gangster Octopus]

Enjoy the final.

[elguapo4]

Enjoy the final.

Thanks very much GO, much appreciated.

I haven't really talked about the first division much lately, because everything has been fairly much settled. After the second last round of games, Galway United are guaranteed 2nd place and UCD are third. At the moment Treaty United are fourth, two points ahead of Bray Wanderers. So the likely play off semi finals are Galway v Bray and UCD v Treaty.

Meanwhile ,last night in the Premier division ,Shamrock Rovers moved to within one win of the title with a 1.0 win over Longford, while Finn Harps came back from two goals down to draw 2.2 with Sligo Rovers, a result that doesn't really help either of them in their respective quests.

[elguapo4]

Shamrock Rovers can win the title if Dundalk beat St Patrick's Athletic in tonight's league game, Bohs can move above Derry City, and into the European spots with a win against Waterford.

1st division champions Shelbourne are on the lookout for a new manager, following the resignation of manager Ian Morris. I can only assume he's got a better offer.