Super Sunday Football awaits!
It’s the end of the week and again we have no game on a Friday night. We’d better get used to this as July is the time of year when the minnows of Europe do battle against each other to see who can squander the most money in the most obscure part of Europe. Also it’s the time of year that some LOI clubs hope to get some of the big names over and play them in a friendly (if the FAI allow it!). The latest news is that Limerick will be playing current EPL champs and big spenders Man City in Thomand Park in August, which I’m sure will boost their coffers no end. Hopefully our fixture list won’t be affected too much as having a consistent run of games is the only way that we’ll be able to stay in the top 4 and compete with the big boys until the end of the season. Pats and Bohs were in action last night with Pats being brought to extratime, which is great for us and hopefully Buckley makes lots of changes to his team on Sunday which will give us the edge and possibly take a result from Inchicore.
So the leagues Euro hopeful’s have had very different experiences to their trips to Iceland. Bohs last night played an Icelandic 2nd Division team and got absolutely hammered. I saw most of the game on the web and it was shocking to say the least. I know Bohs weren’t expecting to get into Europe for this season anyway but you’d think a bit more effort would have been put in. The Icelandic lads were brutal, long ball merchants and their pitch looked like the Tesco car park near the industrial estate!! Again my theory is, why bother sending a team into that competition when you can’t really afford to and are going to lose anyway? Bohs knew they had a poor enough chance of getting through the round and they hadn’t prepared for Europe so why bother enter? Waste of money that could have been put to better use I reckon.
Our opponents on Sunday had different fortunes as despite conceding 2 goals to their hosts they managed to claw one back in extratime and get through the tie on away goals. Well done to Pats and I’m glad they had to go the full length as hopefully Buckley will not make a host of changes to the team for Sunday as they have a big game in Bosnia next week. Pats don’t have a massive squad and outside the starting 11 there isn’t a lot to be afraid of. They’ll also be missing John Russell in their midfield who is a handy player, through suspension, so if we can get a grip of the ball in that department then our chances of success will increase significantly.
Inchicore isn’t the happiest of hunting grounds for us but we have managed to get decent results there over the years. The last trip there last season however was a 4-0 hammering by them so hopefully we can improve a bit on that performance. Pats are a funny team of sorts, they’re in second place in the league but have had very indifferent performances. Granted they beat Rovers convincingly but when we played them at United Park a few months ago, they came expecting to go home with 3 points and in the end we secured a draw. Ok we weren’t magnificent against them but Pats do always seem to think that they are better than they think they are. If we play to our potential then we will get a result and hopefully we can continue to stop conceding sloppy goals which have cost us so much this season.
So from our point of view we don’t seem to have any injury concerns. Foley, who has been in good form lately is suspended for Sunday along with Quigley. It’s a pity that we’ll be missing both those players however I would expect Mick to bring in new signing Byrne and possibly Gannon to right back. Another new boy Conor McMahon got some good reviews from his debut against Derry so I would expect him to start at left full. The midfield should remain the same with the exception of Byrne coming in for Foley and upfront Fabio and Hynes will hopefully fire us to victory.
We’ll need to have a go at them from the start, we always perform well when we do that and if an early goal can be got then it’ll put us in the driving seat to getting a result. It’s a Sunday afternoon kick off, hopefully a big crowd from Drogheda can come down and support the lads and you never know, we could be sitting pretty in second place come half five on Sunday evening!
Speaking of the new players coming in, news on the grapevine is that Marshall and Trimble are on their way out. Marshall apparently hasn’t exactly been great in training and with the number of midfielders we have now, he was always likely to be pushed out. Trimble is rumoured to be going as we’ve brought in another goalkeeper with a name that sounds like a Jewish Jewellery shop in Hatten Garden in London! It’ll be interesting to see who goes once it’s confirmed as our chairman Jim Agnew mentioned in the DI last week that despite our lofty position in the league they are still just about managing to keep things ticking over, just about.
Right now time for the weekly accumulator, I’ve had some feedback about this that I never win, so I’m going to shorten the total amount this week and see if we can pin point a nice little earner that will have a better success rate. So here is what I propose…
Pats V Drogs – Draw
Dundalk V Rovers – Rovers win
Mervue Utd V Limerick – Limerick win
Waterford V SD Galway – Waterford win
Those four results will get you 8.51/1, so unless you stick a few bob on it then you’re not going to be a millionaire by the end of the weekend. You can get a decent price on us winning, 4/1 the last time I checked so might be worth a flutter there.
That’s all from me now, enjoy another Friday night with no football and make sure you save yourselves for the game on Sunday and get a big crowd down. Get your mates out and their mates and their mates mates. Lets give the lads the vocal support that they deserve for putting in some fine performances this season!
The Pats lads will probably be doing commentary online via here, Pats Fans Commentary, so for you overseas Drogs, check it out.
Enjoy!
Loading tweets...
Recent Comments