Section O Says Hello (03/09/14)

Red and Black are rising…

A big hello to everyone from the other side of the ground this evening! Another week has passed by and thankfully we find ourselves another slight step forward towards finally getting out of this league! Since our last notes we now have two trips to Dublin under our belts with one clearly more important than the other! First up we had our 3^rd outing to Tallaght of the season, this time to play the Rovers senior team in the FAI Cup! Rovers are still one of the top teams in the league with one of the biggest budgets in the league (no matter what their former manager says) and would have been fully expectant of giving us a hammering on the night. Fair enough, the final score may probably look like just that but anyone there on the night will tell you it flattered them. De Town had put in a decent stint and had Sully’s chance in the first half went our way things may have been different! Regardless of the result, none of the sizeable Town travelling support seemed too fazed, staying behind 15 minutes after full time to sing the team off the pitch as they did their warm up! It certainly gave the players a good send off before the biggest game of the season in Tolka park the following Friday evening!

Lights out!

League of Ireland fans get a lot of grief at times over the various wrongs and inadequacies in our league! The standard of football is an obvious insult which gets thrown around a lot but to be fair to your ordinary fan or club member, that is something which they cannot do a whole lot about in the short term! One thing that is controllable in the short term is the management of each club which is fundamentally as important to attracting new fans from the outside as the standard of football. In the last number of weeks the league has come under the spotlight of the national media for all the wrong reasons once again. A fortnight ago the Dublin Derby between Bohs and Rovers, arguably the biggest game in Irish football was called off in the 11^th hour due to an unacceptable playing surface. Due to the significance of the game and the fact it was due to be close to a sell out, the match received national attention causing embarrassment to the league and it’s many fans once again. Just over a week later and another Dublin derby is cancelled in similar circumstances this time due to faulty floodlights which led us on to the farcical situation Shels and Town fans found themselves in last Thursday night as news trickled through that the biggest game of the season so far for both clubs had just been changed making it virtually impossible for many to travel! Many social media outlets were filled with outrage mainly from Town fans who were understandably annoyed at missing out. While the blame finger was pointed at many, we all appreciate the very difficult position it put our club in. The bottom line is that such situations should not happen if the League of Ireland is ever to be taken seriously. Section O for one put an awful lot of effort into promoting the game and it was such a shame for it all to be ruined due to such a farcical situation at such short notice.

Irrespective of all this, it was amazing to see a full 52 seater full of Town fans pull up into Tolka park well in time for kick off along with many others who had travelled by car or made their way from around the capital. Many had clearly pulled out all the stops in making their very best efforts to get to the game even with the obstacles thrown in front of them at such short notice. A relatively poor game under horrendous conditions was lit up by the loyal Town fans in the stands encouraging the team on throw the entire 90 minute spell. Although many of us went there with hopes of all 3 points to put us firmly in the driver’s seat to the title, as the minutes ticked on Shels grew increasingly desperate knowing that they needed a win and in the end us setting up defensively to ensure of the point was the right thing to do! Our main rivals failing to take their chance to gain points on us should act as a huge confidence boost for the lads! Five crucial games now left now it’s important that we try and recreate the same atmosphere as in Tolka from all sides of the ground! C’MON DE TOWN!

Away Days

With the FAI Cup Quarter Finals up next weekend, our  next away game in the league is down in Waterford on Friday the 26^th September! As this is only our 2^nd last away game of the season and with such few games left we would encourage as many Town fans as possible to make the trip down to the RSC. We are no stranger to trips down to the RSC in recent years with the long trip home from the playoffs two seasons ago one that many Town fans would prefer to forget! Friday weeks trip has the promise of being far more enjoyable then that and depending on results before then could turn out to be even more important than that play-off game was two years ago! The fact that we brought so many away fans to Tolka even after the fiasco that lead up to it was very encouraging to see and we would be hopeful that the same if not more make the trip south in three weeks’ time. To book your place on the bus text Kieran on 0831670304.

Fantasy Premier League 2014

Once again thanks to everyone for entering our fantasy league this year! As it stands our top 3 are Ronan McCormack on 189 points, Michael Dinneen on 185 points and Michael Keenan on 182 points! There are still a few people yet to pay so if you haven’t yet, could you please get onto Paddy Mc Garry or any other member of Section O asap, on Facebook or on 0877619299. Entry fees will again be collected at the match tonight or if that doesn’t suit you can pay via PayPal using the email ltfcfantasyfootball@gmail.com.

To the place...I belong...

As we approach the home straight this season, Section O would like to commend the team in putting themselves in pole position for promotion to the Premier Division. The performances this season have been excellent and we hope that the boys can do the job in the last five games. At times like this, it's important that we do all we can as supporters to get behind the team and help push them over the line. The crowds have steadily been growing and the atmosphere both home and away has been brilliant. Anyone at Tolka Park last Friday evening would have seen how much it meant to the players and management. We also appreciate Tony Cousins' comments about the rapturous travelling support on Shannonside after the game. Section O has been on the go for thirteen years now and we take great pride in being one of the most vocal and enthusiastic supporters groups in the Airtricity League. That is the reason why we will be staying put in our usual spot opposite the stand. We do this to respect the tradition of Section O, lending our support to the team just like we have always done. We hope the crowds continue to rise for our remaining three home league games this season and we encourage fans (both past and present) to make a special effort to get to the matches. At the end of the day, whether you're in the stand or in Section O, as long as you're making a racket and the boys know you're behind them, then we're doing our job as fans. C'mon the Town!

Keep updated

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Tweets of the Week

Some reaction from the Players to the game in Tolka last week;

Take that result no ground caught huge 6 games left?! And unbelievable from the fans heard them the whole night #keptusfighting #12thman

— Paul Hunt (@hunty_1) August 29, 2014

Unbelievable stuff from the fans tonight considering all that went on yesterday..Decent point, we'll take that and move onto next week #ltfc

— Davy O'Sullivan (@DavyOSullivan15) August 29, 2014

@gary_shaw10 “Weather horrendous, fans outrageous, good result”