Supporters’ Club Notes (29/04/2018)

ROUGH JUSTICE

Twenty four hours after our home defeat to Finn Harps and still the anger, frustration and disappointment simmer away. Of course it's time to forget and move on but maybe tomorrow. It was disappointing to gift our hosts a goal in the opening few minutes and even more so to gift wrap their winning goal in the 90th minute but it was between those two scores that really rankled with most supporters present. Finn Harps are a big, physical side. So too were UCD the previous week. But UCD played football and we simply left disappointed. We were clearly the better side and yet we came away with nothing. Even many travelling supporters admitted as much.

From early on, it seemed that Aodh Dervin was getting too much rough attention. He received little or no attention and certainly to protection from the referee. How the visitors remained with a full team on the pitch remains a mystery.

While we did manage a superb Dylan McGlade equaliser, we failed to rattle their net a second time. Overall, it was a marked improvement on the previous home performance. If only the officials were on the ball, Aodh Dervin would have lasted the full game and maybe helped us to a fairer slice of the proceedings. Of course we have our own glaring weakness but Saturday night will live long in the memory as a night of rough and tumble justice.

COBH AWAY, AWAY

Despite two home losses in a row, it looks like we'll have a decent crowd heading south to Cobh on Saturday. Section O have a bus already full and plenty of other supporters are heading down to stay over. We know we should have beaten Cobh at home in our opening game but that's over and done with now. Whilst Cobh aren't flying high as last season, they're still a formidable outfit in their own back yard. And when you add in our growing list of long term injuries, we know it's set to be another battle. But as we clearly demonstrated in our magnificent win against Shamrock Rovers, we can play when we're not battered and bruised. Then on the Tuesday afterwards, it's back down to Cobh again for the League Cup Quarter Finals. Another win in the south and then beat Dundalk at home. Sure, why not. Safe travels to all who are making the long trip(s) south.

WHAT NEXT?

We're now in 6th position in the league, a full ten points behind UCD. We've played all teams once and so what's the future? Well, we lost too many points in the dying minutes of three games. Surely we can improve on that. We seem to be shy in front of goals and don't test the opposing keeper enough. Again, that's something that can be improved on. Almost every one agrees that we have a good, solid squad; maybe even superior to last season. Yes, we need a goal getter and the sooner the better. We also need some of our injured players back ASAP. As has already been stated, our attendances are up but our luck is down. As one learned supporter quipped, it's better to be hitting a bump in the early part of the season rather than the latter. As the song says, “ the only way is up”. Keep the faith – C'mon de Town!

PLAYER OF THE MONTH / APRIL

Aodh Dervin was the outstanding player of April which is no joke for the young, talented, local Leaving Cert student and therefore the worthy winner of Player of the Month. Hopefully he'll be throwing away his crutches before he receives his award from Phil Pike. That presentation will be made before the game against Shelbourne on Saturday May 19th – which, oddly is our only home league game in May.

CAR BOOT SALE

The May Bank Holiday Monday is our next Car Boot Sale. Gates open very early and the event itself continues until mid afternoon at 3pm. The weather spoiled our last one so hopefully the day will shine bright and long and dry on Monday next. Restoring a working scoreboard may be our next big project, so we need every cent we can gather. We'll be short on our usual excellent volunteers for this car boot sale so if you can afford an hour or two, please do help us.

EASTERN EUROPE

Safe travels to those supporters who are heading to Poland this weekend. One of the results in the influx of Polish people to Longford is the increased amount of marriages between the two countries. It's nice to see a few from Polska attending the City Calling Stadium, a number which will hopefully grow in the future.