News

There was a full programme completed in the Airtricity League Premier Division on Friday evening.
Relegation threatened sides Finn Harps and UCD both faced difficult away matches and suffered crushing defeats. The Donegal side, who have mounted a determined revival in recent weeks, journied to leaders Dundalk where they went down to a five nil defeat in front of the live eirSport cameras while the ‘Students’ travelled across the City to face Bohemian in Dalymount Park where they suffered a humiliating ten one defeat. Second place Shamrock Rovers made the trip to Derry City and collected the points with a two nil victory in the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium. St Patrick’s Athletic  continued their efforts to break into the top four with a two one home victory over Sligo Rovers. The remaining contest between  Munster sides Waterford and Cork City in the RSC ended in a two one victory for the visiting ‘Leesiders’.    

                            P   W  D  L   F   A   G/D  Pts
Dundalk                    26  19  5  2  52  13   39    62
Shamrock Rovers            27  17  4  6  45  16   29    55
Bohemian                   29  14  7  8  41  23   18    49
Derry City                 29  12 10  7  44  28   16    46 
St Patrick’s Athletic      29  12  7 10  24  27   -3    43
Sligo Rovers               28   7 11 10  27  36   -9    32
Cork City                  27   7  9 11  21  31  -10    30
Waterford                  26   7  6 13  31  39   -8    27 
Finn Harps                 29   6  5 18  24  55  -31    23
UCD                        27   5  2 20  21  62  -41    17

At the start of the evening there were just four sets of fixtures remaining in the regular Airtricity League First Division this season. Drogheda United mounted the pressure on their promotion rivals with an emphatic six nil victory over bottom side Wexford in United Park. Fourth place Cabinteely slipped up in the play-off hunt when they suffered a surprise one nil home defeat by Galway United.  The Carlisle Grounds hosted the meeting of Bray Wanderersz and Cobh Ramblers which ended in a three all draw while Limerick and Athlone Town played out a one all draw in the Markets Field.

Shelbourne restored their lead at the summit to five points with a two nil victory over close challengers Longford Town in the City Calling Stadium on Saturday evening.

                            P   W  D  L   F   A    G/D  Pts
Shelbourne                 24  17  2  5  40  18    22    53
Drogheda United            24  15  3  6  55  29    26    48         
Longford Town              24  14  3  7  35  20    15    45
Cabinteely                 24  12  7  5  33  25     8    43
Bray Wanderers             24  12  3  9  38  24    14    39
Limerick                   24   9  6  9  27  30    -3    33 
Cobh Ramblers              24   8  6 10  35  39    -4    30
Athlone Town               24   5  4 15  28  54   -26    19
Galway United              24   5  3 16  23  38   -15    18
Wexford                    24   2  5 18  20  57   -37    11

 

Republic of Ireland Assistant Manager Terry Connor was believed to be in attendance at the John Smith’s Stadium on Friday evening when Huddersfield Town went down to a two one defeat by visitors Fulham in the Championship. Harry Arter, on loan from AFC Bournemouth, was in action for the visiting ‘Cottagers’ while Cyrus Christie was an unused substitute. Arter provided a mixed bag performance in the holding midfield role. He showed enormous energy throughout and for the most part was neat and tidy in possession. There were however some patches of impetuosity which would suggest a question mark in relation to his contribution on the international stage.

New signing Glenn Whelan was an unused substitute for Heart of Midlothian who won their Scottish League Cup contest at Motherwell by two goals to one. Jake Mulraney started while Colin Doyle was an unused substitute for the ‘Jam Tarts’.

Republic of Ireland U16 Head Coach Paul Osam has announced a 20 player squad for the upcoming Triangular Tournament involving Denmark and England, which will take place at the English FA National Training Centre in St Georges Park.

Goalkeepers: Aaron Maguire(Tottenham Hotspur), Jack Ross(Bray Wanderers)
Defenders: James Abankwah(St Patrick’s Athletic), Ben Curtis(Shamrock Rovers), Tommy Fogarty(Birmingham City), Sean Grehan(Bohemian), Aaron O’Reilly(St Patrick’s Athletic), Darragh Reilly(Sligo Rovers), John Ryan(Shamrock Rovers)
Midfielders: Luke McGlynn(Finn Harps), Jamie Mullins(Bohemian), Glory Nzingo(St Patrick’s Athletic), John Joe Power(Burton Albion)
Forwards: Edwin Agbaje(Shamrock Rovers), Evan Ferguson(Bohemian), Sean Fitzpatrick(Wexford), Cian Kelly(Bohemian), Michael Leddy(Shamrock Rovers), Tom Lonergan(St Patrick’s Athletic), Ben Quinn(St Patrick’s Athletic)

Fixtures
20/08/2019 Denmark v Ireland 13.00
22/08/2019 England v Ireland 14.00 

The draw for the second round of the 2019/20 Scottish Challenge Cup took place today and saw Bohemian drawn away to Airdrie while Waterford will face Heart of Midlothian U20 in the RSC. The ties are scheduled for the week ending Sunday the 8 September 2019.

Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy is set to announce his initial extended squad for the upcoming European Championship Qualifier against Switzerland and the friendly international with Bulgaria at a press conference in Galway on Friday the 16 August.

We face Switzerland in a crucial contest in the Aviva Stadium at 7.45pm on Thursday the 5 September followed by the friendly encounter with Bulgaria on Tuesday the 10 September, again in the Aviva Stadium at 7.45pm.

There was significant Irish involvement in the first round of the EFL Cup on Tuesday evening.

Cardiff City loanee Greg Cunningham made his competitive debut for Blackburn Rovers while Derrick Williams was an unused substitute as they defeated visitors Oldham Athletic by three goals to two. Anthony O’Connor and Eoin Doyle started for Bradford City who suffered a crushing four nil home defeat by Preston North End for whom Alan Browne and Joe Rafferty started while Sean Maguire was an unused substitute. Manchester United loanee Kieran O’Hara was in goal for Burton Albion who secured a two one victory at Port Vale. Fellow goalkeeper Joe Murphy made his competitive debut for Shrewsbury Town at home to Rotherham United who crushed his side by four goals to nil with another custodian Max O’Leary, on loan from Bristol City, happily having reverted to the bench. Jason Knight started for Derby County with Richard Keogh on the bench for their one nil victory at Scunthorpe United. Eighteen year old central defender Nathan Collins captained and scored the only goal for Stoke City at Wigan Athletic. James McClean also started for Stoke with Aston Villa loanee Scott Hogan an 80th minute substitute while Stephen Ward remained on the substitute bench. Mick McCarthy was at Kenilworth Road where Alan Judge started for visitors Ipswich Town but James Collins was rested by hosts Luton Town who won by three goals to one with Judge withdrawn on 77 minutes. Ryan Manning started for QPR at home to Bristol City and scored a late equalising penalty to send the contest into a penalty shoot-out situation where Manning again converted the first spot kick as the ‘R’s’ ran out 5-4 winners. Conor Masterson was unused on the bench for the hosts while Callum O’Dowda was a 63rd minute substitute and penalty shoot-out scorer for the visitors. Dara O’Shea started in defence for West Bromwich Albion who went down to a two one home defeat by visitors Millwall for whom Brighton & Hove Albion loanee Jayson Molumby made his competitive debut alongside Aiden O’Brien, who scored the winner, with Shaun Williams replacing Molumby after 63 minutes. 

Thursday evening featured the second legs in the third qualifying round of the Europa League, including:-

19.45  Wolverhampton Wanderers (4) 4-0 (0) Pyunik (Armenia)
18.30  The New Saints (0) 0-4 (5) Ludogorets (Bulgaria)
19.45  Glasgow Rangers (4) 3-1 (2) FC Midtjylland (Denmark)
19.45  Aberdeen (0) 0-2 (2) HNK Rijeka (Croatia) 

Dundalk exited the Europa League this Tuesday evening when they went down to a three one home defeat by  Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia in their Europa League third round second leg tie played in Tallaght Stadium. The ‘Lilywhites’ lost the away leg to a late goal and could do little to retrieve the situation tonight.

Also in Tuesday evening action were Glasgow Celtic who went down to a four three home defeat by CFR Clug, the champions of  Romania, to exit the Champions League. The sides had drawn one each in last week’s away leg. The Scottish champions will now drop down to the Europa League where they will take on the winners of the tie between AIK (Sweden) and Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) with the Swedish side holding a 2-1 advantage from the away first leg. 

Linfield were also in Europa League third qualifying round second leg action this Tuesday evening when they defeated visitors Sutjeska Niksic, the champions of Montenegro, by three goals to two in Windsor Park for a 5-3 aggregate success. The Belfast side had put themselves in the driving seat for the second leg by coming from behind to secure a two one victory last week. They will now face Qarabag, champions of Azerbaijan, who eliminated Dundalk from the Champions League in the second round.