Put 'em under pressure

Put 'em under pressure - Dipping into the League of Ireland

I don't really care for friendlies and let the assistant player them. Although we couldn't get many friendlies for some strange reason and i'm hoping it won't disturb our match fitness!

With a new adventure in the Premier Division i was keen to ensure that we had the quality to make sure that we not only survive, but succeed in this division. A total of 12 players signed - 11 new players and i ended up re-siging Packie Malley to add some defensive cover. Keep an eye out for Brandon Miele, Kieran Sadlier, Manny Kaguako and Micheal Schlingermann

We offloaded a lot of players to make room for these signings but very few of them would have been regulars, such as Keith Cowan and Damien McNulty. I signed 2 youngsters from Dundalk to prove some cover and i was intrigued to see how they would fit in. Despite having a strong goalkeeper in Ciaran Gallagher , i couldn't resist signing Schlingermann , so much quality. I'm really happy with the business we've done and hopefully should make a decent impact.

Quite a difficult first month, starting off against League favourites Shamrock Rovers , followed by 2 difficult games at St. Pats and Sligo Rovers. We can look forward to a league cup game against Letterkenny. Interesting to see how we get on :D
 
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Some nice pick-ups there Seano.

That first month will test how ready you are for the step up in class. Good luck mate, put 'em under pressure!!!! ;)
 
Not the worst of starts to life in the Premier League. Only the One loss, a nice win against Sligo who would be our Arch rivals. A bit concerned with conceding late goals but i'll talk about that in a bit.


As this was our first taste of the Big League, i wanted to sit back and gauge Shamrock Rovers who are one of the better teams in the league. It didn't take long for me to come to the conclusion that this was going to a really tough task and you can see that from the stats. Although we had a bit of possession, we struggled to do much about it. We did contain them well defensively, they had plenty of shots but nothing that was worth talking about. I thought we secured the draw but a last second corner end with the ball in our net. Heartbreaking start.

Not as difficult as the Shamrock Rovers test but still a difficult test none the less. We got off to a great start going 2-0 up within the first 10 minutes and looked good value for our lead. We were a bit unfortunate to concede an own goal just before half time with a few rebounds and ricochets ending up in our own net off the head of Cian Fadden. Things went downhill then in the second half Athlone equalizing just before the 70th minute mark and taking the lead 5 minutes later. Really frustrating to watch. As it was looking like we were gonna lose our second match in the league Marc Griffin popped up with a nice slotted finish into the bottom right corner to give us a point.

Another tough game against one of the better teams. Except this time we dominated the match. We couldve scored a lot more but some nice goalkeeping from the St. Pats number 1 kept his side in the game. Packie Malley started to repay my faith in him after scoring a nice header at the half hour mark to give us the lead. At half-time i made sure the team kept up the intensity and didn't let Pats back into the game. Second half was quite boring , most of the game being played in midfield with few chances for either side. Just as it looked like we were gonna get our first 3 points of the season Chris Forrester scored a tap-in from 6 yards out after Schlingerman pulled off a great save but the ball fell to Forrester's feet. Quite frustrating conceding late goals.

There we have it! Our first win of the Season and what a team to get it against. Sligo Rovers would be our biggest rivals in the Senior Leagues due to proximity between the two teams. It was a rather tight affair, but not your usual Derby with tackles flying, it was a tame affair. Despite taking the lead in the first half we really struggled to build on it despite the amount of chances we got. Sligo had their fair share of attempts aswell hitting the crossbar a number of times. I was kind of bricking it towards the end of the match, after conceding late goals in the last few games when i saw another highlight pop up towards the end i feared the worst, but too my surprise it was in our favour as our marquee signing Brandon Miele scored a cracker from outside the box to hand us all 3 points.

After having a nice run in the league cup in the last two seasons, i decided to give this game to my youth team to get a chance to develop some our prospects. They didn't let me down either. One of our summer signings Gary Kelly needed fitness so i played him aswell and he scored in the first 15 minutes with a nice effort from just outside the area , cutting in from the left side. We had plenty of chances in both halves but couldnt convert them. Letterkenny equalised through Stephen O'Donnell who we had for awhile, he scored a nice free-kick but minutes later - youngster Gary Merrit popped up with a clinical finish from just inside the area and again 2 minutes later, winning the ball from Letterkenny's kick off and scoring himself another goal just outside the area.

Not the most difficult game in this league but nonetheless , an away game is always difficult regardless of the opponents. Not much to talk about in the first half, we only managed 2 attempts at goal and neither were anything to talk about. After the break Carrigy scored a cracker of a goal from a corner running towards the near post and acrobatically heading the ball into the opposite corner with some fierce power. It didn't take Limerick long to react though, equalizing 15 minutes later and then taking the lead soon after that. Yet again we find ourselves behind despite taking the lead. Just as i thought we were going to miss out on any points Garvan Broughali scored from a corner to hand us a point. Another late goal for us, whats going on?!

So with the first month over with we find ourselves in 7th place, i'm not too downhearted as the first month is always the toughest so i'm hoping to build on a few decent results.

We need to ensure we beat the likes of Longford and Galway if we want to improve this month, we've alot of tough fixtures such as Derry, Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers at the end of the month.

In other news, one of our youngsters has got himself a place on the u-19's national team!
 
I don't do this for the comments or the views but i would appreciate any feedback or comments from anyone who is reading this!
 
Now that's what i call a mixed month if ever i saw one. Got off to a horrendous start, but finished off the month very strongly. Although we got our ***** handed to us on a few occasions, we played fairly decently throughout the month.


To concede 4 goals in the first half is not good enough - we were totally dominated in the first half. Despite clawing back two goals we never looked like getting back into the game. Despite having our fair share of the possession, Derry were the far better team.

Horrible performance. Dundalk just destroyed us. We're lucky to get away with only conceding 4 goals. First half was boring, but we coped fairly well with whatever Dundalk through at us, but the second half was horrendous and if we keep performing like this we won't last too long in this league.

This is a game we really should be winning if we want to survive in this Division. We got off to a great start, taking an early lead, and despite conceding shortly after it, we took the lead once again. The way we played really i thought we would have been able to hold onto the lead until the break but Galway again equalized to give them the momentum and they sure made use of it and took a two goal lead 15 minutes into the second half. We were very unlucky at times, we held most of the possession and had a few chances but nothing came of our efforts.

A tough match against a strong Bohemians team. We played fairly well and a draw was a fair result. There aren't that many talking points in this match. We got a penalty late on, but Gareth Harkin couldn't convert it after hitting the crossbar. Before the match i would of gladly taken a point to steady the ship.

Just what we needed! A great performance. We kicked into gear immediately scoring in the first 5 minutes and we continued to look comfortable throughout the first half and despite conceding we managed to take the lead again shortly before half time. Carel Tiofack extended our lead on the 74th minute.

Another good win against a strong team. It was a bit of a ding-dong match with both teams having their fair share of chances. Cork perhaps having more than us. We took the lead through Dylan Nolan, cutting in from the left hand side and striking an effort from just outside the area and finding the back of the net. The second half was all Cork City, they threw everything at us but we coped well and kept them out ensuring we got the 3 points.

What a way to finish the month. Beating one of the best teams in the country! We took the lead through Carel Tiofack we slotted in to finish a good team move. Shamrock Rovers equalized in the second half through a beautiful goal from Ciaran Killduff, but we were gifted a penalty 5 minutes later to re-take the lead and we extended our lead through Gareth Harkin again who scored a free-kick from just outside the area.


After a good finish to the month we find ourselves mid-table which i am delighted with.

Another difficult month ahead with 2 cup games to look forward to generate some revenue - which reminds me our finances aren't looking too good.

100k in debt, we really need to get some sort of income!
 
Strong finish to the month! Surprised to see Athlone Town still leading the way.
 
Lippo255 said:
Strong finish to the month! Surprised to see Athlone Town still leading the way.
Click to expand...

Cheers.

Going to make a change to the update style. Instead of doing an analysis of each game. I'm just going to do a Monthly overview with maybe 2 or 3 months in each update.
 
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MAY
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Not a bad month to be honest. A good win against St Pats, a draw at home to Athlone and we broke records in the league cup with a 6-0 win over Waterford, becoming a new club record and a new League cup record. Disappointed to lose at home in the Senior Challenge Cup and to draw with Limerick despite going 2 up. We finished off the month with a decent draw away from home to Sligo Rovers. We had a long needed break then with 20 days between the next match.

JUNE

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Just the 2 matches to talk about in June. A good victory in the league cup against Limerick FC. We got a draw at home to Cork City, but i was disappointed with that result. We were the better team and should of scored a lot more and should of got the Three points.

JULY
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We got off to a great star with a win over Galway at home and another win away to Bohemians but spiralled into a bit of bad form with a loss to Dundalk at home followed by a draw at home to Longford who we really should of beaten and finished off the month with a loss to Shamrock Rovers despite again taking an early lead only to crumble.

AUGUST
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What a horrid month! 4 points out of 12 isn't good enough, and getting knocked out of the league cup. Although we did well to get a win against Limerick and a good away draw at Athlone. We really should of beaten Sligo Rovers, we were by far the better team. Some horrible defending gave them 3 goals. Similarly we were unlucky at home to St. Pats we decided at least the draw.

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We're currently floating between 5th and 7th but with a run of bad form we look like we're slipping down the table. We really need a month or two of really good form to lift us up the table a bit. As long as we stay away from the bottom 3 i'll be content.​
 
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END OF SEASON
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Another barren month for us. Two games where we conceded 4 goals and 6 goals which isn't good enough. We're not scoring enough and conceding too much so i'm glad to see the end of the season. If this bad run started any sooner we could of seen ourselves getting relegated. One win a month isn't good enough. It's frustrating to see that we can beat the likes of Derry City but draw to Longford. Need to work on this is pre-season and i'm keen to see that we get rid of deadwood and build on the current team.

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So we finished up in 9th place which i'm content enough with, i just wanted to survive the first season and build on that and that's exactly what we have done although we should of finished better if we had some consistency.
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Pre-Season
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As you all know, i don't bother with friendlies, but i did try and get some revenue in with a few pre-season trophies so i got a few of the reserve teams of the Bundesliga hoping to gather a crowd. It was a pretty poor pre-season, but i just focused on fitness so i'm not too concerned about the results Got a few players in and a few unsettled players went the other way. Shamrock rovers managed to steal away my most promising youth player Sean Kelly - curse my Semi-Professional status.

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Ciaran Coll is the only player i'm disappointed to lose, but he deserves first team football and he was causing some trouble in the dressing room so i let him go. In terms of signings have a look below.

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I went out looking for a decent winger and i found this guy on a free. Pretty good crossing abilities , some flair and his physical stats are pretty good too. I'm not sure if i'll start him, or if i'll use him in rotation or backup.

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Another winger, not as technically gifted as the first but i signed him for his physical stats, should inject some pace into our side, especially on the break.

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Delighted to snap this guy up on a free - will definitely improve my defence. Good head and tackling atrributes and his mental and physical attributes aren't bad either for a CB in this league.

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As per-usual we have a very busy first month with 7 games to get through. First up a home game against Derry City so i'm keen to kick off the league running.​
 
I'm following this, carry on as you are and the league positions should take care of themselves!
 
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March
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Decent start to the season. Good draw against Derry to start off at home and another decent result against Limerick away from home followed by a big win against Cork City to put us into a decent position after three games. Next up was a league cup game against Galway-based Mervue United, which i played a youth team in and we won with ease. Up next was Bohemians away which we should of won, but our lack of finishing let us down and Bohemians had one chance which they took to take all three points. We bounced back with a great away win against Wexford Youths who have just been promoted, but lost again to Sligo Rovers at home which put the fans in a bad mood to end the month.

April
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Another decent month. Got off to a great start beating Shamrock Rovers at home,followed by a deserved loss away to St Pats. We were very unlucky against Dundalk, we had more possession and chances but again our proficiency in front of goal let us down. They had 4 chances and converted 3 of them.To finish the month we got two big away wins against Galway United and Athlone, both teams would be aiming for the same goals as us so to get 3 points on both of them is big.

May
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Our first poor month. 1 point from a possible 9 in the league meant that we slipped down to 8th in the table. Poor results in the Senior Challenge Cup aswell. Should of beaten Galway in both legs but Galway got lucky. We were put to shame against Limerick, being 3-0 up and completely collapsing to lose 4-3. Despite picking things up against Derry, getting an away draw we fell further down the table with a loss against Cork City away from home. We progressed into the next round of the League cup, so we've a chance to pick up some prize money in that competition.


June
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A better month, big improvement. Great victory at home to Sligo Rovers followed by a decent draw away to Bohemians. Couple along with a good League Cup victory over Limerick FC to make up for the 4-3 loss last month.

League Table
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With just about half way through the season we're in 8th, but with only 5 points between 8th and 2nd it's far from over. Our main problem is consistency at the minute. We need a good winning streak going to get into a good position.

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Wow, very interesting table there mate! Cork City in the relo places, Athlone Town with only 3 points after leading the league to start last season!

Would you consider the Cork job should the board punt their current manager?
 
Lippo255 said:
Wow, very interesting table there mate! Cork City in the relo places, Athlone Town with only 3 points after leading the league to start last season!

Would you consider the Cork job should the board punt their current manager?
Click to expand...

I'd be tempted - i'd go to the interview just to see what type of restrictions they would give me, but professional status would be enough for me. I would really have to consider it because i've built a decent squad at finn harps.
 
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JULY
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Not a bad month to be fair. A big win against Shamrock Rovers and Galway. Slightly disappointed to have dropped points against Athlone Town and St Pats - two teams we're well able to beat. Good draw against Derry and a good win against Wexford Youths.

AUGUST
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Very poor month only picking up 4 points despite coming up opposition that i would of expected to pick up points against. Poor result against St Pats in the League Cup set us up for a poor month which included a heavy defeat to Cork City towards the end. We did well to beat a superior Dundalk team which is frustrating, we seem to do well against the bigger sides and struggle against the clubs that are similar to ourselves.
SEPTEMBER
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An unbeaten month but not in a good way, plenty of draws with only one win, again coming up against one of the better teams in the league, but we struggled against the likes of Wexford. Coming towards the end of the season now, so we need a very good end to pull us into a comfortable position in the league.

OCTOBER
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Not quite the month i was hoping for but it could've been worse. Bad start losing to Dundalk away from home followed by a poor draw against Galway and an expected win over Athlone. A lack of consistency is our downfall at the minute and is killing our league position, every other game we're jumping from 4th and 8th.


END OF SEASON LEAGUE
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Although we failed to meet my pre-season expectations - but it wasn't a bad season to say the least. A lack of consistency was our downfall, for every win we would more than likely draw or lose the following game so a run of wins was something of a commodity.
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I decided to end my reign at Finn Harps. I fully enjoyed my time there but with a lack of finances and little help from the board i felt it was time to move on. Sligo Rovers would be one of the top 3 teams in Ireland in recent years. I'm delighted to get a chance to manage a club like Sligo and hopefully will be able to challenge for the title.

Lets have a look at the team.
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and here's a few screenshots of the best players at my disposal.

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