Salthill Devon FC: From Obscurity To European Glory

[Seano]

Yeah in the next few days. I've had to do my practical for my UEFA licence so everything has revolved around that the last few weeks. Ive got a few months in advance just not had a chance to put them up. Must say this season is a doozie.

Oh going for the coaching badge? Nice one! best of luck

 

[Kerguelen]

Is this save dead or are you coming back to it?

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Is this save dead or are you coming back to it?

No save isnt dead, been in europe the last two weeks so priorities have shifted. Back now and ready to post a shed load of updates

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC

1977

Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)

March Board Confidence


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A good start to the season see the boards faith in me continue to be untouchable.


Season Ticket Sales


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Even after a title, a Challenge Cup Final appearance and future Champions League qualifiers still no movement on the season tickets sales. Every other club I've managed this money has been crucial for the season ahead so it's disappointing to be handicapped from the start.

IPD Manager of the Month Award


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An unbeaten start continues and hopefully a sign of things to come.


March Fixtures


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Four straight wins in the league and were through to the semi finals of the All Ireland Cup in our first ever appearance. I never thought when I first started this that I would be in this position so quickly. Brian Kelly has had a fine start to the season scoring three goals and looking very lively in the absence of Daire Daly


League Standings/Player Stats


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Even points with Sligo Rovers who we face next at this stage of the season is encouraging. We've kept the momentum of the league title and hopefully we don't get complacent. The Dundalk duo of Stokes and Lipman are setting the league alight. If I had the money I would love to go after them. Big month coming up with seven games including both legs of the All Ireland Semi book ended my massive games against Sligo and Dundalk either end of the month.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC

1977​

Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)

April Board Confidence


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Salthill Set New Gate Receipts High


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A handy little cash injection of 5K but it's incredible to think that the previous record has stood since my second season in charge.


April Fixtures


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What could have been a month that set down a marker for the rest of the season has seen us now needing to play catch up. Although we are still undefeated in the league we have now drawn as many as we have won and failing to beat teams like Longford and Shamrock isn't the mark of a championship winning side. Add all that to the two inept performances against Glentoran that saw us knocked out of the All Ireland Cup and this is a month to quickly forget. The only positives to come out of this month was the return of Daire Daly from injury and Brian Kelly's continued purple patch in front of goal.


League Standings/Player Stats


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Potentially five points behind ten games in if Dundalk win their game in hand. Once again the form of Lipman and Stokes is impressive. They have 16 goals and 11 assists between them in nine games.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC​

​

​

1977​

​

Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)

May Board Confidence


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Management Milestone


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200 games down. It's been a joy so far but considering it's taken me into my 6th year to achieve it shows how few games we play a year. Hopefully with European football and going deeper into the cups i'll make the next 200 a lot quicker. That will be a fair marker for my success.


Fallon on Coyle's Radar


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It's good that our keeper is getting the recognition he deserves as he's been the most consistent keeper in Ireland for the last few seasons. To get an Irish cap would say a lot for our youth development program.


May Fixtures


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We get our season back on track with three straight wins before a disappointing loss and another early exit from the League Cup. Another month where Daly and Kelly kept the goals flowing.


League Standings/Player Stats


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Only two points behind but back in fourth. This highlights why the Shelbourne loss was so disappointing because it not only puts them ahead of us but also denies us top spot. The Stokes/Lipman combination added another 8 goals this month. If they keep this form up Dundalk won't be caught.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC

1977


Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)

June Board Confidence


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Champions League Champions Second Qualifying Phase Draw


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Our upcoming Champions League Exploits are starting to become a reality as the first draw is made. We've been partnered with JK Nomme Kalju the four time champions from Estonia.


June Fixtures


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Only the two competitive games this month; both of them in the league resulting in a win and a loss. A poor result at home against a struggling St Pats has typified our inability to take top spot when its presented to us. Interestingly we also had a friendly at home against Aston Villa this month that 1,865 people attended showing that there is the interest in football in the area if the right team comes to town. Gives me optimism for our European adventures.


League Standings/Player Stats


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More of the same this month but we climb to third but three points off Dundalk still while their front two continue to strike fear into the defences of the IPD.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC
​

1977​

Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)

July Board Confidence


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Salthill Set New Gate Receipts High


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After waiting four years to break the record we do it again within three months in our Champions League 2nd leg almost tripling out previous mark. All this against an Estonian team, imagine if we get a decent club!


Champions League Champions Qual.2 Leg 1 vs Kalju


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I had absolutely no idea what to expect travelling to Estonia, the furthest our tiny club has gone from Galway. We come away with a 1-0 win and it could have been more! An amazing start and gives us a great chance of qualifying for the next round.


Champions League Champions Qual.2 Leg 1 vs Kalju


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Awesome! Another dominant performance and we're through to the next round against Legia. They will be a much tougher assignment than we faced here.


July Fixtures


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Aside from our Champions League exploits it was a mixed month in the league with a win a draw and two losses. One of those losses was crucial as we couldnt hold on against Sligo after going ahead. We then rode the wave of our European success by crushing title rivals Dundalk 5-0. A little bit of revenge for the Challenge Cup Final result from last year. Up to now we havent had a great record against them so hopefully after the draw earlier in the season we've turned a corner.


League Standings/Player Stats


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Eleven points behind with 13 games remaining and two games in hand. I think its going to be difficult from here too win it, we just need to make sure we qualify for Europe again. Will be a difficult balancing act for the rest of the season between the league and Europe if we progress past the next round.


World Cup Final


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For those of you playing at home Belgium have run away with the 2018 World Cup beating Argentina 4-1 in the final. Villas-Boas took over from Wilmots after EURO 2016 and saw his team beat France and Germany on the way to the Jules Rimet Trophy. ​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC

​

1977



Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)

August Board Confidence



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Champions League Champions Qual.3 Leg 1


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A resounding win away from home against a side that no one fancied us to beat. Providing we don't meltdown progress to the next round is assured. This was a real team effort with no passengers but Daly was at the centre of everything.


Champions League Champions Qual.3 Leg 2


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Progress was never in doubt as we controlled the second leg, scoring in the 15th minute meaning Legia needed 5 to win the tie.


Record Attendance Broken By Salthill Devon


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Highest attendance in four years as the fans come to see us go through to the next round of Champions League qualification.


Salthill Set New Gate Receipts High


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Gate receipts record broken again this season as we rake in ?20K from the Legia game. This is big money for a club that only brings in ?30K a month.


Champions League Champions Playoff Draw


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GNK Dinamo and two legs are all that stand between us and the Champions League group stage and a fat payday.


Champions League Champions Playoff Leg 1


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The gulf in class between the sides was visible as we were very fortunate to come away with a 2-1 loss and a small amount of hope for the second leg.


Champions League Champions Playoff Leg 2


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An actioned packed second leg sees us bow out of the Champions League, losing the leg 5-3 and 7-4 overall. After Daly scored from kickoff I thought we were a chance of doing what we did in the away legs of the last two rounds and scoring a big win. It wasn't to be. Can't be too disappointed as we came up against a far superior opponent and gave them a real scare.


Champions League Prize Money


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This is why I'm not that disappointed. Almost ?2million in prize money for making it this far in the qualifiers at the very first attempt. This now gives me the freedom to not worry about our lack of attendances or season ticket numbers. I now have money to spend to improve the squad and also the club itself.


Europa League Prize Money


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The money keeps rolling in as we receive another ?1 million for making it into the group stages of the Europa League. I didn't even realise that we had made it when we lost to Dinamo. I was so disappointed in not reaching the group stages that I forgot all about this! Salthill Devon are playing in Europe!


Europa League Group Stage Draw


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Athletic Club. Braga. Trabzonspor. Those are the three opponents we must face in our first ever European outings. No easy games there. If your looking around at the other teams and thinking there aren't any easy games it usually means that you are the easy game. First and foremost I'm hoping we don't embarrass ourselves in these games and if we could manage a point I would be ecstatic for the boys.


IPL Manager of the Month Award


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With all the European activity going on it could be easy to forget about our domestic campaign. Four wins out of five in such a busy and challenging month is fantastic. We could have easily taken the foot off the gas with one eye on Europe but credit to the boys for focusing and getting the job done.


August Fixtures


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Apart from our league form we were knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Dundalk this month in a repeat of last years final. The same scoreline again but as it fell three days between the Champions League games you could say I had bigger fish to fry.


League Standings/Player Stats


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Eight points off with two games in hand isn't bad. If we had of beat Sligo in the last game of the month then we would have had a mathematical chance of being top. With only eight games to go and European football on offer it will be tough work to make up the ground.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC

​

1977



Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)

September Board Confidence


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Planned Training Facilities Upgrade


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So I spend a large chunk of our European money on our poor training facilities.


September 2018 Youth Intake


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Another good youth intake with a potential five future first team players in there. Below are the best three


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Europa League Match Day One vs Trabzonspor (A)


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A fairly even game where we were unlucky to lose after conceding an 85th minute goal. Definitely not embarrassed here on our first outing. Our fullbacks were absolutely murdered by their crossing strategy but all in all a good result away from home in one of the longest possible road trips for us in Europe.


A Good Month For Daire Daly


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Daly picks up the IPL Player of the Month award for September scoring five goals in four games and also breaks the record for the most assists in a season with 14. Coming on in leaps and bounds this kid.


September Fixtures


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This is the month that started out so promising but ended up costing us a shot at retaining the title. Back to back wins over Bohemians at the start of the month by a combined 9-0 aggregate gave us hope of taking the fight down to the last games but a draw against Cork and a 5-4 loss against St Pat's cost us. The St Pat's game could have been blamed on a European hangover after we were 4-1 down late in the first half to claw it back but ultimately not enough.


League Standings/Player Stats


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Confirmation that we are nine points behind with three games to play and an inferior goal difference means barring a miracle we have lost our title. Maybe the euphoria of our European exploits dragged us away from our domestic responsibilities, something I will have to adapt to in the future. The good news is we are guaranteed third place now and with it comes entry to the Europa League qualifiers and the chance to come back to the group stages again.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC

​

1977



Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)

Europa League Match Day Two vs Braga


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Although scoring two goals against a side like Braga is impressive I'm quite disappointed in conceding four especially at home. I realise there is a massive gulf in class between the sides but I always back my boys to do well at home. On the home note we don't play any of our European games at our regular home The Drom, instead we have to travel to Limerick's Thomond Park. So even our home games are away games.


Europa League Match Day Three vs Athletic Club


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A good result against a team that battered us and struggled to put us away. After our last outing I reverted to a defensive formation which seemed to work in terms of keeping the goals down but have us nothing going forward. Our goal came on the counter and our only attack of the match.


Promise For The Future?


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Our U19's win the Irish Cup in extra time. Not a bad effort from our young lads considering half of the eligible players are in the first team squad and haven't played for the 19's at all.


October Fixtures


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With the title race over and third place secured I rotated the squad around for the last few games and got a look at a few young players.


League Standings/Player Stats


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So we give up our title a year after winning it for the first time in disappointing fashion losing to Sligo by 13 points. Are we a flash in the pan? There's money in the bank to buy some players so maybe squad depth is the answer? Unlike last year we never went on a massive run of games and that possibly hurt us.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC

​

1977



Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)


Europa League Matchday Four vs Athletic Club


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Almost a carbon copy of the previous game, Bilbao dominated possession but can't put the game to bed. Another encouraging performance in Europe.


Attendance and Gate Receipts Record Broken


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Would have expected more for a visit of Bilbao but it's 500 fans more than any other game so I'm not complaining.


Europa League Match Day Five vs Trabzonspor


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Amazing! Brilliant! Unbelievable! I can't believe we have actually won our first Europa League game at the first attempt! A clinical display assures us of not leaving Europe empty handed. We didn't have the ball as much but countered to perfection and were ruthless in front of goal. After hoping to not embarrass ourselves we've not only achieved that but so much more. A very proud day for the club, players and fans.


Europa League Prize Money


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A cool ?170K for winning that one. This season is turning into a very profitable one indeed!


Europa League Match Day Six vs Braga


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We carry our momentum from the last game and finish our first European adventure with a dogged nil all draw away at Braga. We sat back and allowed them to keep possession and they were happy not to concede on the break knowing a point was good enough for the to qualify for the knockouts.


Europa League Group J


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So there's the final results. Not a bad first attempt for the semi professional minnows from Galway scoring more goals than Trabzonspor and conceding less and having a better goal diferrence than Braga.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC

​

1977



Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)


2018 End Of Season Board Confidence


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Salthill Devon: Biggest Overachievers In Champions and Europa Leagues


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Quite an achievement for our club in Europe at our first attempt.


New Average Attendance Record


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Doubled our previous record but 372 isn't really enough when you consider we were the champions of Ireland and played 7 home games in Europe.


Salthill Profits Announced


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?1.9m in profits this year. Not too shabby. I've been crying out for this for a few years now and it couldn't have come sooner as we were in huge amounts of debt with no end in sight.


Salthill To Upgrade Training Facilities


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And a massive chunk of those profits go right back out. A necessity for us to continue to invest in our own players and make this club self sufficient in the long term.


Salthill Fans Player Of The Year Joey Fallon
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A good year for the young keeper who keeps on getting better. On the periphery of the Irish national team and developing into a very capable keeper. Did extremely well in Europe.


New Average Rating Record


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Another one of our big players this year who keeps getting better.


IPL Young Player Of The Year Brian Kelly


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Our brigade of young talented players are being recognised and Brian Kelly is another one who had an outstanding year popping up with goals and assists at crucial times.


IPL Team Of The Year
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19 year old Brian Kelly gets into the team for us. Recognition for a quality year.


Best Eleven For The Year and All Time


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IPL Player and Team Stats


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Republic Of Ireland Club Reputation List


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Staying in third place which is surprising considering our exploits in Europe.​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

I'm going to be changing up the way I do my reviews. Instead of monthly I'm going to break them down into a pre season post, a march to may post, a june to august post, a september to end of Europe post and the an end of season review. It'll allow me to get out more posts in a shorter space of time and allow me to get through the game quicker.

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Salthill Devon FC

​

1977


Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)


2019 Pre Season


Board Set Initial Budgets


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Almost a million in transfer funds and double the previous amount for wages. Loving this European money!


Season Expectations


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I've stuck my neck out and told them I can challenge for the title. That's earn't me an extra 300k in the kitty and a couple thousand on the wage budget. Need to make it count!


Off Season Transfers


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Lot's of comings and goings after our less than stellar showing in the league last season. Gone is a lot of under-performing deadwood and in it's place is a stronger squad of players capable of fighting on multiple fronts. Looking forward to seeing how former Wolves and ROI international striker Kevin Doyle does for us. He will only be an impact player but hopefully he can chip in with the odd goal. Losing Gary Frawley to Villa is a bitter blow has he was a RB with tonnes of potential.


Season Ticket Sales


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46 again this season. Cleary it's not the team that's the problem. Maybe it's the poor facilities themselves that are keeping people away?


IPL Title Odds and Media Predictions


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So third favourite this year. With the money I've spent I'll be hoping for a bit more than that.


Pre Season Fixtures


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I got the team back for pre season training a couple of weeks earlier than last season and it's paying off in terms of cohesion and tactical awareness. Playing all my games away from home had a two fold benefit. First off was to improve our away performances from last year as they're what let us down ultimately so getting on the road in pre season was important. Secondly the extra money on the side didn't hurt!​

 

[Lippo255]

Cool story mate. Cant believe you have 46 season ticket holders, an average crowd of 300 odd & a million plus transfer budget! Just out of interest what is the clubs estimated value?

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Cool story mate. Cant believe you have 46 season ticket holders, an average crowd of 300 odd & a million plus transfer budget! Just out of interest what is the clubs estimated value?

Thanks a bunch. Yeah it's crazy and with this European money we're still making a profit every year. Clubs value is a touch over 3.5m but it's gone up from a bit over 1m at the start.

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

1977

Cairdeas Tre Spoirt
(Friendship Through Sports)


March-May 2019


All Ireland Cup 2019


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After getting knocked out in two very poor semi final legs last year it was a big aim to go one step further and at least get to this years final. After struggling to get by Portadown on penalties in the first round it wasn't looking very likely. Some good football allowed us to cruise to the final against weaker Northern Irish opposition where we would play rivals Dundalk. Having lost to them in the League Cup semi final and the Challenge Cup final two years ago the players were itching to set the record straight


All Ireland Cup Final vs Dundalk


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Champions! A fine display from the lads sees us put to bed our inability to turn up in the big games. Dominating possession from the outset mean't this one wasn't going to slip away. Daly had a man of the match performance scoring in the first minute then laying one on for right winger Philip Keogh. After that it was smooth sailing and we cruised home to take out only my second trophy for the club.


Irish Premier Division


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An inconsistent start to the season where we haven't been able to string anymore than two wins on the trot. Only the one clean sheet so far but our ability to score in almost every match has me confident of our firepower upfront and knowledge that we can outscore any opponent. Really poor attendances so far aswell. Haven't played in front of more than 174 so far. Losing to Sligo in front of the TV cameras 1-0 at home hurt as I believe over the course of the season they will be the games along with the Dundalk ones that will decide the title. There is such a big gap to the rest of the league at the moment.


League Standings/Player Stats


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Even with a patchy start only three points seperates us from Sligo. They're undefeated so far this season but due to seven draws to go along with their eight victories means they haven't opened up as much of a gap as they probably should have. Shelbourne and Limerick are having a real crack but their ability to continue this form over 33 games is so far unproven. Dundalk have had a poor start by their standards but with Stokes and Lipman up front only a fool would write them off at this stage.


Irish League Cup 2019


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Not a lot to say here apart from the fact we're in to the third round with a minimum of fuss. New signing Kristoffer Peterson has bedded in well. The former Liverpool trainee has scored in both rounds as well as the crucial equaliser in the away league fixture against Dundalk.


Senior Challenge Cup 2019


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A straight forward victory in the second round against Cherry Orchard.


IPL Manager Of The Month For March


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Just goes to show how indifferent the starts to the season were for most clubs as three wins and two draws is enough to take home this one. This is now my seventh IPL Manager Of The Month Award.


Key Players


Phillip Keogh has undoubtedly been the best player in this first three months of the season. Laying on seven assists in the IPL and scoring crucial goals in the semi and final of the All Ireland Cup. At 22 he has a bit of promise.

Brian Kelly has been sensational for a young lad so far this season and is my young player of the campaign so far. Originally a striker when he came to us from our youth setup he wasn't likely to get past Daire Daly in the pecking order and being too good to sit on the bench he's been retrained as an attacking midfield and is taking to it like a duck to water.​

 

[Lippo255]

Congrats on the all ireland cup win! I did a Athlone Town save on fm13 & could never win that comp. :-\

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Congrats on the all ireland cup win! I did a Athlone Town save on fm13 & could never win that comp. :-\

With the amount of cups in Ireland it can be tough to keep up especially early in the season. So far I've not had the strength in depth to be able to challenge for them all in the same season along with the league.