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The Petrol Can Wielding 2007 eircom League of Ireland Thread
Anyone seen me lighter?
As a quite boring 2006 season when absolutely nothing happened at all is consigned to the history books we turn our gaze to what could be a brave new dawn for football in the country.
The annual thread went from strength to strength - in 2005 it reached 7 pages, last year's effort as we speak is at 18 pages. Think of us as the Sligo Rovers of OTF - growing and progressing at a superb rate.
Anyway onto the main business of this opening post - the summary of the 2006 season.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">eircom League Get Lost to Scotland Premier DivisionFinal Table: 1.Shelbourne 30 18 8 4 60-27 62 Champions 2.Derry City 30 18 8 4 46-20 62 3.Drogheda United 30 16 10 4 37-23 58 4.Cork City 30 15 11 4 37-15 56 5.Sligo Rovers 30 11 7 12 33-42 40 6.University College Dublin 30 9 11 10 26-26 38 7.Saint Patrick's Athletic 30 9 10 11 32-29 37 8.Longford Town 30 8 10 12 23-27 34 9.Bohemians 30 9 5 16 29-34 29 [-3]10.Bray Wanderers 30 3 8 19 22-64 17- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -11.Waterford United 30 2 6 22 20-58 12 IAG Points Allocation Playoff------------------------------------------------- -.Dublin City withdrew; all matches annulled; record at withdrawal: 17 4 3 10 11-24 15NB: Bohemians 3 points deducted for fielding suspended player (Jason McGuinness) vs Shelbourne on Aug 1819th July - Dublin City withdrew from the eircom League, all fixtures they were involved in are expunged from the records.28th September - Bohemians deducted 3 points after fielding suspended player.1st November - Bohemians v Shelbourne game wiped from records, 3 point deduction remains.14th November - Bohemians v Shelbourne result reinstated, original 3 point deduction stands.</pre>
Shelbourne win the League, etc. no relegation blah blah blah, reorganisation etc, clubs moaning plus some more
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">eircom League First Division - in association with Rent-a-Crowd 1.Shamrock Rovers * 36 21 12 3 53-13 72 Promoted 2.Dundalk 36 22 5 9 57-33 71 IAG Points Allocation Playoff 3.Galway United 36 19 12 5 57-25 69 4.Cobh Ramblers 36 16 10 10 50-33 58 5.Limerick 36 14 5 17 38-48 47 6.Finn Harps 36 12 10 14 49-45 46 7.Kildare County 36 11 10 15 38-55 43 8.Athlone Town 36 11 9 16 29-47 42 9.Monaghan United 36 6 9 21 32-64 2710.Kilkenny City 36 3 8 25 25-65 17* Shamrock Rovers deducted 3 points for fielding an ineligible player.There is no automatic promotion in the 2006 season16th August - Shamrock Rovers deducted 3 points for fielding a suspended playerIAG Points Allocation Playoff: First leg: 22/11/2006Dundalk 1-1 Waterford UnitedSecond leg: 25/11/2005Waterford United 1-2 DundalkDundalk win 3-2 on aggregate</pre>
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Final [Dec 3, Lansdowne Road, Dublin]St Patrick's Athletic 3-4 Derry City [aet] [Dave Mulcahy 20, Trevor Molloy 75, Sean O'Connor 103; David Forde 25, Clive Delany 85, Peter Hutton 107, Stephen Brennan 110og]</pre>
Derry City : Forde, McCallion, Deery (McGlynn 72), Hutton, Delaney, Higgins (McHugh 79), Molloy, McCourt, Brennan, Farren, Beckett (Hargan 94).
St. Patrick's Athletic : Ryan, S Quigley, Frost, Brennan, C Foley, Mulcahy, Murphy (O'Connor 46), M Foley (Armstrong 110), Rutherford, Keegan (M Quigley 62), Molloy.
Referee: Damien Hancock (Dublin).
Attendance: 16,022.
So the last game of football played at Lansdowne Road for a while sees one of the best, most action packed finals ever.
Strange to see Damien Hancock, Ciaran Delaney and Barry McDonnell in that new luminous yellow refereeing kit
Derry completed the Trophy Double (which wasn't tainted in any way tbh - unlike some clubs and their winning of honours this season)
As is tradition now - I feel it fitting to name those teams that pulled off cup shocks last season:
Waterford Crystal - looked like pulling off a shock against an abysmal Bohemians side - taking the lead at Dalymount through a member of the Irish National Deaf team, Bohs came from behind to win 3-1 however Limerick - dumped Drogheda out after a second round replay 1-0 at United Park - sadly it looks as if Limerick may not start next season due to license problems Shamrock Rovers - put a Gareth Farrelly "inspired" Bohs out
But the award for Special Cup Performers of the Year goes to...
Killester United of the AUL - Reached the Quarter Finals via a combination of winning games and walkovers against the then defunct Dublin City FC. However their performance over two games against Sligo seals the award.
The last non-league side left in the Cup went up to The Showgrounds, came away with a superb 0-0 draw. Took Sligo back to Tolka Park (their normal ground couldn't host the large attendance that turned up) - and took Sligo all the way to extra-time in an extraordinary game, (which I had the pleasure of attending) - coming from behind 3 times before finally going out 4-3.
Killester United 3-4 Sligo Rovers (after extra time)
[Michael Keogh 19, 78 - David Lacey 51] [John Bellew 12, Adam Hughes 43, Gavin Peers 67, Paul McTiernan 103]
The other main news to come out of the 2006 season was the decision by the Membership of Bohemian FC (of which I am one) to authorise the sale of Dalymount Park - in return for a hefty wedge of cash (several tens of million Euro) and a brand new 10,000 all-seater stadium built for the club at no cost next to Dublin Airport at Harristown
These took place at the Burlington Hotel back in November:
PFAI Players' Player of the Year: Joseph Ndo (Shelbourne)
Young Player of the Year: Kevin Deery (Derry City)
First Division Player of the Year: Phillip Hughes (Dundalk)
Referee of the Year: Alan Kelly (Cork)
Finally - thanks to the IAG Decision - this is how the Divisions will line up for the 2007 season
2007 Premier Division
Bohemians
Bray Wanderers
Cork City
Derry City
Drogheda United
Galway United
Longford Town
St Patrick's Athletic
Shamrock Rovers
Shelbourne
Sligo Rovers
UCD
2007 First Division
Athlone Town
Cobh Ramblers
Dundalk
Finn Harps
Kildare County
Kilkenny City
Limerick
Monaghan United
Waterford United
Limerick subject to licence appeal, empty slots in First Division to be filled by applicants to the FAI - front runners are a team from Wexford, yet to be named
Things can only get better!
12-15-2006, 12:50 AM
The Petrol Can Wielding 2007 eircom League of Ireland Thread Post #2