Four games drawing my interest in the FAI Cup

Ok---it is about time I checked in on my favorite little league. Dundalk is still out in front, just like last year with Cork City FC nipping at their heels. Dundalk FC was just tied last week end to make matters interesting. So lets take a look at the FAI Cup 2015.

The Cup winner gets a Europa League spot and badly needed finances if they qualify, not to mention the only excitement many supporters feel, when they realize they are out of the league title race.

Round 3 is August 23 and lets take a look at a few matches.

Cork City FC vs Saint Patrick Athletic @ Turners Cross

The biggest match will be played at Turners Cross which pits 2^nd place Cork City against 3^rd place and current FAI Cup Champion; Saint Patrick’s Athletic. This game will get the most coverage because of the popularity of these famous Premier League clubs. Cork will rely on the trio of Billy Dennehy 9 Karl Sheppard 9 and Mark Sullivan 8 to score. City also has the best defense in the league conceding only 11 goals, lowest in the league. The Saints are in great form right now, best in the league. They are on a 5 game winning streak and the have scored 3 goals in each of their last 4 games. The Saints have Chris Forrester who has scored 11 goals, 3 short of League leader for the season. The Saints also can boast of 2014 Player of the year Christy Fagan, who has scored 5 goals this year.  Ohhhh when the Saints –come marching ing in –oh when the Saints come Marching in! The Saints should be feeling good since they just knocked off their Dublin Rival Shamrock Rovers at home.

  

Bohemians FC vs Bray Wanders @ Dalymount Park

                This pits the 5^th place club against the 6^th place club. Both are out of the League race at this point so the Cubs are the tournaments that matter. Bohemians FC are the surprise team for me.  They have one of the smallest budgets but yet find themselves in 5^th place behind their arch Rival Shamrock Rovers.  Both Bray and the Boh’s have good teams…they both know to  the FAI Cup is their realistic glory for 2015. Dalymount Park will host another big game to add to the history.

Derry City FC vs Drogheda United F.C @ Brandywell

                This game pits the 8^th place teams against each other. Derry just found their offence against Galway, scoring 4 goals. This game will be at the Brandywell which is always a bonus. Droghs need something this season and another Cup viscory would go a long way.

Dundalk FC v Galway FC

                This will pit the current league Champions and current League leaders Dundalk FC against Galway FC.  Dundalk can boast goal scoring leader Richie Towell who has 15 goals. Galway will counter with the young (23 year old) Enda Curran who currently leads Tommy Dunn’s Tribesmen with 10 goals himself. Galway as you know just beat Dundalk FC Aug 3^rd in the semi-finals of the League of Ireland Cup. This game went to a penalty shoot out. Dundalk will be looking for payback – however the fans at Edmond Deacy park will be ready to host another great event.

League of Ireland Preview 2015 -A quick look The 4 Dublin area clubs

The League of Ireland 2015 season

            There are 12 Premier clubs fighting for the glory of the Championship of the League of Ireland. Here is a quick look at the 12 clubs broken into my 3 geographical areas. The Dublin Area, the Northern clubs and the Southern Clubs.  I am listing them as where I think they will place at the end of year.

The Dublin Area			Capacity	Attendance (2014)
1	Shamrock Rovers	Tallaght Stadium	6,000	2,319
2	St. Patrick’s Athletic	Richmond Park	5,340	1,359
3	Bohemians F.C.	Dalymount Park	3,191	1,480
4	Bray Wanders	Carlisle Grounds	7,000	855

            The Dublin Clubs

 These are the most famous clubs since they been around longer and have more Championships than the other areas. I will not be including Shelbourne only because they will be playing in the First Division.       
                                                                          

The Shamrock Rovers play in the newest stadium in Southern Dublin, Tallaght. They have the most Championships (17)and the most FAI Cups with an astonishing 24 Cup titles. They usually place 1 or 2 with attendance since their new stadium has been built in 2009. They are the only club to advance to the group stage of the 2011-12 Europa League. This made the hoops a big pay day and great exposure to the league.  The hoops are looking for more success with in the league and on the international stage. Advancing brings badly needed money to the clubs. The Shamrock Rovers are always a threat to win the League, the FAI Cup, the Setanta Cup and tghe EA Sports Cup. They can and will always have one of the top budgets in the league. 

The Saints Finally winning the FAI Cup!

St. Patrick’s Athletic (The Saints) can play without that chip on their shoulder which was the FAI CUP voo-doo. The Saints finally won the FAI Cup after 53 years. They boast of 8 LOI Championships and  will again represent the League in international play this summer. They have played in the international tournaments for the last 4 years....this will be their 5th consecutive international invite......gyfThis should be a fun year for the Saints faithful.  Their attendance is about the leagues average. Their fans light flares in the stands and they are always a threat to win everything.

Bohemians FC are the oldest club in the league and can claim 11 LOI Championships. Unfortunately they are trying to get out of financial difficulties and do not have the budget of the other clubs. They will again struggle with younger players however they will again have a strong fan support at the famous Dalymount Park. Their is chatter from the FAI to referbish Dalymount.

The Saints Finally winning the FAI Cup!

 Bray Wanders are located in Bray which is just 40 minutes south of Bohemians's Dalymount Park.  They were just taken over by the Royal hotel. Their players were told they can use all the Royal hotel rooms and facilities on away trips. This will boost the spirit of all the Seagull players.

Combine the League of Ireland with IFA Premiership.....will not work!

                  and the   

     The League of Ireland will not combine with the Northern Ireland League.  At first glance it would see a no brainer to add the marketing power of Belfast and Northern Ireland and expand the league. This would provide badly needed attention and press to both struggling leagues. Each league would benefit from the exposure they would get from having new clubs play in their home stadium.  Each league could now play in a 19 team league and play eachother home and away like the other big leagues in Europe. This league could also compete for respect and attention from the other leagues.

Now I have to deal with reality.........

Champions League

            Well I am here to tell you that it will not happen. The main reason is money. Presently each league gives about 100,000E to the champion. However Each League  gets to send their Champion to the EURO Champions League. The Champions League gives about 200,000 to each winner and about 130,000 for each round the play in. So Each League champion gets 330,000 at a minimum in the Champions League. Advanving out of the 3rd round get the winner in the lucrative group stage games while the loser is placed in the playoff of the Europa League.

            Most of us would be willing to sacrifice this but the owners of the clubs are not. Presently the top clubs in the LOI are owned by their supporters( Shamrock Rovers, Sligo Rovers, Derry City F.C. , Bohemians F.C. and Cork City F.C.). These supporters are the ones at the games. These supporters are also the ones supporting the budget for most clubs.
        Most League of Ireland Clubs are made up mostly of part time players. The average club havs a working budget of about 500,000 and under. Budgets are very hard to determin since there is not information on the internet. These fugures are my guess.  I know Sligo and Shamrock Rovers are closee to 750,000 however other clubs are well below 500,000 budget. The teams are just not willing to throw away a cash windfall the Champions League provides.

            These clubs are also the clubs that are fighting for the 2 other Europa League spots. This is what keeps the league interesting throughout the year. Let say one club has a runaway year and no other club can catch them. Clubs ranked 2 to 7 are vying to place in the top 3 to qualify for the Europa League spots. It is massively important to keep the other clubs interested in the league play or attendance could drop like a rock. These clubs need something to play for. Clubs like Glentoran, Crusaders, Cork City, Derry City, St Patrick’s Athletic and Shelbourne are usually fighting at the end of the season for these spots. 
   Then there is the FAI Cup and the IFA Cup. The winner of this will also punch a ticket to the Euro League. These cups become quite interesting and usually become the focus of supporters when the league title is out of reach. 

           

The Europa League

   This also provides a huge potential to get clubs out of debt and help their balance sheet.

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/management/finance/news/newsid=1845777.html

“Each club figuring in the first and/or second and/or third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League will get €100,000 per round even if they qualify for the UEFA Europa League group stage. In addition, every side eliminated in the UEFA Europa League play-offs will be allocated €100,000.”

            The 2011-12 Europa League paid out 100,000 for each round the club participated in. The League of Ireland only gave out 100,000 for the league title.

Here is my example..

           So let say St. Patrick’s Athletic budget was about 550,000 for the year 2011. The Saints also won 2 rounds in the Europa League 2011-12 so they participated in 3 rounds. The European competition provided 100,000 for each round so the Saints received 300,000 of their yearly budget of 550,000. I know there are expenses involved in traveling to Iceland, Kazakstan and the Ukraine. I am just explaining there is no way on God’s green Ireland that any club or their owners, especially the ones owner by their supporters will want to eliminate a Champions League payout and 3 other spots in the Europa League just for the sake of expansion to Belfast. These European League games are massively important for the clubs budget. That is why the clubs will play so hard even if it not for the top spot in the league. These is great elation from their supporters (especially the ones that own the clubs) to qualify for these international tournamnets.

            I would be more financially prudent to break Ireland into 4 Provinces and get 4 champions League spots and 12 Europa League spots.  I am joking......

The only way i see expansion is if it financially beneficial to the majority of clubs in both the IFA and FAI. Wound attendanc jump up that much to make the move. The Sentanta cup has shown us that attendance is lower than league games.

           

League of Ireland - International update

Dean Kelly of Shamrock Rovers at home

The Shamrock Rover have done League of Ireland well to win in their first round. The Champion of Ireland beat the Champion of Estonia. This bodes well for the league. The Champions League is the most prestigious club for international competition and you want you representative to do well here. It reflect on your league.

Europa League

We have mixed results here. Bohemians were plaed in Round 2 and lose their first series so they are out. This will not help the leagues co-efficient. St Patrick’s Athletic was placed in Round 1 and beat Iceland’s top club IBV Vestmannaeyar. They then advanced to Round2 and beat Shakhter Karagandy of Kazakhstan. This advanced St Partick's Athletic to join the sligo Rovers in Round  3 of the Europa League.

This round will pit the League of Ireland against the Ukrainian Premier League. The Sligo Rover will play Vorskla Poltava of the Ukraine League, July 28 and Aug 4^th. The Sligo Rovers are in good form and are presently in first place with 46 points.

St Patrick's Athletic (the Saints)will go up against the other Ukrainian club Karpaty Lviv.

   The Ukrainian League places 4 clubs in this competition. This league is presently ranked 7^th in the European co-efficient while the league of Ireland is trailing and ranks 29th. The Ukranian League has a whopping 16 clubs to Irelands 10.

 Karparty placed 5^th in the Ukrainian League. This sould be a good match.