Fern Mc Costigan: February 2018

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Recap of the League of Ireland, start of the week activity

With a Monday and Tuesday schedule in the League of Ireland, many squads showed off their arsenals with raucous goals routs over their foes and for one already showing off its signs of why they are the favorites to repeat.

Talking about supremacy, we have the Leesiders of Cork City edging with an all-around authority the likes of Sligo Rovers at home in the Showgrounds to a goal rout to earn their third win of the campaign.

The scores from the visiting Rebel Army with an inspired Graham Cummins dispatching himself with a treble in the 3, 46 and 90 minutes and in the 12 Karl Sheppard delivering in what became a 4-1 pouncing over the Rovers.

For the local Bit O’ Red bunch lone goal coming in the 60 by Adam Morgan, at the end this became the lone score in what was a match totally dominated by the defending champions netting three golden points on the road.

Another surprise in this week was the second win of the tournament for newly promoted Waterford delivering a notable win over the visiting Saints with a convincing 2-0 win over the Dubliners.

Scoring for the locals at the Regional Sports Center was Kenneth Browne 10 and Bastien Hery 60 and in the remaining time of this match Alan Reynolds Boys maintain the clean sheet for the win and climb up the table to second place with 6 points.

At Tallaght the Shamrock Rovers delivered their first win of the campaign with a nice goal fest over the visiting Bray Wanderers. With six goals and a clean sheet, the Hoops earned their first three points in the campaign.

As the first half the Dublin Boys opened the score with a goal in the 28 by Graham Burke, but in the second half its when the Hoops came alive with a double from Brandon Miele in the 47 and 90, followed by David MacAllister 60, Daniel Carr 63 and Sean Kavanaugh 68.

This win places the Stephen Bradley Boys in fourth place with four points after their 6-0 win at home.

In Dalymont in the colossus of Phibsborough the local Bohemians saw their luck dwindle against a visiting Derry City that in the campaign were held winless until they came to this parts of Dublin.

The Candystripes via Ronan Curtis in the 60 minute scored in what became the lone score and a break from the odd start these had in history with back-to-back losses, now this win places them in seventh place with three points.

Lastly, with a thunderous bacchanal of goals, the local Boys of Dundalk, with Oriel Park in the background, these delivered their first three points of the campaign with a valuable 8-0 win.

After a slow start but earning their share of points in their first two matches with draws and today in front of their followers their offensive attack finally awaken to deliver in what became a raucous score in the SSE.

A win that catapults the Lilywhites to third place with five points one shy of second held currently by the chaps of Waterford and trailing the first place Leesiders by four points.

For the Town manager Stephen Kenny he had a sigh of relief after his Boys arsenal delivered the unthinkable with a goal rout.

With scores from Pat Hoban delivering a with a double in 7 and 25 minutes, followed by Robbie Benson 10 minute, Stephen Folan 45 before halftime, the score at 4-0. The second half followed with goals from Karolis Chvedukas 64, Michael Duffy 66, 92, and Dylan Connolly 79.

As boht Michael Duffy and Pat Hoban played a wondrous game and being on target, both of them scoring a double in this match that became the highlight of week III, for its high scoring.

Monday, February 26, 2018

A Recap of the SSE League of Ireland, week II

With week two of activities in the league of Ireland, we start our first match with a crisis in Oriel Park and its Lilywhites unable to score a single goal since the start of the campaign.

As the Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk FC visiting the colossus of Dublin Tallaght Stadium, both squads got their share of a point each and in a dull match ending tied at zero goals per side. For the De Town manager Stephen Kenny this goal drought in two matches raises many red flags in his frontal attack.

Once again, in the Showgrounds the Rovers delivered their first three points of the campaign after beating the visiting Candystripes of Derry City to a score of 2-1. With scores from Adam Morgan in the 75, minute and later Alastair Roy in the 84 minute was enough to seal the deal.

Still the Derry Boys scored the honor goal in the 90 minute via Ronan Curtis and despite the awakening by the visitors, their reaction came a little too late and the home side emerged with the win. For Kenny Shiels and his Derry City, this loss marks one of this club worse starts in its history and places them in last spot of the table with zero points.

At Turners Cross the defending champions did not had any problem taking care of newcomers Waterford with a 2-0 defeat and earning their second win in a row in this 2018 campaign.

With a couple of scores from Gearoid Morrisey in the 56 minute and Garry Buckley in the 63 the Rebel Army earned its three points to reach 6 in total in the campaign and being in sole possession of first place.

No miracle for Alan Reynolds and his Blues as their strikers held at bay by the Leesiders defenders all evening long and not allowed to make any situations of danger in the posts defended by Mark McNulty. At the end, the City Boys delivered to the joy of a near sold out Turners Cross.

For the Bray Wanderers Seagulls with a match against the visiting Dublin side Saint Patrick’s Athletic, despite of the local’s fight, at the end the perseverance of Liam Buckley Boys playing away, edging the locals for the win.

The visiting Pats via Conan Byrne opening the score early in the game with just two minutes and alter in the 14 Christopher Fagan scoring the second and what prove to be the game winner. The Gulls goal came in the 20 minute via Gary McCabe to discount the score, but in the second half going goalless for both squads, the score finish at a final 2-1.

On Saturday, match in Markets Field the Limerick Super Blues and the Bohemians ended in an even match with both squads tied at one goal apiece. With a second half score by the locals via Cian Coleman, Limerick looked like they were heading for an easy win.

Wrong they were after the Gypsies Eoghan Stokes score in the 90 minute the equalizer and stunner to silence Limerick’s colossus of Market Field.

Manchester United wins against a hapless Chelsea

An important win for Manchester United against their archrivals Chelsea was the highlight of match week 28. With an opportune goal from Jesse Lingard in the second half broke the spirits of the visitors.

For Jose Mourinho and Red Devils this win becomes a sort of relief after his name was among the headlines of many tabloids after his rocky relationship with his star player Paul Pogba.

Still the show went on and United started his usual game with a 4-3-3 formation sent by the Portuguese versus a more conservative one sent by the Italian with a 3-4-2-1 with a lone Alvaro Morata in the attack for the Blues.

As for Mou sending three attackers into his strategy to outsmart the defending champions backfield with Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku and Anthony Martial, since the get go this formation showed off an ambitious game plan for the locals.

With the Pensioners being a strong force in the majority of the first half, their dominance showing off when a brilliant counter attack started by Eden Hazard culminated with a notable finish by Willian to open up the score in the 32 minute.

No later the locals reaction was immediate when a short pass from Anthony Martial after a rebound from a volley intended for Sanchez inside the area, Lukaku opened the score for United in the 39 to the joy of the thousands in attendance.

However the game was far from over a both squads after intermission came back as hungry as ever and both sides looking to seal the deal until Mou made on of his moves that at the end proved the be the game winner.

When Jesse Lingard came in the 64 minute in to substitute Anthony Martial, the lad little he knew that he was to become the hero of the match and never he imagine scoring the game winner.

As a nice pass set by Romelu Lukaku in the center of the area and by an opportune Lingard heading the ball inside the area for the second goal with just 75 minutes in the watch and seeing a turn for the better when United took control of the match.

This was not over and when Chelsea with Morata passing to a free Cesc Fabregas the official lifted his flag and the goal was annulated as the Spaniard was in the line and the defending champion’s opportunity of tying the match vanished.

For United not only achieving an important win but as well seeing how its prodigy in Scott Mc Tominay and culminating his work in stopping one of Premierships top rated talents in Eden Hazard, substituted in the 75 by Pedro.

At the end despite making some moves in the attack with Pedro, Cesc Fabregas and Oliver Giroud to add some boost in the blues attack and challenge the likes of De Gea, the strategy did not worked out for Conte and settling with the loss.

Unthinkable of seeing Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte in a friendly handshake and the Portuguese being all the contrary acting in such a peaceful mood, after the win why not!

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Toronto looking to another repeat this 2018

Three is a charm, and for the Boys of the Toronto FC this 2018 campaign being the defending champions. They know it will not come easy for them to see a repeat of being in the league finals.

After back-to-back appearances in the grand finale, the second time was the charm for the Reds, after seeing a repeat in the 2016 final foes the Seattle Sounders. Still this time the TFC Boys were ready to make things happen and returning to the grand fete in their home stadium BMO.

The Greg Vanney and company this time they played like champions and after staging a one of kind campaign and with the label of all around favorites, these did not let the forecaster down and winning the grand finale, by defeating the Seattle Sounders with an all-around authority.

By becoming league champions and delivering a foursome of a campaign with the MLS and Supporters Shield, and earning the Eastern Conference Champions trophy as well the Amway Canadian Championships.

We can state that the Toronto FC had a picture perfect campaign after many campaigns since their inception in Major League Soccer not even making it to the playoffs.

Still the start of this new campaign is to give way to a contested one with all of its 23 squads ready to put on a show and by displaying their new arsenals, we are looking forward to another contested but spectacular campaign as well.

That’s why the Toronto directives making all sorts of moves to front this challenges ahead in league play and especially the Eastern Conference with THE Montreal Impact, New York Red Bulls, NYCFC, Chicago Fire and Atlanta United. Manager Vanney knows of the competition he has in this campaign in his conference as well the Western too.

For now despite the loss of some players in the expansion draft, transfers and some retire -the club directives immediately went on the task of re- signing the majority of its last campaign abuse and getting new faces to BMO Field.

With the majority of last squad making a return and new faces in it, the TFC for sure looks like a sure candidate and with no problem of making a third appearance in the finals.

As the preseason is under way for all of MLS squads, the TFC directives being hard at work in replacing some of those who left the club as mentioned before, they went on the task of getting the best.

One by giving up a boost in many areas of much needs especially its defense, Toronto brought a top of the line players and giving this squad a lift with several top class players to really reinforce this area and make it hard to opposing strikers.

With a couple of top class, defenders from Europe in Spaniard Ager Aketxe from Spanish side Cadiz and Dutch sensation Gregory Van der Wiel from Cagliari adding to the pack Brazilian Auro from Sao Paulo FC and American Goalkeeper Caleb Patterson- Sewell.

In addition, the additions of two Homegrown Players in forward Ayo Akinola and midfielder Liam Fraser and Ben Spencer adds to the TFC list of these types of players to seven, opening the doors and opportunities to this club academies.

For Toronto after winning the league shield last campaign and a foursome in trophies, not only they became the league champions but the first of the three Canadian squads in MLS to do such a feat and now, they are looking for a repeat.

At the end, the Toronto FC Reds are coming with the labels of all around favorites.

Photos Credit and Property of Toronto Football Club 2018