|
Continued from
Page 1 >>>
What's in the cupboard Ms. Hubbard?
So what lies ahead for us, and our opponents in the coming season? Well
who have we got? Well Drogheda visit Dalymount Park for the first game
of our new season and to be fair it looks like a good one for us to
start off with. Not that we are dead certs to win or anything, but it
does give us a good chance to see where we are likely to fit in, in the
season ahead. Drogheda and ourselves are bracketed in that little group
of clubs behind the front three (Cork, Derry, Shels) from last season
and although expectation may be that little bit higher Boyneside than in
Phibsboro I would be disappointed to finish below the Drogs this season.
They are reported to have spent a whopping €50k on Shane Barrett from
Longford, which to me is a risky bet considering Barrett seemed to be
unable to hold down a first team place at part time Longford Town last
season. For me this fixture screams out as a potential draw and I
suppose the manner of the result will tell more on this occasion than
the result itself. For me I’d be looking at a score draw from this game.
Following this we then travel to the Showgrounds in Sligo for our first
competitive visit there in a few years. This is a trip that falls on St.
Patricks weekend and one that is being looked forward to by all away day
Bohemians. To be honest I’d fear more for a result from this match than
I would from our opener. Sligo will be an unknown quantity and this,
their first match at home as a Premier Division side, will bring out a
large partisan home crowd which we all know will vigorously support the
bit o’ red. This will be my first trip to the Showgrounds although I do
fear we may share the spoils of this fixture.
In keeping with a difficult opening to our new season, we will be
traveling next to the home of the Champions, Cork City. Worthy winners
of last seasons marathon they, like Drogheda will have had a number of
important competitive fixture by virtue of their participation in the
Setanta Sports Cup (at the time of writing they have drawn with
Portadown away and beat Drogheda 2-0 at home). They have lost one or two
influential players, but I would be surprised if that will affect them
greatly this season. We didn’t get an enormous amount of luck from the
Corkies last season and I doubt that early into the new season we will
get much from them this time around. I think the best we can take from
this match will be the Cheque from Setanta Sports for them showing the
game live.
Waterford United offer themselves to us on Friday 31st March. Well
that’s what I hope anyway. This team can be a bit of an enigma to be
honest. Last season we always seemed to meet Waterford at the worst
possible time from our point of view. I remember traveling down there
for our first fixture against them last season and it just turned out to
be a dreadful experience. We were soundly beaten 2-0 and had the
ignominy of Ken Oman being red carded close to the end. This season it
is hard to tell as there has really not been much mention of the blues
from the southeast although without trying to be too glib about it, they
will be a tough side to face although I’d be disappointed with anything
less than three points out of this one.
The Brandywell hosts Bohemians next. A ground, which we know not to
expect any luck whatsoever from. And if last season is anything to go
by, we might be as well to bring an extra large ice bucket and maybe
even an ambulance. This was a contentious fixture last year considering
the lack of protection our players seemed to be afforded by the referee.
Although protection from the ‘local’ constabulary is rarely encountered
or indeed expected, the Brandywell is one of those grounds where we have
also learned that protection does not necessarily exist from match
officials either – maybe it’s something in the tea up there. As far as
the game goes, I would not be expecting much from this encounter
considering recent history although I do not think that it is beyond the
bounds of possibility that we could upset the locals and come away with
a result.
Last season we had played Derry three times and were beaten three times.
In all games I thought we were unlucky and didn’t get the rub of the
green whereas I do think that Derry earned and got all the luck they
needed. Derry are a good side though and proved that by pushing Cork all
the way to the last day of the season, 2005. They have singed Kevin
McHugh and replaced Alan Murphy with him. This I believe is good
business for Derry but surely we can’t be as unlucky against them this
season as we were last.
Our next fixtures are the ones where I think we can really pick up some
points. If, according to my feelings on matters right now, I am right in
my predictions and we have 6 points going into our away match against
St. Pats, then by the time we have played them, followed by Dublin City
(home), UCD (home), Longford Town (away), Bray Wanderers (home) we
should (hopefully!) be in good nick going into our game against
Shelbourne on Friday the 19th May.
Shelbourne will of course take all the vitriol we would have saved for
our games against the great unwashed but alas the hooped vermin will be
plying their trade in the graveyard this year and our only chance of a
meeting with them will have to take the form of a cup match (oh the
thought!). So in their place, Oily Byrnes army of (allegedly) sterling
paid boxers and fighters will host our band of freedom fighting white
knights at the soon to be ‘Tolka Apartment Complex’ to be twinned in the
future with some block of flats out in Milltown. This is a ground that
has been good to Bohemians through the years and always brings out the
best in our players and supporters alike (Dessie ‘Danielsan’ Byrne
excepted). They have replaced Wes Hoolihan with an uglier version of Wes
Hoolihan in Liam Kearney – Nutsy is obviously hoping to scare defenders
in to submission by working Kearney down one flank and the evergreen
Ryan down the other. I’m not going to suggest that we will come away
with the three points from this encounter although stranger things have
happened. There is a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and
then and I would suggest that things may become quite tense in the time
leading up to this fixture with decisions being sought on the future
regarding Shelbourne's new home.
Continued on
Page 3 >>>
Page [1],[2],[3]
|