Top 10 extratime.ie match reports for 2019

Not content with giving you the top 20 articles for 2019 (see here), we have listed below the top 10 match reports for the year.

 

10: Leinster Senior Cup Report: Dundalk 0 - 1 Athlone Town (Niall Newberry)

Could Vinny Perth take over the mantle of success at Oriel Park from Stephen Kenny was the question at the start of the 2019 season. 

A victory against Cork City in the President’s Cup in his first competitive game in charge was a good start but after opening their league campaign with a draw at home to Sligo Rovers it was followed by being dumped out of the Leinster Senior Cup by Athlone Town – a team who hadn’t beaten the Lilywhites since 2006 and who the previous season had won only one competitive game.

Dundalk drew two of their next three league games making it a very nervy start for Dundalk.

If they felt things were slipping away at Oriel Park though they needn’t have worried as by season’s end they would win the league by 11 points, and claim the EA Sports Cup and Unite the Union Cup – only missing out on the FAI Cup in a penalty shoot-out. Quite the debut season in charge of Dundalk for Vinny Perth.

 

9: League Report: Galway United 2 - 3 Shelbourne (Paul Corcoran)



There was also huge pressure on another rooky manager at the start of the season but this time in the First Division. Ian Morris assembled a very experienced squad to try and get Shelbourne back into the top flight for the first time since 2013.

On the opening night of the First Division, the Reds found themselves 2-0 down after only 15 minutes in Eamon Deacy Park and still trailed by the same scoreline 16 minutes from time.

However, Shels showed great resolve against United, with Ciaran Kilduff scoring either side of a Karl Moore goal to earn all three points for the Reds. By season’s end they would be promoted as First Division champions by a margin of nine points.

8: Friendly Report: St Patrick's Athletic 0-4 Chelsea (Andrew Dempsey)

Frank Lampard took his Chelsea side to Richmond Park during the Premier League team’s pre-season - his first visit to the ground since his debut in 2000 when he captained West Ham United as a fresh faced 22-year-old.



Lampard’s side got the win over St. Patrick’s Athletic thanks to a brace from Olivier Giroud along with goals from Emerson and Mason Mount

 

7: EURO 2020 Qualifier Report: Northern Ireland 0 - 0 Netherlands (David Wilson)

The scoreless draw back in November was good enough to earn the Netherlands a place at next summer’s EURO 2020 tournament.

Northern Ireland will need to win away against Bosnia & Herzegovina in the play-off semi-final if they are to earn a home play-off final against either Slovakia or the Republic of Ireland.

 

6: League Report: UCD 1 - 0 Bohemians (Macdara Ferris)

This match report misses out on the main takes from this game as it was posted on the final whistle which meant the post-match celebrations of Conor Kearns and recriminations involving Bohs captain Derek Pender didn’t make it the report.

Even the scoreline is wrong, as Bohs played Danny Mandroiu who was actually suspended for the game turning the game into a 3-0 home win after the fact.

 

5: UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifier Report: Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 Denmark (Dave Donnelly)

This result is still a bit raw. Relive the disappointment of yet another draw against Denmark through Dave Donnelly’s report if you must. The playoff await the Boys in Green.

 

4: League Report: St Patrick's Athletic 1 - 0 Cork City (Andy Harte)

Richmond Park was packed with 3,479 fans for the opening night of the league campaign. A 1-0 win for Harry Kenny’s side against a Cork City team who hadn’t finished outside the top two since 2013 meant Saints fans were dreaming of a title tilt but it didn’t turn out that way.

City weren’t the side they were in recent seasons and St. Pat’s misfired in front of goal for most of the year and by season’s end Kenny was gone replaced by Stephen O’Donnell.

3: Europa League Report: Shamrock Rovers 2 - 1 Apollon Limassol (Dave Donnelly)

The Hoops found themselves 1-0 down after just five minutes in the first leg of this Europa League second round tie but they got themselves back into the game ten minutes later through Lee Grace.

Jack Byrne was running the show and he assisted for that goal and what would prove the winner as he set up Pico Lopes up for his second goal in Rovers’ European campaign. They would take Apollon all the way to extra-time in the second leg in Cyprus before exiting Europe.

 

2: FAI Cup Report: Bohemians 3 - 2 Shelbourne (Colman Stanley)

Earlier in our Top 10 we had Shels coming from two goals down to win but back in August there was a very painful defeat for the Reds as they somehow managed to lose a cup game that they were winning with five minutes remaining.

It was quite the hectic finish at Dalymount Park as there were five goals and one red card in the last nine minutes plus injury time of this FAI Cup First Round tie. This was how our reporter Colman Stanley called the winner:

“Mandroiu took aim. It was a goal for the ages, an elegant curling effort with pinpoint accuracy, just inside the post and right into the top corner.”

1: League Report: Bohemians 10 - 1 UCD (Dave Donnelly)

The previous match between the sides served up some drama involving a donnybrook between the two teams after the final whistle but this game served up such a one sided match it had everyone reaching for the record books.

Bohs broke their record league win beating the 8-0 scoreline they racked up over Olympia back in 1922 and Home Farm in 1978. With UCD ‘keeper Conor Kearns still suspended from the fallout from game between the sides in July, Tom Murphy had the misfortune to be in goal for UCD’s largest ever competitive defeat.

Man-of-the-match on the pitch went to Andre Wright who scored four goals but special praise for extratime.ie reporter Graeme McQueen who captured the drama as part of our ‘around-the-grounds’ feature with eir Sport after the final whistle. 

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile