The Cypriot View: APOEL humbled by 'suicide' at Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers and APOEL players take the field ahead of their UEFA Conference League opener in Tallaght.

Shamrock Rovers and APOEL players take the field ahead of their UEFA Conference League opener in Tallaght. Credit: Dave Donnelly (ETPhotos)

The Cypriot media were typically magnanimous after Dylan Watts’ injury-time equaliser rescued a point for ten-man Shamrock Rovers against a mediocre APOEL side.

Cyprus champions APOEL had the best of the ball for 90 minutes - particularly after Neil Farrugia’s 50th minute red card - but were pegged back at the death.

And “death” was the mot du jour as the result was described by one Cypriot website as “football suicide” - which is definitely not an overreaction to a score draw away from home.

“Football ‘suicide’ for APOEL at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night against Shamrock Rovers, for the first matchday of the League Phase,” said Thema Sport.

Completely normal reaction to a football match, I think we will all agree.

Any League of Ireland journalist can tell you, especially when European games come to town, there is an arrogance about the visiting journalists. They expect to win.

So when the Cypriot journalists filed out after José Dominguez’s press conference, leaving Stephen Bradley to talk to only the Irish journalists, it was no surprise .

We had sat patiently through a half hour of Dominguez facing bizarre questions but, as the hosts, you take it. It’s good manners. 

Portuguese manager Dominguez seemed nonplussed by the whole situation, taking rants from visiting journalists in his stride.

I know nothing about Cyprus but, it seems, in journalistic circles, brevity is not a strong point. I timed one question from a journalist at one minute and 59 seconds.



I say question…

The translator had the patience of a saint. He managed to convey the “question” in a mere one minute and seven seconds.

Dominguez’s reply was “is this a question?”

You’d have to be hard of heart not to understand Dominguez’s frustration. I just wanted to go home to bed and my last bus was at 11pm and I was counting the clock but alas.

Anyway, back to the media.

Balla.com wrote: “When you are APOEL, who wrote so many golden pages in Europe, and you play against the infamous Shamrock Rovers, who have a player less at 50 minutes, you lead at 58 and in the end you don't win, then there is no excuse.”



Ephraim Georgiu in 24sports.com was equally as damning, writing: “APOEL didn't make it as they did themselves an injustice in Ireland against a weaker team by drawing 1-1.

“Dominquez's side controlled the game throughout the encounter and deservedly got to the goal with Laifi in the 58th minute, the champions' top scorer

“In essence, APOEL demolished what it built with painstaking effort. In a game with 16 shots and just two for the opposition, with a player more for 40 minutes, not winning is a huge failure.”

Balla.com perhaps put it most succinctly: "The final result was disturbing, and the way the team played in the last half hour was also disturbing."

APOEL will return to Nicosia in the morning knowing that they left two points behind and, perhaps more importantly, knowing they have to spend hours a day listening to this for another year. God bless.

About Dave Donnelly

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