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The Irish Inquisition: Combating the heresy of the EPL and Celtic FC on the Irish People since 2013

Started on 13 January 2014 by MJK46
Latest Reply on 14 July 2014 by MJK46
  • POSTS227
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LFC Yeah he should be a good signing. I hope he dows well but I had a weird feeling I went overboard on a few of these frees

Jason Same here. I hope he does not get hurt again lol.
Preseason

The 2014/15 preseason is finally over. Overall I would give this club a B+ for a grade. With a few good results and one really atrocious one, I feel we are ready to take the league and everything else by storm. While preseason we made some roster moves by moving a few on loan and we signed a few other guys that can help. This was a pretty successful tour of England in my opinion. Hopefully we got some people it knows who we are and that will casually follow us from now on.

Derby County v Shamrock Rovers
5-2

Our journey in England started against Derby County. Knowing this was going be one of the toughest matches during the preseason I told the guys just go out and work your asses off. Well they did sort of.... In the beginning we had a nice early 2-0 lead thanks to Ebanks-Blake and Diallo. Then things would go down from there. Feeling very cocky I thought it was a good time to change some players. The biggest mistake was bringing in Lee Camp. He was not ready and we suffered an embarrassing loss. Around the time he came in Derby would score five straight goals. I place the blame on myself the guys were extremely demotivated after that. I told them it is only preseason and got a few more chances to redeem ourselves.

Port Vale v Shamrock Rovers
1-3

We would go face Port Vale next. This match would be a turning point for us. I decided that I was not going to make any radical changes to the lineup and go with a match day type of lineup. The strategy would prove to be very successful. Thanks to Ebanks-Blake's two-goal match we were able to when 3-1. The other goal came from an own goal by Port Vale.

Exeter City v Shamrock Rovers
0-3

The third stop was against Exeter. This was a very and I mean very easy match. They got destroyed 3-0. Once again because of the great Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. He seriously went off this match, scoring a hat trick and looked like he was going to score more but I told him slowdown homie. After this match the guys were feeling really good and I saw that we are going to repeat as champions.

Burnley v Shamrock Rovers
1-1

On our final preseason match in England before jetting off for Champions League we would face another tough club, Burnley. The Sky Bet Championship club would be an excellent final test for us. This would see if the previous two matches were flukes. Guess who scored again? Ebanks-Blake did. He would be our only goal scorer in the match. The final score would be a 1-1 draw.

So preseason was a great as I had hoped. Ebanks-Blake was our player of the preseason. It will be scary when it comes to the matches that matter. The four clubs we faced were all quality clubs so that shows how good the guys are. I still can't believe nobody in England are even going for him. Well it is time to get ready for FC Aktobe. Wish us luck and up the real hoops!!!
Aside from the Derby result that is a pretty positive pre-season. Good luck for the upcoming season.
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James Since Lee Camp was the one who let all those goals in during the Derby match I booted him from the squad after my first Champions League match haha
UEFA Champions League Champions Second Qualifying Round
Shamrock Rovers FC (IRE) vs. FC Aktobe (KAZ)


Leg 1: 16 July 2014, Central Stadium Aktobe, Kazakhstan

Irish Champions Shamrock Rovers FC had their midfield to thank at Central as they showed how to finish. The key player Tadanari Lee got Shamrock Rovers off to a flyer by scoring a shot from distance on two minutes. Lee's strike would be his first goal since joining Shamrock Rovers on a free this summer after his contract at Southampton ran out. His name would be announced once more as he scored his second of the match, this time from 12 meters.
The Rovers players and supporters are now looking forward to the second leg of the match. With a 2-0 lead on aggregate, they are looking to advance to the next round with a victory in front of their home crowd. The second leg will be played on the 23rd.

Leg 2: 23 July 2014, Tallaght Community Stadium Dublin, Ireland

A first leg win proved a successful foundation for Shamrock Rovers, who secured a 6-0 aggregate victory over Aktobe following their second leg clash at Tallaght Community Stadium. It was a packed house as the home fans saw manager Michael "Mike" Korrigan excel in such a victory.
Centre-back Yerkegali Oshakbay suffered the ignominy of scoring an own goal eight minutes in. A minute later super star Shamrock striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake scored his first of the match. A few minutes later in the 14th he would capitalize on another error and assisted when Tadanari Lee scored his third goal of the tournament. Ebanks-Blake would return on the score sheet as he scored his second of the match.

UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Phase

After Shamrock Rovers 6-0 aggregate victory over Aktobe the club will be advancing to the next round. On 30/7/14 they will be hosting Israeli club Maccabi Tel-Aviv. The second leg will take place on 6/8/14. Maccabi defeated Racing FC of Luxembourg by an aggregate score of 6-1 to get to this round.
Well done, good result :D Never heard of the team in the next round, so should be straight forward :P
Rovers lift Irish Shield.
27 Jul 14
http://static.goal.com/280500/280551hp2.jpg
One a mild summer afternoon at the Aviva Stadium, Shamrock Rovers would win their 19th Irish Shield. Their last was back in 1968. With the cup returning last season Shamrock are looking to continue winning more. A crowd of 8,939 witnessed Shamrock beat their bitter rivals, St. Pat's Athletic who were the defending champions.

After a scoreless first half Shamrock's Shaq Coulthirst scored a well timed finish. This was his first goal for the club since joining in July from Tottenham. A little while later St. Pat's Conor Kenna made a mistake leading to a penalty. Stephen Hunt would convert on the penalty bringing the scoreline to 2-0. Finally Sylvan Ebanks-Black would finish the scoring thanks to an assist by Coulthirst.

After the match he (Coulthirst) would get the MVP award. It could have also went to Julio Cesar as he had a clean sheet. Shamrock Rovers are looking to defend their League of Ireland title this year. In a surprise move Rovers manager Mike Korrigan refused to shake the hand of St. Pat's Liam Buckley after the match. These two have been going at it all week and we will probably not see an end to it any time.

Congrats on winning the league last season. You're building a great side!
Good Luck, Bayern! #ShamrockfortheCL
Congrats again mate!
UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Phase
http://s1.thejournal.ie/media/2011/08/Rovers-390x285.jpg
The boys got extremely lucky during the second leg match against Maccabi. Even though we were on top 3-0 during the first round, it wouldn't be as easy in Israel. They would beat us by a score of 2-1 but luckily enough that goal by Tadanari sealed the deal for us. Sadly this also ended Julio's 450 minute long clean sheet.

With that the club gets to advance to the Champions Playoff where they will face Swiss Giants, FC Basel. The matches will occur on the 20th and 28th of August. We get the advantage of playing at home during leg two. Before those matches the club will be facing Limerick and Derry in league play.
MJK46's avatar Group MJK46
11 yearsEdited
Rovers defeated in second leg against FC Basel
29 Aug 14
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/09/14/sports/soccer/14goalblog/14goalblog-blog480.jpg

After a 2-2 draw in Switzerland the Hoops were looking for the easy way into the Champions League Group Stage. Hoping they could keep the match the same score they could have advanced to the group stage for the first time in club history. It wouldn't end up like this as the club were short many players due to injuries and suspension. This would be both exciting and very physical. The Harristown Stadium was in for a treat both during and after the match.

Things got crazy as Basel's Schar scored a penalty after defender Marius Zaliukas made a mistake inside the box. Later on Glen Whelan then equalized for Shamrock in the 39th minute. Shamrock would give away another penalty and Schar would score again. Shamrock would answer about 10 minutes later as Stephen Hunt would score the equalizer. That goal would bring the two sides into extratime. Sadly for the home squad their dreams of the group stage would be destroyed as Philipp Degen scored the game winner in the 97th minute.

With this loss Shamrock are now awaiting their fate in the Europa League as the 2014/15 Group Stage was drawn. They will be facing AS Roma, FC Twente and Martimo in Group H play. This will be an extremely tough test for the Rovers. This will be their first apperence in the Europa League Group Stage since 2011. During the 2011 group stage the club failed to gain a single point during the round. This version of the club have a chance to win since they are a whole different monster.
After the match we caught up with manager Mike Korrigan and he had a few worlds to say. "I am damn proud of this club right now, we fought so hard to get here and to almost beat such a good team like Basel we should be proud." Asking him about the physical play he said,"That is no big deal, yes we might have had some issues but that's the nature of the sport."
It was not all upsetting for the club. After the loss the club introduced one of their newest members. Around a week ago we reported a rumor that Los Angles Galaxy's Robbie Keane could be moving to Shamrock at the end of the MLS season. Well the captain of the national squad did sign a contract and Shamrock paid about 100k to bring him out now. As soon as Robbie was announced the crowd erupted in cheer. We can't wait to see what Captain Keano does with Shamrock. For the 34 year old Dublin native this will be his first time back playing in Ireland since he was a youth with,Crumlin United. Keano could be joined by Wolves striker and Irish International Kevin Doyle if rumors are true.
http://footballrepublic.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Republic-of-Ireland-Robbie-Keane.jpg
Shamrock will now be focusing on their upcoming match on the 29th against Dundalk. Earlier in the week they also drew Cobh Ramblers in the EA Sports Cup Second Round. After that the 3rd round was also drawn. Shamrock will face Limerick in the 3rd round once again. The 18 time Irish Champions are looking to improve their play in this competition as last season they were knocked out by Limerick in the 3rd round.
Neal's avatar Group Neal
11 yearsEdited
So unlucky against Basel, but you took them to the very brink. Some really great signings, though, I hope you manage to get in all your targets! :)

Also, tough group my friend. Roma and Twente will be very tough :/
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Very tough luck in the Champions league and this story if continued like this will be a contender to win SoTM
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August

Shamrock Rovers v St. Pat's Athletic

3-0
The first match of the season was against rival St. Pat's. Having a rival on the first day f the league makes things really special especially when you are at home. A week earlier the two clubs faced each other in the super cup, St. Pat's were looking for revenge. With a small crowd just over 6,000 at the stadium they got to see some amazing football. We would win 3-0 thanks to Ebanks-Blake, Zaliukas and Stuart Holden.

Limerick FC v Shamrock Rovers

2-4
Next we would travel to face Limerick. A few days before we faced Tel-Aviv and lost but were fortunate enough to advance, I was hoping we would not focus too much on the Champions League match and get a good result. Sylvan went off again and scored two this time. We even got a goal from another new guy. Canadian Kevin McKenna scored a very rare goal. I was very proud of him.

Shamrock Rovers v Derry City

0-0
Boy the Derry result is one I am not pleased about. It ended in a 0-0 draw. I was soooo pissed during the match, we played like shit and it was very embarrassing. Another thing that was embarrassing was the refs. They were garbage and blind. There was a chance for a penalty when a Derry player touched the ball in the box. They did not reward us the penalty. After the match I called them out and got a touchline ban for the next match. It was worth it even though the board is not happy.

Shamrock Rovers v Sligo Rovers

0-0
So the next match was against Sligo. Obviously I could not coach or even be anywhere near the players. This really concerned me because it was our assistant managers first time in a head-coaching role. I gave him a few notes and whatnot about how I want to give the be played. While was harder than I thought it would be. I had the opportunity to sit with the ultras instead of the owners suite. That was awesome itself because the ultras rule. The score line was very disappointing at 0-0

Dundlk v Shamrock Rovers

2-4
The final match of the month was against Dundalk at Oriel Park. This was the debut of Robbie Keane. We won 4-2. That was the best way I could think to end the month. Ebanks-Blake would have another breakout game with two goals scored. I was really happy with this result because it gave us first place. The way the guys reacted all week during practice after the Sligo result was very professional. They were as disappointed as I was and want to get back with a win. Luckily we all came out with one.

My Thoughts

Overall the month of August was very positive in league play. Yes I was upset about those two scoreless draws but I saw some positives. Ebanks-Blake was our player of the month as he scored five goals. 11 points in five matches is not that bad. It's better than our rival Bohemians who are in 11th Pl. hopefully we will be able to build on these results next month in league, Europe and cup play. I really like the squad the way they are and I don't think I will be adding anyone in the next window unless there is a player that really stands out to me.

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