Setanta Cup: Portadown V Shelbourne, Longford v Glentoran

Slash/ED

Setanta Cup group two looks like this....

 Setanta Cup Group 2                    
             P   W   D   L  F    A   Pts
 Cork City   2   1   1   0  2    1     4
 Portadown   2   0   2   0  4    4     2
 Shelbourne  2   0   1   1  3    4     1

So that makes tonights match must win from Shelbournes point of view. It looked like we were out of it when we lsot to Cork, but the late equaliser they shipped away to Portadown has let us back into it. To qualify, Shelbourne have to win both tonights match and the match against Cork in Tolka Park, very difficult but not impossible and more than I would have expected coming out of the Cross that night.

Shels team news is two suspensions, David Crawley (Oh no!) and Jamie Harris are both out. This should mean we'll simply move Ollie Cahill to left back and leave the rest of the defence unchanged, making it a fairly attack minded side. Ollie did fairly well there last year so I've no major concerns over that. I'm not sure about the fitness of either Glen Crowe or Gary O'Neill (The preview with the team news hasn't been put on Shelsweb yet) but I'd be amazed of O'Neill was fit, so it'll be either Glen Fitzpatrick or Glen Crowe to partner Jason Byrne in attack, depending on the fitness of Crowe.

Ndo played, and scored, for the Shels u21s on saturday so probably isn't ready to start, though he may make the bench I suppose, but we'll be more likely to see him play on friday I'd imagine. Meaning the team should be Williams, Heary, Cahill, Hawkins, Rogers, Baker, Hoolahan, Byrne, Crawford, Byrne, Crowe/Fitzpatrick. Personally I'd rather Ryan in there and the sooner Ndo gets back the better, Crawford and Byrne are too similar to be a really good central mid field pairing.

For portadown, I'm reliabley informed their starting XI will probably be...

Murphy

Feeney Convery Kelly O'Hara

Boyle Collins Clarke M. McCann

Arkins Hamilton

Now, group one...

Setanta Cup Group 1                    
             P   W   D   L  F    A   Pts
 Glentoran   2   1   0   1  4    4     3
 Linfield    2   1   0   1  4    4     3
 Longford Tn 2   1   0   1  3    3     3

As you can see, insanely tight. The key to success here is to give nothing away at home. Longford already have 3 points in the bag at home to Linfield and could do with a repeat performance tonight, they'll struggle up in the North as we've seen already away to the Glens. Glentoran had a title decideing match on saturday that would have been very tireing whereas Longfords last game was thursday against Shels, so they should be less tired going into the match. Anything less than a win would be a disaster for Longford, in this group you simply must win your home games to progress I think.

Setanta are showing the Shels game live, with extended highlights of the Longford one on right after afaik.

COME ON THE SHELS!

MrJoeSoap

I'll second that, come on you shels!

_blank_

That's a great preview there Slash/ED.

Should be a great game. Hopefully Shels can outperform Portadown and come away with the three points.

I'd like to see Glen Fitz partnering Jason Byrne up front, they were a smashing partnership last season, and play well together.

FORZA SHELS

[Jackass]

Hoping for a goal glut tonight, if shels manage to win the next 2, it'll probably come down to goal difference, and i reckon they'll need to get 3 or 4 against Portadown tonight rather than having to beat Cork by more than a goal.

Not out of our reach either, since i felt portadown were lucky to get a draw, i thought shels should have beaten them by a couple. (hopefully wont be eating my words)

But if shels can win by a few tonight, what a game it'll be back in tolka. It'll be like a cup final to get out of the group, and i fancy shels to do it.

Prediction: P'down 1 Shels 4

Possibly blind optimisim, but i think we have by far the most quality in the side.

[Jackass]

Results:

*Portadown 0 Shelbourne 1*
*Longford Town 1 Glentoran 0*

Big Ears

DubGuy wrote:

Results:

*Portadown 0 Shelbourne 1*
*Longford Town 1 Glentoran 0*

no need for spoliers , everyone will already know the score or want to find it out if they're reading this thread .

Töpher

Excellent Shelbourne performance, the only thing missing was a few more goals, hell, 22 shots desrved one more! Oh, and a red card for Shelbourne was missing! :eek:

Slash/ED

1-0 really flattered Portadown. And while it's great to see us be the better team and all, we may rue our missed chances if it goes to goal difference. Cork will beat Portadown in the Cross unless they're completley hopeless.

_blank_

Really good trip, the Portadown fans were really welcoming.

Missed the goal though :mad:

The four busses we brought up were stuck for an hour in Dundalk in poxy road works, and we only arrived in the ground after the goal was scored.

Good game, and I think Shels might rue the missed chances, especially if they don't beat Cork by more than one goal.

Jonny Arson

Not only did I miss Jayo's goal by 2 seconds I pretty much missed the whole 1st half due to the slowest ''fast food'' trailer at the ground ever! And the chips were sh*te aswell!

Great solid performance from the Shels. Ollie Cahill was super at left back. Have Shels found David Crawley's much needed replacement? Defence was solid again. Davy Scouse and Hawkins are building the best defensive partnership in the league, Bobby Ryan played well, Jason Byrne... nuff said (God) and how GREAT was it to see Joey Ndo back in the side!

The best team won but what was worrying for me is that we are kinda turning into Man U in terms of wasting our chances infront of goal. Shels could have and should have scored at least 5 last night and this could well be a factor in whether we win the group or not due to goal difference. Still I'm not complaining but the big question is whether the barrell of Crowe is ever going to score? In all in anyways bring on the Villagers for Monday!

LizardKing

Shels couldda had 6 or 7 .. good performance , still at 1 - 0 there were a fair few nervy moments , with free kicks and corners .. and when they hit the post , very lucky to rebound to Willo ... Thought Hoolohan was great on the nite and deserved his MOTM with davey rodgers a close 2nd ...

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Zane from MTV2 wrote:

Not only did I miss Jayo's goal by 2 seconds I pretty much missed the whole 1st half due to the slowest ''fast food'' trailer at the ground ever! And the chips were sh*te aswell!

Ah, there was a problem with the cooker in fairness, they did their best.

thejollyrodger

great win for Shels, I just wanted a few more goals !