It’s the first week of the season where we have seen action from all 3 divisions with the Women’s Premier Division kickstarting their season on Saturday and the men’s Premier and First Division’s continue to attract the big crowds on Friday night’s. Here is your round up from all the games that took place.
Premier Division
The Virgin Media cameras were back in Tallaght Stadium on Friday night for the Dublin derby clash between Shamrock Rovers and St Patricks Athletic. And it was Shamrock Rovers who sent their home support happy as they recorded their first win of the season thanks to a Danny Grant goal in the 64th minute. In a game where St Patricks Athletic had the majority of the possession, they just seemed to lack the attacking threat to trouble Rovers and only having 1 shot on target all game shows this.
The defending champions were defeated for the first time this season in Tolka Park as Drogheda United came to town and with an old fashion smash and grab. Warren Davis put his side ahead in the 4th minute and Drogheda didn’t let it go. Shelbourne had 79% of the possession but only managed 2 shots on target from a possible 17 shots while also completing 738 passes to Shelbourne’s 190. It’s a result that puts Drogheda United on top of the league with 11 points 2 points clear of Waterford.
Moving on to Waterford and they fell to their second defeat of the season thanks to a Colm Whelan first half hattrick as Bohemians got a much needed 3-0 victory as the RSC. 2 of Whelan’s goals were converted from the spot as Bohs end a 3 game losing streak.
At the Brandywell then and Derry City and Galway United shared the points as a Micheal Duffy penalty early in the second half helped Derry pick up their first points since they defeated Bohemians back in February. Moses Dyer put Galway United ahead just before halftime.
Final game in the Premier Division also ended in a draw as Cork City and Sligo Rovers played out a 1-1 draw. Owen Elding opened the scoring for Sligo midway through the first half before Kitt Nelson got his first goal for Cork City with 30 minutes left in the second half. Sligo Rovers finished the game with 10 players with Conor Reynolds seeing red with 20 minutes to play. City fans were left frustrated with a number of decisions that didn’t go their way and could have helped them to victory.
First Division
Moving on to the First Division and the place to start has to be up in Oriel Park. In a 1st V 2nd clash Dundalk FC took a first half lead through Dean Ebbe as he just managed to get to a cross before Treaty United goalkeeper Corey Chambers. In a game where both sides were evenly matched Dundalk looked to have secured all 3 points when Aodh Dervin managed to sneak a ball into the bottom corner to put them 2-0 in front with 10 minutes to play. But Treaty United didn’t read that script and almost replicated what happened to them against Cobh Ramblers on Gameweek 1. Eóin Martin got his first goal for the Limerick side with 4 minutes to play after his long range shot managed to spin under the Dundalk keepers hands. And with the clock hitting the 90th minute, who else but Lee Devitt headed in after a cross from Martin wasn’t dealt with and sent the travelling support home in great spirits.
Staying in the province and Finn Harps got their first point of the season as they came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at the UCD Bowl. Adam Brennan opened the scoring for UCD in the 40th minute and took that lead into halftime. And early into the second Harps drew level with Gavin Hodgins getting just his sides second goal of the season.
Cobh Ramblers kickstarted their promotion charge in St Colmans Park on Friday night as they destroyed Longford Town 5-0. A brace from Barry Coffey, Sam Bellis, Shane Griffin and David Bosnjak helping Cobh move up to second in the table. Longford Town sit bottom of the table with 1 point.
To the other game in Munster and Bray Wanderers came away with the 3 points as 1 of the strangest goals you will ever seen was scored in Mounthawk Park through Callum Costello. Just like Cork City, Kerry FC were on the receving end of some controversial decisions and this tiktok video made by the club shows how they feel about them…
Final game in the First Division was in Ferrycarrig Park as Athlone Town finally got their first win of the season as a first half strike from Giddeon Tetteh secured the 3 points for Athlone.
Women’s Premier Division
The League Of Ireland Women’s Premier Division kicked off their season on Saturday with 6 games taking place across the day.
Biggest result of the weekend was in Galway as Galway United defeated DLR Waves 5-1. Treaty United welcome newcomers to the league Waterford FC to the Markets Field and it was the hosts that came away with the points with a 2-0 victory.
There was also 2-0 victorys for Athlone Town over Wexford and Peamount United over Cork City. And the final game of the gameweek seeing Sligo Rovers and Bohemians finish in a 0-0 draw.
That’s all for our League Of Ireland roundup. A reminder that you can check out the latest edition of our LOITalk Podcast wherever you get your podcast 🙂