TM Ireland - Trophymanager Ireland

Another good week in the LoI with various teams making progress up the table. Find out who won match of the week, player of the week, u21 player of the week and transfer of the week.

Match of the week: Le Sharks - Shamrock Hoops

Le Sharks incredible 7 wins out of 7 start to the season had ended with a draw against Maloneys in the previous game, so everyone was out to see how the 7-time champions would respond. Meanwhile, Shamrock Hoops were not on a high either, having lost their last two games, including a 4-1 hammering against Askeaton. With Romanian star Ioan Pancu still out for Le Sharks, Joseph Neill played in central midfield, with winger Brice Grande playing up front. Future-superstar-but-already-amazing Abushgeer played on the right.

Whether this was the best way to deal with Pancu's absence is questionable, but who the hell am I to question The Great One. The odds were on that Le Sharks had suffered a miner blip and order would soon be restored at Galtymore.

Shamrock had other ideas though and started brightly. They were rewarded in the 27th minute when Cian Redmond setup Mihail Radovei for the opening goal, proving Le Sharks aren't the only team with a talented Romanian midfielder. Le Sharks had lost Irish legend Jeff Rochford to injury after 18 minutes and replacement Alan Flannery was insistent he wasn't to blame, instead pointing the finger at Joseph Neill, and people were wondering whether Neill had the defensive skills (and interest) to play central midfield. However, just two minutes later Le Sharks were level and the gamble of playing Neill in midfield paid off. Mike Simpson put some fine moves on Jorge G. Diaz. Neill moved into space inside the box and  Simpson found him with a beautiful pass. Neill dribbled to the touchline and sent the ball towards goal from an impossible angle! What an acrobatic move! Was that a shot or a cross? Oh! It's gone in! What a brilliant, acrobatic move! What a goal! Tremendous skill from Neill!

Brilliant stuff from a brilliant player. But one minute later Flannery could only watch as Park Keng Yaik fired in a freekick and incredibly, Shamrock were back in front at the half hour mark.

This time the lead only lasted slightly longer - 10 minutes. Fionn Buckley continued his awesome form with a diving header to make it 2-2 and yet again all of the Hoops' hard work had gone to nought. From there you would have expected Le Sharks to take control and so it was in the second half. With Shamrock looking dejected, the Sharks dominated the first 10 minutes after the teams came back in the pitch. Shamrock defended well as Le Sharks failed to turn their possession into shots until the 53rd minute when last weeks transfer of the week Franzen Zeigler forced a reflex save from Bohumír Bernát.

Eventually, Shamrock couldn't hold on any longer and set piece specialist Simon "Ouchy" Baluffi headed in Grande's corner on 56 minutes. Incredibly, that's centre back Baluffi's fourth goal this season and Grande's 7th assist. Shamrock and Ireland NT legend Joe "Jayyysus" Miller was disappointed with his failure to clear the corner.

Shamrock were not on the ball and Jorge G. Diaz expressed their frustration, getting booked for firing the ball into the crowd at the hour mark. They began resorting to long balls as the only way to break down the Le Sharks defence and surprisingly it worked. Evan O'Flaherty launched it forward and somehow that man Radovei fended off Daragh Cassidy who didn't look as class as his nickname suggests. It was 3-3 with 17 minutes left and suddenly it looked as if only one team would win.

Park Keng Yaik went close on the 78th minute, but not long after Shamrock scored an unprecedented 4th. It was the story of two goalkeepers. Bohumír Bernát booted another long ball up the pitch towards Gavin Kineen who managed to direct the ball towards goal. Then Le Sharks sub keeper Alan Flannery had a moment he will never forget, somehow slipping and fisting the ball into his own net. Kineen will take the credit and Le Sharks fans will be left wondering why they don't have a better, more experienced sub keeper as Jason "Claw Hands" Ó Neachtáin continues to play in the reserves to build experience instead of sitting on the bench for the senior team. It increases their dependancy on the 33 year old Rochford and their fans will be hoping they aren't left this exposed in big games, especially in the Champions League. Flannery had only played one game in his career, before this one. That was for the Shark School, where he did even worse, conceding 5 goals. He has a lot of developing to do, but this looks like a weakness, the only one, in the Le Sharks side. It will take some impressive displays to erase the memory of this night from the fans brains. Joseph Neill, who had been on the wrong end of Flannery's abuse after Shamrock's first goal, returned the favour this time around.

The game ended with a wonderful 4-3 win for Shamrock Hoops. After their blinding start to the season, two games without a win seems like a crisis for Le Sharks. With some big games ahead in the Champions League and LoI, they will be looking to re-capture their form soon! With Pancu back and Ó Neachtáin promoted from the reserves to play in goals instead of the injured Rochford, that shouldn't be too difficult.

Manager of the week - Askeaton

Two-time LoI champions Askeaton rose from 6th to 2nd with maximum points this week. Gudjón Ziskason, Andy glynn, Darren McKernan and Patricio Pasamontes stood out in wins over One Nil to the Arsenal, Buzzin Hornets and Shamrock Hoops. Three of those players are among the top six players in the league by average rating. We all know about Askeaton's incredible youth academy, but the ability to get the best out of those and other players shouldn't be overlooked. You would think Askeaton has a higher aim in mind than "top half of the table" as suggested by their season goals.

Player of the week - Gudjón "Ziki" Ziskason (Askeaton)

Ziki is the second Askeaton player to win this award in a row, and he was instrumental in all three wins as Askeaton rose to second place. The Faroese attacking midfielder must have caught the eye of Brian Kerr with a goal and an assist in the 3-1 win over One Nil to the Arsenal, a goal and Man of the Match award in the 2-0 away win against Buzzin Hornets, and two goals in the 4-1 away win over Shamrock Hoops. In all he scored an amazing 4 out of 5 shots during the week. He also attempted to create 7 chances, succeeding with 4, one of which resulted in a goal.

U21 Player of the week - Shane Roche (Kilkenny City FC)

21-year old Shane Roche has been a solid performer since bursting onto the scene as an 18 year old in Season 20 and has been a regular up front ever since. He failed to score in the first 6 games this season, but the Kilkenny manager kept faith in him and he now been rewarded with a fantastic week for the 21 year old, and you wonder if he will approach DJ Carey status if he keeps this up. He was the best Kilkenny player against one of the best teams in the country, Athletico Teabag, with 1 goal and 1 assist, as Kilkenny drew 2-2.

He was again involved in both goals away to Crusaders, with another goal and assist to give his team all three points with a tight 2-1 win. Buzzin Hornets couldn't handle him in the next game, where he scored twice and picked up Man of the Match.

Kilkenny picked up 7 points out of 9 this week, and they may not have picked up any without this man. Their manager will be looking for consistency from the young lad but if he keeps his feet on the ground, who knows he may one day be in Maloney's plans for the National Team. He showed his full array of skills with his four goals; a close finish, two headers and one goal from distance.

Roche came very close to winning the player of the week award, but he missed quite a few chances, which is why the more accurate Ziskason won out on this occasion. He scored 4 out of 11 shots, and created 3 chances from 5 attempts, resulting in two assists.

Transfer of the week - Chill "Outman" English (Stan Franciscans)

After conceding 9 goals in the first three games, Stan manager Clayton Love obviously decided someone other than himself was to blame. After just 23 league games for the club, American defender Gram Levi was shown the door at a 14m net transfer loss, moving to Japanese club Sao Paolo FC for 324m. Stan's defensive fortunes immediately changed upon the departure of Levi, with just 2 goals conceded in the next 4 games. Not satisfied, big-spending Stan have brought in another American centre back to replace Levi, called Chill English!! Don't let the name fool you know, there is nothing chill about this English, he's played 224 games for Dallas in the American lower divisions at an average rating of 5.73, amazing for a defender. But the League of Ireland is a big step-up, so will be interesting to see if he can last longer than his compatriot.

"Outman" cost 483.5m. Although he is marginally better attribute-wise than Levi, Stan is taking a big dip in routine here when comparing the two, and you have to wonder if he had the future in mind, with Levi approaching 29, and the 160m net loss over the two signings would only be justified if they can get three extra seasons out of English. Would be interesting to hear the views of the manager.

English has started well enough in his first two games, despite his club conceding three goals. He successfully dealt with 4 of 6 opposition chances, and showed his creative skills against Buggleskelly, setting up a chance for Jamie Croke with a nice chip into the box, although Croke's shot was saved.

We did see another side to English however. He was not as Chill-ed out as his name suggests against my own team, Cavan Celtic, picking up a yellow card for kicking the ball into the crowd out of frustration late on. The Stan Franciscans fans loved it, because it shows he cares, while the Cavan fans reigned down abuse on the new boy!! Although the Texas probably didn't understand "ya hoor" and other Cavan insults.

Cavan Celtic update:
Niklas Svenningsen scored another amazing goal which set us on our way to victory away to Shamrock Hoops, but we needed an 80th minute José Terán freekick to win the game 2-1. Svenningsen again put us in the lead at home to One Nil to the Arsenal, with his 8th goal in 9 games this season. José Terán scored a header and Evan Byrne made it three after 37 minutes. One Nil got one back through Luka Cirkovic but Terán scored another freekick in the 57th minute to make sure of the 4-1 victory. It was our 4th win in 5 games, which is a nice run early in the season but we were still only in 7th place.

The next game against Stan Franciscans was a classic. Despite taking the lead twice, we could only go home with a point - a 2-2 draw. Midfielder Jamie Conway had a poor start to the season and I was about to drop him in favour of DM C Jack McDonagh, but he has been a revelation in the last two games with a goal and three assists, and he received the Man of the Match award  against Stan Franciscans.

We finished with a nice seven points out of nine this week, but that only moved us up two places from 9th to 7th.

Centre back Luke Cummins has picked up a 6-game injury but he's been rubbish this season anyway. I'm excited to see how 19-year old Thomas O'Farrell will get on in Cummins' absence. I believe O'Farrell is a future NT player, and possibly future Cavan/Ireland captain. Despite that he is not yet halfway through his bloom, he already has the skills of a top defender in the LoI. But will his 9.7 routine be high enough? Unlikely, but I'm excited to see how he does.

Up next are Crusaders, Buzzin Hornets (trademarked!!!) and Maloneys Cajones, three teams in the bottom 7. Easy 9 points then! :)