Dundalk’s season seems to be fading in front of their eyes. Cork City are stomping their way towards the league title and look uncatchable at this point, while their Champions League exploits reached a disappointing end last week.
Premier Division – Sun 23rd Jul 2017 – 4:00 pm
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Draw Best Odd of: 8/1 at Ladbrokes |
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Dundalk
Shamrock RoversIn that Champions League qualifier against Rosenburg Dundalk looked like a side that could compete with Europe’s best for long portions. Eventually, the Norwegian side’s class shone through and they managed to pip the Irish side to the winner’s post in extra time.
Despite this loss, Dundalk’s aspirations still seems streets ahead of the likes of Shamrock Rovers, whose successful days in European competition seems to be well behind them.
Dundalk’s form
As previously stated, Dundalk managed to run Rosenburg close during the Champions League qualifiers. Unlucky goals prior to half-time derailed them during both legs of the tie. They were also unfortunate during half-time of the second-leg when the Norwegian side’s class shone through.
The team, who are from County Louth part of Ireland, have won all of their last five games in the Irish Premier division. They are still 15 points behind Cork City, who are in first place, but they are doing their upmost to catch up.
That being said they are still a head and shoulders above the chasing pack, who are back in third place. The likes of Shamrock Rovers simply don’t have the same quality as the likes of Dundalk and Cork City.
Shamrock Rovers’ form
Shamrock Rovers were the first Irish team to reach the group stage of European competition in the 2011/12 season. Dundalk followed them last year. It’s been slow progress for the league and it is a shame to see the side that started the journey fall so far behind.
They are fourth in the league right now and are well behind the pace setters in the Premier Division . Is a pity as they have an excellent stadium and one of the best set of fans in all of Ireland. If they can just gain some momentum, they could be competing with the likes of Cork City and Dundalk.
News
Dundalk weren’t the only Irish side to fall short in European competition this week. Both Cork City and their next opposition, Shamrock Rovers, fell short. Rovers lost to Czech side Mlada Boleslav. Rovers were never really in the tie and ended up losing by a comprehensive 5-2 score-line.
Both Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they face off this weekend. Rovers currently lie in fourth position, while Dundalk sit in second.
Betting
It is difficult to overlook Dundalk’s obvious class here. They qualified for the Europa League last season, while they were incredibly unlucky not to reach the next stage of the Champions League qualifiers this week.
Rosenburg needed extra time to get by their challenge. Stephen Kenny is quite simply an excellent manager and we would not be surprised to see him put up as the next potential manager of the Republic of Ireland national team.
Meanwhile, Rovers never really looked like they would get by their Czech counterparts in their European qualification game. They were simply not good enough. Thus, we are backing Dundalk to win at a scoreline of 3-1. This score is available at 11/1 with Ladbrokes and it is scoreline we think you should not miss out on.
Dundalk are quite simply a class above their opponents.