Sadly there is more chance of Canada becoming the 52nd state, than the “left” uniting at the next Irish General Election

 

I am hearing a lot these past few days about the supposed great momentum that has built up around Catherine Connolly’s successful bid for the Presidency.
People are now saying that if SF and other opposition parties were to agree to a proper election pact at the next General Election, it could bring about massive change as to how the country is run.

SF would have a core vote  of about 8% and anything above that is people “lending” them their vote.

There is a sizable anger with the Government.
Some will vote at the next election but another sizable block have a “plague on all your houses” attitude and will not vote,

A question I oft asked myself is “Why are SF - and to a much smaller extent what we call “The Far Right”  - mopping up this support, but the likes of Labour Soc Dems and PBP-SP remaining essentially stagnant?

In large part, I think people who are “lending” their vote to SF, see that what they are promising is not much different than what the Government had promised, but it is better and believe SF can and will do it.

In hindsight, SF’s backroom team have an easy enough job of essentially dividing the Governments figure by 100 and multiplying it by 120%, to get the meat for their plan/prd eomise.

Also a big deal is the fact the Department of Finance every year says their figures add up etc.

In contrast to Soc Dems or PBP who will say “30,000 homes a year is not good enough, we will build 90,000 houses a year”  but cannot say how and where they will do it. how much it will cost and how they will fund it..

Also some people drifting to SF might think that since their plans are not moving the dial that much, in comparison to present Government policy , FF and/or FG would agree to it if SF went into coalition with them.

Also unlike Labour in 2011. SF are making anywhere near the number of cast iron promises and Eamonn Gilmore and Co did 14 years ago.

And as regards the next election, FF and FG might end up keeping most of their seats by virtue of

Sizable numbers of people eligible to vote staying at home

The Anti Government vote splintering in many different directions and FF and FG getting a seat/ 2^nd seat on the last count, well below the quota, as there was not enough of a domino of transfers from eliminated PBP, Soc Dem or Labour Candidates to the strongest non SF Anti Government candidate , to enable them to overtake a FF or FG Candidate for the last seat in a constituency,

The interesting thing to watch out for at the next election is the “Independent” vote.
If they were to ger 10-12 more seats overall than they currently have, the question is whose seats would they be talking?

With growing anti Immigrant sentiment you cannot rule out candidates making this issue their core policy platform winning Dail seats in a proper manifestation of a “protest vote”.

So the real possibility could ensue that there could be no other Government combination besides one that includes Sinn Fein.

There are those on the “Far Left” in Ireland making a big deal of the “unity”  shown in Catherine Connolly’s election victory, that  if Sinn Fein, Soc Dems Labour and PBP joined forces, they could/would have the momentum to relegate Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to the opposition benches.
 If this was to happen, many would deem this to be a seismic development.
But lets be realistic as to real state of play at the moment.
If it was proposed that these various parties were to hold talks about holding talks, regarding a possible election pact, there would be a big row over what biscuits they would serve at the coffee break.

Also election pacts come about as a result of different political parties coming to an agreed position (sometimes very loose in nature) on the key issues of the day, which they then put to the electorate.
I think that the gulf between the positions People Before Profit have on certain issues compared to the stance of Labour and Sinn Fein (With Soc Dems not to far off both their positions) would be too wide to in anyway bridge.

Also in trying to sway voters who “lent” FF and FG their vote the last time, SF, Lab and SD would baulk at some of PBP’s “Red Lines”  for fear of scaring these part-time FF and FG voters away;
With this cohort deciding Better the devil we know” and voting the same as they did in the last General Election.

It would be beyond amazing if there was a big increase of genuine left wing TD’s elected to the Dail, but if you are pinning your hopes on this  happening firmly to the Sinn Fein mast, you will find very soon after the next General Election, this aspiration sinking very quickly A SF navigates it’s boat into the FF and/or FG port.

ALL HUFF BUT NO PUFF

 

For the first time in ages I got to see us play on Tolka Park = 100% correctly, tickets for this fixture mostly just go to Members,
Thanks to the person (you know who you are) who could not go, as they were in work and gave me their ticket.
____________________________________________________________________________________

“Take a stroll down the Richmond Road,
it wasn’t just the weather that left you cold,
Same oul shite, different night,
When will the board, this management team fold?”
 
 Another agonising week, another post match blog charting another hapless performance on the pitch.
Our performances on the pitch are becoming as predictable as a wedding band setlist, all we are left wondering is if “You’re the one that I want” will be played before or after “Sweet Caroline”

We had so much possession inside the Shelbourne half, yet despite being in the vicinity of the home sides box, more times than I Conor has roared “Our ball OUR BALL YA STUPID TICK!”,
We had ZERO corners and only one single semi shot on target over the while 90 minutes.
If the stats app on my phone is correct, we only managed to get the ball within their 8 yard line just 3 times.
Our contingent in Tolka Park were like the congregation at a Mormon funeral – vut could you blame them for feeling this way?

It'd like that famous scene in “Keeping Up Appearances” where Hyacinth has Richard driving around the Roundabout 8 times;
Yes we can get the ball up outside the opposition box, but once we get there, we haven’t a clue what to do next.
Seriously – What ARE the lads being taught in training?

After 9 games, we have a paltry 9 points out of a possible 27.
What makes this figure even more stark, is thinking back to the games we DID win.
We beat the Hoops in the Aviva, less than 72 hours after they have played in Norway,
And Rovers played like a Sunday League team who had rocked up to Bushy Park, straight from the hotel, where they stayed up at a teammates wedding until 4am.
We played a Waterford team who had more gaps in their defence than the Birs Flanagan had between his teeth.
And our final win, so far, came against a Sligo team that were so poor on the night, Newtown Rangers U-16’s would probably have beaten them.

The Bohs Board are like a gardener who has an Apple tree that’s full of rotten apples.
He knows it is beyond repair and will continue to damage the rest of the garden as well;  But does nothing about it.

We have players of undoubtable talent, but they are being stifled by clearly ineffectual management and are running around the pitch like clueless keystone cops.
It's like having a very high end laptop, but all the Operating System allows you to do is play Solitaire.

When quality new signings were announced in Pre-Season, I certainly thought we’d be doing a lot better than languishing on just 9 points after 9 games.
The management setup we have is like a car that will only go as fast as 30kph, with a Formula 1 engine wasting away under the bonnet.
They are driving this team the wrong way down the Motorway and we badly need to stick a new driving in front, to turn our season around,

Up next are a Cork City side who have 4 draws so far, but 4 losses, and only one win sees them in 9^th place in the table.
I would not rule out half the Jodi falling asleep on 70 minutes as both sides ramble along to an excruciatingly boring 0-0 draw.

ANYTHING WE CAN DO, SLIGO CAN DO WORSE…

 

At last! I get to write a blog following an actual win for my beloved Bohs.
Who would have thought that 8 games in we would be in a potential relegation 6 points?
Give the squad we have, it is simply inexcusable that we find ourselves in this position.
It is very welcome that we won on Friday and have moved up the table, but let’s be abundantly clear;  It was down to individual brilliance in front of the opposition box and not any tactical nous, that saw he run out 4-2 winners after 90 minutes,

We were understandably in ‘pinch me dreamland’ after going 2-0 up so early in the game, but it was alarming to see how easily we let Sligo get right back into the game.
You oft hear of trams falling asleep, we definitely went into a deep snooze for the rest of the first half.

Up until the point we scored the 3^rd goal, it looked very much like it was going end in a stalemate, like cars meeting each other on a small country road, and neither driver seeking to a way to get past the other.

Much like Liverpool FC have done a few times in the recent past, individual brilliance meant that we managed to goals practically out of nowhere.
Once again the lads traipsed round the pitch like headless donkeys, giving it a lot of huff and puff, but it was akin to an army laying siege to a goal, but the cannonballs keep landing in the moat to the left and right of it’s walls.

4 days from now we take short 2.6km walk to Richmond Road, to take on Shelbourne at Tolka Park.
I was chatting to a work colleague who is a Pat’s fan and he was saying the Reds were very ordinary in Richmond Park last Friday and that Pat’s had plenty of chances to win the match, but frustratingly for him, they didn’t convert.
The Champions are another side who have a number of players with the ability to win a match on their own.
They are also a side who have a fairly mean defence, so it is going to be quite the task for the away side to come away with any sort of a result come 21.45.

We seem to very much be  in “A stopped clock is always right twice” phase, and despite the win don’t see us in anyway properly getting out of our rut anytime soon,.
It's like the person who gets 2 Question right in the cash builder on The Chase, but they were two complete and utter guesses.

So the largely ineffectual managerial setup just about lives to fight another day, but how much more must this farce go on, before common sense prevails?

Honestly I would love to eat my hat (shaped cone full of Ice Cream) in a few weeks as de Boez defied most peoples predictions and racked up a number of back-to-back wins on the trot;
But all things weighed up, Friday could yet be another very false dawn…