YouTubers, viral clips & competing tifo displays – a Dublin Derby postcard

All the colour of the Dublin Derby

All the colour of the Dublin Derby Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)

Macdara Ferris reports from Tallaght Stadium

You may ask who travels away and sends a postcard these days anyway and so the tales from Tallaght and Friday’s Dublin Derby involving pyro and tifo displays were captured and disseminated through viral video clips and YouTubers.

The visitor puts their vlog up and tells people to push that like and subscribe button and for the away fans travelling across the Liffey, they light up the away section with pyro in the colours of their team. 

Friday’s Dublin Derby at Tallaght Stadium saw Shamrock Rovers secure their first win in five matches against Bohemians. It was a cadgy and close affair as is the usual for this fixture. 

There is just one game in the last 14 league encounters that was won by more than one goal; that was last November’s derby in Dalymount that Bohs won 3-1.

It was a sell out at Tallaght Stadium on Friday with over 7,500 spectators in attendance and it was the first time that supporters from Bohs visited Tallaght Stadium since August 2019. Since then we had COVID19 ghost games without any fans and last season’s tit-for-tat banning of away supporters by both clubs as the coronavirus closures unwound.

There were no live RTÉ cameras for this latest derby but, as well as LOITV, the match did get coverage from YouTuber Thogden who posted his vlog on the game to his 801,000 plus subscribers on Saturday morning. By Sunday night the video had 100,000 views.

Memorably back in 2015, the Dublin Derby got the COPA90 YouTube treatment when Bohs were victorious 3-1 in Dalymount Park on that occasion.

That Derby Days ‘Anarchy in Ireland’ video has had 520,000+ views on the COPA90 Stories YouTube channel that has 1.28 million subscribers. 



However, unlike in 2015, this time the Hoops got the win on Friday in front of the online audience thanks to Rory Gaffney’s first half goal.

Friday’s game was also lit up by a bit a magic by Stephen Mallon as he somehow on the turn scooped the ball up and over by a bemused Gary O’Neill making the LOITV commentary team of Con Murphy and Graham Gartland give a Joseph Ndo type groan in response to the “incredible bit of skill”.

That clip now has over a 375,000 views by Sunday night.

These are all viewing figures that would make even RTÉ’s Declan McBennett’s eyes water or that just might be the response from the green smoke drifting from the South Stand in Tallaght into his eyes.



However, similar to when Jordan Flores’ goal for Dundalk went viral in February 2020, Rovers won’t mind being on the receiving end of a viral clip as they prevailed on the scoreline in both that match against the Lillywhites and this weekend’s fixture against the Gypsies.  

Ahead of kick off on Friday, both sets of fans let off flares, smoke and hoisted tifo flags in the stands.

The Bohemians NBB tifosi – the Notorious Boo Boys – called for ‘Death to every foe and traitor’ with Rovers no doubt deemed the foe. A for the traitor well that is most likely Andy Lyons who over the winter became the latest Bohs player to move from Dublin 7 to Dublin 24 following Danny Mandriou (2021), Dylan Watts (2018) and Roberto Lopes (2017).

The line on their flag is taken from the Irish ballad ‘The Rising of the Moon’ written about the 1798 United Irishmen rebellion against British crown forces. It was ultimately a failed rebellion and on Friday the Gypsies failed to win as they fell to their first defeat to the Hoops since September 2020.

“Death to every foe and traitor, whistle out the marching tune
And hoorah me boys for freedom 'tis the rising of the moon.”

Meanwhile in the South Stand, the SRFC ULTRAS had taken a twist in their tifo display on Dublin city’s motto.

Rather than ‘Obedientia Civium Urbis Felicitas’ (Happy is the city where citizens obey), the Hoops fans reckon it is happier when they disobey and they were the happiest supporters in the ground at the end of the 90 minutes as their team claimed all three points to stay top of the early season table.

The two teams go head to head again in the next derby set to take place in Dalymount Park on Friday 22 April.

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile