I know it wonāt happen but Iām just an ideas man and the world would be nowhere without ideas men.
Collins for Cork gets a lot of joy off booming puckouts too v Limerick.
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Nothing wrong with a left field idea, if I was picking a team for the Dublin game Iād have had Sheedy in goal, Kelly at 6, Kilroy half forward and Keith Smyth as our first sub on. Unfortunately Lohan doesnāt tend to throw curveballs, ironically Foudy replacing Quilligan vs Tipp and Seadna Morey playing as a sweeper vs KK in 2023 are the last real surprises I can recall
I think his fingers are burned from all of those instances. They backfired spectacularly.
I feel Stritch might start this
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The last time we played the sweeper was in a a similar context - Conlon, Davy Mc and Cleary all came into the Kilkenny game all hampered by injury. The sweeper wasnāt a bad call but more so Morey was poor in his execution.
I think we may see something on Sunday to sure us up. Even if it is Kelly or Stritch rotating and dropping in to cut off space in front of the full back line like the first 20 odd minutes v Tipp
Wont be Stritch. Likely Kellt
The dressing room is lost. TK stepping up for Sunday.
On all available evidence, the days of being pushed up man to man are over for this group. We put no effective pressure on them inside their own 45 anyway in the round robin game. Hard to see how weāre going to be any better on that front in Croke Park.
The other thing is, we are so thrown off by a team pulling their half-forward line deep. We just end up being hesitant and neither properly committing to pressuring the man, nor providing any cover. That killed us in the last Limerick game, because whenever they played their out ball to whoever was dropping deep, we gave them loads of time to either look up and play the ball, or to hold the ball up while support runners came out from the back. Weāre better off just playing to our instincts, letting the backs go bald-headed at their man, no matter how deep they drop, and trust that the extra man at the back is going to provide some sort of a shield. For sure, English is going to break the line a few times and have an ocean of space to run into. But that would happen anyway if we were man-to-man.
The big danger is as you said, we just donāt have a deep understanding of how to play that system. Morey got all the stick for this in 2023, but honestly the players around him didnāt really know what to do with the extra man either. The Tipp game was a lot different this year. Hopefully weāve learned something, and hopefully we can use the extra man to set OāFarrell, TK, Taylor, Ryan off through the center of the field, and force Limerick to chase. The last two times theyāve played in Croke Park, some of them have looked like theyāre running through quicksand trying to track across the middle of the field. We can only hope to cause the same type of trouble for them.
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The support play off of the sweeper is the key piece there. The sweeper is going to pick the ball up somewhere between the 21 and 45, so heās probably 20-30m short of the delivery zone. You donāt want him carrying the ball with his head down, so he needs either a corner back of his shoulder, a wing back to peel off to the sideline or someone from 8-12 to drop in and take a stick pass from him. Canāt just be one pass either, it has to be instinctive for the lads not in the first phase of play to make the third man runs that will make the numerical advantage count and allow us to get a good strike away.
Hereās an idea that started off as tongue in cheek but Iāve convinced myself it could work the more Iāve thought about it: Stritch to corner back to pick up the roving corner forward. The obvious drawback is that he has little to no defensive experience and that Limerick may put 3 inside to test him. I do feel like he could do a fair Nash impersonation, heās unreal at timing his runs off the shoulder and himself and Conlon have good chemistry.
Leaves you with:
Quilligan
Hogan-Leen-Stritch
Conlon
Ryan-Galvin-NOF
Lohan-Taylor
SOD-Rodgers-Malone
Duggan-TK
Who expected thepoorclares to morph into Limerick fans c. 2016?
Iād expect Mcinerney to play - a sprained ankle wouldnāt keep him out of a game like this - after having 2 weeks to recover.
For what itās worth, Iād doubt a sweeper would work against limerick, having Nash as a spare man suits limerick.
Clare need to go man on man and go for a shootout, back their forwards who are capable of putting up a score.
A full forward line of SOD Rogers and Duggan is as good as whatās out there, TK playing at 11 in his best position, and Iād gamble on David Fitzgerald and Stritch in the wings if I were Lohan.
Surely you gotta start stritch? I didnāt under him not starting the last game after having done so well, did he pick up a knock?
Lohan wonāt start him cause he wonāt cut his hair. Heard that from a good source.
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Thatās what has basically worked when they did put it up to them, but we may have diminished a bit physically in the interim along with the Kinnerkbot AI having made subtle adjustments
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No one is going to be back. DMc and Clearly are 100% out and there are 2 other serious doubtfuls.
Thanks Brian
Where do we go from here? Rumour seem to be at Brian Lohan is considering his position despite having two more years left on his term. He has given fair service, Iād like to see him stay but he has seven years done, it is a long time.
The whitegate mafia are surely primed to take over if he does.
A good few lads will surely bow out now and a few other mainstays put out to pasture. I think we need to put Sheedy, Loftus and Hegarty in at 1,3 and 6 next spring and just let them at it in the league and let them take their licks. The rest of the 20s probably need a bit of time but the likes of Moylan and Kilroy wonāt be far off.
I think Cleary might be worth persevering with at wing back as a spoiler/marker for 50 odd minutes just to add his physical presence in the middle third. Taylor the same as a 50 odd minute man or impact sub. Iād also look at Ryan further up the field.
Sheedy
Hogan-Loftus-DaithĆ Lohan/Leen
OāFarrell-Hegarty-Cleary
Lohan/Taylor-Kilroy/OāNeill
Ryan-Duggan-Rynne
Stritch-Rodgers-TK
With Moylan, Galvin and Conneally potential options at half back off the bench for Cleary if any of them can take a step forward.
Taylor, Kilroy and OāNeill along with Ryan can play anywhere from 8 to 12. Meehan and Galvin as your inside men.
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Who are the Whitegate mafia?
Bugler + ?
Unless Galway do something spectacular in the final, itās going to be a similar kind of open championship next season. If Rogers can go up another bit again, TK can maintain, youāve Stritch around there too who is a nailed on top player.
Ye shouldnāt be far away again, itās just peaking the team for the big day which Lohan did beautifully there on Sunday. Need those young backs you mentioned to do a bit of what Leen and Hogan did. I wonder might we see SOD one more year yet, he can join in late.
Terence Fahy and @Captain
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