Monaghan have named an unchanged lineup for the semi-final clash with Dublin. Not sure if the team was announced from Portugal or at our Centre of Excellence in Cloghan. In any event, itâs clear semi-finals were far from our thinking when booking this training camp. Donegal did the same thing last year and arrived back to look very fatigued in the Division 2 final. I fear the worst.
O Rourke has a big call to make re: Dessie Mone. Another black card and he misses the first round of the championship. Always a likely candidate to get involved in a bit of niggle, but imperative to the teamâs cause. Hopefully Gavan Doogan gets a good 30 minutes under his belt; heâs a possible starter at midfield for championship if Lennon struggles to make it. Gollogly also needs some game time. Wouldnât be surprised to see him start in place of Finlay, who hasnât the legs for this jackeen half back line. If Monaghan are to get any way close, we need to kick points from outside the 40 (Ironically Finlayâs main attribute). The sight of Mc Manus running down blind alleys, coughin up easy possession canât be repeated.
Fearful to say the least. I just hope team morale is damaged too much come Sunday evening.
[QUOTE=âChucks Nwoko, post: 1120411, member: 2812â]Monaghan have named an unchanged lineup for the semi-final clash with Dublin. Not sure if the team was announced from Portugal or at our Centre of Excellence in Cloghan. In any event, itâs clear semi-finals were far from our thinking when booking this training camp. Donegal did the same thing last year and arrived back to look very fatigued in the Division 2 final. I fear the worst.
O Rourke has a big call to make re: Dessie Mone. Another black card and he misses the first round of the championship. Always a likely candidate to get involved in a bit of niggle, but imperative to the teamâs cause. Hopefully Gavan Doogan gets a good 30 minutes under his belt; heâs a possible starter at midfield for championship if Lennon struggles to make it. Gollogly also needs some game time. Wouldnât be surprised to see him start in place of Finlay, who hasnât the legs for this jackeen half back line. If Monaghan are to get any way close, we need to kick points from outside the 40 (Ironically Finlayâs main attribute). The sight of Mc Manus running down blind alleys, coughin up easy possession canât be repeated.
Fearful to say the least. I just hope team morale is damaged too much come Sunday evening.
[QUOTE=âNembo Kid, post: 1120414, member: 2514â]Whatâs the story with Eoin Lennon?
Also, what ever happened to Ciaran Hanratty, looked like he had the makings of a great player and then just disappeared off the scene?[/QUOTE]
Lennonâs been struggling with an ankle injury for the best part of a year now. Has played very little club football, and there were rumours he was hanging up the boots. Wouldnât surprise me if true.
Hanratty had a great '07 when he terrorised Down and Kerry amongst others. I wouldnât say itâs been injuries that have hampered him, possibly more a lack of hunger for the game. Still a good club player, but very inconsistent. At 28/29, that burst of pace isnât as explosive either.
[QUOTE=âChucks Nwoko, post: 1120417, member: 2812â]Lennonâs been struggling with an ankle injury for the best part of a year now. Has played very little club football, and there were rumours he was hanging up the boots. Wouldnât surprise me if true.
Hanratty had a great '07 when he terrorised Down and Kerry amongst others. I wouldnât say itâs been injuries that have hampered him, possibly more a lack of hunger for the game. Still a good club player, but very inconsistent. At 28/29, that burst of pace isnât as explosive either.[/QUOTE]
He looked a better prospect than McManus at that time, has he made himself unavailable or does OâRourke just not fancy him. Youâd think heâd be worth a place on that panel ahead of a lot more unless his game has gone to complete shit since.
Itâs possible that he wouldnât quite fit the image of an archetypal âMonaghan playerâ. McManus isnât afraid to stick his head where you wouldnât put a shovel. Infer from that what you will.
Interesting to see if Monaghan have learned anything from their hammerings against Dublin in their last two meetings. They were away at a training camp in Portugal during the week so I think they could be in for another doing today.
Dublin were able to power through Monaghan very easily last week. Iâm not sure if theyâve been playing Dessie Mone as the spare defender all season or if it was something they utilised for the first time last week but it patently wasnât working until he was black carded. He seems to be better rampaging forward from the wing rather than working across the pitch trying to plug gaps. And Dublin then having a spare defender themselves allowed them to build from the back, with the result that McCarthy and McCaffrey were bursting forward and leaving Finlay and Duffy in their wake. As a result, the defence, even with the spare man, was treading water. Darren Hughes battled manfully in midfield and Ryan Wylie did well on a couple of different markers (he was initially moved from McManamon to Brogan as his brother was struggling on the latter) but most of the Dublin attackers were prominent and it was also a day where their long range shooting was very impressive. Flynn, Connolly, McMahon and Brady kicked some smashing points from deep - some more than once. It simply looks like Dublin are a better team and can adapt accordingly no matter what Monaghan do tactically to try to bridge the gap.
Donegal really look a classy outfit of late, definitely have more about them going forward, that is when not up against dirge like Derry or Tyrone. Still hard to judge where theyâre at against the likes of Cork though.
see thatâs the thing about it⊠Cork arent even taking this seriously and if they put their mind to it O"Neill and co can make shit of that so called defense with direct ball⊠if this team got their act together at all theyâd do damage.
Donegal for all their bluster, energy, third man tackles and total dominace of possession are only a point up, Cork are waltzing around the pitch having the craic and will probably still win
