For this i have switched Richie Power into full forward, himself and DJ will switch between them as we want to try and move Fanning around and use a player with good movement and first touch against him as he is a physical stopper and would see off Seamus Prendergast easily enough.
Griffin will look to play between the the full and half forward line and drift out as another puckout option as he would have a good height advantage against both corner backs and will also look to play off the breaks from Rushe and the shorter balls from Galvin, Maher and Kerins.
Kerins agains will look to move out the field and supplement midfield while Galvin will look to pick up balls from the half backline and tidy things up which should allow us plenty of opportunities with overlaps and with the half backline to give us opportunities to hit the three lads inside 30 yards from goal who will be moving and hitting space.
Lohan will take Gillane which will be a tough battle but Frank has the height and speed to make Gillane earn any scores he gets while Mick Kavanagh v Power should be a great tussle. Liam Ryan will have the legs for Cloonan and is just the type of niggly fucker who will drive him to distraction.
I’d fancy Liam Rushe to get far more joy out of Declan Hanno than Seamus will out of Seanie. Byrnes will take Lehane in what could be a crowded enough middle third which will suit me as Fenlon and Dunne are stick men while Lyng and Kerins are workers who will cover ground and put it tackles. Last two battles come down to Dan Mc v Ronan Maher which should be a good tussle while you would fancy Tony or Brendan Maher to get the better of Seamus I would expect that Seamus will graft away and at least keep them honest and not let the ball out too quickly.
Should be a fascinating game. I will back my boys to get it done with Seanie McMahon giving a tour de force at six
I’d made no changes to my lineup or setup. My only slight tactical adjustment might be to pull a Ger Loughnanne type stunt regarding a locked gate or such on the way to the game.
The winning of this game for me will be my half forward line and midfield. It is BURSTING with class and will feed my dangerous inside line with ample ball to do enough damage to win this game. If required, they can all chip in a score too.
My half forward line will disrupt BMMC’s line and ensure he can’t establish a foothold in the game. Conor Lehane will add to the chaos and have Ronan Maher chasing his tail.
Eugene Cloonan will once again take the frees.
It’ll be close but the better all round balance in my team will see me through to the next round
A high scoring first half as both FB lines weaknesses are exposed. @Batigol will need to move the ball fast and keep it out of the middle third as much as possible as that is a battle he won’t win. A short puck-out strategy in an attempt to bypass @Big_Dan_Campbell’s half back line might be on the cards but I don’t think he has the players to do that.
I’d expect the leaders in Big Mick’s team (McMahon, Lyng, O’Connor & Prendergast) to turn the screw about 15 minutes into 2nd half and put enough between the sides to see it out.
Comparing line for line, @batigol has better quality and has the edge on every line on the pitch bar the full forward line. Carey is a huge addition and Gillane is not yet an 8 point forward, he’s not even at the level of Andrew O’Shaughnessy in my opinion, though he may well overtake him in the future. Even then, not enough to swing it to Mick when Batigol has the edge everywhere else on the field.
@Batigol has put together a team which has more BALANCE here than a Ukrainian gymnast on a very level surface after a month off the vodka. His 5 - 9 in particular is an all-hurling combination that will appeal to purists. The full forward line is menacing in its potential, the big question here is how he extracts the best from them, allowing them the space to breathe and create. Maintaining some BALANCE between the ears is important for Batty also: It could be a Back-Stabbing goalfest for him, but it could be a Rib-Digging cardfest too.
What are you going to do when Liam Rushe starts getting pulled for steps @Big_Dan_Campbell and the referee isn’t buying his dives. That’s an awful half forward line
There are plenty of negatives and as i said the best I can expect out of Prendergast is that he grafts away and can keep his man honest which isn’t really an endorsement of the chap,.
The point of picking lads like Kerins and Griffin is that they are very solid players who backed it up with very consistent championship careers and are lads you could hang your hat on to give you a level of performance game in game out, Dan McCormack you could argue does the same for Batigol except he didn’t have anywhere near the scoring threat of Griffin or Kerins. While Lehane does have the scoring threat he is frustratingly inconsistent and with us committing bodies to the middle third the idea is he won’t have the space to maneuver.
As for my backs the only one who really lacks pace is Maher and he compensates for that in other ways and would go up against McCormack here. Liam Ryan consistently wins 20/30 yard foot races attacking the ball bald headed in championship hurling and would be too aggressive for Cloonan while Frank Lohan, Seanie and Diarmuid Byrnes are all athletic hurlers who can cover ground and with Kerins, Galvin and Lyng swarming in front of them there is plenty of stamina and covering to supplement them.
Liam Rushe lacks a real scoring threat and composure in his striking but makes up for it with a very good hand and an ability to dominate physically. This is a lad who has performed at centre back, midfield, centre forward and full forward in championship hurling and again like Griffin and Kerins brings an known level of performance every day he goes out which i can hang my hat.
So that’s 2/3rds of your half forward line who can’t really strike a ball. How is the ball getting into your full forward line? You’ve Kerins designated to drop deep and sweep have you? That leaves fuck all hurling in the half forward line.
You could hang your hat on Tony Griffin if he wasnt off cycling or hadn’t retired due to lack of confidence in management.
You’ve only listed Pender as a negative. What about DJ getting frustrated watching Byrnes balls flying wide 50 yards over his head
He supplements midfield with Griffin playing between the lines and moving out towards the half forward line. The idea is that you have two men to contest aerial balls and then you have lads with serious stamina and hard running in Kerins, Lyng and Griffin making runs to support them and also running off them, the two inside lads can alternate with Griffin in this role too. This also creates space for the likes of Power and Carey to move into. The fact that McMahon, Maher and Galvin are very composed hurlers on the ball should also allow us to play through the lines and hit the runners if Batigol decides to keep his half backline holding to try and cut out the space in front of DJ and Power - if they follow Kerins out the field and go man for man then we can hit space in from of DJ or Richie and trust their movement and fist touch to cause issues. Failing that the aerial ability of Griffin, Prendergast and Rushe comes into play if we are under pressure and need to just lorry it forward and contest for it.