decent starting side out. Only 2 debutants in Craig Doyle and Michael Furlong. I’d always seen Furlong as a defender, so not sure how good a half forward he’ll make. Cant remember where he plays for Adamstown but he is a decent player all the same. Thought Paudi Kelly might have got the nod there over him, but sure we can only see how it goes. Its a bit mad saying how the first game of the league is vital, but it really is. I’ve heard others go on about the fact we should be chasing promotion, but I dont think we should be getting ahead of ourselves at all. Need to ensure we stay in Dvi 2, and anything after is a bonus. New management team in place so the transition period will always have a bit of a teething process, so hopefully we can continue withouth much change, other than in our crap style of play we ended up with last year. Div 2 has what I would see as a few weak teams, and I’d reckon there could be a few wins for all those around the bottom and it will be tight with everyone beating each other.
Isn’t it Maria rather than Marisa Nolan and isn’t this Mullane thing no more than he’ll attend a couple of training sessions if asked when the championship comes around? Nothing much in it but I guess his name helps freelance journalists get articles published and a bit of cash for themselves.
Yeah Paudi is light alright, but is a natural speedy wing forward. Furlong was corner back on the U21 side alright, hence my reasoning to think Kelly might get the nod there. KOG will have a job ousting anyone from that full forward line there too, but looking at the subs, seems to be the only real option available for corner forward. How is he going this year?
The usual, makes Paudie Klly look like a weight lifter, just too light. his pace can hurt a tem need to add more than that though.
Lyng back for next game I believe, huge addition. If roche can up his intensity we have 5 fwds able to score (red,ben,lyng,pj,roche) throw in a groundhog or paddy byrne to break ball… see what happens.
its pretty solid alright, not a massive amount of deviation. so hopefully a better gameplan will see us play better. I havent seen Doyle play before I dont think, but as far as I know he was eligible for the 21s when we won Leinster, but he wasnt on the panel. Could be wrong in that though. Longford are missing a few for Sunday, and we owe them a battering.
I hope to see O’Brien put in a system where we don’t leave the full back line exposed.
We have the players what would allow us to play with ten (+ 'keeper) behind the 50 yard line in defence and then murder teams on the break given the speed have have and the number of players that can take a score. Like the Donegal system, and to a lesser extent Longford, from last year.
Yeah, I meant out of the players who are currently involved in both squads rather than the likes of Malone and Lyng who are concentrating on football solely again.
On the football gameplan, is 11 men behind the ball even enough these days? We have had forwards who didn’t work hard enough in recent years in my opinion. Even in games like Limerick in Portlaoise when we were knocked out having conceded 1-18 or something, we had loads of men behind the ball but they were able to start moves from deep, carry the ball forward and use overlaps to pick through our defence.
its the old issue of a forward who thinks he is defending. Sure I’ll trot back into my half, so they can see I’m going back, but doesnt do a fucking thing when he is back there and just stands around waiting for the ball to come to him. Drives me mad, and players think they are helping out by coming back deep, but not worth a fuck if they dont pick up a man or make tackles.
Was thinking about the extra man in defence too count, and as you say, it worked for some of Aids teams over the years. But I wouldnt think Furlong will be the spare man, any time it was used before, it was always a quality play maker who was back there. Not sure who out of the side would be able to be like that.
I don’t think it’s fair to say that the forwards didn’t work hard, well the forwards apart from Roche anyhow.
We were taking so long to get the ball up the field and messing around with it in midfield that the opposition had the defence flooded by the time it was kicked in and it was taking a special effort from either Lyng, Barry or Banville to work a scoring situation or win a free.
Of the other three sides in contention, who they have home and away. Seems a solid enough bet, you would fancy them to have Offaly’s measure and would need to win one of the remaining two to make a final