Iāve the game recorded off TG4 but donāt know if I can bring myself to watch it based on what I read here and reports elsewhere? Was there anything encouraging to take from the game?
Save yourself the hour and a quarter, nothing happened bar a nice point from Duggan and another from Browne in the last 10 minutes. The camera man missed the first two scores from play and the foul for the penalty
Iāve read a few comments where it mentioned we showed āgreat heartā. Its disappointing that this type of stuff gets highlighted as it should be the minimum we expect. Its become a thing that if we manage to play Cork, Clare, Limerick, Tipp, Waterford, Galway, Kilkenny or Dublin and not get hammered then its perceived that the team have done well and ābattled hardā. Ridiculous stuff.
As previously stated on this thread, that is a minimum requirement for all GAA teams never mind inter county teams.
Our management team seems to think you have to pick 15 players and give it hell unfortunately this isnāt the case. There has to be, at least in broad strokes, a plan. A plan which plays to our strengths.
We need to assess our strengths and play to them we have not done this consistently this decade.
Positives for me were James Breen (tight/tidy), Aidan Nolan (first senior game where heās really looked at home), McGovern (ābattled hardā in an under strength forward line and won a lot of possession/frees against a top player in Pat OāConnor) and David Dunne (his pace and ability to get into good scoring positions looks promising).
It was a bit helter skelter in the shit conditions and the game was littered with mistakes (donāt look at the 3 or 4 give away points at the death) but I wouldnāt be as forlorn as others. There was a hint of some cohesive play amidst all that. I think we should give Paudie Foley a chance to nail down centre back and we looked better with Liam Ryan back in the corner. Hopefully Shaun Murphyās injury isnāt too bad and the likes of David Redmond returns for the next game.
I wonder if the players and management can clear the air, like Galway did last year during/after an underwhelming league, and put in a big effort for whatās likely to be the managerās last year. Itās not beyond us to beat Dublin in Leinster.