Ballyfireside
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People of an eternal time and an infinite place
Posts: 97
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Post by Ballyfireside on Mar 24, 2024 20:35:15 GMT
The comments on here pretty much sum it all up, and Sam's destination is determined by Dubs having 30 greats while the best of the rest can only find 15.
Some of that is down to a vintage crop, but money is a big factor too and so politics determines how well rural Ireland is looked after. I was apprehended here for saying that years ago and the same now happens when I raise it again. I mentioned AO'M in the vein of some politicians not understanding this in the past, hence where we find ourselves. There are politicians in every party who don't get it, so I can hardly stand accused of being unfair to anyone. If they thought I was then I apologise and I trust they now understand my point - jazus 'tis hardly rocket science. Talk to any club officer in Kerry and they will all say the same - sure they are sick of saying it!
My fear is that Dublin keep finding 3-5 new stars annually and theirs becomes a permanent home for Samuel, and the price of houses in Dublin won't keep him away, he will always have a bed there!
Rather than censoring ourselves I think we need solutions - anyone?
P.S. FG have just selected jockey Nina Carberry for the European elections and that proves my point even more so that I ever could - nobody can say that it wasn't because of her industry that she is well known hence the nomination. Racing is key to Ireland so she will lobby on that front, and as is rural Ireland and GAA to Kerry. Ah jazus I'm going on here, but I had a post deleted and I'm a bit upset as I feel I was wronged, well let's say misunderstood! Let's move on!
Up Kerry!
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Post by onlykerry on Mar 24, 2024 20:54:44 GMT
League campaign over and a success in the sense we have seen some of the emerging talent put their hands up - still have serious concerns about midfield. We lack pace and consistency in the middle - Joe showed he has ability but he is not using his height and strength to claim high balls with regularity. He plays well against weaker midfields but may struggle against the more dynamic and physical midfields - he has been on a steep learning curve and there are green shoots but is still short of what we need. The jury is still out on getting more lads contributing to the score board and getting runners to punch holes in defences to create goal chances. Against a poor Galway side we created little in the way of goal chances. The format of the competition will suit us as we still have to find some serious improvement if we want to pull off what seems an unlikely all Ireland this year. Getting a fully fit squad is critical if we are to have any hope and we seem to have some lads who are injury prone. Hopefully Portugal is the beginning of fine tuning our squad into a more deadly force for the next 3 months.
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dano
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Post by dano on Mar 24, 2024 21:24:32 GMT
At the start I was saying to myself. " Kerry are up for this today". By the end I was saying " They want to lose this". Anyway a win is a win and no further injuries today was a plus. The general consensus is that Dublin are way ahead of us and Derry are better than us somewhat too. We'll see what a league final brings out in the two of them. In terms of bringing in new guys I believe Sean O Brien and Cillian Burke are great finds. Hopefully the latter's injury is short lived. Joe O Connor had another fine game today and shows up everywhere.A huge plus in Jack Barry's absence. It's great that Cork have improved and will believe they have the beating of Kerry in Munster now. This is also a plus. As mentioned above, there's little that says we can take Sam away from Dublin. There's a strange look about them this year again. Their fitness level is off the charts and , in some of their league games, they made opposition look like schoolboys instead of peers. Can they keep this up and remain injury free for the championship?
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Post by colinsworth1 on Mar 24, 2024 21:55:45 GMT
I’m hoping now that we are only starting to get fit were timing our peak fitness better Dublin look fitter now because they have a lot of youth Keep in mind Mayo looked invinsible too this time last year We’re about to bring in some of our youthful finds which will Get us more fitness and pace whereas Dublin will be shedding a few youngsters for some of their older players I believe we’ll be right where we were last year back in the Final v Dublin but we’ll hVe to shake of that cagey football and be Braver giving early ball to forwards and if we don’t trust our forwards to win the 50 / 50 early ball then make a change Also I do believe we over play David we seem to only kick it early to him we need to get at least some variety into the attack including occasionally using David as a decoy
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Post by veteran on Mar 24, 2024 22:21:46 GMT
First up, and for many reasons, I don't expect any side to get near Dublin this year, and have made my peace with it. This being said, I just want to watch my beloved Kerry team playing attacking adventurous football on the front foot and going for it, like they have nothing to lose anyway! I'm sick of the boring sideways hand pass you to death ball game. I understand your regard for Dublin but isn’t this the perfect way to face Into the championship-Dublin raging favourites. Perfect.
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kerryexile
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Post by kerryexile on Mar 25, 2024 0:14:58 GMT
A good win. I thought Kerry played well. They are definitely playing with more freedom this year and we should see the benefits in the championship.
Joe continued on his upward curve but as Onlykerry said he needs to become more dominant. Barry Dan will be strongly competing for a midfield jersey.
I thought David looked sluggish when he came on. The training and blocks of training must be looked at. This is very likely responsible for some of the injuries. Tight muscles from the physical work and then playing games against top opposition. In other sports it is done as part of pre-season. In football it is done during the second most important competition, a competition that could demote a team from the number one competition into the Tailtean Cup.
Derry didn't look like world beaters today and Roscommon manager said that it was 1-08 each at 50 minutes. They are very fit for the time of year and pulled away but all teams will catch up by June. Dublin looked good but Tyrone were the worst Tyrone team I've seen for many years.
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Post by chicago09 on Mar 25, 2024 0:19:24 GMT
Right now I’m not sure Dublin is out concern there is a long way to go yet before we meet them. Let’s hope the Portugal trip will bring everyone together and the main thing now is to figure out our defence setup as we will be missing Jason for a while and probably won’t be back this year. We need to play the defense like we did in ‘22. The way teams play now everyone is all over the field and really there is no position anymore that players stay in through the whole game. Midfield is playing a lot better but I think Adrian has to start he really helps and does a pile of work unnoticed. I wouldn’t get all crazy either but diarmuid has to Start too so there is a dilemma there so we will see. You can’t buy height and strength we have that but the main thing if we get to meet Dublin down the line if everyone is available you need a strong bench so I would have O’Brien killian Spillane Burke and even Geaney coming in but we won’t win anything if we shoot like today.
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kerryexile
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Post by kerryexile on Mar 25, 2024 0:42:54 GMT
Right now I’m not sure Dublin is out concern there is a long way to go yet before we meet them. Let’s hope the Portugal trip will bring everyone together and the main thing now is to figure out our defence setup as we will be missing Jason for a while and probably won’t be back this year. We need to play the defense like we did in ‘22. The way teams play now everyone is all over the field and really there is no position anymore that players stay in through the whole game. Midfield is playing a lot better but I think Adrian has to start he really helps and does a pile of work unnoticed. I wouldn’t get all crazy either but diarmuid has to Start too so there is a dilemma there so we will see. You can’t buy height and strength we have that but the main thing if we get to meet Dublin down the line if everyone is available you need a strong bench so I would have O’Brien killian Spillane Burke and even Geaney coming in but we won’t win anything if we shoot like today. Actually Jack was asked about Jason on TG4. He said "we are expecting that he won't be long but for the moment we will have to make do". If he is ready by the 1st June that would do fine.
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Post by rossranger on Mar 25, 2024 0:50:37 GMT
Right now I’m not sure Dublin is out concern there is a long way to go yet before we meet them. Let’s hope the Portugal trip will bring everyone together and the main thing now is to figure out our defence setup as we will be missing Jason for a while and probably won’t be back this year. We need to play the defense like we did in ‘22. The way teams play now everyone is all over the field and really there is no position anymore that players stay in through the whole game. Midfield is playing a lot better but I think Adrian has to start he really helps and does a pile of work unnoticed. I wouldn’t get all crazy either but diarmuid has to Start too so there is a dilemma there so we will see. You can’t buy height and strength we have that but the main thing if we get to meet Dublin down the line if everyone is available you need a strong bench so I would have O’Brien killian Spillane Burke and even Geaney coming in but we won’t win anything if we shoot like today. Actually Jack was asked about Jason on TG4. He said "we are expecting that he won't be long but for the moment we will have to make do". If he is ready by the 1st June that would do fine. Jack O’Connor clarified that the injury sustained by Jason Foley had nothing to do with the incident involving Cathal Heneghan, and that the injury resulted from a “separate incident”.
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Post by chicago09 on Mar 25, 2024 1:21:43 GMT
A little thing thats beginning to irk me a little about Kerry players.Why do some of the players feel the need to constantly push opposing players aggresively when there is no need.Seanie O Shea is at it alot as does Adrian and I noticed Heinrich at it too.If there being coached to do this then its silly as it does nt frighten the opposition.it just alerts refs and linesman .The likes of Tomas O Se or Seamus Moynihan never had to resort to that nonsense. Agree with you on this.
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Post by homerj on Mar 25, 2024 9:27:19 GMT
After just watching highlights its frightening how good Dublin are.Dessie Farrell is some manager.He has taken a team on the downslide to a team of killers. were they on the downside? they lost 2 games - one during covid after extra time to Mayo, they lost 1 to us by 1 point in added time. over their period of dominance, they won a huge amount of games by scoring the last score of the game, 5, 6 mins into injury time, against us and Mayo. the Margins were tiny. last year, they were also very small, but again they won the big game in injury time with 2 late late scores. maybe their issue was some lads were hanging around too long and still playing and the new lads on the bench, that were every bit as good, werent getting their chance and they are now. they do look relentless but weve had leagues where we looked incredible and then didnt win the all ireland so theres a long way to go yet, we are still in March.
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Post by dc84 on Mar 25, 2024 10:04:02 GMT
On dublin they are now like bayern Munich I'd they don't win the ai you would have questions about their manager! I'm sure dessie is a good coach but it wouldnt exactly take an absolute genius to get dublin winning. I'd agree on derry not sure how people have them far ahead of us tbh I'd fancy us against them later in the summer. A big loss next weekend in dublin might soften a bit of the hype around them
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Post by thehermit on Mar 25, 2024 10:18:22 GMT
So that's the end of the 2024 League and having been to five of the games in person its still hard to rummage through the tea leaves with a view to the summer.
Yesterday much of the first half resembled a bunch of individual swimmers struggling against a maroon riptide. Galway were hunting in packs, working very hard off the ball and simply swarming anyone running into contact against two set and determined phalanxes stretching from midfield back. Time and again the ball was overturned and Galway broke and they got great joy from the offensive mark. Not to labour the metaphor but Paul Geaney at this stage looked all at sea at 11. Eventually Kerry opted to go more direct, Joe and Barry Dan wrestled control of the middle and we used the wings and the kick pass to better effect and Spillane and Seanies efforts saw us pull into a two point lead on the short whistle.
A much better tempo was evident after Kerry emerged and the side, minus some of its superstars, raced into a comfortable lead and was acquitting themselves well. Our defence was firm and the Galway forwards got little purchase. Quickly the lead was stretched, 4,5,6 points. As an old Italian acquainted with these shores might have mused, the cat was in the bag. Surprisingly then the stellar spangled calvary was ordered to ride into town. Did Jack fancy his chances of building now a big enough margin of victory to sneak into a final? Or were we simply so down on bodies that we had to go to these men? In the end their impact was just a little more than marginal. Paduie got a lovely score on introduction whereas David made himself available and lopped and decoyed gamely but without result. With new filtering through of Dublin and Derry's comfortable positions one suspects going into the final minutes the Kerry team were mentally packing for Portugal. Galway sprung a late major but there was no sense of panic and Kerry snuffed out an potential momentum with the ensuing kickout.
Sin e - what to make of our Spring campaign? New players uncovered many of whom would give you a lot of optimism that we are building a team with a lot of youthful pace and an impactful bench. Five wins from 7, comfortably third in the table and relegation never a threat. Ordinarily you would say it was a perfectly grand League BUT then you keep returning to that Croker mauling. A damaging, depressing night and considering what Dublin have done since the dark side of the mind sees another gut wrenching era of capital mastery awaiting. Croke Park has a lot to answer for, for how they have transformed our inter-county game into something totally in one county's favour and created a franchise seemingly capable of winning 8 out of every 10 titles going forward. I'll say no more for fear I'll give in to the dark urges of giving up on it altogether! I'm a terrible man for piseogs too and Jack never won Sam a year he didn't win a League.
Yet its only March and you can't take yesterday's win for much, those who were in Killarney a couple of weeks ago would have seen how poor the 2024 iteration of Tyrone are and all Dublin did was go to town on their b-side that had nothing to play for. We'll see how the League final goes but yes Kerry, for now, are very much third in the pecking order.
Still as Veteran alluded to let the scribes anoint them as heirs apparent and hype them to 90 and beyond. It will be a while yet before we may cross paths and on a given day with the likes of King David anything is possible.
For now let's hope the Faro foray works some magic. Less than a month to a meeting with the ancient enemy in Killarney. If God is good it may even have stopped raining by then.
An Riocht Abu!
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Post by veteran on Mar 25, 2024 10:23:55 GMT
Happily the weather didn’t turn out as bad as predicted. However, I am sure the dire prediction allied to TV coverage impacted on the attendance.
We started slowly, finished complacently and in between we played some very bright football. Our best football resulted from pushing up aggressively on their kicks out. For a long spell in the second half we murdered them in that respect. As a consequence they had to go long on a lot of occasions which wasn’t profitable yesterday because Joe O’Connor and Barry Dan were more than a match for all comers in the air. Indeed Sean O’Brien and Adrian also climbed up for a few. It is said that you cannot put pressure on all the the opposition kicks out because it is too tiring. That may be so but from my vantage point yesterday it was equally exhausting on the Galway backs in that second half. When they did go short they were hounded into near submission by our lads. That is what I want to see , players grafting , grafting , grafting,
During that period of superiority we should have scored more. We didn’t because very often we over elaborated . We also had a few wides, admittedly some of them just barely wide. It must be conceded also that the Galway backs contain some fine players and defended cohesively. At times they were a little too cohesive if you get my meaning. There were times when a swarm of them surrounded our players , putting in tackles which I felt warranted a free to us but the opposite ensued, There was an outrageous example close to me towards the end. Adrian was surrounded by posse, with players throwing in punches to the rib cage in the guise of tackles . Adrian was penalised for “over carrying “. It was no surprise that the crowd raucously showed their “appreciation “ of that charade. Then Mr. Conor Lane , the sideline patrol, got involved and reported Adrian to the referee who brandished a yellow card to the poor man. That was greeted by more thunderous “applause “ from the natives.
The game was wrapped up long before the final curtain , or so it appeared. However, for the third consecutive game we gave away a sloppy goal, thereby leading to an uncomfortable end, Shane Ryan has to take full responsibility for that near calamity. He directed a short kickout towards Gavin White who was dispossessed. Gavin had his back to the play and so had no way of knowing that Johnny Heaney, a formidable foe, was about to hijack him from behind. Conversely, Shane was facing the play and should have had a clear view of what was developing. He should have seen that the short one to Gavin was too risky and that if there were no other opportunity for a short then adopt a safety first policy and lash it out. There was little risk attached to that approach yesterday because our midfield was so assertive. To compound that error , shortly afterwards Shane was lucky not to be dispossessed on one of his sallies outfield. Could have been catastrophic. Smarten up Shane.
Galway started well and young Finnerty was awarded two marks for “fielding” a ball on his toes! Presumably, Jim Gavin and friends will jettison that idiotic rule.
Overall I enjoyed the game. There was was great long range point scoring , some fine individual displays and, refreshingly, some soaring catches, not least by Joe O”Connor and Barry Dan, against a very strong Galway pairing.
Armin Heinrich did well but was mysteriously replaced by Graham O’ Sullivan in the second half. Why? In the same vein, why were the Clifford boys introduced when we were in control of the game? Those three changes were of the nonsense variety to me. Sean O’Brien got better and better and more confident as the game went on in spite of being opposed by Johnny Heaney who is as good as most out there. What a contrast to the disconsolate figure replaced after twenty minutes against Derry when he was paralyised by a crippling attack of stage fright. Clearly he has been well handled by management since and is now emerging as very bright young thing.
There is no denying our midfield sparkled. Barry Dan was a revelation. In spite of taking two unmerciful wallops he never stopped foraging with a couple of fine fetches thrown in. The one worry is that he may be a winter horse and that he may be less effective on harder grounds. Time will be the arbiter. As good as Barry Dan was, he was probably outshone by Joe O”Connor who continued his upward trajectory . Ranging all over the field he was a hugely conspicuous figure with a few secure leaps as well. What makes the performance of the two lads all the more meritorious is that it was achieved against Paul Conroy and John Maher who would match most pairings.
I thought Paul Geaney was lively and inventive on the forty. There will be a role for this old timer in the championship. I was delighted for Killian Spillane . He had a spectacular game for a man who has missed a lot of football. His problem is an inability to play consistently but that effort should be enhanced by drier pitches.
I have previously alluded to the drop off in the efficiency Sean O’Shea’s free taking. That uncertainty manifested itself again yesterday. It is a worry.
Brian OBeaghlaigh made a welcome return late in the game . He seemed to have an appetite for the contest. A man vital to our chances.
In summary it has been a mixed campaign. Some awful stuff mixed with the quality we are capable of producing when our approach and attitude is finely tuned. The immediate wish is a resolution of our dismal injury list . The next wish is that Dublin continue to be the raging flavour of the season. If all those conditions align perhaps the night terror we experienced a couple of weeks ago in Croke Park will be expunged by the end of July. An old man is entitled to his wish list too!
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Post by jackiel on Mar 25, 2024 10:44:14 GMT
For me this league campaign has been an extremely frustrating watch. The relentless lateral passing and even worse, lads in possession taking the option to go back is soul destroying. Yes there have been a few moments of brilliance in each match, some outrageous scores by times but I won't be planning taking a couple of days off at the end of July just yet. I was impressed with Adrian yesterday, he plays with an edge but seems to be learning to control it a bit better. Joe O Connor was excellent. While we are finding some gold in the new young lads I felt we should have persisted with the rookies and left both Clifford's off yesterday. The raft of changes seemed to break whatever momentum was there. I'm looking forward to 20th April and hope to see more signs of how good I know this group of players can play. Wishing the lads a successful trip to Portugal and those with injuries a speedy recovery. See you all back on the road soon.
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kot
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Post by kot on Mar 25, 2024 10:54:33 GMT
Looks like Jason is out for Munster Championship, not ideal as he will be rusty for All-Ireland series but worst than first feared. you mean better than first feared? the fear was he wouldnt play again this year Yes, sorry meant better than first feared
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kot
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Post by kot on Mar 25, 2024 10:59:50 GMT
End of league report card, a few positives in the league for sure, namely Sean o brien, Cillian Burke from the newbies , with Joe and Dan delivering solid performances I lar na pairce. As mentioned above the foley injury is worrying and also we are third team behind Derry and dublin. I just hope we can maintain some strength in depth for the championship ahead, we will compete with any first 15, but we need impact off the bench, to now it’s been pretty poor. The middle 8 by Dublin and Derry is ahead of us, we need to improve here with the incumbents, we have struggled with every team that have deployed a defensive system, namely Dublin and Derry . Overall we have a settled team bar 2 or 3, our friends over the border are improving , roll on the 20th April. . Overall report card for this league I would say is a D. Passed, barely. Only really played good football against the whipping boys in the division. We are going nowhere with that style of play and lots of vulnerabilities. Stayed in the division but realistically out of the picture for league final after the hiding we took above in Croke Park. Similar to others, can't see anyone but Dublin sweeping the board. I reckon they will tonk Derry next week and roll on into the championship, they haven't been this ferocious since 2016 / 17 I reckon.
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kerryexile
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Post by kerryexile on Mar 25, 2024 11:04:50 GMT
On dublin they are now like bayern Munich I'd they don't win the ai you would have questions about their manager! I'm sure dessie is a good coach but it wouldnt exactly take an absolute genius to get dublin winning. I'd agree on derry not sure how people have them far ahead of us tbh I'd fancy us against them later in the summer. A big loss next weekend in dublin might soften a bit of the hype around them I agree on both. Derry have been exceptionally fit throughout the league. It is a strategy that Mickey Harte has decided on and it serves the purpose of building the players' confidence and conveying to them that he knows how to win. The down side is that they must stay fresh to the end of July. Dublin are playing with an edge because the have a plethora of players competing for places, good honest players, there is no Diarmuid Connolly there. The continuous edge will also challenge their freshness.
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Post by derryoak on Mar 25, 2024 11:37:36 GMT
On dublin they are now like bayern Munich I'd they don't win the ai you would have questions about their manager! I'm sure dessie is a good coach but it wouldnt exactly take an absolute genius to get dublin winning. I'd agree on derry not sure how people have them far ahead of us tbh I'd fancy us against them later in the summer. A big loss next weekend in dublin might soften a bit of the hype around them I agree on both. Derry have been exceptionally fit throughout the league. It is a strategy that Mickey Harte has decided on and it serves the purpose of building the players' confidence and conveying to them that he knows how to win. The down side is that they must stay fresh to the end of July. Dublin are playing with an edge because the have a plethora of players competing for places, good honest players, there is no Diarmuid Connolly there. The continuous edge will also challenge their freshness. I'm a long time lurker on this forum and Derry fan. It's nothing to do with fitness imo. Every team is fit at this stage and we've had our fair share of injuries this league too which hasn't been well documented. Derry have very good players all over the pitch, that's why they topped the league table. I appreciate we'll only get that recognition in the south when we beat Kerry or Dublin in a big game. A combined Kerry Derry team would comfortably have more Derry players imo, the difference is your 3 certs are very very good.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Mar 25, 2024 11:45:17 GMT
I agree on both. Derry have been exceptionally fit throughout the league. It is a strategy that Mickey Harte has decided on and it serves the purpose of building the players' confidence and conveying to them that he knows how to win. The down side is that they must stay fresh to the end of July. Dublin are playing with an edge because the have a plethora of players competing for places, good honest players, there is no Diarmuid Connolly there. The continuous edge will also challenge their freshness. I'm a long time lurker on this forum and Derry fan. It's nothing to do with fitness imo. Every team is fit at this stage and we've had our fair share of injuries this league too which hasn't been well documented. Derry have very good players all over the pitch, that's why they topped the league table. I appreciate we'll only get that recognition in the south when we beat Kerry or Dublin in a big game. A combined Kerry Derry team would comfortably have more Derry players imo, the difference is your 3 certs are very very good. The Derry Peter Stringer
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Post by derryoak on Mar 25, 2024 12:15:45 GMT
I'm a long time lurker on this forum and Derry fan. It's nothing to do with fitness imo. Every team is fit at this stage and we've had our fair share of injuries this league too which hasn't been well documented. Derry have very good players all over the pitch, that's why they topped the league table. I appreciate we'll only get that recognition in the south when we beat Kerry or Dublin in a big game. A combined Kerry Derry team would comfortably have more Derry players imo, the difference is your 3 certs are very very good. Welcome DerryOak.You might be right if picking a Derry/Kerry team Derry might have more but dont know about comfortably.I would def have Glass and Rogers midfield.McKinless cb and McKaigue and McGuigan would make my team.5 certs for Derry on my team but id have Shane Ryan in goals and Jason Foley Fb and of course Seanie O Shea and the two Cliffords are my certs too with the other 5 positions up for grabs but id lean towards Gavin White and Graham O Sullivan too.All in all Id have at least 7 Kerry on the first fifteen. Conor McCloskey is a cert, look at how he nullified Paudie Clifford in last year's semi and he's got 3 goals in Div 1 this year as well. Very strong cases for Eoin McEvoy, Conor Doherty and McGrogan too but they are debatable. Ethan Doherty is also a cert and would also be hard to leave McFaul out.
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Post by thehermit on Mar 25, 2024 13:04:34 GMT
Picking up on a few points made above, I too would be worried about the lack of goals we are scoring at the moment. Even more so Seanie's points kicking ability from the sport seems to have gone of the proverbial cliff. Whatever is going on there it needs to be addressed with urgency.
We have been ponderous and lateral in attack, that was again evident a lot yesterday. There is a lack of dynamism and all too often you have the ball being shipped to people who are standing still instead of coming off the shoulder with pace and directness. Its very hard to generate the required momentum and space in those situations as it gives the defence in front of you vital time to reset itself. In fairness Joe was able at times to generate penetration even from a standing start but this is something that needs to be worked on big time from Portugal one.
However a caveat to all the bemoaning of our slow lateral play (as well as our high injury count) must surely be the weather and its impact on pitches. I rarely remember such an unceasing amount of rainfall that has assailed this country, arguably since early last July. I'd sink walking out into the back garden at home and the first cut of the lawns down here (now resembling meadows) is still a long, long way off. For all the improvements in our inter-county pitches this must be taken into account surely?
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Post by edgeofthesquare on Mar 25, 2024 13:27:40 GMT
I agree on both. Derry have been exceptionally fit throughout the league. It is a strategy that Mickey Harte has decided on and it serves the purpose of building the players' confidence and conveying to them that he knows how to win. The down side is that they must stay fresh to the end of July. Dublin are playing with an edge because the have a plethora of players competing for places, good honest players, there is no Diarmuid Connolly there. The continuous edge will also challenge their freshness. I'm a long time lurker on this forum and Derry fan. It's nothing to do with fitness imo. Every team is fit at this stage and we've had our fair share of injuries this league too which hasn't been well documented. Derry have very good players all over the pitch, that's why they topped the league table. I appreciate we'll only get that recognition in the south when we beat Kerry or Dublin in a big game. A combined Kerry Derry team would comfortably have more Derry players imo, the difference is your 3 certs are very very good. Shane Ryan Tom O’Sullivan Chrissy McKaigue Conor McCluskey Graham O’Sullivan Tadhg Morley Gareth McKinless Conor Glass Brendan Rogers Paudie Clifford Sean O’Shea Ciaran McFaul Paul Cassidy David Clifford Shane McGuigan Derry 8-7 Kerry A lot of close calls.
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horsebox77
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Post by horsebox77 on Mar 25, 2024 13:36:59 GMT
Regardless of Derry and Dublin league final, my gut tells me, Jimmy is planning am ambush with Donegal - I actually think Donegal are waiting for Derry in the long grass...
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Post by colinsworth1 on Mar 25, 2024 14:35:46 GMT
Also Comber walsh and McDaid to come back in for Galway Plenty room to improve there too
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Post by thehermit on Mar 25, 2024 14:43:54 GMT
Also Comber walsh and McDaid to come back in for Galway Plenty room to improve there too Joyce's comments after the game suggested its a long way back for almost all of their missing main men. From what he's saying the Connacht Championship might be too soon. You'd have to wonder, given that, if Galway will make any impression on events this summer.
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pony
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Post by pony on Mar 25, 2024 14:49:53 GMT
With regard to the league overall, I think it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt to be honest. Supporters mindset around the league needs to change, as the teams involved clearly have changed theirs, yes, the loss to Dublin was disappointing, as you want to make a statement, but not fatal, or not that big of a deal IMO. The media will always big up these games so we'll tune in.
Outside of Div. 2, any bit of importance it once had, is now gone, I feel. Before this new calendar teams could go at the league as there was always that time after to train harder for championship, as it is now, there is no time, so you'd presume teams are training hard enough throughout the league, they all seem to be at different levels of fitness, and all this to preserve the nonsense provincial championships.
At worst, if they are to be kept they should be moved to February, at best, gotten rid of completely. This new intercounty calendar has placed a huge workload on the players, who have to keep going with their clubs. The Cliffords, the Derry boys, Glass, McKinless etc. case in point.
I feel there were more positives than negatives this year compared to last years league, the new lads have done well. Sean O'Brien, Cillian Burke, Armin Heinrich, Dylan Geaney, Joe O'Connor ( not new I know), and the likes of Barry Dan and Adrian Spillane seem in a much better place to add something compared to last year.
Negatives, I suppose are that we didn't get a good look at Mike Breen, Ruari Murphy (no update at all on him??), Stefan Okunbor and even Cillian Burke was cut short in his run of games, and of course the long injury list. And, it's a real shame Jack Barry isn't around.
But, all in all, I think Jack and co will be pleased enough. Roll on summer
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Post by derryoak on Mar 25, 2024 15:11:17 GMT
I'm a long time lurker on this forum and Derry fan. It's nothing to do with fitness imo. Every team is fit at this stage and we've had our fair share of injuries this league too which hasn't been well documented. Derry have very good players all over the pitch, that's why they topped the league table. I appreciate we'll only get that recognition in the south when we beat Kerry or Dublin in a big game. A combined Kerry Derry team would comfortably have more Derry players imo, the difference is your 3 certs are very very good. Shane Ryan Tom O’Sullivan Chrissy McKaigue Conor McCluskey Graham O’Sullivan Tadhg Morley Gareth McKinless Conor Glass Brendan Rogers Paudie Clifford Sean O’Shea Ciaran McFaul Paul Cassidy David Clifford Shane McGuigan Derry 8-7 Kerry A lot of close calls. Clearly I'm biased but i'm taking Lynch above Shane Ryan and one of Conor Doherty/McGrogan have to start in the Hb line. These 3 players don't currently have the national reputation of Ryan, Morley or Graham O'Sullivan but I think that will change very soon.
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Post by derryoak on Mar 25, 2024 15:13:57 GMT
Also Comber walsh and McDaid to come back in for Galway Plenty room to improve there too Problem with Galway is their players have been out for a long time, it's going to take time and games to get up to speed and to get a system of play. I can't see that all happening before the group stage. I also think some of their stars of 2022 are on the decline given the level of injuries and age.
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Post by homerj on Mar 25, 2024 16:01:49 GMT
Mcguinness is saying he has never seen injuries like it. we are at record levels. Galway.
the 1st sign the split season isnt working for IC players?
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