National Football League 2024
- Thread starter Big Jim
- Start date
ShiftYa
Well-Known Member
Well if the advantage to be being in division 1 is having competitive games each round this has the potential to be the most beneficial of the league campaign.
Hopefully Donegal highlight some of our shortcomings where the weaker teams cannot, so we have time to rectify them before a clash with one of the heavyweights in an Ulster Final.
Agree with this, this game is potentially the toughest game until an Ulster final. So it's will be good to have the game, division 2 playing lower levels teams can breed confidence by winning but without a doubt division 1 every game is tough and is a good prep for championship,
Sunday wouldn't be a must win game if we had shown any ability to get over the line in big games in the past few years, but we haven't done that so we have to start getting those meaningful wins somewhere and build from there. It's a test of mentality in the group on whether they can get over the line when they face a stern test, where each team is in their preparation for later stages is almost irrelevant.
The Donegal Fermanagh game was a really low quality game by both sides. The result looks like Donegal hammered them, but it was far from the unequivocal tanking we dished out to Kildare. Fermanagh basically gave up after they conceded that first long distance goal, which was of their own making rather than any creative play from Donegal, but were well in the game up to that point. Similar for Donegal's second which secured a big win, that was more about Fermanagh's mistakes than good Donegal play. You'd have to expect a more serious Donegal will show up on Sunday, but there wasn't much to be worried about from Donegal in that game. Even tactically they weren't particularly well organised, struggled to get through Fermanagh's defence and really relied on Fermanagh making more mistakes than they did plus some better quality players to get the win. Gallen at 14 is a great player, whoever picks him up has a job on their hands.
They haven't done the aggressive hard press since the Cork game, McGuinness said they couldn't because the Fermanagh goalkeeper is an outfielder so was comfortable on the ball. That sounds like bollocks because they never tried it. Would have to expect they'll bring that hard press to us as their biggest test ahead of Derry in Ulster, and it could find success as we can struggle on kickouts and Blaine won't be as comfortable on the ball as some other intercounty goalkeepers. We'll be stuck for midfield targets if Crealy is out. Murnin can come up for them, but one target can be defended easier so we need a couple more.
I hope they do bring that press to be honest, surely a competent, ball playing defence should be able to play around them and make them run like dogs, and I'd like to see how our lads handle it. Most of our defence has been on the scene for a while so should be comfortable under a bit of pressure, with Forker capable of playing decent kick passes to the forwards to beat the press. McGrane is the newest member and he's shown he's comfortable on the ball so no real signs of worry there. This will be a good test for Turbitt Conaty McConville in the forwards as it will likely be the best defence we face in the league. If they can find a way to get enough scores to secure the win then they'll start to turn themselves into important players for us ahead of the ulster championship, which adds a dynamic to our attack that we've lacked in recent times.
The Donegal Fermanagh game was a really low quality game by both sides. The result looks like Donegal hammered them, but it was far from the unequivocal tanking we dished out to Kildare. Fermanagh basically gave up after they conceded that first long distance goal, which was of their own making rather than any creative play from Donegal, but were well in the game up to that point. Similar for Donegal's second which secured a big win, that was more about Fermanagh's mistakes than good Donegal play. You'd have to expect a more serious Donegal will show up on Sunday, but there wasn't much to be worried about from Donegal in that game. Even tactically they weren't particularly well organised, struggled to get through Fermanagh's defence and really relied on Fermanagh making more mistakes than they did plus some better quality players to get the win. Gallen at 14 is a great player, whoever picks him up has a job on their hands.
They haven't done the aggressive hard press since the Cork game, McGuinness said they couldn't because the Fermanagh goalkeeper is an outfielder so was comfortable on the ball. That sounds like bollocks because they never tried it. Would have to expect they'll bring that hard press to us as their biggest test ahead of Derry in Ulster, and it could find success as we can struggle on kickouts and Blaine won't be as comfortable on the ball as some other intercounty goalkeepers. We'll be stuck for midfield targets if Crealy is out. Murnin can come up for them, but one target can be defended easier so we need a couple more.
I hope they do bring that press to be honest, surely a competent, ball playing defence should be able to play around them and make them run like dogs, and I'd like to see how our lads handle it. Most of our defence has been on the scene for a while so should be comfortable under a bit of pressure, with Forker capable of playing decent kick passes to the forwards to beat the press. McGrane is the newest member and he's shown he's comfortable on the ball so no real signs of worry there. This will be a good test for Turbitt Conaty McConville in the forwards as it will likely be the best defence we face in the league. If they can find a way to get enough scores to secure the win then they'll start to turn themselves into important players for us ahead of the ulster championship, which adds a dynamic to our attack that we've lacked in recent times.
You mentioned that Fermanagh gave up against Donegal - well did you ever see any team give up as easily as Kildare did against us?
armaghtimmy
Well-Known Member
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jpowell100
Well-Known Member
That team won’t startArmaghball
Well-Known Member
Would be worried about physicality if that team does start, bar Crealy, Murnin and Mackin not enough high fielders imo. Thought Connaire Mackin deserved to keep his place after last week but could be changes yet.
Would say we’ll see Rian at some stage but probably not from the start, hopefully Oisin gets a longer run out too.
Would say we’ll see Rian at some stage but probably not from the start, hopefully Oisin gets a longer run out too.
jpowell100
Well-Known Member
I would be surprised if Connaire doesn’t start after last week. Maybe time to start Jarly og too
Armaghball
Well-Known Member
Just me or did Jarly not look fit last week? Was only on and a couple of times we got turned over and everyone else was sprinting back and he was going at half pace.
Murnin won’t start at wing forward to track their half backs, Cian maybe get that job of McHugh?
Difficult to be negative about this campaign so far. We were poor against louth and lucky to get the points but were mostly impressive in the last two games. Leinster football is alarmingly poor so the Donegal match will show us exactly where we're at. I think we should go all out for the win as this team has never had a winning culture or habit so personally I would be desperate to go through the league campaign (including a final) with a 100% win record. A win on Sunday should almost guarantee promotion
It was great to see connaire mackin play last week. He's like a lot of our lads in the fact that he seems to be unavailable so often. He certainly won't be dropped for this Sunday. As has been noted, our kickout will be under pressure this week so will be interesting to see how we get on.
We've used 27 players in the three league matches so far and still haven't seen:
- e.rafferty
- j.morgan, c.comiskey, c.o'hanlon (hoping he can still make an impact at county level)
- n.grimley
- r.o'neill, j.kieran
There are a few others as well you could add. Management have built a strong panel but the difficult job will be narrowing down our strongest 15 - 20.
It was great to see connaire mackin play last week. He's like a lot of our lads in the fact that he seems to be unavailable so often. He certainly won't be dropped for this Sunday. As has been noted, our kickout will be under pressure this week so will be interesting to see how we get on.
We've used 27 players in the three league matches so far and still haven't seen:
- e.rafferty
- j.morgan, c.comiskey, c.o'hanlon (hoping he can still make an impact at county level)
- n.grimley
- r.o'neill, j.kieran
There are a few others as well you could add. Management have built a strong panel but the difficult job will be narrowing down our strongest 15 - 20.
Good post. Haven't seen mcpartlan or mcquillan either we definitely have a big squad but a fair few getting up in age
Armaghball
Well-Known Member
McQuillan got a few minutes against Meath did he not?
Bar Soupy, Grugan, Murnin and Forker I think everyone else is under 30?
Paddy Burns is 30 Morgan is over it as is Rowland, shields and a few more squad members
The Dark Knight
Active Member
Think Nugent, Grimley, Rafferty will be 30 over next few months as well
Patrick-Armagh
Well-Known Member
This is going to be a tight game and a real test. Neither team will want to show too much, but they also want to win and get promotion in the bag as soon as possible. This will allow some older players to get a rest and some other squad members to get a game and stake a claim before Championship. I imagine that Donegal will push up very hard on our kick out and it's going to be the first real test for Blaine Hughes. It's also going to be test for our ball winners at midfield. I don't remember a dominant display from them recently and Donegal have some giants in that area. Kick outs has been an area that I feel we could do better in in the bigger games, especially when you see how clinical the best teams are at them. Both teams have scored well the last few matches, so hopefully it won't be a bore fest, with negative lateral passing that goes nowhere.