Tir Eoghain v Dún na nGall - NFL Roinn 1 Babhta 3 - Dé Domhnaigh 3rd Márta 2pm

[ziggysego]

Lets get this started.

[From the Bunker]

There will be a strange battle of wits between the managers here. Both will probably not want to show to much of their hand, not this early in the year. Allot of people who were at the Tyrone/Mayo match were saying Tyrone were tactically getting ready for Donegal in the league and used this game. I don't think so (well not 100%).! Mickey Harte will have a go at beating Donegal, but if there is some tactic or formation that he has in mind, he will want to hold that in reserve for the Championship. And may sacrifice a loss of points in the League. An AI for Tyrone may be a small bit outta reach for Tyrone this year, but if Tyrone get over Donegal, then the Anglo celt cup is theirs. And that would mark a good season.

[Fuzzman]

I think Jimmy McGuinness is very well tuned in to all that Mickey Harte will have up his sleeve. He has studied Mickey for years and copied a lot from him and other managers and coaches. Therefore I think both team will be all out to win, even though Jimmy has said otherwise to the media.

I can see this being a tight match and if Donegal have McFadden & Murphy playing then they'll be in with a good shout.

[God14]

Murphy is in serious form just now. He's finally fully fit & injury free, and as a result is just about unmarkable. I cant think of a better forward in the country at the moment.

[cadence]

There will be a strange battle of wits between the managers here. Both will probably not want to show to much of their hand, not this early in the year. Allot of people who were at the Tyrone/Mayo match were saying Tyrone were tactically getting ready for Donegal in the league and used this game. I don't think so (well not 100%).! Mickey Harte will have a go at beating Donegal, but if there is some tactic or formation that he has in mind, he will want to hold that in reserve for the Championship. And may sacrifice a loss of points in the League. An AI for Tyrone may be a small bit outta reach for Tyrone this year, but if Tyrone get over Donegal, then the Anglo celt cup is theirs. And that would mark a good season.

it's an intriguing one alright... they may go flat out and try to test each other so that lessons can be learned and worked on for the championship game. don't think this is likely. it takes two to tango, so it might be that one side doesn't show up and wants to just sacrifice the game. and then i think the most likely is that both teams could not really turn up and it could be more like skirmishes to test the opposition's strengths and weaknesses than a full on battle itself. have a feeling both managers will not reveal too much. why would they? wouldn't make much sense. lose the league points if they have to is what i think they're thinking.

[trileacman]

Harte doesn't know if his young guns will cut the mustard at county level. He'll play a best 15, going hell for leather, and find out if Kane, McBride, RON, Donnelly, McAliskey, McNeice, McCurry and McNamee are going to be good enough. McGuinness will play an experimental 15 (sort of) as it is in omagh he won't really need to win it. I'd say he'll be more interested in the Tyrone performance than Donegal's.

[cadence]

Harte doesn't know if his young guns will cut the mustard at county level. He'll play a best 15, going hell for leather, and find out if Kane, McBride, RON, Donnelly, McAliskey, McNeice, McCurry and McNamee are going to be good enough. McGuinness will play an experimental 15 (sort of) as it is in omagh he won't really need to win it. I'd say he'll be more interested in the Tyrone performance than Donegal's.

do you think harte needs to test his best against donegal? he's wily.

[trileacman]

There will be a strange battle of wits between the managers here. Both will probably not want to show to much of their hand, not this early in the year. Allot of people who were at the Tyrone/Mayo match were saying Tyrone were tactically getting ready for Donegal in the league and used this game. I don't think so (well not 100%).! Mickey Harte will have a go at beating Donegal, but if there is some tactic or formation that he has in mind, he will want to hold that in reserve for the Championship. And may sacrifice a loss of points in the League. An AI for Tyrone may be a small bit outta reach for Tyrone this year, but if Tyrone get over Donegal, then the Anglo celt cup is theirs. And that would mark a good season.

it's an intriguing one alright... they may go flat out and try to test each other so that lessons can be learned and worked on for the championship game. don't think this is likely. it takes two to tango, so it might be that one side doesn't show up and wants to just sacrifice the game. and then i think the most likely is that both teams could not really turn up and it could be more like skirmishes to test the opposition's strengths and weaknesses than a full on battle itself. have a feeling both managers will not reveal too much. why would they? wouldn't make much sense. lose the league points if they have to is what i think they're thinking.

Donegal aren't going to have any suprises come summer so unless they start playing 6 forwards and going man for man they have nothing to reveal. Of the past 10 years I've seen of All-Ireland champions, not one has overhauled their player base of style of play in the year succeeding an AI win. Dublin/ Cork/ Kerry/ Tyrone all pretty much continued in the same vein.

[cadence]

There will be a strange battle of wits between the managers here. Both will probably not want to show to much of their hand, not this early in the year. Allot of people who were at the Tyrone/Mayo match were saying Tyrone were tactically getting ready for Donegal in the league and used this game. I don't think so (well not 100%).! Mickey Harte will have a go at beating Donegal, but if there is some tactic or formation that he has in mind, he will want to hold that in reserve for the Championship. And may sacrifice a loss of points in the League. An AI for Tyrone may be a small bit outta reach for Tyrone this year, but if Tyrone get over Donegal, then the Anglo celt cup is theirs. And that would mark a good season.

it's an intriguing one alright... they may go flat out and try to test each other so that lessons can be learned and worked on for the championship game. don't think this is likely. it takes two to tango, so it might be that one side doesn't show up and wants to just sacrifice the game. and then i think the most likely is that both teams could not really turn up and it could be more like skirmishes to test the opposition's strengths and weaknesses than a full on battle itself. have a feeling both managers will not reveal too much. why would they? wouldn't make much sense. lose the league points if they have to is what i think they're thinking.

Donegal aren't going to have any suprises come summer so unless they start playing 6 forwards and going man for man they have nothing to reveal. Of the past 10 years I've seen of All-Ireland champions, not one has overhauled their player base of style of play in the year succeeding an AI win. Dublin/ Cork/ Kerry/ Tyrone all pretty much continued in the same vein.

i think you're right about that to a degree. donegal cut our cloth depending on what we faced last year, with the emphasis on being sound defensively and we offered variations on that theme all season (as emmet over on action 81 pointed out). i can see him trying to add something new tactically to our game as this is something he's always done. from what i saw of the kildare game, i thought he tried to get us to press the opposition higher up the pitch when they had the ball. didn't work that well as we got overrun at times, but that's not to say that when players get used to that and have better fitness to implement it that it wouldn't work. same but different i reckon.

[nrico2006]

Murphy is in serious form just now. He's finally fully fit & injury free, and as a result is just about unmarkable. I cant think of a better forward in the country at the moment.

What has he scored from play in the league so far?

[RMDrive]

Murphy is in serious form just now. He's finally fully fit & injury free, and as a result is just about unmarkable. I cant think of a better forward in the country at the moment.

What has he scored from play in the league so far?

0-15 I think.

Only realised you asked about from play. Don't know the answer to that. I'd guess 0-07 or so.

[nrico2006]

Murphy is in serious form just now. He's finally fully fit & injury free, and as a result is just about unmarkable. I cant think of a better forward in the country at the moment.

What has he scored from play in the league so far?

0-15 I think.

Only realised you asked about from play. Don't know the answer to that. I'd guess 0-07 or so.

One of the best about, but IMO a forward should be judged on what he scores from play.

[RMDrive]

Murphy is in serious form just now. He's finally fully fit & injury free, and as a result is just about unmarkable. I cant think of a better forward in the country at the moment.

What has he scored from play in the league so far?

0-15 I think.

Only realised you asked about from play. Don't know the answer to that. I'd guess 0-07 or so.

One of the best about, but IMO a forward should be judged on what he scores from play.

So winning frees, setting up scores for others etc is not important for a forward?
"Judging" a forward or any player is tough to do only with scoring stats.

[nrico2006]

Murphy is in serious form just now. He's finally fully fit & injury free, and as a result is just about unmarkable. I cant think of a better forward in the country at the moment.

What has he scored from play in the league so far?

0-15 I think.

Only realised you asked about from play. Don't know the answer to that. I'd guess 0-07 or so.

One of the best about, but IMO a forward should be judged on what he scores from play.

So winning frees, setting up scores for others etc is not important for a forward?
"Judging" a forward or any player is tough to do only with scoring stats.

Of course the other attributes are important, but the unit of currency that a full forward is measured on is his scoring return.  If he is close to unmarkable as you have said, surely you would expect a more healthy scoring return than 5 points from play.

[God14]

blind alley lads...