NFL Division 1 2024

[weareros]

Could end up with a Connaught 1-2-3 in Div 1 for the 1st time ever.
Has there ever even been a Connaught 1-2 in Div 1?

It was a different format but Div 1 league semi finals in 2001 were Mayo v Roscommon* and Galway v Sligo. Mayo bet Galway in final. Roscommon beat Galway and Mayo to win Connacht final. Galway bet Roscommon in 1/4 final and went on to win All-Ireland.

* Tyrone got to play one less game due to foot and mouth and would have pipped Ros in top 2 had they won.

[armaghniac]

Could end up with a Connaught 1-2-3 in Div 1 for the 1st time ever.
Has there ever even been a Connaught 1-2 in Div 1?

It was a different format but Div 1 league semi finals in 2001 were Mayo v Roscommon and Galway v Sligo. Mayo bet Galway in final. Roscommon beat Galway and Mayo to win Connacht final. Galway bet Roscommon in 1/4 final and went on to win All-Ireland.

Another year in which Galway had a game with Armagh that might have gone either way.

[balladmaker]

I'm hoping, from an Armagh perspective, that this new over defensive strategy was just a tester in the league, and somewhere, soon, Armagh will unleash their foot passing attacking football they became known for last year.  I think they over-focused on the free flowing, attacking game last year and left the back door open, so it does no harm to strike a balance, however this ultra-defensive set-up allied with hand-passing the ball back and forwards across the 45 yard line, back and forwards, forwards and back, sideways, back again .... jeez, it's awful stuff. 

Get the ball in early to marquee forwards, and utilise O'Neill as the target man which everything hangs off ... not have Rian sweeping in the halfback line.  I don't think we'll see much change in Omagh this Sunday with Armagh trying to eek out a result anyway possible, but hopefully later in the spring when the ground hardens, we'll see more of the fast moving attacking play from 2022 ... I can't believe it has disappeared so quickly. 

Sunday will not be one for the purists ... and with more than a passing interest in proceedings in Castlebar 😳

[seafoid]

Could end up with a Connaught 1-2-3 in Div 1 for the 1st time ever.
Has there ever even been a Connaught 1-2 in Div 1?

It was a different format but Div 1 league semi finals in 2001 were Mayo v Roscommon and Galway v Sligo. Mayo bet Galway in final. Roscommon beat Galway and Mayo to win Connacht final. Galway bet Roscommon in 1/4 final and went on to win All-Ireland.

Another year in which Galway had a game with Armagh that might have gone either way.

Indeed  and who won the All Ireland the year after ?

[illdecide]

Mayo - Good side who will not be far away and should be in the thick of it come business time.
Galway - Could win it and have a feeling it could be their year
Kerry - Will be there or there abouts, they'll get better the longer the summer goes on. Knock them out early if you can.
Rossies - Are a decent side and have a big result in them but won't win SAM
Armagh - Same as Roscommon (see above). Are not as good as some people think but not as bad as they're currently showing.
Tyrone - Slightly ahead of Roscommon and Armagh but can't see them winning SAM tbh.
Monaghan - Decent hardy team that will fall short
Donegal - Always produce great players and could shock some teams but will not win SAM...




I think the All Ireland will go to the West this year, I have a sneaky feeling for Galway and by the look of it Mayo could be in the thick of it too. Kerry will always pose a threat no matter who they have and will get better as the summer goes on. From Div 1 for me only Galway, Mayo & Kerry can win SAM this year.

[naka]

Could end up with a Connaught 1-2-3 in Div 1 for the 1st time ever.
Has there ever even been a Connaught 1-2 in Div 1?

It was a different format but Div 1 league semi finals in 2001 were Mayo v Roscommon and Galway v Sligo. Mayo bet Galway in final. Roscommon beat Galway and Mayo to win Connacht final. Galway bet Roscommon in 1/4 final and went on to win All-Ireland.

Another year in which Galway had a game with Armagh that might have gone either way.

Indeed  and who won the All Ireland the year after ?

seafoid,
i would change the medication if you think Armagh have a chance at winning Sam in 2023

on a bigger note
any idea what the position is with ONeil and Morgan

[Milltown Row2]

Now that the dust has settled a bit I'll give you my two bobs worth on Armagh...We have lost the plot, Armagh have great forwards and playing them all in our own half back line is a sin. I get what KMcG is trying to achieve by pulling everyone back and trying to hit the other teams on the counter as we're poor defensively atm but it's not working. I love Armagh and have followed them all my life and I'm considering taking a sabbatical away as I genuinely can't watch that crap atm. I honestly would rather be beaten and having a go/rattle than get beaten in a close game that was like watch grass grow.
For some reason our top forwards are all below par and seem to be short of confidence...do we go for a shoot out with the Kerry's etc and get humped as we'll be left exposed at the back?...I dunno but if we're still losing anyway why not try it out and see. We have to go to Omagh next week and Tyrone will love nothing more than relegating Armagh and we will only have ourselves to blame for this mess as we had a chance to win every game so far and couldn't manage it, from what i have seen the 3 teams at the bottom are the worst teams in Div 1 and there's nothing between Monaghan and Armagh so whoever has the goolies for it next week will stay up.

I know i'm a bit old school here but can someone please tell me why all forwards are afraid to shoot from 30-45m out, this is from all the games in general. Are forwards told not to shoot unless it's in front of the posts...is this a % thing?. you see guys in what i think is a scoreable position but they won't shoot and recycle the ball across and back and across and back and across and back before someone gets dispossed and the counter attack starts...WTF. You're a County footballer, get within 30-45m and pop the the ball over the bar. Even at club level I played with guys who didn't think twice about shooting from those ranges and hardly ever missed...Maybe the footballer is being replaced with an athlete now and fitness/strength is preferred to a proper footballer...

Rant over...

This is right through the county game and club game, even down to minor, players are told not to shoot unless in the scoring zone, thats the big D or inside the 21, all about the percentages and retaining possession, the ball could make its way back from 30 yards out to back to the keeper just to retain possession. The latest I've seen now at club level is all the players when not in possession shouting to head back to the 45...

Putting up a wall along that line, win back possession and quick turnover attacks, they are happy enough to give away fouls before they reach the 45 to slow down attacks and allow teams time to settle into their defensive formations..

What referee's start needing to do is be harder on those little fouls and apply cards

[J70]

I was listening to Brendan Devenney's podcast this morning.

He had John Casey on for any Mayo folk interested in his opinion on their team (he was optimistic, but playing things down a tiny bit on account of Mayo maybe being slightly ahead of the pack on prep and also looking back to last year).

Devenney ended the show by proposing (maybe tongue in cheek, as it goes against everything he's been calling for for years, which he admitted!) that Donegal should consider reverting back to packing out the defense for this year, just to give themselves a chance of staying in games. His logic being that we don't currently have a forward threat anyway. Personally, if I have to sit through another season of the fearful, ultra-negative shite we've served up since the 2020 Ulster Final, I'm probably done. Whether Paddy Carr and his team can catch up and put a good game plan together remains to be seen, but he HAS to at least set the team up to have a go. If they end up in getting beaten out of it for a year or two, so be it.

[blanketattack]

Could end up with a Connaught 1-2-3 in Div 1 for the 1st time ever.
Has there ever even been a Connaught 1-2 in Div 1?

It was a different format but Div 1 league semi finals in 2001 were Mayo v Roscommon* and Galway v Sligo. Mayo bet Galway in final. Roscommon beat Galway and Mayo to win Connacht final. Galway bet Roscommon in 1/4 final and went on to win All-Ireland.

* Tyrone got to play one less game due to foot and mouth and would have pipped Ros in top 2 had they won.

Crazy times!
I see 2002 All-Ireland finalists Armagh and Kerry were both essentially in Div 3 in the 2002 League (Called Div 2A. but win a Div 1A, and Div 1B ahead of them). Or you could say Div 3.5 as Div 2B had equal status as 2A, with London and Wicklow in 2A.

[Armamike]

Mayo - Another year another false dawn
Galway - Grinding out results - if they can get Comer & Walsh firing on all cylinders they will kick out. Great midfield
Kerry - No need to even think about peaking yet - currently just going through the motions
Rossies - Many teams in the league seemed to underestimate them - will be happy with the finish but do nothing as usual come cship
Armagh - Not a clue what McGeeney has done with this team. From all out attack to all out defence. Deserve to go down
Tyrone - Starting to come good and I still dont think we have clicked. Will be a test for any team in the round robins
Monaghan - Could have the great escape yet again - wont count come cship time unless McManus & Mcarron are 100%
Donegal - Shambles of a set up on and off the field

Don't necessarily disagree about Armagh deserving to go down but if we beat Tyrone and finish on 7. Or we lose and Mayo breath Monaghan then we will have deserved to stay up. Barely

It's simple.  If we get more points than the bottom two we deserve to stay up. Anything else is subjective.

[Armagh18]

Mayo - Another year another false dawn
Galway - Grinding out results - if they can get Comer & Walsh firing on all cylinders they will kick out. Great midfield
Kerry - No need to even think about peaking yet - currently just going through the motions
Rossies - Many teams in the league seemed to underestimate them - will be happy with the finish but do nothing as usual come cship
Armagh - Not a clue what McGeeney has done with this team. From all out attack to all out defence. Deserve to go down
Tyrone - Starting to come good and I still dont think we have clicked. Will be a test for any team in the round robins
Monaghan - Could have the great escape yet again - wont count come cship time unless McManus & Mcarron are 100%
Donegal - Shambles of a set up on and off the field

Don't necessarily disagree about Armagh deserving to go down but if we beat Tyrone and finish on 7. Or we lose and Mayo breath Monaghan then we will have deserved to stay up. Barely

It's simple.  If we get more points than the bottom two we deserve to stay up. Anything else is subjective.

If we do stay up this year it'll be more a case of us being less shite than 2 very poor teams in Monaghan and Donegal than us being good.

Will be no bad teams next year if we manage to stay up so we will need a better league campaign for sure.

[seafoid]

Mayo - Another year another false dawn
Galway - Grinding out results - if they can get Comer & Walsh firing on all cylinders they will kick out. Great midfield
Kerry - No need to even think about peaking yet - currently just going through the motions
Rossies - Many teams in the league seemed to underestimate them - will be happy with the finish but do nothing as usual come cship
Armagh - Not a clue what McGeeney has done with this team. From all out attack to all out defence. Deserve to go down
Tyrone - Starting to come good and I still dont think we have clicked. Will be a test for any team in the round robins
Monaghan - Could have the great escape yet again - wont count come cship time unless McManus & Mcarron are 100%
Donegal - Shambles of a set up on and off the field

Don't necessarily disagree about Armagh deserving to go down but if we beat Tyrone and finish on 7. Or we lose and Mayo breath Monaghan then we will have deserved to stay up. Barely

It's simple.  If we get more points than the bottom two we deserve to stay up. Anything else is subjective.

If we do stay up this year it'll be more a case of us being less shite than 2 very poor teams in Monaghan and Donegal than us being good.

Will be no bad teams next year if we manage to stay up so we will need a better league campaign for sure.

Armagh have a far better score difference than the 2 laggers.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/results/gaa/2023/6321/tables/

[APM]

On Armagh's misfiring, Cahair O'Kane has a good article in today's Irish News.  He makes an important point about them not having a settled team and how their defence is working but attack is malfunctioning.  The management would probably argue that this lack of continuity has been forced due to injuries, but there are only about 5 positions that are settled assuming no injuries to these players.  Those being FB (Forker), CHB (McCabe), Grugan (CHF), Murnin (FF).  The only other certainties is that either Hall or Comiskey will start at 10.  McKay is generally in the full back line.

I couldn't really tell you who or what our midfield is.  To a large degree team-sheets are irrelevant and positions are only relevant for the throw-in.  Our full forward, corner forward and goalkeeper compete for kickouts.  When we defend, we flood the defense and when we go forward, we flood the attack. So the question isn't necessarily what position the player is playing, but whether they are given the same role every week and they know where they will slot in.  From no.7 up, it's very hard to tell.   

[Maroon Manc]

Galway have had a good league, I know most of us would have been delighted to be in this position before a ball had been kicked and got worse losing Comer & Finnerty in the opening games.

Defensively depth has been added which is surprising Silke & Molloy were already missing but Hernon, O'Flaherty, McGrath & Eoghan Kelly and possibly Mulcahy look comfortable at this level so Joyce will be delighted. O'Flaherty is still u20 whilst McGrath and Hernon would be u21's and Eoghan Kelly has only been taking football seriously the last few years so definite scope for more improvement. Hernon has played very little football the last 18 months due to injury.

Culhane must be frustrated as he knows he'd have got a decent run with the big guns in attack missing but certainly played his part on Saturday and his 2nd mark was really well worked something Galway probably haven't used as much as they should.

Fairly sure I heard Fitzmaurice say Molloy will back for the summer, now we've all heard is recovery is going well but that would seem very fanciful given the nature of his injury.

As Mouview stated midfield is a worry as McDaid clearly is carrying an injury and think Conroy will struggle to last 70 minutes come the summer. Will need to see more of Maher, not convinced how comfortable he is on the ball but its a position we're short in; James McLaughlin been unlucky with injuries so far but he's going to have a lot of hype to live upto.


Goes without saying the issue in net will continue, don't see Joyce dropping Gleeson.

Galway are going nicely but are still going to rely on top players staying fit, I do think the good news is Galway have more top players then they did last year.

[twohands!!!]

I was listening to Brendan Devenney's podcast this morning.

He had John Casey on for any Mayo folk interested in his opinion on their team (he was optimistic, but playing things down a tiny bit on account of Mayo maybe being slightly ahead of the pack on prep and also looking back to last year).

Devenney ended the show by proposing (maybe tongue in cheek, as it goes against everything he's been calling for for years, which he admitted!) that Donegal should consider reverting back to packing out the defense for this year, just to give themselves a chance of staying in games. His logic being that we don't currently have a forward threat anyway. Personally, if I have to sit through another season of the fearful, ultra-negative shite we've served up since the 2020 Ulster Final, I'm probably done. Whether Paddy Carr and his team can catch up and put a good game plan together remains to be seen, but he HAS to at least set the team up to have a go. If they end up in getting beaten out of it for a year or two, so be it.

I think one of the problems Donegal have currently (from what I've seen of them this year) is that they are constantly so slow getting the ball out of defence.
Just seem absolutely allergic to kicking it forward out of defence instead constantly runnning and hand-passing out of defence which is just an absolute gift for any team playing them who have all the time in the world to get men back and set in their defensive structure against them.
I'd put a serious chunk of the lack of forward threat down to the slow/poor quality of the ball going in to the forwards who are trying to break down already set in place defences.
I would say that the stats are fairly damming in terms of the ball that is worked up the field by hand and how often this results in scores and the overall lack of kickpassing by the Donegal team.
I wouldn't hold out much hope for any significant changes this year. In a way relegation might possibly be good for Donegal as it might force them to change their overall approach in Division 2 next year so they go with an overall approach to taking risks which is more about winning games as opposed to not losing games.