GAILLIMH V TÍR EOGHAIN - Date: 21/03/2010 Time: 2 30 PM, Venue: Tuam Stadium

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

It seems to me that the primary objective of this NFL campaign was to give a number of non-established players the opportunity and platform on which to stake their claim for inclusion in the Championship panel. By far and away that is and was the most important objective.

Somewhere beneath that imperative would the retention of Division I status come in, and somewhere beneath that again would the winning of the NFL materialise as a realistic or desirable aim.

In that light I think that MH has succeeded, in as much as what he has had confirmed both positively and negatively, i.e., some will make the cut and some just won't cut it for the Championship (make no mistake, he has more than a good idea already of what his starting 15 will be come the Antrim game, but he's giving as many as possible the maximum chance at this stage). And whilst it would certainly be a relief to retain Div I status, it's not the end of the world if we don't either; a spell in Division II might do us no harm for a season, indeed that might even be a positive thing in itself, removing us from the top flight spotlight for a while.

None of that is to say, of course, that we should go anything less than hell for leather against either of the Kingdom or the Dubs in the remaining two games, quite the reverse. Bring them on! 

[ziggysego]

FoSB, nail on the head. MH did say before the McKenna Cup that the sole purpose was to blood new players in both that competition and the National Leage. That is what he's doing.

I fully expect the pressure to be stepped up for the Karry and Dublin games, but won't lose any sleep if we drop for the year.

[Fuzzman]

Its sure has been a strange National League so far.
Who would have thought that we'd have lost all our games to date except for beating the league leaders and probably AI favourites by many.

There is no doubt the team is in transition with players like Dooher, Gormley, Ricey, Davey, Jordan, McGinley & Brian McGuigan all showing signs of decline both in hunger and physical state. Maybe the feeling is that they no longer need to putting in so much hard work this time of year and so is why they've only went to 2 nights training a week very recently.

Other newer players though know the squad will be cut and they dont have their past glories to get them through into the squad so players like Cassidy has been busting his ass I'd say to make a big claim for a starting place.

Colm Cavanagh has improved I think and is better suited out of the FF line. It would be great if he could cut it at MF.
I'd be happy to see Collie get the 11 shirt or to play him at 13 but roving out to pick up ball.

I think with SoN back fit, Mugsy in good shape & Penrose a very improved player we've got the makings of a strong enough forward line.

Defense though is another thing & I hope Mickey finally makes some hard calls and becomes ruthless and not hoping his old reliables wont let him down.
When you look at players like Joe & Justy would they not be better suited in the half back line. Both are athletic and would add a lot of drive to the that line pushing forward. We'll have to see what Jordan is like when he returns and are we all being hard on Davey again cos it suits us or is he like many other team members just taking it slow til the summer.

I havent saw enough of McCarron but I'd like to see him make the FB line somewhere
Will Carlin finally settle into the team or continue to come in and out like before. I cant see Ricey losing his place just yet either but he's certainly making a lot more mistake like Block is of late

If I had to pick my best 6 defenders in no specific positions I'd go for

Joey
Justy
Block
Ricey
McCarron
Carlin/Red O'Neill

Leaving Gourley, Swift who else?

I'd really like to see Colm Cavanagh make MF his position along with Cass.
Maybe I'm being too sore on Hub but he's not consistent enough for me.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Its sure has been a strange National League so far.
Who would have thought that we'd have lost all our games to date except for beating the league leaders and probably AI favourites by many.

There is no doubt the team is in transition with players like Dooher, Gormley, Ricey, Davey, Jordan, McGinley & Brian McGuigan all showing signs of decline both in hunger and physical state. Maybe the feeling is that they no longer need to putting in so much hard work this time of year and so is why they've only went to 2 nights training a week very recently.

Other newer players though know the squad will be cut and they dont have their past glories to get them through into the squad so players like Cassidy has been busting his ass I'd say to make a big claim for a starting place.

Colm Cavanagh has improved I think and is better suited out of the FF line. It would be great if he could cut it at MF.
I'd be happy to see Collie get the 11 shirt or to play him at 13 but roving out to pick up ball.

I think with SoN back fit, Mugsy in good shape & Penrose a very improved player we've got the makings of a strong enough forward line.

Defense though is another thing & I hope Mickey finally makes some hard calls and becomes ruthless and not hoping his old reliables wont let him down.
When you look at players like Joe & Justy would they not be better suited in the half back line. Both are athletic and would add a lot of drive to the that line pushing forward. We'll have to see what Jordan is like when he returns and are we all being hard on Davey again cos it suits us or is he like many other team members just taking it slow til the summer.

I havent saw enough of McCarron but I'd like to see him make the FB line somewhere
Will Carlin finally settle into the team or continue to come in and out like before. I cant see Ricey losing his place just yet either but he's certainly making a lot more mistake like Block is of late

If I had to pick my best 6 defenders in no specific positions I'd go for

Joey
Justy
Block
Ricey
McCarron
Carlin/Red O'Neill

Leaving Gourley, Swift who else?

I'd really like to see Colm Cavanagh make MF his position along with Cass.
Maybe I'm being too sore on Hub but he's not consistent enough for me.

Would still say a fully fit Jordan is worth his place in the half back line. Whether he can get back fully fit is the big question. Hopefully he'll get game time in the next 2 matches. Unlike previous games thought Colm Cavanagh performed better than Cassidy yesterday who wasn't as impressive as previously. Hopefully Cassidy will improve again this week as he definately has a lot of potential.

Should never read to much into league game's but there is a lot of work to do to get the defence right. The only thing is come the summer they won't be left as exposed as they have been in the league. In the last 2 game's Harte has started a half forward line with at least 2 player's that wouldn't be defensive minded. I would imagine the defence will get a lot more support from this line come championship which will leave it less exposed.

[up tyrone]

This leaves two blood and thunder home games against Kerry and Dublin - a great way to prepare for the Championship. To defeat Kerry in Omagh would also drag the Kingdom into the relegation mire. Should be fireworks.

Does anyone else agree that deep down this may have been Micky's idea.  He wants the lasy 2 games to be meaningful and has set them up rightly, good championship preparation.  He lined out the team yesterday with this in mind.  You will see a much stronger team out for next week, with McCarron, Mugsy, Carlin, Sean O'Neill, McCusker all likely to start and probably Hub.

I must say that Colm Cavanagh looked to have had a good game although it was still round that middle third where we lost it.  Swift, Justy, Ricey and Gormley had poor days while Davey played to his normal standard (teams are starting to target his defending now as Tyrone's weak point).  I felt McAnulla and McCullagh were OK given the amount of ball that came in their direction.  As for the keeping, Devine looked rusty but still a big improvement from the previous keeper.  If we are going to persist with short and directed kick outs, then Dromore keeper Ward is the best man in the county at it, but for some reason Micky just doesn't want to know him.

As for regegation, it wont happen as we will win the last 2.

You musnt watch much club football if you think wards the best goalie in the county ,he`s an absolute clown.

[up tyrone]

As far as i know Mugsy was best man at a wedding on saturday and had arranged to miss this game months ago!

There was quite a few worrying signs yesterday, firstly after reading a lot of good things about Cassidy, it was the first time i'd seen him play this year in the flesh and i was quite disappointed. Three times he stood waiting for possession as his man nipped in front of him - surely your midfielder should be attacking these balls, i personally think he's a decent footballer, but there was a worrying lack of desire on a few occassions from him!

Secondly as previously mentioned, the short kick outs where a complete disaster. Why persist with a tactic that when not effective means losing possession inside your own 45m line and one occassion inside our own 21! This puts the team under pressure straight away!

Thridly the tactic of withdrawing Penrose in the first half and leaving a 2 man full forward is ok - but only if the two up there are ball winners and/or lightening fast. For all their attributes - McAnulla and Tommy are not strong enough ball winners to play that role together, so the ball wasnt sticking up front and so putting us under alot of pressure. Its probably a good tactic if stevie o neill and eoin mulligan are up front but not with two fairly lightweight lads!

Finally, i'm a bit concerned with the form of a few of the defence, but i'd be confident enough of these lads sorting things out by the championship!

Overall, disappointing, but a few positives such as the performance of colly mccullagh and penrose, colm cav showed he can do a job in midfield and Justy proved that we just cant afford to lose him for any length of time (Any update on his injury?)

Looking forward to the next few games as they will have a championship feel to them!!

Mugsy was at a stag,he`ll miss the dublin game as well because of a wedding.