NFL Division 1 - 2020

Started by thejuice, January 07, 2020, 12:18:22 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

J70

Quote from: Captain Obvious on February 09, 2020, 07:39:53 PM
Quote from: Captain Obvious on February 04, 2020, 11:23:51 PM
A good opportunity for Galway to pick up away win as Donegal are poor in O'Donnell Park.



Nah, in the case of Donegal in O'Donnell Park, you're simply living up to your name with predictions like that!

Fear ón Srath Bán

Quote from: Main Street on February 09, 2020, 08:45:38 PM
Quote from: Fear ón Srath Bán on February 09, 2020, 04:55:33 PM
Rumours of our demise have, quite possibly, been greatly exaggerated :D ;)
Mud wrestling reprieve in Dork.

Yeah, yeah, whatever -- 'tis called winning, you know.  :P
Carlsberg don't do Gombeenocracies, but by jaysus if they did...

Main Street

Quote from: Fear ón Srath Bán on February 10, 2020, 12:06:44 AM
Quote from: Main Street on February 09, 2020, 08:45:38 PM
Quote from: Fear ón Srath Bán on February 09, 2020, 04:55:33 PM
Rumours of our demise have, quite possibly, been greatly exaggerated :D ;)
Mud wrestling reprieve in Dork.

Yeah, yeah, whatever -- 'tis called winning, you know.  :P
No doubt the Tyrone boys did good on Sunday and the deep trauma tremors from getting run ragged by Monaghan didn't rear their ugly head.
But tomorrow's another day.

tyroneman

Quote from: Main Street on February 10, 2020, 01:20:40 AM
Quote from: Fear ón Srath Bán on February 10, 2020, 12:06:44 AM
Quote from: Main Street on February 09, 2020, 08:45:38 PM
Quote from: Fear ón Srath Bán on February 09, 2020, 04:55:33 PM
Rumours of our demise have, quite possibly, been greatly exaggerated :D ;)
Mud wrestling reprieve in Dork.

Yeah, yeah, whatever -- 'tis called winning, you know.  :P
No doubt the Tyrone boys did good on Sunday and the deep trauma tremors from getting run ragged by Monaghan didn't rear their ugly head.
But tomorrow's another day.

Good to see alright...thought our boys might have needed the comfort of playing Monaghan in Croke park to wash those memories away

GetOverTheBar

Have to say though, for all the twisting here about rights and wrongs. The games so far in the NFL have been great stuff, high drama/high scores. Dublin/Kerry - Dublin/Monaghan - Tyrone/Kerry - Galway/Monaghan....all great exhibitions.

The league is where it's at.

Main Street

I was surprised by just how much Donegal spent waffling latterly both directions with the ball for 10 or 15 minutes  when they desperately needed two points.  In contrast Tyrone engineered an execution, a brilliant mark and point scored by McCurry, who probably woke up this morning still grinning widely.


Maroon Manc

I thought Joe McQuillan was very very poor, very soft frees given too both teams for nothing and then very obvious frees not given. There was several instances of over carrying too which were blatantly obvious and missed. Its clearly not just McQuillan but too many players are picking up bookings for high challenges when players are just ducking into challenges.


greatpoint

Quote from: Main Street on February 10, 2020, 12:21:14 PM
I was surprised by just how much Donegal spent waffling latterly both directions with the ball for 10 or 15 minutes  when they desperately needed two points.  In contrast Tyrone engineered an execution, a brilliant mark and point scored by McCurry, who probably woke up this morning still grinning widely.

Donegal engineered at least three scoring opportunities at the end of the game by recycling patiently. One was scored (then disallowed) and Murphy should really have scored that free at the end to level it.

TheGreatest

A awful lot of negativity, Division 1 has been excellent so far, there was 4 games at the weekend, 2 draws and a point separating the other two matches.

Its by far the best competition format we have.

J70

Quote from: greatpoint on February 10, 2020, 01:07:45 PM
Quote from: Main Street on February 10, 2020, 12:21:14 PM
I was surprised by just how much Donegal spent waffling latterly both directions with the ball for 10 or 15 minutes  when they desperately needed two points.  In contrast Tyrone engineered an execution, a brilliant mark and point scored by McCurry, who probably woke up this morning still grinning widely.

Donegal engineered at least three scoring opportunities at the end of the game by recycling patiently. One was scored (then disallowed) and Murphy should really have scored that free at the end to level it.

You could see he was trying to measure it in the breeze, but overdid it slightly. Just unlucky.

Galway hit a couple from play earlier at the other end which were brilliantly judged.

Think we'll have a tough time staying up now, even if the performances haven't been too bad. We do tend to be very open down the middle in the league the last few years, so we're always going to give up a couple of goals.

Main Street

Quote from: greatpoint on February 10, 2020, 01:07:45 PM
Quote from: Main Street on February 10, 2020, 12:21:14 PM
I was surprised by just how much Donegal spent waffling latterly both directions with the ball for 10 or 15 minutes  when they desperately needed two points.  In contrast Tyrone engineered an execution, a brilliant mark and point scored by McCurry, who probably woke up this morning still grinning widely.

Donegal engineered at least three scoring opportunities at the end of the game by recycling patiently. One was scored (then disallowed) and Murphy should really have scored that free at the end to level it.
Recycycling patiently or endlessly passing the ball along the lateral path going nowhere for 15 minutes?
That free slightly inside the lateral path was a foul on McHugh but cheaply conceded, but that was only a chance to  level the game at  the death.
We'll see how that tactic works against Monaghan and Tyrone, from a Monaghan perspective I'm glad we're shod of it.

greatpoint

Quote from: Main Street on February 10, 2020, 01:48:48 PM
Quote from: greatpoint on February 10, 2020, 01:07:45 PM
Quote from: Main Street on February 10, 2020, 12:21:14 PM
I was surprised by just how much Donegal spent waffling latterly both directions with the ball for 10 or 15 minutes  when they desperately needed two points.  In contrast Tyrone engineered an execution, a brilliant mark and point scored by McCurry, who probably woke up this morning still grinning widely.

Donegal engineered at least three scoring opportunities at the end of the game by recycling patiently. One was scored (then disallowed) and Murphy should really have scored that free at the end to level it.
Recycycling patiently or endlessly passing the ball along the lateral path going nowhere for 15 minutes?
That free slightly inside the lateral path was a foul on McHugh but cheaply conceded, but that was only a chance to  level the game at  the death.
We'll see how that tactic works against Monaghan and Tyrone, from a Monaghan perspective I'm glad we're shod of it.

And what about the disallowed point before that and the other free they missed? You were comparing Tyrone working an opportunity for a score to Donegal's approach. My point is that Donegal engineered three scoring opportunities while they were a point down at the end of the game, they just didn't score any (well one was disallowed.)

Do you think for some reason they are the only team that recycle the ball laterally to draw out a packed defence?

Blowitupref

#492
The way this league is going a lot that was tipping Galway to reach the final could turn out to be right.

Plenty of similarities about the tribesmen current league campaign and 2018. I'm not sure about the shackles off approach as Pat Spillane was suggesting last night afterall they are scoring around the same as two years ago.

The battle to avoid relegation and join Meath in division 2 will be a intriguing watch. That home defeat yesterday and late late draw at home to Mayo could prove very costly for Donegal. They have have Tyrone, Kerry and Dublin away to play in their remaining 4 games
Is the ref going to finally blow his whistle?... No, he's going to blow his nose

Main Street

Quote from: greatpoint on February 10, 2020, 02:00:06 PM
Quote from: Main Street on February 10, 2020, 01:48:48 PM
Quote from: greatpoint on February 10, 2020, 01:07:45 PM
Quote from: Main Street on February 10, 2020, 12:21:14 PM
I was surprised by just how much Donegal spent waffling latterly both directions with the ball for 10 or 15 minutes  when they desperately needed two points.  In contrast Tyrone engineered an execution, a brilliant mark and point scored by McCurry, who probably woke up this morning still grinning widely.

Donegal engineered at least three scoring opportunities at the end of the game by recycling patiently. One was scored (then disallowed) and Murphy should really have scored that free at the end to level it.
Recycycling patiently or endlessly passing the ball along the lateral path going nowhere for 15 minutes?
That free slightly inside the lateral path was a foul on McHugh but cheaply conceded, but that was only a chance to  level the game at  the death.
We'll see how that tactic works against Monaghan and Tyrone, from a Monaghan perspective I'm glad we're shod of it.

And what about the disallowed point before that and the other free they missed? You were comparing Tyrone working an opportunity for a score to Donegal's approach. My point is that Donegal engineered three scoring opportunities while they were a point down at the end of the game, they just didn't score any (well one was disallowed.)

Do you think for some reason they are the only team that recycle the ball laterally to draw out a packed defence?
It didn't work and looked aimlesss. Only team or not the only team is besides the point, but hey it's your county or your county's tactic.
This is coming from a reformed lateral.

An Fhairche Abu

It was not quite the smash and grab Kerry pulled off last week but Galway are very fortunate to have won that match in Letterkenny, overall I would say that Galway probably just about deserved a draw on the basis of a much improved second half performance but we couldn't have complained too much if Donegal took the full two points either to be honest, to let a seven point lead slip in those conditions was more than careless. That said Donegal were presented with multiple opportunities to salvage at least a draw and could not.

I've seen some Donegal supporters are claiming that the Galway players pressurised the umpires into overturning the Murphy point that was ruled a square ball but if you closely watch the replay of the score the umpire on the left was pointing straight to the square for the infringement as soon as the ball went over the bar. Whether Murphy was in or not I couldn't tell at the match and the TV angle isn't wide enough to make a definite judgement, you can't just guess that he was outside the square when the ball was kicked.
That being said about supporters, I must have a brief word for the locals that were in my vicinity in the stand, regardless of the way the match was going for Donegal they were the epitome of what a good supporter should be, more than happy to call the match as it was for both sides, stanch encouragement to their own throughout and no abuse of the opposition. Shook hands at the end of the match despite the narrow loss and said best of luck for the rest of the year, nicer people you couldn't meet.

Galway were not good in the first half at all, at half time I couldn't see where Galway would pull even a draw out of the match, with the wind to come for Donegal. Turned out that the wind played a bit of havoc for both teams though, Galway had some awful wides in the first half but Donegal had some very poor wides in the second half also including that inexplicable last kick of the game wide for Murphy. I was in the stand so it looked a bad enough miss from there but when I saw it back on the TV last night, I couldn't believe it.
Donegal owned the ball for a lot of the first half and retained the ball at their ease at times, it was terrific play against the wind. The amount of misplaced passes in the first half from Galway wasn't what you want to see and goes back to a flaw that was there against Kerry as well, playing kick passes for the sake of it when they simply aren't on, there's a happy medium to be found there. They played a lot more through the hand in the second half because of the conditions and were far more successful.

Good save from Mogan's shot by Gleeson at the start of the match but the goalkeeping performances went downhill after that. Clear black card for the peno, don't know what he was at with the attempt to save via the feet, it isn't soccer.
I didn't realise how bad O'Beolain's attempt to win the ball against O Baoill was at the match either, having seen it back he could have had no complaints if he got a straight red card to be honest, you could brake someone's leg at that. Kickouts were a mixed bag but didn't do anything too reckless.

To be honest the vagaries of the cards given out on any given matchday is hard to fathom and totally dependent on the ref, not sure what McGee should have got for his dunt on McDaid on the sideline when he ended up with a yellow but it was a totally unnecessary hit. Daly second yellow was deserved.
While Paul Brennan saw black for the foul on Comer, I'd have a lot more sympathy for him as it was more of a tangle where he fell on Comer trying to tackle. By rule it's a black but was it really cynical? Possibly but it's not the type of foul that warrants 10 minutes off the pitch.
The simply awful "tackle" on McDaid by Mogan is a very different matter however. Shoulder into the back of a player designed to take him out and stop an attack. It was the definition of a cynical foul, stopping the Galway counter attack after a fantastic Daly turnover while cynically hurting the player who was totally exposed to the hit. Yet there was no card for this incident as Donegal subbed him off immediately - how did McQuillan let that happen? To me that Mogan tackle was far worse than Brennan who at least was making an honest effort but just got caught out, one got a black, the other one just left an opponent with a concussion.
On timekeeping it's come to the stage where they might be better off taking it out of the referee's hands, McQuillan was playing for the draw yesterday whatever about the justification for any more additional time, it's happening too much.
Galway need to work the lazy tackling technique as well, spending way too much of games down to 14 men. For Galway another note in terms of discipline, John Concannon needs to cool the jets out on the pitch as Galway's maor foirne, nonsense behaviour from him in the first half yesterday, he'll get sent to the stands if he keeps it up.

Johnny Heaney looks back to near his best after a very sub-par 2019, always seems to pop up on the end of moves when he is going well, he has an unreal goal scoring record for Galway in fairness.
Sean Kelly had his hands full when he was matched up with Murphy but didn't back down in the physical stakes and done about as well as could be expected. Lovely cool finish for his goal but what he has going for him is that he is a natural athlete with an unbelievable engine.

Cunningham played fairly well I thought after his introduction, his indecision on the mark (that he didn't even know about or want, I guarantee if no whistle had been blown he'd have just played away) highlights yet another reason why this rule should be scrapped. Murphy's reward for the "supreme" skill of catching a ball while you are going out over the end line was a handy point from the 21. I've been at 5 Division One matches and another match where this rule was in place and I think that the reward for the mark is completely disproportionate to the skills executed to gain it. Kilkenny's fetch late in Croke Park is about the only one I've seen that looked like it's what they thought it would be.

John Daly again in the thick of it yesterday, a key save on the goal line, a textbook tackle in the first half to dispossess the Donegal player and start the counter attack, positionally very good and always steady in possession. While I thought he was consistently decent last year in a Galway team that was not going well, he has absolutely stepped it up to a new level in year two, could have been selected as Galway MOTM in all three league games if Shane Walsh wasn't playing on the same team. My only criticism is that he seems totally one footed and teams at the top end will maybe target that by showing him onto the weak foot when the opportunity presents itself, not as much of an issue given his playing position on the pitch perhaps but something to look out for maybe down the line.

Just on the subject of Daly, listening to Anthony Moyles on OTB AM this morning, he had clearly only watched the highlights on TV last night and basically from the one clip of the 2nd Donegal goal formed the opinion that "Galway have issues at 6" when nothing could be further from the truth.
It's absolutely laughable that GAA pundits continue to spoof away with these guessed generalities, ex-players should know vastly more than the punters in the stands and it's this insight and accumulated knowledge that we want to hear, just say you didn't see the match fully and provide the analysis on the games that you did. In contrast I did note from Aidan O'Rourke's coaching column for RTE that he highlighted Galway's "scramble defence" as not good enough throughout the Kerry match and especially for the last two Kerry scores that clinched it. He outlined John Daly's slow reaction to the developing attacks for both scores, having watched it back I think it's harsh to pin the blame with Daly (particularly for Spillane's point) but at least there's a solid analysis made to back up the critique, more of that please.

Again yesterday Steede didn't look up to the standard of inter county, it might be that he's just not got the pace to play as well he does at club level, you wouldn't have known he was on the pitch in Letterkenny he was so out of the game. Galway improved in both the Kerry and Donegal matches when he exited the pitch, Conroy and Comer far more impactful out there. Interesting to see how long Joyce will persist in trying to see will he get up to speed. Comer was effective out at midfield in the second half but I'd like to see him closer to goal with a properly functioning midfield partnership there instead.

Shane Walsh was again integral to Galway yesterday, two scores from play that were of the highest quality and he had a key role in the vital first goal, because after another incisive run his hand pass was inch perfect into Heaney's stride. His pass into Comer in the first half was a thing of absolute beauty but the Comer's finish didn't match it. Galway would be in serious trouble without him so it seems almost churlish to raise it but the reality is that the free taking issue remains, Walsh had shots from a mark in the first half and the free he skied with his left in the second half which you would expect a top class freetaker to score. He will get 7/10 from frees but it needs to be 9/10 at Division One level. Outside of that he is simply playing outstanding stuff, liking the Mikasa gloves as well!

M Daly improved performance yesterday, on a lot more ball, unlucky to hit the post in first half and a great score against the wind. Needs to put that as a baseline and improve from there.

Boyle gave some pure honesty of effort yesterday in tackling and covering ground, you couldn't fault him at all in this respect but he isn't imposing himself as either a scoring threat or a score creator inside the 45, it's hard to think he'll be able to get up to speed in these areas.
Finnerty kicked two nice scores and rebounded well in general play from his no show in Tralee, he'll be pushing all year for a starting place.

Tyrone result will tell whether Galway can aim for a top four finish or have to look back at the last two spots, the Division is very tight for all the teams outside of Meath, the way things are going a team could be relegated on 6 points.