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Might as well start a Div 2 thread as well. Very competitive this year, most counties could be promoted or relegated and all within a short spin of each other. Well apart from Galway and Down. Kildare would be my favourites for the title but not a whole lot of daylight between them and any of the others.

Galway v Meath
Pearse Stadium

Roscommon v Cavan
Kiltoom

Westmeath v Laois
Cusack Park

Kildare v Down
Newbridge

Our annual post O'Byrne Cup hangover will do for us in this I'm afraid. I'd expect two from Meath, Galway and Down to go up.

Our focus will be on staying up.

Well we have 4 home games for the first time in a few years so hopefully that might help. Not much travel involved apart from the trip to Down. Other away games are to neighbouring Westmeath and Roscommon. Will be missing the Corofin contingent though for at the least the first couple of league games and possibly more.

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on January 22, 2015, 05:43:37 PM
Well we have 4 home games for the first time in a few years so hopefully that might help. Not much travel involved apart from the trip to Down. Other away games are to neighbouring Westmeath and Roscommon. Will be missing the Corofin contingent though for at the least the first couple of league games and possibly more.

They call that Brigidsitis, GBB ;D

Would prefer to be playing Galway away because it would be invariably in Tuam. God, if that isn't the best away ground for Roscommon teams I don't know what is.

Anyone else wish that more games televised in Division 2.

Should be a fairly competitive division and likely to be a lot of decent games but the level of television coverage compared to Division 1 is almost non-existant.

Big question is whether Westmeath will be able to stop their slide - bit odd to see the side just relegated from Division 1 to be favourite to be relegated again.

I think Kildare, Meath and Down are likely to be the teams looking for promotion - I have a notion that it might be a bit soon for Galway to be pushing to go up.

Paddy Powers Odds

NFL DIVISION 2 2015

To Lift the Trophy
Kildare 10/3
Galway 10/3
Meath 7/2
Down 11/2
Roscommon 13/2
Cavan 9/1
Laois 10/1
Westmeath 14/1

TO BE RELEGATED FROM NFL DIVISION 2

Westmeath 10/11
Laois 6/4
Cavan 9/4
Roscommon 5/2
Down 11/4
Meath 7/2
Kildare 4/1
Galway 9/2

Westmeath were also favourites for the drop in 2013 and were promoted with a game spare. Not that I expect lightening to strike twice in that regard.

Galway stayed up by the skin of their teeth last year same points as Armagh. Division two must be weaker this year if Galway are joint favourites to win the division.

I dont get the hype about Meath. They are average at best and most of their fans know that. For me its Kildare or Roscommon, maybe Galway. Westmeath, Cavan, laois and Meath will be fighting to stay up.

Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 22, 2015, 06:59:33 PM
I dont get the hype about Meath. They are average at best and most of their fans know that. For me its Kildare or Roscommon, maybe Galway. Westmeath, Cavan, laois and Meath will be fighting to stay up.

+1
Roscommon will be the dark horses in DIV 2 this year I thik

Quote from: big balla on January 22, 2015, 07:09:21 PM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 22, 2015, 06:59:33 PM
I dont get the hype about Meath. They are average at best and most of their fans know that. For me its Kildare or Roscommon, maybe Galway. Westmeath, Cavan, laois and Meath will be fighting to stay up.

+1
Roscommon will be the dark horses in DIV 2 this year I thik

Sweet Jebus now I'm worried. I'd be delighted with six points, staying up and a glorified exhibition match in the last round of the league. No one I'd fear terribly in D2 but too many teams around the same level that it's hard to see what way the sword will fall in a lot of the games.

Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 22, 2015, 06:59:33 PM
I dont get the hype about Meath. They are average at best and most of their fans know that. For me its Kildare or Roscommon, maybe Galway. Westmeath, Cavan, laois and Meath will be fighting to stay up.

Meath are Meath.

Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 22, 2015, 06:59:33 PM
I dont get the hype about Meath. They are average at best and most of their fans know that. For me its Kildare or Roscommon, maybe Galway. Westmeath, Cavan, laois and Meath will be fighting to stay up.

Meath, Down and Galway blow  very hot and cold and whoever comes out top between the 3 could go up.

Quote from: moysider on January 22, 2015, 08:20:36 PM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 22, 2015, 06:59:33 PM
I dont get the hype about Meath. They are average at best and most of their fans know that. For me its Kildare or Roscommon, maybe Galway. Westmeath, Cavan, laois and Meath will be fighting to stay up.

Meath are Meath.

No it's not the late eighties to mid nineties when Meath were Meath.

Westmeath since Flanagan left are only going in one direction, and that is down

Quote from: Captain Obvious on January 22, 2015, 08:43:58 PM

Quote from: moysider on January 22, 2015, 08:20:36 PM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 22, 2015, 06:59:33 PM
I dont get the hype about Meath. They are average at best and most of their fans know that. For me its Kildare or Roscommon, maybe Galway. Westmeath, Cavan, laois and Meath will be fighting to stay up.

Meath are Meath.

No it's not the late eighties to mid nineties when Meath were Meath.

Since the late 80s Meath has been diluted by Dublin immigration and suburbanisation and soft things like Sky sports etc and they are very watery now. They don't even talk the same way in some parts of the country, Jaysus. They also thought getting rid of Sean Boylan would change the dynamic but that was wrong, unfortunately. 

Quote from: Rossfan on January 22, 2015, 03:38:13 PM
Our focus will be on staying up.

Absolutely. Only 3 home games & we haven't played at this league level for 7 years & the less said about that experience the better.

There are a lot of teams of the same level in this Division (as Syferus said). The Luck of what games you have home and away will have a big bearing. Also who is playing teams that have nothing to play for coming into the last couple of games. League survival will be a good result for Ros and (more so) Galway. There is no one of the standard of Donegal or Monaghan from last year (yet), so in their own right every team will fancy their chances.

Quote from: Captain Obvious on January 22, 2015, 08:43:58 PM

Quote from: moysider on January 22, 2015, 08:20:36 PM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 22, 2015, 06:59:33 PM
I dont get the hype about Meath. They are average at best and most of their fans know that. For me its Kildare or Roscommon, maybe Galway. Westmeath, Cavan, laois and Meath will be fighting to stay up.

Meath are Meath.

No it's not the late eighties to mid nineties when Meath were Meath.

ah yes. I do forget its 2015 and the mighty men of Meath are closer to a free bus pass than their playing days.

Surely the Ros has to be contenders. Most of Div2 seems to be made up of teams that were out of their depth in Div1 and are on the slide a bit or former giants who have been treading water for a while. Rossie on the other are on an upward trajectory and would seem to have freshness and momentum as well as ambition on their side. A couple of early wins would give them momentum imo and they could go on a streak. Before we d know it they could become the pin-up boys again. The team Eugene McGee adored.

Meath are not great shakes but were hit badly by injuries in the league and championship last year. 5 players suffered cruciate ligament injuries,  Conor Gllispie missed all the league and championship,  very good midfielder,  Eamon Wallace was a loss too

Have to laugh at the this Biggin up our ladeens ;) :D ;D

There'll be nobody at these games, you will miss Armagh. Don't worry, we'll be back.

Kildare. Could be anyone though.

Quote from: Kernan_is_King on January 22, 2015, 11:28:11 PM
There'll be nobody at these games, you will miss Armagh. Don't worry, we'll be back.

Cén Fáth?

Are ye not bothering with the league the year? Must say I didn t notice ye in any fixture list?

Quote from: moysider on January 22, 2015, 11:39:06 PM

Quote from: Kernan_is_King on January 22, 2015, 11:28:11 PM
There'll be nobody at these games, you will miss Armagh. Don't worry, we'll be back.

Cén Fáth?

Are ye not bothering with the league the year? Must say I didn t notice ye in any fixture list?

I think the problem was Armagh not bothering with the league last year!!

Could be a few bob to be made backing draws in this division.
Meath are my favs with the schedule they have

For Ross its all about staying up. No chance of promotion with trips to Down and Kildare on the schedule.

Quote from: Kernan_is_King on January 22, 2015, 11:28:11 PM
There'll be nobody at these games, you will miss Armagh. Don't worry, we'll be back.

I think the crowds at the Division 2 games will be quite a bit higher than the size of the crowds of nobodies at the Division 3 games.

Geezer is going to have fun convincing the Armagh lads that they are serious challengers for Sam, when there will be probably more on the pitch than in the stands for their league games.

The good news is that Armagh can have a media ban during the league and no-one will even notice.

Division 2 will be a step up for what is youngish Roscommon team. One thing for sure, they'll learn a lot more by playing at this level than in Division 3. Overall, i'd say trying to consolidate their position in Div 2 for next year is the target.

Quote from: Rossie11 on January 23, 2015, 11:59:38 AM
Could be a few bob to be made backing draws in this division.
Meath are my favs with the schedule they have

For Ross its all about staying up. No chance of promotion with trips to Down and Kildare on the schedule.

Ros could beat Down even away. Kildare would be trickier. They have to get at least 4 points against Cavan, Laois and Westmeath 

Down, Galway, Meath and Westmeath are the 4 teams with 4 home fixtures so have the advantage on that front.

I wouldn't be too bothered about home/away in the league, besides Down and Laois being relative pains in the arse to get to when we could have been away to Galway instead. Four home games instead of three is always grand for travel, though.

Effects supporters more than teams in the league, crowds just aren't big enough to give much of a home field advantage.

Quote from: Syferus on January 23, 2015, 03:37:10 PM
I wouldn't be too bothered about home/away in the league, besides Down and Laois being relative pains in the arse to get to when we could have been away to Galway instead. Four home games instead of three is always grand for travel, though.

Effects supporters more than teams in the league, crowds just aren't big enough to give much of a home field advantage.

Remember seeing some stats on a blog/forum before that said there was something of the order of 3 points plus difference in how teams do at home versus away in the league, so while not the only factor, it's definitely a factor of some note.

Was a year or 2 back and had only a couple of years of records - think it was 4 years but it would be interesting to see if it was still the case.

Depends on the type of venue too I suppose.

Take McHale Park. Dreadful league venue. League crowds are lost there and the atmosphere is poor. Mayo's record there wouldn't be great.

But in about 30 years attending games in James Stephens' Park in Ballina I m struggling to remember losses. The atmosphere used to be great there for league games.

Quote from: moysider on January 23, 2015, 04:53:27 PM

Depends on the type of venue too I suppose.

Take McHale Park. Dreadful league venue. League crowds are lost there and the atmosphere is poor. Mayo's record there wouldn't be great.

But in about 30 years attending games in James Stephens' Park in Ballina I m struggling to remember losses. The atmosphere used to be great there for league games.

The hidden joy of the Hyde being unplayable early in the year (it has been for years but last year we finally accepted it properly) is that two of our three league games at home are down in 'Toom. Far better atmosphere for a league game, actually any sort of game. In our three league games in Kiltoom over the last three seasons we won all them, quite handily at that.

If league games were regularly played in venues of proper size home/away would be massive. Likewise John P and company deciding clubs can't host Connacht club championship matches when Corofin went kung fu fighting after Brigids bet them in 2011 was a massive loss for the club championships. The whole venue selection process needs a massive overhaul.

Michael Duffy to ref the Cavan game. I didn't even buy a scratch card but I'm going to have to watch the lottery anyways.

Any truth in the rumour that Cavan/Roscommon match is all ticket, as kiltoom only holds 3,000

I heard the same thing, an all ticket 3000 full house.

NOTICE: ALLIANZ LEAGUE GAME V ROSCOMMON IS ALL TICKET.
Due to a capacity issue, next Sunday's 1st Feb Allianz Football League game
v Roscommon in Kiltoom is ALL TICKET.


You MUST have a ticket to enter the ground. Please purchase your ticket
early as capacity is limited.

Tickets are on sale in usual outlets and also in Kingspan Breffni
Park.

Why are they putting a game in a place that cannot hold the crowd expected? There will surely be more than 3000 wanting to attend?

It will be interesting to see how Down get on under new management. Won well in Newbrdge in 2010 but we had better players then will be a tough game, looking forward to the trip.
I do think with  3 of our 4 home games all against what the majoriy on here deem the favourites Roscommon, Galway and Meath a price of 11-2 for promotion is a good bet.  Down usually get a big home crouwd Stand is usually near full, i dont recall losing too many home league games over the last number of years only Cavan Cork and Kerry come to mind. Donegal and Kildare were dispatched and we drew with Monaghan last year.

Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 27, 2015, 11:12:48 AM
Why are they putting a game in a place that cannot hold the crowd expected? There will surely be more than 3000 wanting to attend?

Health and safety reduced the capacity of Kiltoom out of the blue recently. It can hold more than three thousand, indeed it held over 2k (the official figure was 1927 on Sunday so add the rest to that are never counted to that) with plenty of sideline space remaining. The terrace was only built a few years ago so it meets even standard they could throw at it, it's just more health and safety madness. The Hyde's pitch is a pile of shite at this time of the year and it's unplayable.

3000 should be fine for a league game. It's been a long time since we've had a league game with an attendance north of three thousand, and that includes previous visits of Cavan.

Quote from: snoopdog on January 27, 2015, 01:33:12 PM
It will be interesting to see how Down get on under new management. Won well in Newbrdge in 2010 but we had better players then will be a tough game, looking forward to the trip.
I do think with  3 of our 4 home games all against what the majoriy on here deem the favourites Roscommon, Galway and Meath a price of 11-2 for promotion is a good bet.  Down usually get a big home crouwd Stand is usually near full, i dont recall losing too many home league games over the last number of years only Cavan Cork and Kerry come to mind. Donegal and Kildare were dispatched and we drew with Monaghan last year.

Its 11/2 to win the division. Promotion odds would be less than 2/1

Sorry lads but I think Kildare will walk it with Roscommon a distant 2nd.

I know we're playing an Ulster team on Sunday but WTC does "north of 3,000" mean :o
As it's now 2nd division and we are both getting better us and Cavan would naturally bring more people out than last year.

Quote from: Syferus on January 27, 2015, 01:50:49 PM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on January 27, 2015, 11:12:48 AM
Why are they putting a game in a place that cannot hold the crowd expected? There will surely be more than 3000 wanting to attend?

Health and safety reduced the capacity of Kiltoom out of the blue recently. It can hold more than three thousand, indeed it held over 2k (the official figure was 1927 on Sunday so add the rest to that are never counted to that) with plenty of sideline space remaining. The terrace was only built a few years ago so it meets even standard they could throw at it, it's just more health and safety madness. The Hyde's pitch is a pile of shite at this time of the year and it's unplayable.

3000 should be fine for a league game. It's been a long time since we've had a league game with an attendance north of three thousand, and that includes previous visits of Cavan.

Was not all the health and safety madness with the stadiums as a result of the huge amount the GAA have had to pay out in response to spectators claiming thousands for every single slip and fall in various stadiums. I had heard that some of the GAA stadiums had never been properly assessed for health and safety for years and now lads have gone completely overboard for fear that they might have to end up before a judge and jury justifying why they let crowds in.

I think the legal profession is deserving of a lot of the blame here.

What is car parking and access like in Kiltoom?

Quote from: Blue in hope on January 28, 2015, 10:55:56 AM
What is car parking and access like in Kiltoom?

Get there early and there should be room in the car park. Closer to throw in or if you are looking to get away quickly after you are better off parking on the main road.

Prediction time:

Roscommon v Cavan - A draw.
Kildare v Down - Kildare to win easy enough
Westmeath v Laois - Westmeath win
Galway v Meath - Galway win

Roscommon
Kildare
Laois
Galway

Cavan
Kildare
Laois
Meath

The Mighty Mourne Men are flying under the radar it seems!

10 points will certainly be enough to ensure promotion this year probably even 9 would.

I'm expecting wins for Galway, Kildare & Roscommon and haven't a clue what will happen between Westmeath & Laois so will go for a draw.

As if I'm going to help ye out with the prediction league only getting going.

Cavan
Down
Laois
Meath

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on January 28, 2015, 11:13:56 AM

Quote from: Blue in hope on January 28, 2015, 10:55:56 AM
What is car parking and access like in Kiltoom?

Get there early and there should be room in the car park. Closer to throw in or if you are looking to get away quickly after you are better off parking on the main road.

Car park behind the stand side it should be said, you need to come in the entrance to Kiltoom from the Athlone side as the Toscommon enterance will be closed to all but official/player traffic. The sand pitch that's usually used for parking on bigger days on the terrace side wasn't even open on Sunday.

They don't want people parking on the Athlone road because it's causing traffic delays.

galway
kildare
laois
ros

kildare to win the division and have not a clue who will be second, its a brave man that would go backing any of the rest for promotion, hope ros retain their second div. status, they have lessons to learn but I hope they are not costly ones

Meath are flying well under the radar this January. Not a hoot out of Jinxy or Hardy.
I think they'll beat Galway.

Nothing to see here, move along.

My team for Sunday - O'Malley, Seanie Carty Collins, Stack N Daly Cafferky, C Shine Healy, Keenan 2 Smiths, 2 Murtaghs and Senan.
Cregg and Donie to be 1st sub's.

Who was the last team to secure back to back promotions from Division 3 up to Division 1?

Quote from: neilthemac on January 30, 2015, 12:29:15 PM
Who was the last team to secure back to back promotions from Division 3 up to Division 1?

Monaghan

 If Ros were a financial shtock I would short them . D2 is very hard to get out of unless it's down below.
Ask Meath who are delighted to be back. 

No one in Roscommon is talking about promption, survival is the target. A four point game in store in Kiltoom, the winner setting themselves up with a good chance of being in D2 in 2016 and the losers needing something special to do likewise.

After the trimming they got at home in July I doubt we'll meet a team more motivated to win than Cavan all year. I expect championship level intensity on Sunday because so much of the 2015 season for both counties could be defined by how this game goes.

Quote from: Syferus on January 30, 2015, 03:31:51 PM
No one in Roscommon is talking about promption, survival is the target. A four point game in store in Kiltoom, the winner setting themselves up with a good chance of being in D2 in 2016 and the losers needing something special to do likewise.

After the trimming they got at home in July I doubt we'll meet a team more motivated to win than Cavan all year. I expect championship level intensity on Sun
day because so much of the 2015 season for both counties could be defined by how this game goes.

17 votes for Ros to win the division. Are they all Sidney's ? 

Seafood it seems you can't post without mentioning Ross,that's an unhealthy obsession.Go and get help son before its too late

Good finish by Down. Nice to beat da ryles.

A point dropped rather than a point won. Should have won it.

Galway 2-13 Meath 1-12

Galway led by 5 or 6 points for pretty much the entire game having raced into an early lead. Meath got 1-1 in injury time which provided a late scare.

Just got the Galway scorers which were

A Varley 0-2
E Hoare 0-2 (0-1f)
D Cummins 1-3
S Walsh 1-3 (0-1f)
P Varley 0-2
F O'Curraoin 0-1

Believe Paul Varley got man of the match. Meath keeper was handy with the long range frees. Think he scored 3 or 4 of them.

Good result for Cavan, didn't make it but sounds like Gearoid was immense in the second half. Martin Reilly with the last two scores for us, he's gone from being a journeyman to our key player in the past two years. That point could be vital for us if we are to survive. The Rossies won't be happy and now only have two home games left..

Wouldn't say Reilly was a journeyman, he was a regular in the  team when he came back from Burnely under Keoghan and then Tommy Carr, suffered a cruciate ligament injury which kept him out for a good spell.

Geroid's points were immense but from general play was average enough. Fergal Flanagan motm from a Cavan point of view. Our full forward line a huge concern.

We have long way to go before we become the " Superpower " the Rhus are jokingly calling us.
Goalie and GB line good. HB line non existent as usual- Daly's the worst offenders,midfield a *** disaster, Bally not a footballer. Cregg got a goal and vanished before and after. F f line - good and if only we'd get quick ball into them instead of underage passity pass a d ball carrying. It's only First of February but I foresee a year of struggle.

Quote from: Rossfan on February 01, 2015, 05:29:51 PM
We have long way to go before we become the " Superpower " the Rhus are jokingly calling us.
Goalie and GB line good. HB line non existent as usual- Daly's the worst offenders,midfield a *** disaster, Bally not a footballer. Cregg got a goal and vanished before and after. F f line - good and if only we'd get quick ball into them instead of underage passity pass a d ball carrying. It's only First of February but I foresee a year of struggle.

I can go ahead and book the AIQF tickets if you've made that call so ;D

Quote from: Syferus on February 01, 2015, 05:35:09 PM

Quote from: Rossfan on February 01, 2015, 05:29:51 PM
We have long way to go before we become the " Superpower " the Rhus are jokingly calling us.
Goalie and GB line good. HB line non existent as usual- Daly's the worst offenders,midfield a *** disaster, Bally not a footballer. Cregg got a goal and vanished before and after. F f line - good and if only we'd get quick ball into them instead of underage passity pass a d ball carrying. It's only First of February but I foresee a year of struggle.

I can go ahead and book the AIQF tickets if you've made that call so ;D

Honestly Syferus go ahead and book the hotel and tickets . Nothing Surer, I think connacht champions are on week after Aug weekend this year.

Well done to Cavan full value for the share of the spoils and will be disappointed they didn't win. For us  a error ridden display a similar performance to what we displayed in the defeat against NUIG a few weeks ago & if we play like that again in Newry we will receive a serious trimming.

Quote from: Syferus on February 01, 2015, 03:52:00 PM
A point dropped rather than a point won. Should have won it.

Dont know what game you were at

Quote from: Old yeller on February 01, 2015, 08:28:35 PM

Quote from: Syferus on February 01, 2015, 03:52:00 PM
A point dropped rather than a point won. Should have won it.

Dont know what game you were at

Agree. I think Ros got two points from play in the 2nd half, one of which was wide. Michael Duffy kept ye in it with a series of unbelievable frees to Roscommon that had even the hardiest Ros fans scratching their heads. As I always say, Duffy can somehow see every free that is 50 meters away off the ball but cannot see them right in front of his face. He should hang up his boots as its more comical he is getting. Today we had a Cavan player booked for trying to go down and pick up a ball, other ones booked for a push during a kickout. A roscommon player dragged a Cavan player to the ground in the 1st half, Duffy makes the action to show the player he pulled the player down and then gives the same player a yellow instead of a black. His umpires waves a definite Cavan point wide and then from a Carbon copy shot in the 2nd half give Ros a point that was clearly wide. Still I'd have taken a point before the game so happy enough.

We led the match for at least 60 minutes. We even went ahead with three minutes left. Cavan scored the final equaliser off a 45 from a wide ball O'Malley was probably better off not touching. You'd be mad to think Roscommon would be happy to get a draw a game that went as it did.

Quote from: Syferus on February 01, 2015, 09:03:04 PM
We led the match for at least 60 minutes. We even went ahead with three minutes left. Cavan scored the final equaliser off a 45 from a wide ball O'Malley was probably better off not touching. You'd be mad to think Roscommon would be happy to get a draw a game that went as it did.

No one said ye would be happy with a point but you got a 2 point swing from two brutal decisions by the umpires so I say you were lucky to be  leading the game that long and lucky to get the point.

I know the Gearoid shot that you are talking about Myles but what Roascommon point are you talking about? I don't remember there being any contested points by Ros in second half?

I think he refers to a score early in 2nd half.

None of the scores looked remotely controversial, and the Cavan lads around me had a good view of both goals and there were no complaints early in the second half with non-points, or any other time for that matter.

If you want to get into that game let's talk about the belt Niall Daly got nearly immediately after the second half throw-in, Myles..

Lets face it Sy. the crown has slipped a bit. Dropping a point Kiltoom to the Meanies was not in the script.
Couldn t believe it when I checked out the final score. I was preoccupied by our own struggles in Killarney until then.

Quote from: moysider on February 02, 2015, 12:01:00 AM

Lets face it Sy. the crown has slipped a bit. Dropping a point Kiltoom to the Meanies was not in the script.
Couldn t believe it when I checked out the final score. I was preoccupied by our own struggles in Killarney until then.

The Lord works in mysterious ways, Moysider. Perhaps more novena hours in greater Ballagh would close the deal next time out.
Destiny is something we can't always harness .

I dunno if this kind of music goes down well on Shannonside
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCX6WBIzfQ8

Sad really when instead of being happily discussing their own teams' good results we have Seaf and the Rhus obsessing over the Ros result. :'(

Quote from: Rossfan on February 02, 2015, 09:09:11 AM
Sad really when instead of being happily discussing their own teams' good results we have Seaf and the Rhus obsessing over the Ros result. :'(

It's all a big circus.


Lookit.

An encouraging win for Galway. Meath have been a bugbear for the last few years in the new mediocrity and it's good to put them back in their box. We had a bad shtart last year losing 3 on the trot so this win is good and hopefully we can build on it.

None of the teams in D2 are world beaters so it's all about trying to get a bit of consistency. Winning 4 home matches and one away could be enough to go up but Galway haven't been consistent for a long time.   

And who are the 20 people who chose Ros to win the division  ?

Decent win for Westmeath yesterday, considering we were missing Duffy, didn't really make use of the wind in the 1st half and lost McCormack and Heslin to black cards before half time. Referee very inconsistent with black cards yesterday, home support none too happy with him although he wasn't too bad otherwise I thought. Wasn't much in this match until Laois lost their discipline, they were playing a physical game from the start and lost a man to a yellow/black midway through the second half, which was closely followed by a straight red and they were unable to stem the tide that followed. They look a side heading towards the trap door already.

Midfield a problem area for Westmeath, both starters were substituted although Sharry did well there in the second half. Kevin Maguire led from pillar to post and is right up there with the best full backs in the country. Kieran Martin and Ger Egan very good as well. We play a nice crisp short passing game but need to work on deliveries into the ff line. Great to get a league win, its been a long couple of years...

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on February 02, 2015, 09:58:03 AM
Decent win for Westmeath yesterday, considering we were missing Duffy, didn't really make use of the wind in the 1st half and lost McCormack and Heslin to black cards before half time. Referee very inconsistent with black cards yesterday, home support none too happy with him although he wasn't too bad otherwise I thought. Wasn't much in this match until Laois lost their discipline, they were playing a physical game from the start and lost a man to a yellow/black midway through the second half, which was closely followed by a straight red and they were unable to stem the tide that followed. They look a side heading towards the trap door already.

Midfield a problem area for Westmeath, both starters were substituted although Sharry did well there in the second half. Kevin Maguire led from pillar to post and is right up there with the best full backs in the country. Kieran Martin and Ger Egan very good as well. We play a nice crisp short passing game but need to work on deliveries into the ff line. Great to get a league win, its been a long couple of years...

Great to see the other maroon team winning their first match since 2013. Jesus, 2014 was some write off.

Quote from: seafoid on February 02, 2015, 10:33:46 AM

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on February 02, 2015, 09:58:03 AM
Decent win for Westmeath yesterday, considering we were missing Duffy, didn't really make use of the wind in the 1st half and lost McCormack and Heslin to black cards before half time. Referee very inconsistent with black cards yesterday, home support none too happy with him although he wasn't too bad otherwise I thought. Wasn't much in this match until Laois lost their discipline, they were playing a physical game from the start and lost a man to a yellow/black midway through the second half, which was closely followed by a straight red and they were unable to stem the tide that followed. They look a side heading towards the trap door already.

Midfield a problem area for Westmeath, both starters were substituted although Sharry did well there in the second half. Kevin Maguire led from pillar to post and is right up there with the best full backs in the country. Kieran Martin and Ger Egan very good as well. We play a nice crisp short passing game but need to work on deliveries into the ff line. Great to get a league win, its been a long couple of years...

Great to see the other maroon team winning their first match since 2013. Jesus, 2014 was some write off.

You said it. Don't forget to pack the white kit for the weekend.

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on February 02, 2015, 09:58:03 AM
Decent win for Westmeath yesterday, considering we were missing Duffy, didn't really make use of the wind in the 1st half and lost McCormack and Heslin to black cards before half time. Referee very inconsistent with black cards yesterday, home support none too happy with him although he wasn't too bad otherwise I thought. Wasn't much in this match until Laois lost their discipline, they were playing a physical game from the start and lost a man to a yellow/black midway through the second half, which was closely followed by a straight red and they were unable to stem the tide that followed. They look a side heading towards the trap door already.

Midfield a problem area for Westmeath, both starters were substituted although Sharry did well there in the second half. Kevin Maguire led from pillar to post and is right up there with the best full backs in the country. Kieran Martin and Ger Egan very good as well. We play a nice crisp short passing game but need to work on deliveries into the ff line. Great to get a league win, its been a long couple of years...

Great start alright. There are some very good footballers on this Westmeath team. Maguire (as you mentioned), Ger Egan, Heslin, a soon returning Kieran Gavin, are all top bracket players. Midfield is the concern. I think 1 big and 1 mobile will be the preferred option with Duffy/Daly being partnered by Egan/Sharry. Although it could be argued that Daly falls in to the mobile category as he is very quick and not very physically strong for a man of 6-6.
Galway game is huge now, mainly because it's a home game. Win it and watch the confidence grow. Lose and the relegation fight will go right to the wire.

Very nice to have a bit of sport to talk about again.

Quote from: shark on February 02, 2015, 11:25:11 AM

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on February 02, 2015, 09:58:03 AM
Decent win for Westmeath yesterday, considering we were missing Duffy, didn't really make use of the wind in the 1st half and lost McCormack and Heslin to black cards before half time. Referee very inconsistent with black cards yesterday, home support none too happy with him although he wasn't too bad otherwise I thought. Wasn't much in this match until Laois lost their discipline, they were playing a physical game from the start and lost a man to a yellow/black midway through the second half, which was closely followed by a straight red and they were unable to stem the tide that followed. They look a side heading towards the trap door already.

Midfield a problem area for Westmeath, both starters were substituted although Sharry did well there in the second half. Kevin Maguire led from pillar to post and is right up there with the best full backs in the country. Kieran Martin and Ger Egan very good as well. We play a nice crisp short passing game but need to work on deliveries into the ff line. Great to get a league win, its been a long couple of years...

Great start alright. There are some very good footballers on this Westmeath team. Maguire (as you mentioned), Ger Egan, Heslin, a soon returning Kieran Gavin, are all top bracket players. Midfield is the concern. I think 1 big and 1 mobile will be the preferred option with Duffy/Daly being partnered by Egan/Sharry. Although it could be argued that Daly falls in to the mobile category as he is very quick and not very physically strong for a man of 6-6.
Galway game is huge now, mainly because it's a home game. Win it and watch the confidence grow. Lose and the relegation fight will go right to the wire.

Ger Egan is probably the best midfielder on the club scene in Westmeath but I'd be loath to take him away from the roving box to box half forward role he has made his own for Westmeath in the last couple of years. Sharry stood up well to Quigley so I'd give him the nod there for Sunday with Daly to partner him as Tom Flynn is more his mould than physical. I would see Duffy making the team when fit though.

Yeah, when Kieran Gavin comes back, we'll have one of the best fb lines around and Martin and Dolan were good in the hb line yesterday. Killian Daly was very energetic beside them and Holloway/Boyle/Gonoud could also do a job there so we have options. John Connellan showed very well when he came on as well.

Galway game big but a lot of pressure off though. Got the league monkey off our backs and had to beat Laois as they are the weakest of our home games. Win 2 out of the remaining 3 and we should be okay, Cavan and Eastmeath away very much winnable as well.

Galway 2-13
Meath 1-12

Any Royalist comment?

"One is not amused"

Off with their heads.

Quote from: Hardy on February 02, 2015, 12:06:47 PM
Galway 2-13
Meath 1-12

Any Royalist comment?

Defending very cavalier apparently

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/danny-cummins-leads-way-for-galway-as-kevin-walsh-gets-off-on-right-foot-1.2087408

"Manager Kevin Walsh was happy to win his first national league game in charge of his native county. "Yes, it is important to win the home games but it's important also to have a performance whether we're winners or not," said Walsh.
"I don't think we went down at any stage which was important and Meath did come back at us, we kicked on again.
"I know we shipped maybe four points and a goal and a point at the end. I suppose the ruthless teams wouldn't allow that to happen, but look, it's our first day out," said Walsh.

Cummins' goal in the 14th minute gave the Tribesmen a 1-5 to 0-1 advantage and it was the least their slick play deserved. Meath fought back to only trail by four at the break, thanks largely to the dead ball exploits of Newman and goalkeeper Paddy O'Rourke.
Stephen Bray came to the fore as Meath went about dragging themselves back into contention, but manager Mick O'Dowd was infuriated by his side's overall display as they were blitzed by the Tribesmen.
"It was a shocking performance. We went 20 minutes without scoring after scoring a free in the first minute. That's not acceptable," he said."


I bet he said lookit.

And Meath need to have a good hard lookit  that bare patch of 20 minutes without scoring.   

Galway also went over 20 minutes without scoring which I'm sure will be addressed.

I was expecting a closer game considering the amount of good players who were unavailable. I hear Shane Walsh was quiet but still managed to score 1-2 from play.

Did Bradshaw play was he wing half or centre back?

Bring back Banty.

Quote from: Jinxy on February 02, 2015, 01:07:19 PM
Bring back Banty.

It's all Mickey Harte's fault . He hasn't changed tactics since 2010 and is channeling Sean Boylan
somewhere different in the time/space continuum

Whoever decided it was a good decision to extend the duration of league matches to 70 minutes all those years ago did this current Kildare team a serious disservice.

I suppose you think it'll be a walk in the pairc against us next week.
Ah yeah, typical Kildare arrogance.

It's the only thing we could console ourselves with yesterday. A trip to sample the delights of Navan is enough to lift any man's spirits.

Quote from: Syferus on February 01, 2015, 11:50:38 PM
None of the scores looked remotely controversial, and the Cavan lads around me had a good view of both goals and there were no complaints early in the second half with non-points, or any other time for that matter.

If you want to get into that game let's talk about the belt Niall Daly got nearly immediately after the second half throw-in, Myles..

The 2 points were clearly visible from the shadowed side of the pitch, from the stand. I had a good chat with 4 Ros lads leaving the ground and they like me said that both calls were wrong. But that's life when you have blind umpires and brutal refs. As for the belt, please tell me what you saw. The ball was being thrown up and next thing I see your Ctr Back down. I didn't see anything, the umpires didn't see anything, the linesmen didn't see anything and amazingly Duffy didn't see anything. Maybe there was nothing to see. All I know is that I've never seen Barry Reilly (Cavan Ctr Forward) throw a dirty dig at anyone so I would guess  it was an accidental collision of some sort. The Ros player didn't react in anyway afterwards to Barry either which I think he would have done if he got an intentional Belt.

Also - Have a read here to "megadodge", A Ros view that is similar to mine http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056343522&page=86

Also a big well done to Roscommon who printed about half as many programs as they needed despite the fact it was a 3k all ticket match - I can see how they got caught out with that one.

Quote from: mylestheslasher on February 02, 2015, 08:20:41 PM

Quote from: Syferus on February 01, 2015, 11:50:38 PM
None of the scores looked remotely controversial, and the Cavan lads around me had a good view of both goals and there were no complaints early in the second half with non-points, or any other time for that matter.

If you want to get into that game let's talk about the belt Niall Daly got nearly immediately after the second half throw-in, Myles..

The 2 points were clearly visible from the shadowed side of the pitch, from the stand. I had a good chat with 4 Ros lads leaving the ground and they like me said that both calls were wrong. But that's life when you have blind umpires and brutal refs. As for the belt, please tell me what you saw. The ball was being thrown up and next thing I see your Ctr Back down. I didn't see anything, the umpires didn't see anything, the linesmen didn't see anything and amazingly Duffy didn't see anything. Maybe there was nothing to see. All I know is that I've never seen Barry Reilly (Cavan Ctr Forward) throw a dirty dig at anyone so I would guess  it was an accidental collision of some sort. The Ros player didn't react in anyway afterwards to Barry either which I think he would have done if he got an intentional Belt.

Also - Have a read here to "megadodge", A Ros view that is similar to mine http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056343522&page=86

Also a big well done to Roscommon who printed about half as many programs as they needed despite the fact it was a 3k all ticket match - I can see how they got caught out with that one.

Plenty of programs for anyone that arrived at a proper time.

Nothing in that post says we got a point that should have been waved wide, what's you're point, that we played poorly relative to what we expect to do at home? Of course.

Doesn't mean we were lucky to draw a game we led for 90% of the allotted time. If Diarmuid Murtagh had studs that let him kick off the ground on Sunday you'd have had no recourse to Duffy's soft frees, of which he gave a few to both sides. He hardly decided what was a close contest, but one where Cavan's main strength was the middle and not in attack or even defence where ye were carved open too easily at the times we did get some ball out of the middle - Donie Smith blasted a goal chance over the bar for our final point and every time Senan touched the ball Cavan's only response seemed to be to foul.

I hope both Cavan and ourselves survive but both teams will need significant improvement to get points off the established order. We were woeful in the middle, Cavan were one-dimensional in attack.

Quote from: mylestheslasher on February 02, 2015, 08:20:41 PM

Quote from: Syferus on February 01, 2015, 11:50:38 PM
None of the scores looked remotely controversial, and the Cavan lads around me had a good view of both goals and there were no complaints early in the second half with non-points, or any other time for that matter.

If you want to get into that game let's talk about the belt Niall Daly got nearly immediately after the second half throw-in, Myles..

The 2 points were clearly visible from the shadowed side of the pitch, from the stand. I had a good chat with 4 Ros lads leaving the ground and they like me said that both calls were wrong. But that's life when you have blind umpires and brutal refs. As for the belt, please tell me what you saw. The ball was being thrown up and next thing I see your Ctr Back down. I didn't see anything, the umpires didn't see anything, the linesmen didn't see anything and amazingly Duffy didn't see anything. Maybe there was nothing to see. All I know is that I've never seen Barry Reilly (Cavan Ctr Forward) throw a dirty dig at anyone so I would guess  it was an accidental collision of some sort. The Ros player didn't react in anyway afterwards to Barry either which I think he would have done if he got an intentional Belt.

Also - Have a read here to "megadodge", A Ros view that is similar to mine http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056343522&page=86

Also a big well done to Roscommon who printed about half as many programs as they needed despite the fact it was a 3k all ticket match - I can see how they got caught out with that one.

They probably guessed the Cavan ones would have held onto their programmes from last year!

Quote from: Donnellys Hollow on February 02, 2015, 05:44:26 PM
It's the only thing we could console ourselves with yesterday. A trip to sample the delights of Navan is enough to lift any man's spirits.

It's a must win game for both sides unless we lose, in which case, who cares it's only the league.

Quote from: mylestheslasher on February 01, 2015, 08:51:44 PM
I think Ros got two points from play in the 2nd half, one of which was wide. Michael Duffy kept ye in it with a series of unbelievable frees to Roscommon that had even the hardiest Ros fans scratching their heads. As I always say, Duffy can somehow see every free that is 50 meters away off the ball but cannot see them right in front of his face. He should hang up his boots as its more comical he is getting. Today we had a Cavan player booked for trying to go down and pick up a ball, other ones booked for a push during a kickout. A roscommon player dragged a Cavan player to the ground in the 1st half, Duffy makes the action to show the player he pulled the player down and then gives the same player a yellow instead of a black. His umpires waves a definite Cavan point wide and then from a Carbon copy shot in the 2nd half give Ros a point that was clearly wide. Still I'd have taken a point before the game so happy enough.

I was situated in the non score board end. In the 1st half the umpires did indeed wave a Cavan point wide. The one we had in the 2nd half was going wide but curled in a correct call. We got two soft frees in the 2nd half but one of your defenders was very lucky not to give a penalty away when he touched the ball on the ground inside the square, play was waved on by Duffy and from the resulting attack Cavan scored a point. D Murtagh was also taken out in the build up to another Cavan point so the long story short he was bad for both sides & Michael Duffy shouldn't be allowed near a junior club game never mind a div 2 senior county game.

Anyway i wouldn't be looking to a poor ref as the reason we didn't win we simply didn't play well enough on the day & a similar performance on Saturday night in Newry will mean a certain defeat.

Quote from: Jinxy on February 02, 2015, 09:30:10 PM

Quote from: Donnellys Hollow on February 02, 2015, 05:44:26 PM
It's the only thing we could console ourselves with yesterday. A trip to sample the delights of Navan is enough to lift any man's spirits.

It's a must win game for both sides unless we lose, in which case, who cares it's only the league.

God be with the days when ye wouldn't even consider losing never mind openly discussing it.

Quote from: Syferus on February 02, 2015, 08:57:36 PM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on February 02, 2015, 08:20:41 PM

Quote from: Syferus on February 01, 2015, 11:50:38 PM
None of the scores looked remotely controversial, and the Cavan lads around me had a good view of both goals and there were no complaints early in the second half with non-points, or any other time for that matter.

If you want to get into that game let's talk about the belt Niall Daly got nearly immediately after the second half throw-in, Myles..

The 2 points were clearly visible from the shadowed side of the pitch, from the stand. I had a good chat with 4 Ros lads leaving the ground and they like me said that both calls were wrong. But that's life when you have blind umpires and brutal refs. As for the belt, please tell me what you saw. The ball was being thrown up and next thing I see your Ctr Back down. I didn't see anything, the umpires didn't see anything, the linesmen didn't see anything and amazingly Duffy didn't see anything. Maybe there was nothing to see. All I know is that I've never seen Barry Reilly (Cavan Ctr Forward) throw a dirty dig at anyone so I would guess  it was an accidental collision of some sort. The Ros player didn't react in anyway afterwards to Barry either which I think he would have done if he got an intentional Belt.

Also - Have a read here to "megadodge", A Ros view that is similar to mine http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056343522&page=86

Also a big well done to Roscommon who printed about half as many programs as they needed despite the fact it was a 3k all ticket match - I can see how they got caught out with that one.

Plenty of programs for anyone that arrived at a proper time.

Nothing in that post says we got a point that should have been waved wide, what's you're point, that we played poorly relative to what we expect to do at home? Of course.

Doesn't mean we were lucky to draw a game we led for 90% of the allotted time. If Diarmuid Murtagh had studs that let him kick off the ground on Sunday you'd have had no recourse to Duffy's soft frees, of which he gave a few to both sides. He hardly decided what was a close contest, but one where Cavan's main strength was the middle and not in attack or even defence where ye were carved open too easily at the times we did get some ball out of the middle - Donie Smith blasted a goal chance over the bar for our final point and every time Senan touched the ball Cavan's only response seemed to be to foul.

I hope both Cavan and ourselves survive but both teams will need significant improvement to get points off the established order. We were woeful in the middle, Cavan were one-dimensional in attack.

Syf

The art of the deal is closing the deal.
Leading for 90% of the time and not winning is what Wales and Ireland do against the All-Blacks.
Most tight games are decided in the last 5 minutes. Doesn't matter what goes before. Players are tired and make more mistakes right at the end. Look at the World Cup final or the Champions League or whatever.   

Or this from 3.40 on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSfsPis-so0

If Ros are going places this year they have to win the tight matches.

We had a 45 late on, the taker slipped as he kicked it and  made a hash of it. Cavan confidently drove their late 45 over the bar and far beyond.
Syd will tell us our man had "wrong studs".

If I had another vote I'd vote for Down (again).

Quote from: Rossfan on February 03, 2015, 02:22:03 PM
We had a 45 late on, the taker slipped as he kicked it and  made a hash of it. Cavan confidently drove their late 45 over the bar and far beyond.
Syd will tell us our man had "wrong studs".

Three times Murt took 45s, one in the first and twice in the second. On all three occasions he slipped. His studs were clearly the problem. I think anyone who has watched Murtagh play will know pressure or occasion isn't something that gets to him. Whether he'd have made them if he could have planted his feet properly is another story, but it was the boots causing him to slip. From the hands and in play he was as accurate as ever.

Making sure we have suitable boots for every realistic condition should be a presquite at this stage, and it should be the responsibility of the management and not the players, who I assume are wearing their own boots and may not even own the best football boots for frozen grounds, water logged grounds or the like. Leaving little things we can easily fix like that to chance is unacceptable in 2015, but few if any teams have copped on to those facts yet. It's different in other sports.

County teams demand such dedication from players these days and yet the basic fact different boots and different studs or moulds have entirely variable performances in different weather conditions seems to escape most management teams.

Quote from: Rossfan on February 03, 2015, 02:22:03 PM
We had a 45 late on, the taker slipped as he kicked it and  made a hash of it. Cavan confidently drove their late 45 over the bar and far beyond.
Syd will tell us our man had "wrong studs".

Maybe the girls in Rockfords tell Syf he's the wrong stud.

If only we could get Syf onto our management team :-X

It'd be long cogs all round regardless of pitch conditions.

Quote from: Rossfan on February 03, 2015, 03:41:54 PM
If only we could get Syf onto our management team :-X

Apparently the young Brian Carthy was similar. I wonder does Syf do live commentary playing football down the field.

Quote from: Syferus on February 03, 2015, 03:29:17 PM

Quote from: Rossfan on February 03, 2015, 02:22:03 PM
We had a 45 late on, the taker slipped as he kicked it and  made a hash of it. Cavan confidently drove their late 45 over the bar and far beyond.
Syd will tell us our man had "wrong studs".

Three times Murt took 45s, one in the first and twice in the second. On all three occasions he slipped. His studs were clearly the problem. I think anyone who has watched Murtagh play will know pressure or occasion isn't something that gets to him. Whether he'd have made them if he could have planted his feet properly is another story, but it was the boots causing him to slip. From the hands and in play he was as accurate as ever.

Making sure we have suitable boots for every realistic condition should be a presquite at this stage, and it should be the responsibility of the management and not the players, who I assume are wearing their own boots and may not even own the best football boots for frozen grounds, water logged grounds or the like. Leaving little things we can easily fix like that to chance is unacceptable in 2015, but few if any teams have copped on to those facts yet. It's different in other sports.

County teams demand such dedication from players these days and yet the basic fact different boots and different studs or moulds have entirely variable performances in different weather conditions seems to escape most management teams.

Why didn't the mighty Cregger try taking them,  the man that was making it rain last year in the league according to yourself?  Oh that's right he was totally ineffective in the first half and was taken off at half time, any more superstars on the horizon in Ros? Someone that can try kicking a ball without falling on their ass?

Do any of the Ros lads have any update on the injury that forced Niall Carty to limp off last Sunday?

Ah, I'm starting to have doubts about this Meath set-up but it's early days and plenty of lads to come back and lads to get in gear.

Still I hate Kildare to make this game a must win.

Quote from: thejuice on February 04, 2015, 01:26:26 AM
Ah, I'm starting to have doubts about this Meath set-up but it's early days and plenty of lads to come back and lads to get in gear.

Still I hate Kildare to make this game a must win.

With no team in the division outstanding, 2 losses shouldn't be terminal  ;)

Quote from: seafoid on February 04, 2015, 08:14:07 AM

Quote from: thejuice on February 04, 2015, 01:26:26 AM
Ah, I'm starting to have doubts about this Meath set-up but it's early days and plenty of lads to come back and lads to get in gear.

Still I hate Kildare to make this game a must win.

With no team in the division outstanding, 2 losses shouldn't be terminal  ;)

Ye ll be grand when ye have Geraghty and Ollie back for the Summer.

Next round

Galway vs Westmeath
Meath vs Flourbags
Down vs the Harlem Globetrotters
Laois vs Cavan

We need to find a few more small, light fellas who can't win their own ball for the summer.

We have a few of them if ye want them...

Galway
Down
Meath
Cavan

Galway
Cavan
Kildare
Roscommon

Westmeath
Kildare
Down :(
Cavan

Are Meath as bad as they're made out to be by some?

Quote from: Farrandeelin on February 04, 2015, 09:20:52 PM
Are Meath as bad as they're made out to be by some?

No and they will improve once key players return. Meath are currently playing too many U21s that haven't made the senior step up yet though the league is the time to find out about those lads

Quote from: Farrandeelin on February 04, 2015, 09:20:52 PM
Are Meath as bad as they're made out to be by some?

Meath are Meath.

Actually before Boylan era Meath had been no great shakes for 15 years or more. Maybe this is normal for them.

Quote from: Blowitupref on February 04, 2015, 09:40:51 PM

Quote from: Farrandeelin on February 04, 2015, 09:20:52 PM
Are Meath as bad as they're made out to be by some?

No and they will improve once key players return. Meath are currently playing too many U21s that haven't made the senior step up yet though the league is the time to find out about those lads

I don't rate them highly, I think they struggle with the modern game personally. On their day of course they could beat anyone in Div2 but against Kildare I would fancy the lillywhites. For me the following is my predictions...

Galway v westmeath - Galway
Cavan v Laois - Draw
Ros v Down - Down
Kildare to beat Meath

Have the Down folks any tips on a handy way of getting to Pairc Esler to avoid traffic or complicated town centre streets etc?
I'll be coming up the Mway from Drogheda or Dundalk.

Quote from: Rossfan on February 05, 2015, 11:06:05 AM
Have the Down folks any tips on a handy way of getting to Pairc Esler to avoid traffic or complicated town centre streets etc?
I'll be coming up the Mway from Drogheda or Dundalk.

And while you are at it, a handy place to park would be useful too!  ;) Thanks in advance!

Quote from: Rossfan on February 05, 2015, 11:06:05 AM
Have the Down folks any tips on a handy way of getting to Pairc Esler to avoid traffic or complicated town centre streets etc?
I'll be coming up the Mway from Drogheda or Dundalk.

I think the only traffic free way to Páirc Esler would be to come up Carlingford Lough in a boat!

Anyway, it's good to see Jamie Queeney back.

Quote from: Rossfan on February 05, 2015, 11:06:05 AM
Have the Down folks any tips on a handy way of getting to Pairc Esler to avoid traffic or complicated town centre streets etc?
I'll be coming up the Mway from Drogheda or Dundalk.

you will be fine take the first exit for Newry go down the Dublin road traffic wont be too bad from that direction all down traffic will be comnig from the other directions into town. you can park at the Quays shopping centre for a pound (approx 10 min walk) i think alternatively there is a little car park on the left as soon as you turn on to the warrenpoint road. PArk there and its a 5 min walk to the ground. You will see the floodlights from the Dublin road on your right hand side coming into the town.

PArk there and its a 5 min walk to the ground.

5 minute cycle maybe but Rob heffernan couldn't walk it in that time!!

Quote from: Rossfan on February 05, 2015, 11:06:05 AM
Have the Down folks any tips on a handy way of getting to Pairc Esler to avoid traffic or complicated town centre streets etc?
I'll be coming up the Mway from Drogheda or Dundalk.

Are you going to bring the right studs, Rossfan ?

I'm bringing meself anyway :D

Galway team named for tomorrow, three changes from the last day.

1 T.J Forde
2Declan Kyne 3Colin Forde 4Cathal Sweeney
5Paul Varley 6 Gareth Bradshaw 7 Gary O'Donnell
8 Fiontain O'Curraoin 9Tom Flynn
10Sean Denvir 11 Shane Walsh 12Enda Tierney
13Danny Cummins 14 Patrick Sweeney 15 Adrian Varley

Quote from: Maroon Manc on February 07, 2015, 12:28:32 PM
Galway team named for tomorrow, three changes from the last day.

1 T.J Forde
2Declan Kyne 3Colin Forde 4Cathal Sweeney
5Paul Varley 6 Gareth Bradshaw 7 Gary O'Donnell
8 Fiontain O'Curraoin 9Tom Flynn
10Sean Denvir 11 Shane Walsh 12Enda Tierney
13Danny Cummins 14 Patrick Sweeney 15 Adrian Varley

I think FOC, TF, DC and SW are going to be the core of the team for the next few years 

Quote from: seafoid on February 07, 2015, 01:05:41 PM

Quote from: Maroon Manc on February 07, 2015, 12:28:32 PM
Galway team named for tomorrow, three changes from the last day.

1 T.J Forde
2Declan Kyne 3Colin Forde 4Cathal Sweeney
5Paul Varley 6 Gareth Bradshaw 7 Gary O'Donnell
8 Fiontain O'Curraoin 9Tom Flynn
10Sean Denvir 11 Shane Walsh 12Enda Tierney
13Danny Cummins 14 Patrick Sweeney 15 Adrian Varley

I think FOC, TF, DC and SW are going to be the core of the team for the next few years

Not sure about Danny Cummins, he's been very wasteful in front of the posts especially with goal chances.

Quote from: Maroon Manc on February 07, 2015, 02:22:47 PM

Quote from: seafoid on February 07, 2015, 01:05:41 PM

Quote from: Maroon Manc on February 07, 2015, 12:28:32 PM
Galway team named for tomorrow, three changes from the last day.

1 T.J Forde
2Declan Kyne 3Colin Forde 4Cathal Sweeney
5Paul Varley 6 Gareth Bradshaw 7 Gary O'Donnell
8 Fiontain O'Curraoin 9Tom Flynn
10Sean Denvir 11 Shane Walsh 12Enda Tierney
13Danny Cummins 14 Patrick Sweeney 15 Adrian Varley

I think FOC, TF, DC and SW are going to be the core of the team for the next few years

Not sure about Danny Cummins, he's been very wasteful in front of the posts especially with goal chances.

Why do ye keep playing him in the corner? Could have the makings of an excellent WF or WB. Hard worker.

We're on d'telly tonight. Welcome, Lilywhites to the fortress/cauldron/bear-pit that is the Stadium Of Fright. We're unbeaten here since the eighteenth of January.

1 Mark Donnellan Maynooth
2 Ciaran Fitzpatrick Kilcock
3 Peter Kelly Two Mile House
4 Mick O Grady Celbridge
5 Ollie Lyons Celbridge
6 Daryl O Brien Carbury
7 Eoin Doyle Naas
8 Hugh Lynch Confey
9 Padraig O Neill St Laurence's
10 Eamon Callaghan Naas
11 Niall Kelly Athy
12 Eoghan O Flaherty Carbury
13 Darroch Mulhall Athy
14 Fionn Dowling Suncroft
15 Padraig Fogarty St Laurence's

MEATH TEAM
Patrick O'Rourke, Skryne
Donncha Tobin, Blackhall Gaels
Conor McGill, Ratoath
Mickey Burke, Longwood
Padraic Harnon, Moynalvey
Donal Keogan {C}, Rathkenny
Bryan Menton, Donaghmore/Ashbourne
Harry Rooney, Skryne
Adam Flanagan, Clonard
Graham Reilly, St. Colmcille's
Mark O Sullivan, Moynalvey
Andrew Tormey, Donaghmore Ashbourne
Joey Wallace, Ratoath
Stephen Bray, Navan O'Mahony's
Michael Newman, Kilmainham

Donie Shine and Conor Daly starting at 11 and 5 for us. Ian Kilbride replacing Healy in the middle.

Ros 1-09 Down 0-06 HT.

This is more like it lads.

Things look pretty desperate, really.

I was looking for a live stream of the game but perhaps I best avert my eyes.

Meath 0-4, Kildare 0-7 at half time.

We don't seem to have a clue how to deal with the fifteen-man defence.

Is it gettin' any better?

Quote from: thejuice on February 07, 2015, 08:55:07 PM
Is it gettin' any better?

Do you feel the pain ?
Would it make it easier
If you had Banty to blame ?

I still blame him.

For everything, even the weather.

Quote from: thejuice on February 07, 2015, 09:06:22 PM
I still blame him.

For everything, even the weather.

is there just a point in it now?
Down are better in the second half too.m

Roscommon 1-15 Down 1-11 FT.

Absolutely delighted. Best win in the league in years. Well done on a fantastic win lads.

Quote from: Syferus on February 07, 2015, 09:14:25 PM
Roscommon 1-15 Down 1-11 FT.

Absolutely delighted. Best win in the league in years. Well done on a fantastic win lads.

Great win for Ros. And people said you were insufferable before this.....   😜

Meath 0-13
Kildare 0-11

Good finish from the lads in the end, seems like the defence got it together and did enough.

Roscommons victory up in Newry should be a warning to all their rivals , serious prospect . Connacht champions elect

Jesus, this division is gonna be tight this year

Quote from: thejuice on February 07, 2015, 09:22:20 PM
Meath 0-13
Kildare 0-11

Good finish from the lads in the end, seems like the defence got it together and did enough.

bad result for the flourbags who a lot of people thought would be one of the top teams
Well done meath and ros

Quote from: Tubberman on February 07, 2015, 09:21:23 PM

Quote from: Syferus on February 07, 2015, 09:14:25 PM
Roscommon 1-15 Down 1-11 FT.

Absolutely delighted. Best win in the league in years. Well done on a fantastic win lads.

Great win for Ros. And people said you were insufferable before this.....   😜

have been insufferable since the day they began to halucinate that Ballagh belonged to them-gud win though!

Quote from: larryin89 on February 07, 2015, 09:26:48 PM
Roscommons victory up in Newry should be a warning to all their rivals , serious prospect . Connacht champinship elect

Haha
Do you mean they are about to become the Connaught Championship?

Great win for Cavan tonight. 3 points out of 4 on the road is a great start to this campaign.

Quote from: tommysmith on February 07, 2015, 09:32:14 PM
Great win for Cavan tonight. 3 points out of 4 on the road is a great start to this campaign.

Absolutely,  we need to be getting some results at home now.

The two promoted teams at the top of D2 with one pairing left before the break. Both teams will be happy with three points from their first two matches.

Quote from: Syferus on February 07, 2015, 09:54:30 PM
The two promoted teams at the top of D2 with one pairing left before the break. Both teams will be happy with three points from their first two matches.

Great result for Ross. Is the break not from this week though??

Well done to Ros. Should be no reason why they can't be promotion contenders after a result like this. Fair play to Cathal Cregg who came on as a second half sub and scored 3 points. Diarmuid Murtagh scored something like 1-4, his brother Ciaran 0-2, and 0-1 each from D Shine, M Nally, N Daly, C Cafferky, S Kilbride, and sub D Smith. Three players went off injured.

Quote from: macdanger2 on February 07, 2015, 09:58:45 PM

Quote from: Syferus on February 07, 2015, 09:54:30 PM
The two promoted teams at the top of D2 with one pairing left before the break. Both teams will be happy with three points from their first two matches.

Great result for Ross. Is the break not from this week though??

Yep, but I mean Galway and Westmeath are playing tomorrow, the other three ties this round in D2 were tonight.

Roscommon are 10/3 to win connacht . This is a winner winner . They will win it imo but they are certain to get to final and could be layed in the final where they will go in at about 7/4 against Mayo or Galway at 4/7 and if it's Galway it could be even more generous.

Thought Down were useless tonight. Got cleaned out in midfield and their handling was awful as well. Losing Mooney and Kevin McKernan so early was a big blow. McCorry used 5 subs by halftime though which left us in a bit of trouble as regards getting a black card. Unfortunately we're now going to have to listen to him crying about playing against a 14 man defence for the next week when at times that was the exact system he was playing.

Quote from: Hardy on February 07, 2015, 07:10:28 PM
We're on d'telly tonight. Welcome, Lilywhites to the fortress/cauldron/bear-pit that is the Stadium Of Fright. We're unbeaten here since the eighteenth of January.

Meath held on in the Stadium of Shite, close enough game and watchable enough.

The Meath blanket was very effective. Found it tough viewing.

In no way did it affect the result - Meath missed a stack of frees and should have won by more - but did anyone who watched this game find the refereeing hard to fathom?
I'm not mentioning this as a whinge more to point out a general 'softness' in how gaelic football is refereed these days. Prime example, Ciaran Fitzpatrick nudged Andrew Tormey off the ball with what I thought was a textbook shoulder, and the ref gave a free in. Loads of other examples throughout including a black card for Graham Reilly for a slightly mistimed challenge and a free in for Stephen Bray after he kicked the ball wide having been well shadowed by Peter Kelly.

Is football become a non-contact sport?

In other news, we really are a very brittle football team.

disappointing display from down tonight. roscommon were stronger in all areas especially midfield and forwards. a bad 1st half by down left the 2nd half an uphill struggle which was made harder by being reduced to 14 men. no complaints though. a well deserved victory for roscommon and their large number of supporters.

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 07, 2015, 11:36:31 PM
In no way did it affect the result - Meath missed a stack of frees and should have won by more - but did anyone who watched this game find the refereeing hard to fathom?
I'm not mentioning this as a whinge more to point out a general 'softness' in how gaelic football is refereed these days. Prime example, Ciaran Fitzpatrick nudged Andrew Tormey off the ball with what I thought was a textbook shoulder, and the ref gave a free in. Loads of other examples throughout including a black card for Graham Reilly for a slightly mistimed challenge and a free in for Stephen Bray after he kicked the ball wide having been well shadowed by Peter Kelly.

Is football become a non-contact sport?

In other news, we really are a very brittle football team.

Yer 6 - O Brien is it? - looks far from brittle!

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 07, 2015, 11:36:31 PM
In other news, we really are a very brittle football team.

This team just never looks in control even when they are ahead in matches.

Quote from: moysider on February 07, 2015, 11:46:06 PM

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 07, 2015, 11:36:31 PM
In no way did it affect the result - Meath missed a stack of frees and should have won by more - but did anyone who watched this game find the refereeing hard to fathom?
I'm not mentioning this as a whinge more to point out a general 'softness' in how gaelic football is refereed these days. Prime example, Ciaran Fitzpatrick nudged Andrew Tormey off the ball with what I thought was a textbook shoulder, and the ref gave a free in. Loads of other examples throughout including a black card for Graham Reilly for a slightly mistimed challenge and a free in for Stephen Bray after he kicked the ball wide having been well shadowed by Peter Kelly.

Is football become a non-contact sport?

In other news, we really are a very brittle football team.

Yer 6 - O Brien is it? - looks far from brittle!

Yeah but it's not physical strength or physical courage I'm talking about. Our skills and decision making crumble when even moderate pressure is applied. Even our experienced players. Eoin Doyle the only consistent exception.
Even when we played poorly under McGeeney we were not a soft touch. The win in Navan in 2011, for example, showed that. Sad to say we look back to being a pushover in tight games.
Tonight we were four points up against a Meath team that didn't have Graham Reilly and couldn't kick a free to save their lives. They got themselves together for the last 20 minutes and outscored us 8-2.
Weak as p*ss.

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 08, 2015, 12:30:54 AM

Quote from: moysider on February 07, 2015, 11:46:06 PM

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 07, 2015, 11:36:31 PM
In no way did it affect the result - Meath missed a stack of frees and should have won by more - but did anyone who watched this game find the refereeing hard to fathom?
I'm not mentioning this as a whinge more to point out a general 'softness' in how gaelic football is refereed these days. Prime example, Ciaran Fitzpatrick nudged Andrew Tormey off the ball with what I thought was a textbook shoulder, and the ref gave a free in. Loads of other examples throughout including a black card for Graham Reilly for a slightly mistimed challenge and a free in for Stephen Bray after he kicked the ball wide having been well shadowed by Peter Kelly.

Is football become a non-contact sport?

In other news, we really are a very brittle football team.

Yer 6 - O Brien is it? - looks far from brittle!

Yeah but it's not physical strength or physical courage I'm talking about. Our skills and decision making crumble when even moderate pressure is applied. Even our experienced players. Eoin Doyle the only consistent exception.
Even when we played poorly under McGeeney we were not a soft touch. The win in Navan in 2011, for example, showed that. Sad to say we look back to being a pushover in tight games.
Tonight we were four points up against a Meath team that didn't have Graham Reilly and couldn't kick a free to save their lives. They got themselves together for the last 20 minutes and outscored us 8-2.
Weak as p*ss.

Yeah. But ye got to break it down. I would say tactically weak yes.  Bringing on O Connor was desperate because he was totally isolated. And Paddy O Rourke's presence meant Hail Marys a waste of time.  Some poor decisions making at times too. What was Cribben doing taking contact at the very end. He lays that off ye draw the game - maybe it was even a goal chance.

More like it from our lads tonight the platform was set for the win in the 1st half when we led by 6 points at the break however our what we have we'll hold 2nd half tactics on another night or in the past would have got us caught but credit to the lads they dug in showed great character & our subs U Harney, D Smith, C Cregg all made a telling contributions to a well deserved win.

Key to success to consistency judging by our inconsistent run of results this year we have much to improved on. Impressive win for Cavan tonight with their strong midfield pairing & well organised defence it going to take a good side to beat them in this division. Surprising slow start to the league by Kildare knowing our luck they will probably be in flying form by the time we play them.

Quote from: ross4life on February 08, 2015, 12:53:38 AM
More like it from our lads tonight the platform was set for the win in the 1st half when we lead by 6 points at the break however our what we have we'll hold 2nd half tactics on another night or in the past would have got us caught but credit to the lads they dug in showed great character & our subs U Harney, D Smith, C Cregg all made a telling contributions to a well deserved win.

Key to success to consistency judging by our inconsistent run of results this year we have much to improved on. Impressive win for Cavan tonight with their strong midfield pairing & well organised defence it going to take a good side to beat them in this division. Surprising slow start to the league by Kildare knowing our luck they will probably be in flying form by the time we play them.

Judging by tonight they wont.

This is a team that beat Mayo by a point in a shoot-out in Div 1 first game last year. Then they got themselves relegated afterwards. Paddy Brophy was their best player but he s gone. The year before Seanie Johnstone was the hero when we were beat again by a point in McHale Park.

Is this Kildare's second loss on the bounce? That s a serious slide.

Some woeful shooting by Kildare, and Meath too to be honest. I'd love to be able to rely on that sort of shooting happening when we play them but you can't. Focus on your own game and don't worry about the opposition (within reason obviously), all these teams are operating around the same level anyways so here should be no inferiority complexes or arrogance present.

Quote from: moysider on February 08, 2015, 12:51:43 AM

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 08, 2015, 12:30:54 AM

Quote from: moysider on February 07, 2015, 11:46:06 PM

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 07, 2015, 11:36:31 PM
In no way did it affect the result - Meath missed a stack of frees and should have won by more - but did anyone who watched this game find the refereeing hard to fathom?
I'm not mentioning this as a whinge more to point out a general 'softness' in how gaelic football is refereed these days. Prime example, Ciaran Fitzpatrick nudged Andrew Tormey off the ball with what I thought was a textbook shoulder, and the ref gave a free in. Loads of other examples throughout including a black card for Graham Reilly for a slightly mistimed challenge and a free in for Stephen Bray after he kicked the ball wide having been well shadowed by Peter Kelly.

Is football become a non-contact sport?

In other news, we really are a very brittle football team.

Yer 6 - O Brien is it? - looks far from brittle!

Yeah but it's not physical strength or physical courage I'm talking about. Our skills and decision making crumble when even moderate pressure is applied. Even our experienced players. Eoin Doyle the only consistent exception.
Even when we played poorly under McGeeney we were not a soft touch. The win in Navan in 2011, for example, showed that. Sad to say we look back to being a pushover in tight games.
Tonight we were four points up against a Meath team that didn't have Graham Reilly and couldn't kick a free to save their lives. They got themselves together for the last 20 minutes and outscored us 8-2.
Weak as p*ss.

Yeah. But ye got to break it down. I would say tactically weak yes.  Bringing on O Connor was desperate because he was totally isolated. And Paddy O Rourke's presence meant Hail Marys a waste of time.  Some poor decisions making at times too. What was Cribben doing taking contact at the very end. He lays that off ye draw the game - maybe it was even a goal chance.

The Cribbin incident you mention is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about and it was far from an isolated case of a Kildare player taking the wrong option under pressure.
Look it's still only February and I think we will improve but I'm worried there's a frailty there that will cost us any half-close championship match.
Maybe I'm being too harsh. Be interested to hear the assessment of DH or Dinny or any other Kildare supporters.

Cavan full value for our win tonight.. And our support outnumbered the Laois support away from home. 3 points away from home after two games is a good start to survival in Division 2.

Quote from: Syferus on February 08, 2015, 01:30:51 AM
Some woeful shooting by Kildare (and Meath too to be honest). I'd love to be able to rely on that sort of shooting happening when we play them but you can't. Focus on your own game and don't worry about the opposition, all these teams are operating around the same level anyways so here should be no inferiority complexes or arrogance present.

Bad shooting and 'poor shot selection' is a sign that other stuff is going badly. If the approach is right the ball goes over the bar.

From Meath and Kildare point of view, shooting would be least of my concerns. They ve always lads that can kick a score.

Quote from: moysider on February 08, 2015, 01:41:31 AM

Quote from: Syferus on February 08, 2015, 01:30:51 AM
Some woeful shooting by Kildare (and Meath too to be honest). I'd love to be able to rely on that sort of shooting happening when we play them but you can't. Focus on your own game and don't worry about the opposition, all these teams are operating around the same level anyways so here should be no inferiority complexes or arrogance present.

Bad shooting and 'poor shot selection' is a sign that other stuff is going badly. If the approach is right the ball goes over the bar.

From Meath and Kildare point of view, shooting would be least of my concerns. They ve always lads that can kick a score.

Kildare had John Doyle (one of my all-time favourite players), but who else?

Even the good Kildare underage teams had awful trouble finding the posts when it mattered in recent years. Forward play in general in Kildare has been in a serious mire, indeed the whole Seanie drama wouldn't have happened had Geezer not been worried about his forwards' ability to score. You'd have to wonder how attack play is thaught within the county and if it needs to be reassessed if it hasn't already been. I know we had fallow periods too with forwards but I think bad play up front limited what was a very solid Kildare outfit under Geezer, an outfit that had genuine shots at AIs in 2010 and 2011. Not too unlike Mayo under Horan, really..

Anyways, enough worrying about Kildare. Next stop is Croans' club defining game at Croker on Valentine's. That'd really make this a nice run for Roscommon teams.

You're clinging to stereotypes Syferus.
Forward play wasn't that big a problem under McGeeney. We scored 18 points, every single one from play, in a Leinster final against Dublin. 2-17 in an AIQF. Even last year we put up big scores in Division One and 0-17 in championship against Meath. Our problem was leaking goals at the other end. Two each for Meath and Monaghan last year and four (should have been eight) against Dublin the year before.
Ryan has switched to 14 men behind the ball so far this year to counteract and I'm not sure it suits us.

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 08, 2015, 01:36:24 AM

Quote from: moysider on February 08, 2015, 12:51:43 AM

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 08, 2015, 12:30:54 AM

Quote from: moysider on February 07, 2015, 11:46:06 PM

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 07, 2015, 11:36:31 PM
In no way did it affect the result - Meath missed a stack of frees and should have won by more - but did anyone who watched this game find the refereeing hard to fathom?
I'm not mentioning this as a whinge more to point out a general 'softness' in how gaelic football is refereed these days. Prime example, Ciaran Fitzpatrick nudged Andrew Tormey off the ball with what I thought was a textbook shoulder, and the ref gave a free in. Loads of other examples throughout including a black card for Graham Reilly for a slightly mistimed challenge and a free in for Stephen Bray after he kicked the ball wide having been well shadowed by Peter Kelly.

Is football become a non-contact sport?

In other news, we really are a very brittle football team.

Yer 6 - O Brien is it? - looks far from brittle!

Yeah but it's not physical strength or physical courage I'm talking about. Our skills and decision making crumble when even moderate pressure is applied. Even our experienced players. Eoin Doyle the only consistent exception.
Even when we played poorly under McGeeney we were not a soft touch. The win in Navan in 2011, for example, showed that. Sad to say we look back to being a pushover in tight games.
Tonight we were four points up against a Meath team that didn't have Graham Reilly and couldn't kick a free to save their lives. They got themselves together for the last 20 minutes and outscored us 8-2.
Weak as p*ss.

Yeah. But ye got to break it down. I would say tactically weak yes.  Bringing on O Connor was desperate because he was totally isolated. And Paddy O Rourke's presence meant Hail Marys a waste of time.  Some poor decisions making at times too. What was Cribben doing taking contact at the very end. He lays that off ye draw the game - maybe it was even a goal chance.

The Cribbin incident you mention is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about and it was far from an isolated case of a Kildare player taking the wrong option under pressure.
Look it's still only February and I think we will improve but I'm worried there's a frailty there that will cost us any half-close championship match.
Maybe I'm being too harsh. Be interested to hear the assessment of DH or Dinny or any other Kildare supporters.

You could argue it already did against Monaghan last year. That brittleness has been on display for a while now.

Things are bad when we have the Mayo and Roscommon ladeens pouring over our shortcomings! Someone resurrect that Ballaghadereen thread to keep them occupied for a few days.

There is just a dearth of natural leaders in the panel. Even up to 18 months ago you would have had Earley, Doyle and Sweeney in the background, if not on the field. Leinster winners and seriously strong characters. The older players that we need to lead the thing now suffered some cruel defeats in 2009-2011 and I suspect they left long term mental scars. The younger players are looking to them for guidance and it just isn't there.

The lack of a settled midfield has been a problem since 2010 and it looks like it will continue for the foreseeable future. I've been following Kildare teams for a long time and even in bad years we always seemed to produce decent midfielders but that is not the case anymore. We can't keep harping back to losing Feely and Hurley and wallowing in self pity. It's four years since Feely won the county title and he never played for the Kildare seniors anyway and I have my doubts over whether Hurley would have realised his talent in the long run.

People will talk about Kildare's forwards which is a lazy enough analysis. They're far from perfect but they have not been our undoing for a number of years now. I do think there is the bones of a decent defensive unit there with Fergal Conway and Emmet Bolton to come back and also David Hyland who I rate. We are asking a lot of Tommy Moolick, Dan Flynn and Paul Cribbin to transform the team around that middle third considering they have only about four years of proper senior experience between them.

You could argue that this brittleness in Kildare football extends well beyond the county team. If you look at the club championship the only top senior team who have a steely toughness about them are Moorefield. I will never know how they managed to win the 2014 championship. Sarsfields were 5 points up in the drawn final with only a few minutes to go. Celbridge owned the ball against them in the semi final and should have been out past the bundle of sticks roundabout by half time. Athy would probably win the county championship at a canter if they had any little bit of composure about themselves.

3 of the 4 best club teams in Kildare, arguably the top 3 teams in terms of individual talent, and a serious flakiness about each of them.

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 08, 2015, 01:31:26 AM
You're clinging to stereotypes Syferus.
Forward play wasn't that big a problem under McGeeney. We scored 18 points, every single one from play, in a Leinster final against Dublin. 2-17 in an AIQF. Even last year we put up big scores in Division One and 0-17 in championship against Meath. Our problem was leaking goals at the other end. Two each for Meath and Monaghan last year and four (should have been eight) against Dublin the year before.
Ryan has switched to 14 men behind the ball so far this year to counteract and I'm not sure it suits us.

I'm thinking about conversion rates, any team can score a heap of points but it's how efficient you are with the ball that counts more. I saw Kildare play in the AI series four times in person in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and on each occassion shot selection was glaringly poor, apart from the second half against Meath in 2010 and that was mostly Johnny Doyle kickinglights out.

Forwards regularly ran strange wide lines and kicked shots from angles even Evan Regan wouldn't be able to score from, be it because they could see no one to pass it to or just because they didn't bother looking in the first place. Free-taking by anyone but Doyle was also a sore point. It always looked like a coachable problem too, at least in being patient enough to work balls outrds again rather than taking long bombs and giving the opposition the ball back needlessly, indeed that probably contributed to the defence coughing up the quoted scores too. I'm interested to see how Armagh develop under Geezer to see if it's something that carries over to that team because they were as reliant on Clarke as Kildare ever were on Doyle.

Hard to disagree with any of that DH a saddening but fair assessment.

Yeah interesting points Syf. I actually had a theory that Kildare were operating a shoot-from-anywhere policy at times in those years. I think the logic might have been that turnovers are so important these days that we'd rather the ball go dead than get dispossessed trying to work it closer.
Maybe there was something to it - we weren't a million miles away in 2010 or 2011.

Quote from: Westside on February 08, 2015, 01:37:26 AM
Cavan full value for our win tonight.. And our support outnumbered the Laois support away from home. 3 points away from home after two games is a good start to survival in Division 2.

Super win, should have been another 6 points in it really. Two a way games out of 4 played and 3 points. Lets hope we can make hay in our home games against Down and Kildare next.

Donnelly's Hollow is correct when he says that us '' Mayo and Roscommon ladeens'' should talk about something other than Kildare's shortcomings. Why should be waste our time talking about a team that never actually wins anything and are overhyped in general every year. How many Leinster titles is it now in the last 90 years?. Mayo have won 4 Connacht titles in a row and could have won a few All Irelands in recent years. Roscommon are a team heading in the right direction, backed up by one of the best underage structures in the country. How dare we talk about Kildare, a county who usually make the Gaa headlines, only because of the size of the county boards debt.. Now, where's that Ballagh thread gone to?

Well done to Cavan btw.

Quote from: Donnellys Hollow on February 08, 2015, 01:32:14 AM

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 08, 2015, 01:36:24 AM

Quote from: moysider on February 08, 2015, 12:51:43 AM

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 08, 2015, 12:30:54 AM

Quote from: moysider on February 07, 2015, 11:46:06 PM

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on February 07, 2015, 11:36:31 PM
In no way did it affect the result - Meath missed a stack of frees and should have won by more - but did anyone who watched this game find the refereeing hard to fathom?
I'm not mentioning this as a whinge more to point out a general 'softness' in how gaelic football is refereed these days. Prime example, Ciaran Fitzpatrick nudged Andrew Tormey off the ball with what I thought was a textbook shoulder, and the ref gave a free in. Loads of other examples throughout including a black card for Graham Reilly for a slightly mistimed challenge and a free in for Stephen Bray after he kicked the bal.l wide having been well shadowed by Peter Kelly.

Is football become a non-contact sport?

In other news, we really are a very brittle football team.

Yer 6 - O Brien is it? - looks far from brittle!

Yeah but it's not physical strength or physical courage I'm talking about. Our skills and decision making crumble when even moderate pressure is applied. Even our experienced players. Eoin Doyle the only consistent exception.
Even when we played poorly under McGeeney we were not a soft touch. The win in Navan in 2011, for example, showed that. Sad to say we look back to being a pushover in tight games.
Tonight we were four points up against a Meath team that didn't have Graham Reilly and couldn't kick a free to save their lives. They got themselves together for the last 20 minutes and outscored us 8-2.
Weak as p*ss.

Yeah. But ye got to break it down. I would say tactically weak yes.  Bringing on O Connor was desperate because he was totally isolated. And Paddy O Rourke's presence meant Hail Marys a waste of time.  Some poor decisions making at times too. What was Cribben doing taking contact at the very end. He lays that off ye draw the game - maybe it was even a goal chance.

The Cribbin incident you mention is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about and it was far from an isolated case of a Kildare player taking the wrong option under pressure.
Look it's still only February and I think we will improve but I'm worried there's a frailty there that will cost us any half-close championship match.
Maybe I'm being too harsh. Be interested to hear the assessment of DH or Dinny or any other Kildare supporters.

You could argue it already did against Monaghan last year. That brittleness has been on display for a while now.

Things are bad when we have the Mayo and Roscommon ladeens pouring over our shortcomings! Someone resurrect that Ballaghadereen thread to keep them occupied for a few days.

There is just a dearth of natural leaders in the panel. Even up to 18 months ago you would have had Earley, Doyle and Sweeney in the background, if not on the field. Leinster winners and seriously strong characters. The older players that we need to lead the thing now suffered some cruel defeats in 2009-2011 and I suspect they left long term mental scars. The younger players are looking to them for guidance and it just isn't there.

The lack of a settled midfield has been a problem since 2010 and it looks like it will continue for the foreseeable future. I've been following Kildare teams for a long time and even in bad years we always seemed to produce decent midfielders but that is not the case anymore. We can't keep harping back to losing Feely and Hurley and wallowing in self pity. It's four years since Feely won the county title and he never played for the Kildare seniors anyway and I have my doubts over whether Hurley would have realised his talent in the long run.

People will talk about Kildare's forwards which is a lazy enough analysis. They're far from perfect but they have not been our undoing for a number of years now. I do think there is the bones of a decent defensive unit there with Fergal Conway and Emmet Bolton to come back and also David Hyland who I rate. We are asking a lot of Tommy Moolick, Dan Flynn and Paul Cribbin to transform the team around that middle third considering they have only about four years of proper senior experience between them.

That 2011 loss to Donegal after extra time must have been very hard for the players. It was so close and cou have gone either way but when kildare lost it was like the end of the road. Kildare remind me a bit of the waterford hurlers

Quote from: Shrewdness on February 08, 2015, 09:18:52 AM
Donnelly's Hollow is correct when he says that us '' Mayo and Roscommon ladeens'' should talk about something other than Kildare's shortcomings. Why should be waste our time talking about a team that never actually wins anything and are overhyped in general every year. How many Leinster titles is it now in the last 90 years?. Mayo have won 4 Connacht titles in a row and could have won a few All Irelands in recent years. Roscommon are a team heading in the right direction, backed up by one of the best underage structures in the country. How dare we talk about Kildare, a county who usually make the Gaa headlines, only because of the size of the county boards debt.. Now, where's that Ballagh thread gone to?

4 bald men fighting over a comb if you include cavan and allow for certain of them trying rogaine.
Mayo are like that line from downtown train. They try so hard to break out of their little world.
Last all ireland won

Kildare 1928
Ros        1944
Mayo    1951
Cavan    1952
None in the modern era despite all that tradition.
All 4 of ye deserve an all ireland but there is a lot of head stuff to conquer before shangri la.
I wonder which county will be the first to break its mental chains. It should be mayo but you never know.

Quote from: seafoid on February 08, 2015, 09:45:53 AM

Quote from: Shrewdness on February 08, 2015, 09:18:52 AM
Donnelly's Hollow is correct when he says that us '' Mayo and Roscommon ladeens'' should talk about something other than Kildare's shortcomings. Why should be waste our time talking about a team that never actually wins anything and are overhyped in general every year. How many Leinster titles is it now in the last 90 years?. Mayo have won 4 Connacht titles in a row and could have won a few All Irelands in recent years. Roscommon are a team heading in the right direction, backed up by one of the best underage structures in the country. How dare we talk about Kildare, a county who usually make the Gaa headlines, only because of the size of the county boards debt.. Now, where's that Ballagh thread gone to?

4 bald men fighting over a comb if you include cavan and allow for certain of them trying rogaine.
Mayo are like that line from downtown train. They try so hard to break out of their little world.
Last all ireland won

Kildare 1928
Ros        1944
Mayo    1951
Cavan    1952
None in the modern era despite all that tradition.
All 4 of ye deserve an all ireland but there is a lot of head stuff to conquer before shangri la.
I wonder which county will be the first to break its mental chains. It should be mayo but you never know.

Cavan have tradition , Mayo have some but less ,as for the other two less again. Tradition isn't just about titles won although obviously it's a factor, for me it's style of play,great players produced down the years etc. Gallant John Joe or the great Tom Langan will always be remembered as greats of the game , I'm not so sure about Early or Johnny Doyle. But it's all about opinions I suppose .

Mayo in fairness have been competing in a different league to the rest the last twenty years. If you want to just say all four are the same because of no all ireland I think that's being pretty disingenuous to Mayo over the last 20 odd years who have absolutely rode the arse off Roscommon in that period for example.

Quote from: seafoid on February 08, 2015, 09:45:53 AM

Quote from: Shrewdness on February 08, 2015, 09:18:52 AM
Donnelly's Hollow is correct when he says that us '' Mayo and Roscommon ladeens'' should talk about something other than Kildare's shortcomings. Why should be waste our time talking about a team that never actually wins anything and are overhyped in general every year. How many Leinster titles is it now in the last 90 years?. Mayo have won 4 Connacht titles in a row and could have won a few All Irelands in recent years. Roscommon are a team heading in the right direction, backed up by one of the best underage structures in the country. How dare we talk about Kildare, a county who usually make the Gaa headlines, only because of the size of the county boards debt.. Now, where's that Ballagh thread gone to?

4 bald men fighting over a comb if you include cavan and allow for certain of them trying rogaine.
Mayo are like that line from downtown train. They try so hard to break out of their little world.
Last all ireland won

Kildare 1928
Ros        1944
Mayo    1951
Cavan    1952
None in the modern era despite all that tradition.
All 4 of ye deserve an all ireland but there is a lot of head stuff to conquer before shangri la.
I wonder which county will be the first to break its mental chains. It should be mayo but you never know.

Whats the modern era though? I wouldn't include anything pre 2000 as the modern era as the game was utterly different in the 90s such is the professional preparations and tactics at play today. Since 2000 only Kerry, Tyrone, Cork, Donegal, Armagh and Galway (who just sneak in)

There are a lot of counties trying to overcome mental barriers and indeed I'd include Galway and Armagh in that too.

Quote from: mylestheslasher on February 08, 2015, 10:43:35 AM

Quote from: seafoid on February 08, 2015, 09:45:53 AM

Quote from: Shrewdness on February 08, 2015, 09:18:52 AM
Donnelly's Hollow is correct when he says that us '' Mayo and Roscommon ladeens'' should talk about something other than Kildare's shortcomings. Why should be waste our time talking about a team that never actually wins anything and are overhyped in general every year. How many Leinster titles is it now in the last 90 years?. Mayo have won 4 Connacht titles in a row and could have won a few All Irelands in recent years. Roscommon are a team heading in the right direction, backed up by one of the best underage structures in the country. How dare we talk about Kildare, a county who usually make the Gaa headlines, only because of the size of the county boards debt.. Now, where's that Ballagh thread gone to?

4 bald men fighting over a comb if you include cavan and allow for certain of them trying rogaine.
Mayo are like that line from downtown train. They try so hard to break out of their little world.
Last all ireland won

Kildare 1928
Ros        1944
Mayo    1951
Cavan    1952
None in the modern era despite all that tradition.
All 4 of ye deserve an all ireland but there is a lot of head stuff to conquer before shangri la.
I wonder which county will be the first to break its mental chains. It should be mayo but you never know.

Whats the modern era though? I wouldn't include anything pre 2000 as the modern era as the game was utterly different in the 90s such is the professional preparations and tactics at play today. Since 2000 only Kerry, Tyrone, Cork, Donegal, Armagh and Galway (who just sneak in)

There are a lot of counties trying to overcome mental barriers and indeed I'd include Galway and Armagh in that too.

I think you can divide failure into 2 groups

1. Not good enough
2. Good enough but head stuff

Galway, armagh, tyrone, meath are in group 1
Mayo , kildare recently  and Galway hurlers would be in group 2.

There is a huge psychological element to success.
Kildare had a great team late 90s but lost to Galway twice
. They might have beaten mayo....

You have to take your chances on the day and the lynx effect - you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
The head stuff is vital.

Quote from: Shrewdness on February 08, 2015, 09:18:52 AM
Donnelly's Hollow is correct when he says that us '' Mayo and Roscommon ladeens'' should talk about something other than Kildare's shortcomings. Why should be waste our time talking about a team that never actually wins anything and are overhyped in general every year. How many Leinster titles is it now in the last 90 years?. Mayo have won 4 Connacht titles in a row and could have won a few All Irelands in recent years. Roscommon are a team heading in the right direction, backed up by one of the best underage structures in the country. How dare we talk about Kildare, a county who usually make the Gaa headlines, only because of the size of the county boards debt.. Now, where's that Ballagh thread gone to?

;D

Great result for Cavan last night. Lots of room to improve too.

Never mind Meath and Kildare ( although with relations in both it's sad to think neither will come wothin an ass's roar of giving Dublin a game in Leinster) - What about that for a good result and performance in Páirc Esler by our buicíns?
It helped that Down don't play a Cavan like defensive strategy so we had space when we ran at them.
Dodgy opening but our  backs got to grips - mostly- with the Aristocrats' forwards and we attacked very well ourselves.
1-4 without reply in the 20 mins or so before h/t put us in the driving seat - great pass to D Murt for the goal.
We went into our shell a bit in the second half and things looked dodgy after the goal but we finished strongly after Donie Smith and Cregger( copyright Syf) came on. He should have brought them on earlier as Enda Smith looked worn out from 45 mins on.
Anyway Syf will be happy that Cregger came on and shouwed great coolness, savvy and leadership to hit 3 points and win the day for us.
Excellent programme by the way ... BUT..
2 gripes - Why the pidgin Gaeilge from Yankee doodle Google translate in the Cathaoirleach's Fáilte. Translated to pidgin English it read - It is happy to me every person a Esler Páirc welcome to put to ye to the game between down and Ros, our first house National Football League game the season.
Heading said "Fáilte an gChathaoirleach" ::)
Map on page 23 showing a pink 6 Cos and a Green 26 - won't go down well in 5 Counties I could name.
Good noght good show and bring on the Royals.

Rossfan your own fans said last week said that Evans is very negative so pot and kettle. When you played Mayo last year you were very negative. Cavan play one sweeper now and are much more attacking hence 17 points last night most of which were from play. But don't let the facts get in the way of a good argument .

Very impressed with the rosses last nite, will be a big challenge till mayo in the next few years. As for us? going nowhere fast. Have we no big forwards in the county.

Negative? What teams don't imploy heavy defensive tactics? We regularly had 12 men behind the ball last night too if Willie is to be believed. Fact is being a positive team in the modern era is about breaking from defence fast, good support play and good passing. Thankfully we've been improving year-on-year in those areas under Evans. He seems to understand that to move up in the world we have to expand our game and get better at defending, not one or the other.

Quick word for Senan, a player who got torrents of abuse even though he's one of the best target men I've ever seen wear primrose. His style of play tended to make people think he was lazy but in reality he was always trying to work for the team, at times even last night he was asked to do more defending than I'd have liked. If you checked how many scores he's got this year you'd think he was under-performing but his ball-winning and passing have been sublime so far, he's become alongside Enda Smith the chief playmaker on the team. Great to see because everyone that's watched Senan play knows he has the talent.

Quote from: Syferus on February 08, 2015, 01:12:51 PM
Negative? What teams don't imploy heavy defensive tactics? We regularly had 12 men behind the ball last nigh too if Willie is to be believed. Fact is being a positive team in the modern era is about breaking from defence fast, good support play and good passing. Thankfully we've been improving year-on-year in those areas under Evans. He seems to understand that to move up in the world we have to expand our game and get better at defending, not one or the other.

Quick word for Senan, a player who got torrents of abuse even though he's one of the best target men I've ever seen wear primrose. His style of play tended to make people think he was lazy but in reality he was always trying to work for the team, at times even last night he was asked to do more defending than I'd have liked. If you checked how many scores he's got this year you'd think he was under-performing but his ball-winning and passing have been sublime so far, he's become alongside Ena Smith the chief playmaker on the team. Great to see because everyone that's watched Senan play knows he has the talent.

Well said. Cavan seem to have copped on to this, this year. No ponderous hand passing. A work in progress. A fresh voice in McHale seems to have helped progress. Some lads still quoting Brolly a year later.

Very open division after 2 rounds.

Very disappointing from Westmeath point of view, with regard to the result. Positives aside from that. It's going to be very tight at both ends of the table. Although it does look ominous for Laois.

Who can stop Galway now? ;D

Quote from: Rossfan on February 08, 2015, 07:08:24 PM
Who can stop Galway now? ;D

With the Corofin lads,Hanley,Conroy etc to return Galway are in the box seat for promotion.

Quote from: Blowitupref on February 08, 2015, 08:19:37 PM

Quote from: Rossfan on February 08, 2015, 07:08:24 PM
Who can stop Galway now? ;D

With the Corofin lads,Hanley,Conroy etc to return Galway are in the box seat for promotion.

And Connacht and Sam..

First off it was a hugely entertaining game for this time of year in Mullingar today, credit to both teams for some excellent fare at times. Both teams had stages where there was 14 men behind the ball defending but there was plenty of scoring to makeup for some of the clogged defending which is, alas, just the way of the modern game.

This was a great win for Galway but a draw would have been the fairest result, both teams had spells in the ascendancy and others when they were under pressure. A good sign for us is that when Westmeath went in front for the first time with about 15 minutes left there was a great response, I have no doubt that Galway would have lost this game last year.
Some questionable officiating (2nd half especially), some bizarre calls against Galway in terms of frees given the other way and side line balls given in error but Westmeath had at least one scorable free and a possible penalty denied in the second half so it was going both ways.

Galway have "embraced" a more defensive plan although it is certainly still very much a work in progress. The patient build up from the back cost at least a couple of points in turnover ball and when attacking 14 men they are still taking the ball into the tackle a bit too much at times.
4 points is a fantastic platform to start with however and if we can beat Laois in Tuam next time out we will have a great opportunity to push for promotion to Division one with two more home games to come after that.

TJ Forde - Kickouts were a disaster (they only marginally improved in the second half) and he paid the price by being subbed off at HT for Breathnach. Could have been more commanding around the area for the first Westmeath goal perhaps. Breathnach made a brilliant match winning save in the final quarter when a goal for either team would have sealed it.
Declan Kyne - Played more out the pitch with Forde/Sweeney marking the two man Westmeath FF line. Couple of frees given away (one of them pointed) but had some good runs up the pitch. Obviously as he is a Clonbur man, I hope this will not be the only chance in the league he gets.
Colin Forde - Cleaned out under the high ball several times, to be fair he was giving up at least 4 or 5 inches to his man but both Westmeath goals were from high balls into the square, whatever blame is to go around Forde has to bear most of the brunt unfortunately. Hanley should have been on for him sooner as the long ball option wasn't as effective once he was at the edge of the square.
Cathal Sweeney - Played fairly well, best of the starting FB line.
Paul Varley - Quieter than the Meath match, still got up the pitch to hit another great score.
Garreth Bradshaw - Good game, best I've seen from him in a Galway jersey for a while.
Gary O'Donnell - Decent game, the HB line were all solid to be honest.
Fiontán Ó Curraoin - Good game for the most part, some great fetches in the 2nd half, kept the possession ticking over when he had the ball.
Tomas Flynn - Quiet game, had a couple of great runs which lead to scores for other players (including the first goal) to be fair.
Sean Denvir - Industrious and impressive (at times) performance, got a superb score off his left around the 60 minute mark when Galway badly needed it.
Shane Walsh - Stuck the penalty well but had a terrible game, two very bad misses from handy frees right in front of the posts. Gave up possession several times, twice punished by Westmeath points for losing it in the Galway half. Substituted midway through the 2nd half, fortunate to stay on until then. Replaced by Martin who hit over a brilliant pressure free in the last 5 minutes.
Enda Tierney - Totally anonymous in the 1st half, can't remember anything of note at all, subbed at HT for Hoare who was much more involved in the game.
Danny Cummins - Excellent, 3 great points and consistently won any decent ball played into him.
Patrick Sweeney - Galway's MOTM, 1-5 from play, great ball winning throughout, hard to fault his performance. A speculative free kick from about 45 out in the first half that got nowhere near and a wide he should have fisted over in the 2nd half is about the only criticism.
Adrian Varley - Good performance, won plenty of ball in the 1st half out in front of his man, seemed to be back in the Galway half more so in the 2nd half and wasn't as prominent, replaced by Cathal Mulryan with about 7 or 8 minutes to go.

For Westmeath, I thought Heslin was good, Keiran Martin at CHB was probably Westmeath's standout player, great drive all game. Kudos must go to Callum McCormack for the two most outstanding points scored on the day, fantastic efforts, the second of which I couldn't believe he put over, did some good work when on the ball as well throughout.
The midfielder Sharry had some powerful runs into Galway territory but the end product was lacking from him slightly when in some good positions. As mentioned previously, the two man FF line gave Galway a lot of problems (Lorcan Smith and Darragh Daly I think, some Westmeath follower can probably confirm the players) with the high ball for the majority of the game until Hanley was brought into it.

Quote from: Rossfan on February 08, 2015, 07:08:24 PM
Who can stop Galway now? ;D

Ros will be playing champions league by june so it won't be them

Quote from: seafoid on February 09, 2015, 12:48:45 AM

Quote from: Rossfan on February 08, 2015, 07:08:24 PM
Who can stop Galway now? ;D

Ros will be playing champions league by june so it won't be them

..but sure the CL final is in May Foideen.

Quote from: Syferus on February 09, 2015, 01:20:55 AM

Quote from: seafoid on February 09, 2015, 12:48:45 AM

Quote from: Rossfan on February 08, 2015, 07:08:24 PM
Who can stop Galway now? ;D

Ros will be playing champions league by june so it won't be them

..but sure the CL final is in May Foideen.

Roscommon can do anything they are "the "product of 2015 .

Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on February 08, 2015, 11:45:04 PM
First off it was a hugely entertaining game for this time of year in Mullingar today, credit to both teams for some excellent fare at times. Both teams had stages where there was 14 men behind the ball defending but there was plenty of scoring to makeup for some of the clogged defending which is, alas, just the way of the modern game.

This was a great win for Galway but a draw would have been the fairest result, both teams had spells in the ascendancy and others when they were under pressure. A good sign for us is that when Westmeath went in front for the first time with about 15 minutes left there was a great response, I have no doubt that Galway would have lost this game last year.
Some questionable officiating (2nd half especially), some bizarre calls against Galway in terms of frees given the other way and side line balls given in error but Westmeath had at least one scorable free and a possible penalty denied in the second half so it was going both ways.

Galway have "embraced" a more defensive plan although it is certainly still very much a work in progress. The patient build up from the back cost at least a couple of points in turnover ball and when attacking 14 men they are still taking the ball into the tackle a bit too much at times.
4 points is a fantastic platform to start with however and if we can beat Laois in Tuam next time out we will have a great opportunity to push for promotion to Division one with two more home games to come after that.

TJ Forde - Kickouts were a disaster (they only marginally improved in the second half) and he paid the price by being subbed off at HT for Breathnach. Could have been more commanding around the area for the first Westmeath goal perhaps. Breathnach made a brilliant match winning save in the final quarter when a goal for either team would have sealed it.
Declan Kyne - Played more out the pitch with Forde/Sweeney marking the two man Westmeath FF line. Couple of frees given away (one of them pointed) but had some good runs up the pitch. Obviously as he is a Clonbur man, I hope this will not be the only chance in the league he gets.
Colin Forde - Cleaned out under the high ball several times, to be fair he was giving up at least 4 or 5 inches to his man but both Westmeath goals were from high balls into the square, whatever blame is to go around Forde has to bear most of the brunt unfortunately. Hanley should have been on for him sooner as the long ball option wasn't as effective once he was at the edge of the square.
Cathal Sweeney - Played fairly well, best of the starting FB line.
Paul Varley - Quieter than the Meath match, still got up the pitch to hit another great score.
Garreth Bradshaw - Good game, best I've seen from him in a Galway jersey for a while.
Gary O'Donnell - Decent game, the HB line were all solid to be honest.
Fiontán Ó Curraoin - Good game for the most part, some great fetches in the 2nd half, kept the possession ticking over when he had the ball.
Tomas Flynn - Quiet game, had a couple of great runs which lead to scores for other players (including the first goal) to be fair.
Sean Denvir - Industrious and impressive (at times) performance, got a superb score off his left around the 60 minute mark when Galway badly needed it.
Shane Walsh - Stuck the penalty well but had a terrible game, two very bad misses from handy frees right in front of the posts. Gave up possession several times, twice punished by Westmeath points for losing it in the Galway half. Substituted midway through the 2nd half, fortunate to stay on until then. Replaced by Martin who hit over a brilliant pressure free in the last 5 minutes.
Enda Tierney - Totally anonymous in the 1st half, can't remember anything of note at all, subbed at HT for Hoare who was much more involved in the game.
Danny Cummins - Excellent, 3 great points and consistently won any decent ball played into him.
Patrick Sweeney - Galway's MOTM, 1-5 from play, great ball winning throughout, hard to fault his performance. A speculative free kick from about 45 out in the first half that got nowhere near and a wide he should have fisted over in the 2nd half is about the only criticism.
Adrian Varley - Good performance, won plenty of ball in the 1st half out in front of his man, seemed to be back in the Galway half more so in the 2nd half and wasn't as prominent, replaced by Cathal Mulryan with about 7 or 8 minutes to go.

For Westmeath, I thought Heslin was good, Keiran Martin at CHB was probably Westmeath's standout player, great drive all game. Kudos must go to Callum McCormack for the two most outstanding points scored on the day, fantastic efforts, the second of which I couldn't believe he put over, did some good work when on the ball as well throughout.
The midfielder Sharry had some powerful runs into Galway territory but the end product was lacking from him slightly when in some good positions. As mentioned previously, the two man FF line gave Galway a lot of problems (Lorcan Smith and Darragh Daly I think, some Westmeath follower can probably confirm the players) with the high ball for the majority of the game until Hanley was brought into it.

Smyth and Daly indeed. Daly is one of yours, a nephew of Val's.

Kildare are only 2 points off the pace if they can get organised. It doesn't look good for Laois though.

Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on February 08, 2015, 11:45:04 PM
First off it was a hugely entertaining game for this time of year in Mullingar today, credit to both teams for some excellent fare at times. Both teams had stages where there was 14 men behind the ball defending but there was plenty of scoring to makeup for some of the clogged defending which is, alas, just the way of the modern game.

etc.

Very good summation Fhairche. W'meath would indeed not have been flattered with a draw or even a win; as you said, ref. was dodgy for both sides, but I thought he gave a couple of very crucial calls our way. Subs big Kev made were indeed very timely, Colin Forde was really struggling all day, and Hanley added badly needed cuteness to no. 3 spot. I even said at the time that Breathnach's save could be a match-winner. HB line weren't too bad per se but I'd like to see them 'stop' more, rather than just attacking wholesale. The form of Pat Sweeney, (great man to break a tackle) and the much-derided (by me and others) Danny Cummins is an early season bonus. Would like to see Galway move the ball forward much quicker if possible; there was a bit too much fannying about in midfield with it for a lot of the time.

Last year, we would probably have lost that game by a couple of points, cue Mulholland saying things were 'encouraging' and 'going the right way' and 'a young improving squad' etc. We're in a good position now, with a home game to come in fortress Tuam against an off-form Laois, which is very winnable. Thereafter things get a bit harder; away games v Down and the Rossies will be no gimmes for sure. (Is it certain the Ros' game  will be in the Hyde?) The returning lads should provide another boost, but there's no guarantee it will be enough either....

That's a good summation of the game AFA, like you said, a hugely entertaining game for February. We were slow out of the blocks, our full back line were exposed and they didn't look as tuned in as the Laois game. Fair play to the lads for coming back from two 5 point leads to go in level at half time. While we were exposed at the back the reason for it soon became clear as were tried to press Galway high up the pitch. This seemed to catch Galway on the hop a bit and we managed a fair few turnovers outside our 45. One criticism I'd have is that we didn't look to send in more high balls into the square. We got 2 goals from 3 such deliveries in the first half, an inexperienced keeper in goal and a height mismatch right in front of him.

Jamie Gonoud did a superb marking job on Shane Walsh and was another interesting tactic from management. I'd agree with all you've said on Heslin, Martin, McCormack, Sharry, Smith and Daly and would add in Egan for mention due to work rate, the man is a human dynamo. Kickouts are a problem though, didn't win enough of the directed ones and certainly need work. Really should have worked the goal opportunity better in the second half as well although it was a great save from Breathnach to be fair.

You've already referenced the refereeing and likewise I found myself commentating on frees for both sides being very soft and then incredulous at other times for frees not being awarded at all. I found myself on my feet at one stage giving out that the ball hadn't crossed the sideline, straight under the nose of the linesman, who for some reason, best know to himself, awarded a line ball to Westmeath. But if a referee is going to be poor/picky then you hope he is going to be consistently poor/picky. Which led to even higher levels of incredulity when he failed to award a penalty for a carbon copy drag back that he awarded in the area in the first half. However we had the chances aside from that to get at least the draw I thought we deserved towards the end. Our handling let us down at times and Heslin was unlucky to see a free come back off the post.

Still a lot of positives to take from the game, hugely encouraged from the performance what with injuries and flu still in the squad. Game in Newbridge in 3 weeks takes on a whole new meaning now, a result there will do wonders.

Croí na hÉireann - I agree that Westmeath should have had a penalty, especially after the penalty awarded (correctly) to Galway in the 1st half, if Galway didn't get one like that I'd be hopping mad.
Kick outs were a problem for both teams, each seemed to have more success on the opposition kick out than on their own.

Mouview - The save by Breathnach was definitely the match winning difference. Really though, it has to be said that Westmeath should have scored there, it was one of those overlap chances that's converted 80-90% of the time.
It will be hard to get anything away to Down and the Rossies but if we can win (and it's a big ask to be fair) the remaining home games that should be enough to go up I think, given the evenness of the teams involved in Division 2 all teams will drop points somewhere.

Quote from: seafoid on February 08, 2015, 10:59:01 AM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on February 08, 2015, 10:43:35 AM

Quote from: seafoid on February 08, 2015, 09:45:53 AM

Quote from: Shrewdness on February 08, 2015, 09:18:52 AM
Donnelly's Hollow is correct when he says that us '' Mayo and Roscommon ladeens'' should talk about something other than Kildare's shortcomings. Why should be waste our time talking about a team that never actually wins anything and are overhyped in general every year. How many Leinster titles is it now in the last 90 years?. Mayo have won 4 Connacht titles in a row and could have won a few All Irelands in recent years. Roscommon are a team heading in the right direction, backed up by one of the best underage structures in the country. How dare we talk about Kildare, a county who usually make the Gaa headlines, only because of the size of the county boards debt.. Now, where's that Ballagh thread gone to?

4 bald men fighting over a comb if you include cavan and allow for certain of them trying rogaine.
Mayo are like that line from downtown train. They try so hard to break out of their little world.
Last all ireland won

Kildare 1928
Ros        1944
Mayo    1951
Cavan    1952
None in the modern era despite all that tradition.
All 4 of ye deserve an all ireland but there is a lot of head stuff to conquer before shangri la.
I wonder which county will be the first to break its mental chains. It should be mayo but you never know.

Whats the modern era though? I wouldn't include anything pre 2000 as the modern era as the game was utterly different in the 90s such is the professional preparations and tactics at play today. Since 2000 only Kerry, Tyrone, Cork, Donegal, Armagh and Galway (who just sneak in)

There are a lot of counties trying to overcome mental barriers and indeed I'd include Galway and Armagh in that too.

I think you can divide failure into 2 groups

1. Not good enough
2. Good enough but head stuff

Galway, armagh, tyrone, meath are in group 1
Mayo , kildare recently  and Galway hurlers would be in group 2.

There is a huge psychological element to success.
Kildare had a great team late 90s but lost to Galway twice
. They might have beaten mayo....

You have to take your chances on the day and the lynx effect - you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
The head stuff is vital.

Ffs! Kildare were never good enough to win an AI, head problems or not. Its like having a group that were "good enough but leg stuff"!
If you havent got the temperament for big games, you are NOT good enough..

Quote from: Old yeller on February 09, 2015, 05:35:09 PM

Quote from: seafoid on February 08, 2015, 10:59:01 AM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on February 08, 2015, 10:43:35 AM

Quote from: seafoid on February 08, 2015, 09:45:53 AM

Quote from: Shrewdness on February 08, 2015, 09:18:52 AM
Donnelly's Hollow is correct when he says that us '' Mayo and Roscommon ladeens'' should talk about something other than Kildare's shortcomings. Why should be waste our time talking about a team that never actually wins anything and are overhyped in general every year. How many Leinster titles is it now in the last 90 years?. Mayo have won 4 Connacht titles in a row and could have won a few All Irelands in recent years. Roscommon are a team heading in the right direction, backed up by one of the best underage structures in the country. How dare we talk about Kildare, a county who usually make the Gaa headlines, only because of the size of the county boards debt.. Now, where's that Ballagh thread gone to?

4 bald men fighting over a comb if you include cavan and allow for certain of them trying rogaine.
Mayo are like that line from downtown train. They try so hard to break out of their little world.
Last all ireland won

Kildare 1928
Ros        1944
Mayo    1951
Cavan    1952
None in the modern era despite all that tradition.
All 4 of ye deserve an all ireland but there is a lot of head stuff to conquer before shangri la.
I wonder which county will be the first to break its mental chains. It should be mayo but you never know.

Whats the modern era though? I wouldn't include anything pre 2000 as the modern era as the game was utterly different in the 90s such is the professional preparations and tactics at play today. Since 2000 only Kerry, Tyrone, Cork, Donegal, Armagh and Galway (who just sneak in)

There are a lot of counties trying to overcome mental barriers and indeed I'd include Galway and Armagh in that too.

I think you can divide failure into 2 groups

1. Not good enough
2. Good enough but head stuff

Galway, armagh, tyrone, meath are in group 1
Mayo , kildare recently  and Galway hurlers would be in group 2.

There is a huge psychological element to success.
Kildare had a great team late 90s but lost to Galway twice
. They might have beaten mayo....

You have to take your chances on the day and the lynx effect - you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
The head stuff is vital.

Ffs! Kildare were never good enough to win an AI, head problems or not. Its like having a group that were "good enough but leg stuff"!
If you havent got the temperament for big games, you are NOT good enough..

They were a year late for Mayo in 98. 2 head cases. One of them would have had to win even if neither of them could  . You can't have a final with 2 losers.   

Quote from: mouview on February 09, 2015, 10:37:57 AM

Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on February 08, 2015, 11:45:04 PM
First off it was a hugely entertaining game for this time of year in Mullingar today, credit to both teams for some excellent fare at times. Both teams had stages where there was 14 men behind the ball defending but there was plenty of scoring to makeup for some of the clogged defending which is, alas, just the way of the modern game.

etc.

Very good summation Fhairche. W'meath would indeed not have been flattered with a draw or even a win; as you said, ref. was dodgy for both sides, but I thought he gave a couple of very crucial calls our way. Subs big Kev made were indeed very timely, Colin Forde was really struggling all day, and Hanley added badly needed cuteness to no. 3 spot. I even said at the time that Breathnach's save could be a match-winner. HB line weren't too bad per se but I'd like to see them 'stop' more, rather than just attacking wholesale. The form of Pat Sweeney, (great man to break a tackle) and the much-derided (by me and others) Danny Cummins is an early season bonus. Would like to see Galway move the ball forward much quicker if possible; there was a bit too much fannying about in midfield with it for a lot of the time.

Last year, we would probably have lost that game by a couple of points, cue Mulholland saying things were 'encouraging' and 'going the right way' and 'a young improving squad' etc. We're in a good position now, with a home game to come in fortress Tuam against an off-form Laois, which is very winnable. Thereafter things get a bit harder; away games v Down and the Rossies will be no gimmes for sure. (Is it certain the Ros' game  will be in the Hyde?) The returning lads should provide another boost, but there's no guarantee it will be enough either....

A much better shtart this year, Mo, compared to last year when the first points came in round 4.
Down are very hit and miss, I think

From a Galway perspective I think you have to be fairly happy with the start to the league although it's early days yet. 2 wins from 2 without the Corofin lads and a few others and still 3 home games to come. Win even the remaining home games and Galway would be in a very good position come the end of the league. I agree with AFA that Galway would have lost that Westmeath game last year once Westmeath finally edged in front late in the game. Showed some serious fight to dig out the win away from home there. Nobody can tell yet how Kevin Walsh will do with Galway but I do think he will instill a harder more competitive edge in them than Mulholland could.

No doubt the biggest find of the league so far has been Patrick Sweeney (granted a small sample size). Was very good when he came off the bench against Meath and 1-5 from play (as well as winning another penalty) against Westmeath speaks for itself. If he maintains his form through the league he will make himself very difficult to drop from the number 14 shirt which would beg the question of where to put Paul Conroy? Sweeney looks like a strong ball-winner and is is obviously well able to take his own scores. For some reason he reminds me of a smaller version of Kieran Donaghy.

Defensively I think we are still a work in progress to say the least. Still a lot of rotation going on back there especially in goal. A fit Finian Hanley is still very important. Half backs can't be caught bombing forward as much or at least not all at the same time.

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on February 09, 2015, 08:06:12 PM
From a Galway perspective I think you have to be fairly happy with the start to the league although it's early days yet. 2 wins from 2 without the Corofin lads and a few others and still 3 home games to come. Win even the remaining home games and Galway would be in a very good position come the end of the league. I agree with AFA that Galway would have lost that Westmeath game last year once Westmeath finally edged in front late in the game. Showed some serious fight to dig out the win away from home there. Nobody can tell yet how Kevin Walsh will do with Galway but I do think he will instill a harder more competitive edge in them than Mulholland could.

No doubt the biggest find of the league so far has been Patrick Sweeney (granted a small sample size). Was very good when he came off the bench against Meath and 1-5 from play (as well as winning another penalty) against Westmeath speaks for itself. If he maintains his form through the league he will make himself very difficult to drop from the number 14 shirt which would beg the question of where to put Paul Conroy? Sweeney looks like a strong ball-winner and is is obviously well able to take his own scores. For some reason he reminds me of a smaller version of Kieran Donaghy.

Defensively I think we are still a work in progress to say the least. Still a lot of rotation going on back there especially in goal. A fit Finian Hanley is still very important. Half backs can't be caught bombing forward as much or at least not all at the same time.

In fairness to Mulholland his job was to bring on the best under 21s and he did it. 
Flynn, O Curraoin and Walsh are a year older this year and that is standing to them.
  Sweeney looks like he could be quite a prospect. Nice to see players like him coming through.

It's a pity there are so few of the older heads with a bit of experience.
Donnellan and Joyce had the likes of Walsh and Mannion to gel with. 

Cavan vs Down
Galway vs Laois
Kildare vs Westmeath
Meath vs Ros

I'll go for Down, Galway. Kildare and Meath

Cavan will beat Down
Galway will thump Laois
Kildare will beat Westmeath but not by much
I'll go for narrow Ros win against Meath. Could be a draw.

Seafoid's list above should have read Ros v Meath, and not as he posted it. It's a home game for Ros in Kiltoom... Let's hope his prediction of a Meath victory is as wrong as his prediction of a Down victory over the ' Harlem Globetrotters' last weekend.

Ah in fairness we always beat Roscommon.

Quote from: Hardy on February 13, 2015, 12:56:58 AM
Ah in fairness we always beat Roscommon.

Tell that to Liam Hayes : "Roscommon were the All-Ireland challenge champions"

Last time ye came to Roscommon it took a 70 metre goal to win it.. and we replaced the keeper after that match.

As I said ....

Quote from: Hardy on February 13, 2015, 12:56:58 AM
Ah in fairness we always beat Roscommon.

Wrong. 2008 last Kiltoom meeting ended in draw. 1990 Meath were on the end of 16 point trimming which was also played in Kiltoom.

Quote from: Shrewdness on February 12, 2015, 11:47:07 PM
Seafoid's list above should have read Ros v Meath, and not as he posted it. It's a home game for Ros in Kiltoom... Let's hope his prediction of a Meath victory is as wrong as his prediction of a Down victory over the ' Harlem Globetrotters' last weekend.

You are gas, shrewdness. I actually slipped when I was posting that list. I was wearing the wrong studs
Meath are a different proposition and they need the points. 

Hope you didnt do yourself an injury seafoid your knowlegable comments on here would be sorely missed

Ros are 9/2 to win the division
I presume Syf will bet the farm on it  :o


http://www.paddypower.com/bet/gaa-sports/gaa-football/nfl-division-2?ev_oc_grp_ids=7425

Ros are more interested in staying up rather than winning the division.
Not even Syf will bet his camera/fancy nerdytech phone on us going up.

Quote from: Rossfan on February 13, 2015, 11:01:10 AM
Ros are more interested in staying up rather than winning the division.
Not even Syf will bet his camera/fancy nerdytech phone on us going up.

It could happen though. It gets interesting now with teams needing to get points .

I think Cavan should be good enough to beat Down. Roscommon should beat Meath in Kiltoom. Laois look to be in turmoil so hard to see anything but a Galway win. Haven't seen Kildare yet but morale must be low, Westmeath will be fit. I wouldnt be shocked to see Westmeath beat them and put Kildare in a real bind. They may need to go and buy in a few new players at this rate.

Seanie isn't doing much these days..

Quote from: mylestheslasher on February 13, 2015, 11:40:54 AM
They may need to go and buy in a few new players at this rate.

Fermanagh got any good forwards these days?

Ros v Meath to be in Hyde Park.

Slide and go.

Did ye cut the grass yet?

Quote from: Jinxy on February 19, 2015, 10:53:45 AM
Did ye cut the grass yet?

It's hard to cut the grass when all that's on the pitch are reeds.

Quote from: Jinxy on February 19, 2015, 10:53:45 AM
Did ye cut the grass yet?

Lavin' it as a jungle so ye bucks will feel at home ;D

Why isn't it being played in Kiltoom?

Quote from: Shrewdness on February 19, 2015, 09:16:37 PM
Why isn't it being played in Kiltoom?

By the end of March, Ros games will be all-ticket affairs in Croker.

Tom Flynn out for the remainder of the league for Galway. Should be OK for the Summer though. Bit of a blow with Conroy still out as well.

Laois in bad shape at the moment but maybe the return of Quigley and Colm and paul begley for this Galway game can make a difference certainly adds size to the team...

Laois have a great record against the tribesmen in recent years but most people expecting us to be hammered in Tuam this Sunday

Wouldn't fancy being a Kildare player in or around the Westmeath square on Sunday, Gary's back.

                 Gary Connaughton
   Mark McCallon, Kevin Maguire, John Gilligan
       Killian Daly, Kieran Martin, John Egan
             Paddy Holloway, John Heslin
       Paul Sharry, Ger Egan, Jamie Gonoud
Lorcan Smith, Callum McCormack, Denis Glennon.

Quote from: Unlaoised on February 25, 2015, 11:52:16 AM
Laois in bad shape at the moment but maybe the return of Quigley and Colm and paul begley for this Galway game can make a difference certainly adds size to the team...

Laois have a great record against the tribesmen in recent years but most people expecting us to be hammered in Tuam this Sunday

Laois hammered Galway last year

Rossies will get promoted,win conacht and reach last 4. No big surprise. Look forward to september.

Quote from: gibbs32 on February 25, 2015, 08:18:24 PM
Rossies will get promoted,win conacht and reach last 4. No big surprise. Look forward to september.

larryin89, is this you?

Whoever he is Farr, he's certainly not a Rossie.

Galway team named, a couple of changes made from the last day, Comer and Martin back in, Is Shane Walsh injured? Can only assume Martin is back as we need a free take!

Tierney gets his opportunity at midfield, he must be impressing well in training.

I'm hoping complacency doesn't sneak in, I'm sure KW won't allow it. I'm hoping Sweeney plays at full forward and not at no 11 where he's named.

Quote from: Maroon Manc on February 27, 2015, 12:06:43 PM
Galway team named, a couple of changes made from the last day, Comer and Martin back in, Is Shane Walsh injured? Can only assume Martin is back as we need a free take!

Tierney gets his opportunity at midfield, he must be impressing well in training.

I'm hoping complacency doesn't sneak in, I'm sure KW won't allow it. I'm hoping Sweeney plays at full forward and not at no 11 where he's named.

After his performance against Westmeath, Shane Walsh has probably been dropped, he was Galway's worst player on the day by a distance.

Galway Team that has been named for Sun -

1   Manus Breathnach An Spideal
21 Declan Kyne An Fhairche
3   Finian Hanley Br. na Trá/Cn. na Cathrach
4   Cathal Sweeney Cill Ainnín
5   P Paul Varley Seamróige Cortúin
6   Garreth Bradshaw Maigh Cuilinn
7   Gary O'Donnell Realta Thuama
8   Fiontán Ó Curraoin Micheál Breathnach
9   Enda Tierney Uachtar Ard
10 Sean Denvir Micheál Breathnach
11 Patrick Sweeney Cill Áinnín
12 Damien Comer Anach Cuain
22 Michael  Martin Baille an Mhuilinn
14 Adrian Varley Seamróige Cortuin
15 Danny Cummins Baile Clár na Gaillimhe

Other than Shane Walsh being dropped, its along expected lines considering injuries and unavailability of the Corofin lads.  Will be interesting to see how Tierney goes at MF.

Quote from: GaillimhIarthair on February 27, 2015, 12:21:44 PM
Galway Team that has been named for Sun -

1   Manus Breathnach An Spideal
21 Declan Kyne An Fhairche
3   Finian Hanley Br. na Trá/Cn. na Cathrach
4   Cathal Sweeney Cill Ainnín
5   P Paul Varley Seamróige Cortúin
6   Garreth Bradshaw Maigh Cuilinn
7   Gary O'Donnell Realta Thuama
8   Fiontán Ó Curraoin Micheál Breathnach
9   Enda Tierney Uachtar Ard
10 Sean Denvir Micheál Breathnach
11 Patrick Sweeney Cill Áinnín
12 Damien Comer Anach Cuain
22 Michael  Martin Baille an Mhuilinn
14 Adrian Varley Seamróige Cortuin
15 Danny Cummins Baile Clár na Gaillimhe

Other than Shane Walsh being dropped, its along expected lines considering injuries and unavailability of the Corofin lads.  Will be interesting to see how Tierney goes at MF.

7 players from beyond Bearna is interesting.   

Quote from: seafoid on February 27, 2015, 01:19:48 PM

Quote from: GaillimhIarthair on February 27, 2015, 12:21:44 PM
Galway Team that has been named for Sun -

1   Manus Breathnach An Spideal
21 Declan Kyne An Fhairche
3   Finian Hanley Br. na Trá/Cn. na Cathrach
4   Cathal Sweeney Cill Ainnín
5   P Paul Varley Seamróige Cortúin
6   Garreth Bradshaw Maigh Cuilinn
7   Gary O'Donnell Realta Thuama
8   Fiontán Ó Curraoin Micheál Breathnach
9   Enda Tierney Uachtar Ard
10 Sean Denvir Micheál Breathnach
11 Patrick Sweeney Cill Áinnín
12 Damien Comer Anach Cuain
22 Michael  Martin Baille an Mhuilinn
14 Adrian Varley Seamróige Cortuin
15 Danny Cummins Baile Clár na Gaillimhe

Other than Shane Walsh being dropped, its along expected lines considering injuries and unavailability of the Corofin lads.  Will be interesting to see how Tierney goes at MF.

7 players from beyond Bearna is interesting.   

Lot of missing players though from the team that will likely tog out in the Summer. No Conroy, Flynn and a couple of others due to injury. Walsh left out. Corofin lads still unavailable.

Is the Cavan - Down game live on TV?

Quote from: seafoid on February 27, 2015, 01:19:48 PM

Quote from: GaillimhIarthair on February 27, 2015, 12:21:44 PM
Galway Team that has been named for Sun -

1   Manus Breathnach An Spideal
21 Declan Kyne An Fhairche
3   Finian Hanley Br. na Trá/Cn. na Cathrach
4   Cathal Sweeney Cill Ainnín
5   P Paul Varley Seamróige Cortúin
6   Garreth Bradshaw Maigh Cuilinn
7   Gary O'Donnell Realta Thuama
8   Fiontán Ó Curraoin Micheál Breathnach
9   Enda Tierney Uachtar Ard
10 Sean Denvir Micheál Breathnach
11 Patrick Sweeney Cill Áinnín
12 Damien Comer Anach Cuain
22 Michael  Martin Baille an Mhuilinn
14 Adrian Varley Seamróige Cortuin
15 Danny Cummins Baile Clár na Gaillimhe

Other than Shane Walsh being dropped, its along expected lines considering injuries and unavailability of the Corofin lads.  Will be interesting to see how Tierney goes at MF.

7 players from beyond Bearna is interesting.   

In fairness to Kevin, he is giving plenty of opportunities to a lot of lads on the extended panel and so far, the results have been positive whilst also throwing up a few potential new starters for the championship this summer.  Hopefully we can get some of the injured lads and Corofin contingent back for the last few crucial games of the league and really push on for promotion and go into the summer in a really positive mood.

Why has Shane Walsh been dropped? One bad performance? Does he not take some of the frees too? Seems like a liability leaving him out.

Quote from: Denn Forever on February 27, 2015, 02:08:52 PM
Is the Cavan - Down game live on TV?

Yup. On one of the Setanta channels.

Quote from: Syferus on February 27, 2015, 02:23:03 PM
Why has Shane Walsh been dropped? One bad performance? Does he not take some of the frees too? Seems like a liability leaving him out.

2 mediocre performances . A lot of attention from markers. chance to see who else is handy . Against Laois who are not going very well. In early March. 4 points in the bag already unlike last year. No big deal.   

http://www.paddypower.com/bet/gaa-sports

Ros are 4/6 and Kildare 2/7

Those odds don't look right.

Quote from: seafoid on February 27, 2015, 02:30:54 PM

Quote from: Syferus on February 27, 2015, 02:23:03 PM
Why has Shane Walsh been dropped? One bad performance? Does he not take some of the frees too? Seems like a liability leaving him out.

2 mediocre performances . A lot of attention from markers. chance to see who else is handy . Against Laois who are not going very well. In early March. 4 points in the bag already unlike last year. No big deal.

Don't think Shane Walsh was mediocre against Meath scored 1-2 from play.

Quote from: seafoid on February 28, 2015, 06:59:43 AM
http://www.paddypower.com/bet/gaa-sports


Ros are 4/6 and Kildare 2/7

Those odds don't look right.

About right should be two home wins.

I expect and hope we will beat Down this evening in Breffni. I also expect wins for Roscommon, Kildare and Galway. I do think Westmeath will give Kildare a tight game though. After this weekend we will see who are the promotion and relegation contenders proper.

Down and Meath coule upset the early form. Can't see the 2 ex D3 keeping the pace up over 7 matches

If there's any Cavan/Down fans who can't get to the game tonight and don't have Setanta, download Hola for your Google Chrome browser and choose the option to change to USA browsing, then you can purchase it on GAAGO for €10.

Quote from: Westside on February 28, 2015, 05:31:31 PM
If there's any Cavan/Down fans who can't get to the game tonight and don't have Setanta, download Hola for your Google Chrome browser and choose the option to change to USA browsing, then you can purchase it on GAAGO for €10.

Available for iOS? Cheers,

Quote from: lfdown2 on February 28, 2015, 06:48:57 PM

Quote from: Westside on February 28, 2015, 05:31:31 PM
If there's any Cavan/Down fans who can't get to the game tonight and don't have Setanta, download Hola for your Google Chrome browser and choose the option to change to USA browsing, then you can purchase it on GAAGO for €10.

Available for iOS? Cheers,

https://gaago2.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1827649-what-ios-apple-mobile-devices-are-supported-

Down 4 up against Cavan. Not that surprising.

Quote from: seafoid on February 28, 2015, 07:40:13 PM
Down 4 up against Cavan. Not that surprising.

3 up and they have a gale behind them seafood. 2nd half will tell a tale.

Cavan down by 3 at half time playing against a gale. Hopefully we can make the most of the wind in the second half. Martin Dunne having an absolute shocker same as the last day, needs to be subbed.

Level now Cavan 0-6 Down 0-6

Not surprising.

Hughes the ref ruining the game. Ronan Flanagan off for 2 yellows, neither were yellows

Ref is shocking. Level. We're running out of gas.

Goal for down could prove the difference between the sides

Ref cost Cavan but that said we were brutal, worst I've seen us in a good while. No forwards at all. What's the point pitting Mackey on with 30s left, brainless.

That was one of the harshest sending offs I've seen in a long time. Cavan very disappointing apart from that though, the substitutes added absolutely nothing. Barry Reilly coughed up possession 4 or 5 times, Niall Murray had one solo run back towards his own goal. We ran out of gas completely towards the end too. A disheartening evening all in all.

Quote from: Syferus on February 28, 2015, 08:10:34 PM
Not surprising.

John the Baptist Evans says Ros don't have the panel for Division 1 Syf so a loss tomorrow would bring a bit of perspective and do ye no harm hype wise.

Quote from: seafoid on February 28, 2015, 09:02:54 PM

Quote from: Syferus on February 28, 2015, 08:10:34 PM
Not surprising.

John the Baptist Evans says Ros don't have the panel for Division 1 Syf so a loss tomorrow would bring a bit of perspective and do ye no harm hype wise.

The only ones talking about Roscmmon in D1 are Galway and Mayo supporters.

Quote from: Westside on February 28, 2015, 08:50:13 PM
That was one of the harshest sending offs I've seen in a long time. Cavan very disappointing apart from that though, the substitutes added absolutely nothing. Barry Reilly coughed up possession 4 or 5 times, Niall Murray had one solo run back towards his own goal. We ran out of gas completely towards the end too. A disheartening evening all in all.

There was hardly a dirty stroke in the game yet must have given 7 or 8 yellows. Very a disappointed with 2 lads in the middle too, had no impact.

Quote from: Itchy on February 28, 2015, 08:40:15 PM
Ref cost Cavan but that said we were brutal, worst I've seen us in a good while. No forwards at all. What's the point pitting Mackey on with 30s left, brainless.

Amazing how we see things through our own county coloured specs. I thought ref was terrible too bit was harsh on Down though I agree the second yellow was very harsh.

Quote from: Syferus on February 28, 2015, 09:05:42 PM

Quote from: seafoid on February 28, 2015, 09:02:54 PM

Quote from: Syferus on February 28, 2015, 08:10:34 PM
Not surprising.

John the Baptist Evans says Ros don't have the panel for Division 1 Syf so a loss tomorrow would bring a bit of perspective and do ye no harm hype wise.

The only ones talking about Roscmmon in D1 are Galway and Mayo supporters.

go away out of that, Syf

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/allianz-league-football-previews-1.2120872

"You know things are going reasonably well for Roscommon when John Evans's main concern seems to be to dampen down the hype. He was out again this week reiterating his conviction that the Rossies don't have the pool of players to survive in Division One should their fine early-season form carry them to promotion. They could be vulnerable here, with the excellent Enda Smith, Donie Smith and Conor Daly all sure to be feeling the effects of Sigerson exertions. Meath righted the ship somewhat against Kildare and have Damien Carroll back in harness.
Verdict: Meath"

What club in Down is Donal O'Hare from ?
Any relation to Tom ?

Yeah Killian Clarke was poor and Gearoid too. Flanagan was probably our best player and his going off cost us dearly. The defending for the goal was shocking. It should have been a dog fight at 8 each and us down to 14.. They should never have had a man unmarked at the edge of the small square. Hard to see us getting anything off Kildare next weekend, the dogfight isn't far away.

Quote from: seafoid on February 28, 2015, 09:22:03 PM
What club in Down is Donal O'Hare from ?
Any relation to Tom ?

Donal is from Burren and is  a first cousin of former Armagh player Oisin Mc Conville   

Quote from: MK on February 28, 2015, 09:39:54 PM

Quote from: seafoid on February 28, 2015, 09:22:03 PM
What club in Down is Donal O'Hare from ?
Any relation to Tom ?

Donal is from Burren and is  a first cousin of former Armagh's clinical finisher Oisin Mc Conville

GRMA

The relegation picture could become very clear very early, if results go against Laois and Kildare today.

If both of them lose (and Meath beat Roscommon) the next lowest ranked teams would be Cavan and Roscommon on 3 points.

Provincial loyalty will be put to one side and they will surely be hoping that Roscommon beat Meath so that they are other potential relegation candidates down there with them.

I suspect there isn't much "provincial loyalty" between Meath and Kildare.
Anyway cmon Ros and let the rest look after themselves.

Quote from: twohands!!! on March 01, 2015, 08:34:07 AM
The relegation picture could become very clear very early, if results go against Laois and Kildare today.

If both of them lose (and Meath beat Roscommon) the next lowest ranked teams would be Cavan and Roscommon on 3 points.

Provincial loyalty will be put to one side and they will surely be hoping that Roscommon beat Meath so that they are other potential relegation candidates down there with them.

There isn't much between the 8 teams this year. Very little consistency anywhere. Losing 3 would not be the end of the world. It will all come down to the last day.

Ros v Meath and Galway v Laois postponed

The two Connacht teams the only undefeated teams after the first three weekends ;D

Quote from: Syferus on March 01, 2015, 12:57:02 PM
The two Connacht teams the only undefeated teams after the first three weekends ;D

On the other hand we have found something that has stopped the all-conquering Rossies of '15 - the weather.

Maybe we didn't want to risk the bus in the snow, although i'm sure it can be fitted with a snow plough

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 01, 2015, 01:14:32 PM
Maybe we didn't want to risk the bus in the snow, although i'm sure it can be fitted with a snow plough

I thought it was already established nothing could stop the magic bus  :o

At least we knocked a night's accommodation at the Hudson Bay out of Meath GAA.

Sun shining brightly in the hyde, what a pity the snow spoiled what would have been a good day for a game,
the rematch will be a different kettle of fish as it will more than likely be fixed for the sat or sun after the last round of league matches and could well be a promotion or relegation dogfight or both, both teams will also be getting into championship mode with more than likely better playing conditions.

surely the time has come to build a roof over the Hyde?

Quote from: manfromdelmonte on March 01, 2015, 01:37:06 PM
surely the time has come to build a roof over the Hyde?

Can we not just play our games in a gym. Or inside the bus.

Kildare beaten at home by Westmeath! Surprised they didn't up it and now they are in real trouble. Hopefully their poor form will hold for another week.

some drop by kildare they look like they are heading for division 3

Caught the second-half of the match on KFM Radio on the internet. It seems Kildare were very poor in the first half and were lucky to be only down by 3 pts at half time, and while Kildare picked it up in the second half Gary Connaughton in the Westmeath goal pulled off four great saves. to keep Kildare out. Listening to the commentator  KIldare looked very dejected going in.  The lillies have a fight on now to stay out of D3.

There are some nice away trips in Division 3.

Quote from: Donnellys Hollow on March 01, 2015, 05:16:50 PM
There are some nice away trips in Division 3.

They're all a bit shit to be honest.

By Newbridge's standards, the pitch up in Drogheda is state of the art.

Quote from: Syferus on March 01, 2015, 05:27:37 PM

Quote from: Donnellys Hollow on March 01, 2015, 05:16:50 PM
There are some nice away trips in Division 3.

They're all a bit shit to be honest.

But their pitches are usually playable.

Quote from: Owenmoresider on March 01, 2015, 05:38:35 PM

Quote from: Syferus on March 01, 2015, 05:27:37 PM

Quote from: Donnellys Hollow on March 01, 2015, 05:16:50 PM
There are some nice away trips in Division 3.

They're all a bit shit to be honest.

But their pitches are usually playable.

It's not like ye'll be in D3 next year anyways, is it?

Quote from: Syferus on March 01, 2015, 05:27:37 PM

Quote from: Donnellys Hollow on March 01, 2015, 05:16:50 PM
There are some nice away trips in Division 3.

They're all a bit shit to be honest.

Roscommon would know  ;D

We do have an excellent pitch in Kiltoom, but for equality purposes, we let the ladies use it today.

Almost time to go and break the ice on the Division Three thread. The way things are going we might have a chance to renew our local rivalries with Offaly and Carlow next year.

Quote from: Ohtoohtobe on March 02, 2015, 02:04:59 AM
Almost time to go and break the ice on the Division Three thread. The way things are going we might have a chance to renew our local rivalries with Offaly and Carlow next year.

If Kildare get the finger out they should be able to get 5 out of the next 8 points. Meath vs Ros will determine which team stays closer to the drop zone.

Looking at remaining matches down, now favourites for promotion.second spot is anybodys bar laois and kildare.Cavan were shown up by down, I think Rosco mmon will find it tough, too they will stay up though.

Down went to Newbridge and Breffni and won, and we went to Newry and beat them relatively handily. This isn't Down's to lose; both top spots are up for grabs and everyone bar Kildare and maybe Laois (pending their next game, which is at home against us) is in play. No outstanding teams. We said that before a ball was kicked and so it's been proven.

Well said Syf, and don't let anyone forget that this league campaign for Roscommon is all about consolidating our position as a Division 2 team. Even our manager has said that.

What the bookies think

To Lift the Trophy
Galway 13/8
Roscommon 10/3
Down 7/2
Meath 11/2
Westmeath 9/1
Cavan 10/1

To be relegated

Outright Betting   Hide
Laois 1/6
Kildare 4/11
Cavan 11/4
Westmeath 9/2
Meath 9/2
Roscommon 11/1
Down 16/1
Galway 20/1

The cancelled matches make things a bit harder to get a handle on.

Would be interesting to see what the odds on promotion are like as opposed to lifting the  cup.

Rossies at 10/3 to win the cup look like possible value to my eyes

Quote from: cornetto on March 02, 2015, 03:30:51 PM
Looking at remaining matches down, now favourites for promotion.second spot is anybodys bar laois and kildare.Cavan were shown up by down, I think Rosco mmon will find it tough, too they will stay up though.

http://www.paddypower.com/bet/gaa-sports/gaa-football/nfl-division-2
Presumably if Meath beat Ros they'll fall back to a similar price to Cavan ie 10/1  ;)
Cavan are 11/4 to be relegated and Ros are 11/1. That is a huge gap.
Pricing it must be treacherous given there isn't much between the teams

Quote from: twohands!!! on March 02, 2015, 04:21:45 PM
What the bookies think

To Lift the Trophy
Galway 13/8
Roscommon 10/3
Down 7/2
Meath 11/2
Westmeath 9/1
Cavan 10/1

To be relegated

Outright Betting   Hide
Laois 1/6
Kildare 4/11
Cavan 11/4
Westmeath 9/2
Meath 9/2
Roscommon 11/1
Down 16/1
Galway 20/1

The cancelled matches make things a bit harder to get a handle on.

Would be interesting to see what the odds on promotion are like as opposed to lifting the  cup.

Rossies at 10/3 to win the cup look like possible value to my eyes

Ros at 11/1 to be relegated might not be bad value either if Meath beat them

Seaf seems obsessed with us getting relegated  :o

The fixture list is fairly solid now for us till the end. Injuries could easily become a factor.

Would anybody have the odds on Seafoid ever having something positive to say about Roscommon Gaa ;D

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 02, 2015, 04:52:25 PM
Would anybody have the odds on Seafoid ever having something positive to say about Roscommon Gaa ;D

Ye had a great team in the late 70s. Tony McManus was class. Anything else ?

I think the current team have a bit too much hype.

Quote from: thejuice on March 02, 2015, 04:47:57 PM
The fixture list is fairly solid now for us till the end. Injuries could easily become a factor.

The four teams who had games postponed this weekend will have to play competitive football every weekend from now until April 5th.

Quote from: Syferus on March 02, 2015, 05:15:10 PM

Quote from: thejuice on March 02, 2015, 04:47:57 PM
The fixture list is fairly solid now for us till the end. Injuries could easily become a factor.

The four teams who had games postponed this weekend will have to play competitive football every weekend from now until April 5th.

Great for a bit of momentum

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 02, 2015, 04:52:25 PM
Would anybody have the odds on Seafoid ever having something positive to say about Roscommon Gaa ;D

seafood can't help himself

What has happened to Kildare injuries or poor management?

Quote from: Captain Obvious on March 02, 2015, 06:43:43 PM
What has happened to Kildare injuries or poor management?

Robotics have become obsolete. 

Quote from: Captain Obvious on March 02, 2015, 06:43:43 PM
What has happened to Kildare injuries or poor management?

Kildare injuries stayed, and poor management left and went home.

Quote from: Captain Obvious on March 02, 2015, 06:43:43 PM
What has happened to Kildare injuries or poor management?

Ever addicted to the quick fix and reaping what we've sown.

Mind you, probable starters missing against Westmeath included P Kelly, Bolton, Moolick, N Kelly and Smith.
We also lost two promising players to AFL before the season began.

However I would imagine most counties are down a few at this time of the year. We don't seem to have the depth the top 8-12 counties do, particularly in midfield.

Stick a ton on so Seafreud, let us know how you get on!!

So, the Rossies and their magnificent mode of transport, take to the road again next weekend when they face Laois in Portlaoise. It will have been a 4 week break from competitive actiom for both counties. The two teams had contrasting fortunes before the break. Ros had picked up 3 points from Cavan and Down to go with their FBD League victory.. Laois lost their first two games, and may well have benefited from the 4 week break. Let's hope the 4 week break hasn't halted the Rossies momentum.. This could be a tight game, but hopefully our forwards have their scoring boots on.. Good competition for forward spots now with at least 9 quality forwards vying for 6 places.

Apparently Enda and Conoreen weren't due to start last Sunday, likely the Sigerson marathon had taken its toll on them. The week off should mean they're ready to go unless they've injuries. Keenan was due ot start too which is great news, he'll be a big addition to the HB line.

Roscommon, despite all the mutterings from the manager about consolidation in the division won't be far away from promotion in my opinion.

If Roscommon get promoted it could be one of the best uses of a bus ever with potential trips to Kerry, Cork and Derry. Rumour has it the county board are budgeting for new tyres such would be the demand on this wonderful bus.

Let's get safe from relegation first.   ;)

Quote from: Itchy on March 03, 2015, 10:00:52 PM
If Roscommon get promoted it could be one of the best uses of a bus ever with potential trips to Kerry, Cork and Derry. Rumour has it the county board are budgeting for new tyres such would be the demand on this wonderful bus.

Tyres me arse, they are looking for a set of wings for it.

Quote from: muppet on March 03, 2015, 10:34:47 PM

Quote from: Itchy on March 03, 2015, 10:00:52 PM
If Roscommon get promoted it could be one of the best uses of a bus ever with potential trips to Kerry, Cork and Derry. Rumour has it the county board are budgeting for new tyres such would be the demand on this wonderful bus.

Tyres me arse, they are looking for a set of wings for it.

And a pool table.

Cavan v Kildare is a big one

http://www.paddypower.com/bet/gaa-sports

Ros are favs to beat Laois away
Down slight favs over Galway
Meath 1/2 looks a bit dodgy. Westmeath only lost to Galway by a point. 

On Westmeath though, sounded like they were fortunate enough to get the win over Kildare with reports saying Connaughton made 4 decent save

Also the fact Westmeath have 4 points on the table from 3 games has to be considered in light of the fact that these 4 points came from beating 2 teams who have a combined record of P3 L3 in their games not against Westmeath whereas Galway have 4 points from 2 games against opposition who are P3 W3.

Quote from: twohands!!! on March 04, 2015, 04:17:27 PM
On Westmeath though, sounded like they were fortunate enough to get the win over Kildare with reports saying Connaughton made 4 decent save

Also the fact Westmeath have 4 points on the table from 3 games has to be considered in light of the fact that these 4 points came from beating 2 teams who have a combined record of P3 L3 in their games not against Westmeath whereas Galway have 4 points from 2 games against opposition who are P3 W3.

opposition who are P3 W2 surely

Quote from: twohands!!! on March 04, 2015, 04:17:27 PM
On Westmeath though, sounded like they were fortunate enough to get the win over Kildare with reports saying Connaughton made 4 decent save

Also the fact Westmeath have 4 points on the table from 3 games has to be considered in light of the fact that these 4 points came from beating 2 teams who have a combined record of P3 L3 in their games not against Westmeath whereas Galway have 4 points from 2 games against opposition who are P3 W3.

Westmeath by far the better team, should have been further ahead than 3 points at ht, nothing fortunate about it. While Connaughton did make some good saves in the second half these were all coming out to narrow the gap, i.e. solid goalkeeping, nothing extraordinary. He did pull down a certain point though.

And if you're going to use Galway as a barometer there was absolutely nothing between the sides, Westmeath very unfortunate not to get at least an equaliser.

p.s. Your Played and Losses are all over the place.

Westmeath could be dark horses for promotion

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on March 05, 2015, 09:30:17 AM

Quote from: twohands!!! on March 04, 2015, 04:17:27 PM
On Westmeath though, sounded like they were fortunate enough to get the win over Kildare with reports saying Connaughton made 4 decent save

Also the fact Westmeath have 4 points on the table from 3 games has to be considered in light of the fact that these 4 points came from beating 2 teams who have a combined record of P3 L3 in their games not against Westmeath whereas Galway have 4 points from 2 games against opposition who are P3 W3.

Westmeath by far the better team, should have been further ahead than 3 points at ht, nothing fortunate about it. While Connaughton did make some good saves in the second half these were all coming out to narrow the gap, i.e. solid goalkeeping, nothing extraordinary. He did pull down a certain point though.

And if you're going to use Galway as a barometer there was absolutely nothing between the sides, Westmeath very unfortunate not to get at least an equaliser.

p.s. Your Played and Losses are all over the place.

I thought Westmeath were good against Galway and unlucky not to get the draw, having seen the Meath-Kildare match on the box it was no surprise to me that they beat Kildare.

Galway team named for Sunday, same team as was due to lineout against Laois in the postponed match:

Manus Breathnach
Declan Kyne
Finian Hanley
Cathal Sweeney
Paul Varley
Gareth Bradshaw
Gary O'Donnell
Fiontáin Ó Curraoin
Enda Tierney
Sean Denvir
Patrick Sweeney
Damien Comer
Michael Martin
Adrian Varley
Danny Cummins

Meath (FL Division 2 v Westmeath) -

Eamon Wallace, Adam Flanagan and Harnan all lined out against Westmeath for the victorious U21's during the week. Hope that will spur the lads on here too.

Wonder why Eamon Wallace is playing at both levels considering he missed all of last year with his ACL.

Want to win 2 tickets to the Leinster Senior Championship Final of your choice this July? Play the Good Counsel vs St. Mary's Edenderry Fantasy Leinster GAA game here http://www.leinstergaa.ie/fantasy

Interesting match ups this weekend.

Down v Galway - Tight, Down as they are at home.
Meath v Westmeath - Meath but only because the lakesiders seem to fill their togs when they play meath
Cavan v Kildare - Kildare, all not well in the Cavan camp maybe? Two players left during the week and no full forward line.
Laois v Ros - Ros, Laois are going down.

Down v Galway - draw
Meath v Westmeath - Westmeath
Cavan v Kildare - Kildare
Laois v Ros - Ros

I backed Kildare @ 11/8 so a Cavan win is likely.

I am getting worried seafoid, you are tipping the Rossies,
My 4 are, galway, westmeath, ros, and cavan. Could be wrong on all four its a lottery

Quote from: giveballaghback on March 07, 2015, 03:13:56 PM
I am getting worried seafoid, you are tipping the Rossies,
My 4 are, galway, westmeath, ros, and cavan. Could be wrong on all four its a lottery

they might not get much change from the 2 meaths, Galway and flourbags ;)

Galway, Westmeath, Draw and Laois regrettably.

Ah, that's more like it.

2 wrong so far :-[.
Big win for Kildare. 2-13 from a team allegedly with no forwards against a all behind the ball team.
Westies lose the plot against the Easties as is traditional.

Quote from: Rossfan on March 07, 2015, 08:49:38 PM
2 wrong so far :-[.
Big win for Kildare. 2-13 from a team allegedly with no forwards against a all behind the ball team.
Westies lose the plot against the Easties as is traditional.

It didnt really pan out that way, Cavan red card (deserved) when they had the gale at their back and a soft peno for Kildare meant the big first half lead we were looking for didnt materialise. I think we are in trouble now.

Decision to start Niall Kelly probably won that game for Kildare. He kept the team in it when we were struggling in the first half. On the negative side he probably won't be risked next Sunday with the u21 side out on Wednesday week. Paul Cribbin's return has given us some badly needed mobility around the middle. He played the game on the edge which is something Kildare have been lacking since Dermot Earley retired. Bolton helped drive the team on and Dan Flynn will only get better.

At least we've given ourselves a chance of staying up now.

I dunno what Westmeath people were expecting.

Meath could probably put out their over 40s team and they'd still beat Westmeath.
Westmeath for a dual county do both sports quite poorly

Quote from: Donnellys Hollow on March 07, 2015, 09:40:48 PM
Decision to start Niall Kelly probably won that game for Kildare. He kept the team in it when we were struggling in the first half. On the negative side he probably won't be risked next Sunday with the u21 side out on Wednesday week. Paul Cribbin's return has given us some badly needed mobility around the middle. He played the game on the edge which is something Kildare have been lacking since Dermot Earley retired. Bolton helped drive the team on and Dan Flynn will only get better.

At least we've given ourselves a chance of staying up now.

It should take some pressure of Ryan, he took dogs abuse before the match from the Kildare fans. It was a disgrace to see it actually.

http://www.newrydemocrat.com/articles/sports/45068/coulter-calls-it/
galway might as well not turn up, benny Coulter has spoken.

Quote from: Old yeller on March 07, 2015, 10:34:46 PM

Quote from: Donnellys Hollow on March 07, 2015, 09:40:48 PM
Decision to start Niall Kelly probably won that game for Kildare. He kept the team in it when we were struggling in the first half. On the negative side he probably won't be risked next Sunday with the u21 side out on Wednesday week. Paul Cribbin's return has given us some badly needed mobility around the middle. He played the game on the edge which is something Kildare have been lacking since Dermot Earley retired. Bolton helped drive the team on and Dan Flynn will only get better.

At least we've given ourselves a chance of staying up now.

It should take some pressure of Ryan, he took dogs abuse before the match from the Kildare fans. It was a disgrace to see it actually.

He was always on a bit of a hiding to nothing after the circumstances surrounding McGeeney's exit. I doubt he will be there beyond this year but he seems like a nice man and I would be happy to see him turn it around with this team.

Quote from: cornetto on March 07, 2015, 10:35:45 PM
http://www.newrydemocrat.com/articles/sports/45068/coulter-calls-it/
galway might as well not turn up, benny Coulter has spoken.

Loving 'Galway don't have the physical pressence of Donegal or Roscommon'! Sure we're only playing young ladeens these days. They'll be awful beashts of men when they grow up if they're already in Donegal's bracket..

Coulter may not be too far wrong - I don't see Galway (or ourselves) going unbeaten in D2 this year.

Quote from: Syferus on March 07, 2015, 11:05:31 PM

Quote from: cornetto on March 07, 2015, 10:35:45 PM
http://www.newrydemocrat.com/articles/sports/45068/coulter-calls-it/
galway might as well not turn up, benny Coulter has spoken.

Loving 'Galway don't have the physical pressence of Donegal or Roscommon'! Sure we're only playing young ladeens these days. They'll be awful beashts of men when they grow up if they're already in Donegal's bracket..

Coulter may not be too far wrong - I don't see Galway (or ourselves) going unbeaten in D2 this year.

When you say "we" or "ourselves" its hard to know if you mean Roscommon or Mayo, you spend so much time jumping from one bandwagon to the other you are going to fall of sometime.

Good to see the lads bagging a few goals. We really seem to be a  second half team this year. Somewhat reminiscent of the Sean Boylan years but I wouldn't dare take those comparisons any further.

Quote from: cornetto on March 07, 2015, 10:35:45 PM
http://www.newrydemocrat.com/articles/sports/45068/coulter-calls-it/
galway might as well not turn up, benny Coulter has spoken.

We don't even have two big midfielders at the minute. Tom Flynn is out for the remainder of the league. We only have one big midfielder left. If Benny rang me I could have told him that.

Meath are looking better now. 4 points after 3 games and a few easier games ahead. They should be in the mix at the end. Good to see Kildare winning as well.

Meath have turned it around since galway game,their game against down, could be a promotion decider.kildare will push on after that win last night.night.expect laois to do something similar today they are not that bad.down to beat galway we are bad travellers!

Down have to win today . Losing to Ros and having to play Meath later mean they have no margin if they want to be promoted.

Quote from: seafoid on March 08, 2015, 11:27:19 AM
Down have to win today . Losing to Ros and having to play Meath later mean they have no margin if they want to be promoted.

with 3 of our last 4 games at home it should give us an advantage. the galway match today will go a long way in deciding who goes up, it wont be easy but hopefully down can nick it by a point or 2.

Quote from: cornetto on March 07, 2015, 10:35:45 PM
http://www.newrydemocrat.com/articles/sports/45068/coulter-calls-it/
galway might as well not turn up, benny Coulter has spoken.

Looks like down havent showed up, Galway running riot in the marshes.

Galway 1-10 Down 0-7 HT

Galway have apparently missed a couple of goal chances as well.

Laois up against Ros as well.

By a point.

Make that up by a point now. Playing with the wind in the second half.

Quote from: Syferus on March 08, 2015, 02:59:19 PM
By a point.

Level. Good for Ros to get a decent match.

Are Laois on a roll now ? Sounds like a great match
Laois 2.16 Ros 0.15

2.16 to 0.15 Laois lead, no great surprise . Laois have always managed to stay in div 2.

Roscommon galacticos clearly had the wrong studs in, its the only way they could get hammered :)

Quote from: Put Up That Flag on March 08, 2015, 03:34:04 PM
Roscommon galacticos clearly had the wrong studs in, its the only way they could get hammered :)

they will be up against it versus meath as well

Down 1-17 Galway 1-16

Galway threw it away really. 6 points up at half-time. 4 up inside the last 6 or 7 minutes. Lost it deep into injury time.

Anyone championing Roscommon or John Evans needs their heads examined. Same old shite, absolutely clueless. As bad a performance as the last 5/6 yrs or 20/25 years being honest. Lateral hand passing, senan Kilbride spening his time in our half, no one wining the breaks and backs who cannot tackle and one paced.

Quote from: PadraicHenryPearse on March 08, 2015, 03:51:20 PM
Anyone championing Roscommon or John Evans needs their heads examined. Same old shite, absolutely clueless. As bad a performance as the last 5/6 yrs or 20/25 years being honest. Lateral hand passing, senan Kilbride spening his time in our half, no one wining the breaks and backs who cannot tackle and one paced.

It's one game. No need for the childish sniping when every team has lost - we're in as good a position as anyone, bar (ironically) the team we beat.

All any team in D2 can do is focus on next weekend.

Quote from: PadraicHenryPearse on March 08, 2015, 03:51:20 PM
Anyone championing Roscommon or John Evans needs their heads examined. Same old shite, absolutely clueless. As bad a performance as the last 5/6 yrs or 20/25 years being honest. Lateral hand passing, senan Kilbride spening his time in our half, no one wining the breaks and backs who cannot tackle and one paced.

Our half back line and midfield are a worry. Fullbacks had a bad day. Hate to see class like Kilbride in the half back line. Hopefully we get a reaction like the down game against Kildare. This division is going to be extremely tight. I hope we don't revert to parking the bus like we did against Armagh.

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 08, 2015, 03:40:19 PM
Down 1-17 Galway 1-16

Galway threw it away really. 6 points up at half-time. 4 up inside the last 6 or 7 minutes. Lost it deep into injury time.

WTF was there a strong wind in Newry?

Great win today for Laois. A huge improvement from the Cavan match and a well deserved two points for us.

My point is it's not 1 game. It's the same as the past 100 games. Nothing childish. We have hardly beaten anyone of note in the last number of years. Your blind optimism is fine but the reality is we are clueless in possession no support for the man with the ball and wrong opinions taken all over the pitch. I don't blame the players there are enough decent players to be competitive but we are tactically woeful

7 teams within 2 points of each other barring the games in hand.

Quote from: PadraicHenryPearse on March 08, 2015, 03:51:20 PM
Anyone championing Roscommon or John Evans needs their heads examined. Same old shite, absolutely clueless. As bad a performance as the last 5/6 yrs or 20/25 years being honest. Lateral hand passing, senan Kilbride spening his time in our half, no one wining the breaks and backs who cannot tackle and one paced.

i've never understood the hype surrounding Roscommon personally.

When was the last notable championship win at senior level? Must be pre 2007

Quote from: Agent Orange on March 08, 2015, 04:40:38 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 08, 2015, 03:40:19 PM
Down 1-17 Galway 1-16

Galway threw it away really. 6 points up at half-time. 4 up inside the last 6 or 7 minutes. Lost it deep into injury time.

WTF was there a strong wind in Newry?

Strong wind out there today alright but as the Down fans said themselves while exiting after the match, "we played our get out of jail free card today". 
Galway only have themselves to blame, the better team throughout, the Down goalkeeper was their MOTM by a mile and if Galway were ruthless enough we would have won the match comfortably, while we got an extra point in Mullingar in a match that a draw would have been the fairest result, Down didn't really merit even a share of the points much less the win, best of luck to them however, Galway's demise was entirely of our own construction and if you can't take your chances when on top you can't complain too much about losing.

Back to the drawing board for us at the least the nonsense talk of promotion will be ended as staying up was always or main target. The worst we played in the league since Fermanagh away 2 years ago if we produce a similar performance in our remaining 4 games we will lose all of them. In truth you simply can't defend as poorly at this level & won't win many games with 2-17 (23) conceded. Credit to Laois though well up for the game today & the 4 week break seem to work wonders for them on todays viewing they won't be in a relegation battle come round 7.

Quote from: ross4life on March 08, 2015, 05:13:25 PM
Back to the drawing board for us at the least the nonsense talk of promotion will be ended as staying up was always or main target. The worst we played in the league since Fermanagh away 2 years ago if we produce a similar performance in our remaining 4 games we will lose all of them. In truth you simply can't defend as poorly at this level & won't win many games with 2-17 (23) conceded. Credit to Laois though well up for the game today & the 4 week break seem to work wonders for them on todays viewing they won't be in a relegation battle come round 7.

laois were 1/6 to be relegated last night. Form is funny.

Disappointing loss for us having been in control of the game.
The thing is though even 6 up at half time you are nearly waiting for the capitulation to happen.
I wasn't at the game today but it would seem that we're still far too loose at the back.
It's important now that we win our next two games at home to Cavan and Laois.
We'll still be in with a shout of a league final with some tough games to come as teams are taking points off each other.

Quote from: galwayman on March 08, 2015, 05:29:10 PM
Disappointing loss for us having been in control of the game.
The thing is though even 6 up at half time you are nearly waiting for the capitulation to happen.
I wasn't at the game today but it would seem that we're still far too loose at the back.
It's important now that we win our next two games at home to Cavan and Laois.
We'll still be in with a shout of a league final with some tough games to come as teams are taking points off each other.

no harm. It will stand to them later in the year.
The division seems to be splitting up into top 4 -down, the 2 meaths and galway
And the rest to fight for the right to be relegated

Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on March 08, 2015, 05:07:17 PM
Strong wind out there today alright but as the Down fans said themselves while exiting after the match, "we played our get out of jail free card today". 
Galway only have themselves to blame, the better team throughout, the Down goalkeeper was their MOTM by a mile and if Galway were ruthless enough we would have won the match comfortably, while we got an extra point in Mullingar in a match that a draw would have been the fairest result, Down didn't really merit even a share of the points much less the win, best of luck to them however, Galway's demise was entirely of our own construction and if you can't take your chances when on top you can't complain too much about losing.

I thought they played it against Kildare!

I thought they played it against Kildare!
[/quote]
We have 52 of them in our deck,
We remained calm , led by our wonderful captain and his team-mate in goals. The Turley Bros were pretty good also.
I still expect Galway to win this division but we should be safe now. Exciting game in great conditions

Division 2

Pos.   Team   P   W   D   L   F      A      Pts
1   Down   4   3   0   1   6-50      3-54      6
2   Wmeath   4   2   0   2   3-50      6-45      4
3   Galway   3   2   0   1   5-42      4-41      4
4   Meath   3   2   0   1   5-35      2-35      4
5   Cavan   4   1   1   2   0-53      6-39      3
6   Roscom   3   1   1   1   2-42      3-42      3
7   Kildare   4   1   0   3   3-51      3-55      2
8   Laois   3   1   0   2   4-33      1-45      2

We're nicely poised with the game against Laois coming up next weekend, hopefully our form at home will stay with us for it. That said, teams are taking points off each other and a few injuries could easily scuttle us as our bench isn't the strongest.

down have finished strong in every game, even the one we lost against roscommon we were better in the later stages, which shows a good spirit and never say die attitude which jim mccorry has instilled in the team. galway were unfortunate not to pick up at least a point from the game but down kept going and the big home support helped get them over the line.

with 2 out of our last 3 games at home our place in division 2 should be secure, anything else is a welcome bonus.

Awful load of crap from our bucks today.
We arsed around playing slow Div 3 football while Laois got on with playing D2 stuff.
Midfield, half backs rubbish again, u21 boys not at the races, Donie finished as a Co player, Nally not a Co player
Senan and Ciaràn Murtagh being played in defence....... Slow hand passing, no one showing to support the man with the ball...
Then we had a ref dragged all the way from Rhubarbia.
Only people who had a good day were the 50 Laois fans who made the long journey.
Huge Ros turn out as usual but I expect a lot will give Newbridge a miss.

Quote from: SHEEDY on March 08, 2015, 09:02:52 PM
down have finished strong in every game, even the one we lost against roscommon we were better in the later stages, which shows a good spirit and never say die attitude which jim mccorry has instilled in the team. galway were unfortunate not to pick up at least a point from the game but down kept going and the big home support helped get them over the line.

with 2 out of our last 3 games at home our place in division 2 should be secure, anything else is a welcome bonus.

Agree 100% with all you say....but Galway reached our 21 on numerous occasions and took handy scores...we couldn't breach their 50! We were wide open at the back for large periods of this game. Kane won the game for us. He was brilliant.

Quote from: 5 Sams on March 08, 2015, 10:24:18 PM

Quote from: SHEEDY on March 08, 2015, 09:02:52 PM
down have finished strong in every game, even the one we lost against roscommon we were better in the later stages, which shows a good spirit and never say die attitude which jim mccorry has instilled in the team. galway were unfortunate not to pick up at least a point from the game but down kept going and the big home support helped get them over the line.

with 2 out of our last 3 games at home our place in division 2 should be secure, anything else is a welcome bonus.

Agree 100% with all you say....but Galway reached our 21 on numerous occasions and took handy scores...we couldn't breach their 50! We were wide open at the back for large periods of this game. Kane won the game for us. He was brilliant.

In fairness after ye had your patch in the second half it was us that finished stronger - four of the last five scores were ours. Down, like ourselves, are a bit too easy to split open.

We have 3pts from 3 games and have only played well in the first half against Down, today was a school day for both team and management, I cant agree with rossfan and have to say his comments were over the top, we have gone to newry and got 2 pts, no other team will do that, we can win our 2 home games and maybe get something out of one of our away games, in the course of a league campaign there will be good and bad performances, learn from the bad and enjoy the good but dont start abusing the team, they will know they were poor today, they will know what they have to do, the only question is are they good enough to do it, if not they are still our team, come on the rossies.

Roscommon cost me a nice wee lift for a 5 team accum today. Had down, cork, sligo, mayo and feckin roscommon.

What the bookies are saying

Outright Betting   
To Lift the Trophy

Galway 7/4
Down 9/4
Meath 3/1
Roscommon 6/1
Westmeath 12/1
Cavan 25/1 Top


TO BE RELEGATED FROM NFL DIVISION 2

Laois 1/10
Kildare 11/8
Cavan 13/8
Roscommon 11/4
Westmeath 3/1
Meath 10/1

Bookies obviously still have little enough faith in Laois getting out of jail, despite the fact that they have a game in hand.

Quote from: Rossfan on March 08, 2015, 09:33:58 PM
Awful load of crap from our bucks today.
We arsed around playing slow Div 3 football while Laois got on with playing D2 stuff.
Midfield, half backs rubbish again, u21 boys not at the races, Donie finished as a Co player, Nally not a Co player
Senan and Ciaràn Murtagh being played in defence....... Slow hand passing, no one showing to support the man with the ball...
Then we had a ref dragged all the way from Rhubarbia.
Only people who had a good day were the 50 Laois fans who made the long journey.
Huge Ros turn out as usual but I expect a lot will give Newbridge a miss.

WTF was that? Didn t know we bothered with providing refs ;D With our history of being screwed by referees, a course on getting infected by ebola or reviving smallpox would be more popular.
Sounds like ye had enough problems without a ref from Mayo. Hard luck.

Quote from: Syferus on March 08, 2015, 03:54:19 PM

Quote from: PadraicHenryPearse on March 08, 2015, 03:51:20 PM
Anyone championing Roscommon or John Evans needs their heads examined. Same old shite, absolutely clueless. As bad a performance as the last 5/6 yrs or 20/25 years being honest. Lateral hand passing, senan Kilbride spening his time in our half, no one wining the breaks and backs who cannot tackle and one paced.

It's one game. No need for the childish sniping when every team has lost - we're in as good a position as anyone, bar (ironically) the team we beat.

All any team in D2 can do is focus on next weekend.

Looks like you will have to go back to supporting Mayo and jump on that bandwagon, Ros are heading for division 3 as that is what they are, a bog standard division 3 team, never mind you might get a couple days out in Croker in the summer to cheer on your beloved Mayo.

While a double score 11 point win would suggest a complete mauling the biggest mauling was done on the sideline where we were completely outsmarted. O'Dowd and Giles had their homework done and like Dublin Donegal last year they killed us with goals. We were extremely wasteful in the first half as well and a 2 point half time lead felt like a 5 point deficit such was the gale blowing down the field. No harm to get a lesson at this stage of the year when we can do something about it, there were still some really good performances, particularly McCallon and Sharry. What with Kildare and Laois winning, vital we get points back on the board now against Down next weekend. This division is really wide open.

A decent but not great game in Newry – I must say that it was a great venue for getting in and out of being so close to the motorway – with a big wind blowing which Galway had in the first half to go up by 6, Down managed a point more against the wind than Galway and that was the difference in the end.
Credit has to go to Down for kicking some monster points (one 55 metre effort was ridiculous even with the weather assist) with the wind in the last 5 minutes to win it but this was a game they shouldn't have been given a sniff of winning, the Examiner report headline is "Galway just not ruthless enough" and it definitely nails the game in 5 words.

The Roscommon referee Neilan was overly fussy I thought at times. Some fierce soft frees given to both sides from what I thought was basically players just falling over themselves without any foul being committed, one foul given against Down in the first half that was pointed was particularly harsh.
The one area he was very consistent in was pushing in the back from kickouts, Fiontán Ó Curraoin gained from this a lot but Down also had 2 frees correctly awarded from Galway fouling, it was good to see as it lead to some nice fielding on both sides.
In contrast his application of the advantage rule was all over the shop. Galway given the advantage for a foul on Cummins at the 21 yard line in the first half, he continued and kicked the ball wide. No advantage accrued I would have thought when the free was a gimme tap over, but he let the wide stand. Fair enough if the advantage had gone.
However Down had a free from which advantage was played for a goal chance in the second half, shot was saved by Breathnach and Galway defence recovered the ball, in this instance the game is brought back for the initial free to Down which was then hit over the bar. For the life of me I couldn't see the difference between both advantage plays, the length of time in both cases was practically identical. 
Inconsistent application of the rules like this has to be one of the most frustrating things for players and supporters alike, this example was baffling to me.

Overall performance from Galway was good, the better team in general play if not on the scoreboard and bar some poor finishing (at least 6 clear goal chances, only one converted) would now see them in pole position to get promoted.
Win the remaining home games and we'll still go up I think, however form can change very quickly as we've seen from the results over the past weekend and I hope that the Galway players and management aren't ruing the two points left after them in Newry at the end of the league campaign.

Galway team:
Manus Breathnach – Aside from one terrible kickout in the second half which went straight to a Down player, his restarts were good although the supremacy of Ó Curraoin at centre field undoubtedly helped a lot.
Very unlucky with the penalty as the ball bounced back across his body after the initial save, no chance to get back up in time for the second effort.
Made one great move off the line to fist a very dangerous high ball into the area away in the second period, he was decisive and took ball, man and whatever else was in front of him, good to see in any goalie.
His opposite number was far busier in terms of having to save goal bound efforts, he had a good save from the goal chance Down had as a result of the advantage play.
Unbelievably he is the first Galway keeper to see out the full 70 minutes this year.

Declan Kyne – Not a good day at the office. Black carded for the Down penalty, was marking a speedy opponent during the game and found it difficult, in mitigation for the entire FB line there was acres of space left in front of the forwards at times, especially in the first half.
Replaced by Kelly who didn't fare much better for the 20 minutes he was on.

Finian Hanley – Assured performance, some great interceptions in both halves. Down brought on much bigger man in McConville to go up against him in the second half but he didn't give him a kick.
Has shipped some criticism but what are the alternatives really? If he is unavailable at FB for Galway we'll be in big trouble.

Cathal Sweeney – Doing all he can to nail down the 4 jersey, another good game again yesterday. Tight on his man, some good tackles and made some nice bursts up the pitch into Down territory.
One caveat is that the pitches are a lot heavier at this time of year and both himself and his twin brother don't have huge pace. It was very noticeable after a Galway move broke down in the 2nd half and he was up the pitch that he had no chance of catching his man on the chase back, come the summer this might prove to be an issue. That said has played well both times I've seen him in the league this year.

Paul Varley – Decent game, had an effort at goal saved in the 2nd half after a great Galway move.

Garreth Bradshaw – Played well, good run and score in the 1st half. I would have said that he had a fairly solid game but what is an old failing came back to haunt at the death.
What's most frustrating is his at times casualness on the pitch. The Down winner came directly from a terrible, ultra careless fist pass at midfield that was left short of his teammate. Down won the ball, raced into Galway territory and earned the free that sealed the game.
Time was up and Galway had the chance to just play the ball into the Down half to look for a shot at the winner, as long as possession was retained a draw was the worst result they were looking at. Instead Bradshaw gifted Down the match, he mightn't have pulled down the player for the free but it was the fist pass that lead to it.

Gary O'Donnell – The least impressive of the HB line, caught well away from the Down player he should have been marking a couple of times when Down on the offensive, not that prominent in general play.

Fiontán Ó Curraoin – Dominant performance. Down made their first change in midfield after only 9 minutes and tried numerous combinations in that area to try and break even, nothing really worked against the Míchael Breathnachs man.
7 clean catches from kickouts to win possession, he was pushed in the back a further 3 times for frees from restarts.
On the ball in general play he had a few excellent long kick passes into the FF line and was very prominent throughout the match.
Galway's MOTM on the day for sure, the Down keeper Kane aside, no one else played to that level in the game.

Enda Tierney – Aside for one good defensive intervention in the first half which stopped a Down goal chance there wasn't much to take away. Like the Westmeath game you would at times forget he was on the pitch, hasn't shown much to indicate that he will hold onto the jersey for the rest of the league.
Replaced by Conroy about 10 minutes into the second half, big differences in general play between the two, a Conroy/Ó Curraoin midfield combination could be a very strong one for Galway moving forward and if he is fit enough I'd expect Conroy to start next Sunday against Cavan.

Sean Denvir – Showed great pace throughout and I'd say this was his best performance in a Galway jersey. Had two goal chances in the first half, made the first by driving through the Down defence on his own at speed, he tried to run around the keeper which was the wrong option and got called for over carrying. Took the correct option the second time and shot low but it was a great save from Kane to deny.
Stuck a great point after another solo run which started inside the Galway half where he left his man for dust. Also won the breaking ball from the final Down kickout, great effort to get it and can't be faulted for the subsequent loss of possession.

Patrick Sweeney – Had the best of it in the 1st half, was the only Galway man to give Kane no chance on the day when he buried his goal. Didn't have as much impact in the 2nd half but wasn't totally out of the game either.
Had to depart with an injury to be replaced by Hoare, only on for five minutes so hard to just him on that. At the match I thought it was Hoare who kicked Galway's final score, the papers have it as Conroy who got it.
Sweeney has been impressive as a sub against Meath, was MOTM against Westmeath and although not as prominent yesterday it was still a decent performance, both Sweeneys have been fairly successful coming in as new players for Galway in the league so far.

Damien Comer – Looked good on his first league start this year. One great fetch at midfield during the first half from a Galway kickout and scored a nice point. Unlucky with a 45 metre free in the second half against the wind that dropped just short, a great effort.

Michael Martin – Kicked over the frees he should have scored and got one from play but I thought he was quiet in general play. He did show some vision with one outstanding cross field kick pass to Cummins in the first half that led to a fisted point. Will be kept on as he looks our most reliable free taker but needs to have more of an impact in general play, Cummins and Adrian Varley were on the ball far more than him yesterday.

Adrian Varley – Always out in front and well able to win his own ball. Looks more settled in front of the posts than some of the other forwards, got two from play and stuck a nice score in the first half that was a very composed finish.

Danny Cummins – If his finishing matched his general play would have been the Galway match winner. Wasn't beaten to any ball played in, he toasted his marker all day and got in behind several times.
Mixed the good with the bad in finishing, couple of times in the first half he got in and kicked wide of the goal when he should had fisted over. One miss wide of the near post from about 15 yards out at the start of the 2nd half was particularly poor.
Against this he kicked a free from near the sideline, on the 21 line and into a stiff breeze in the 2nd half which was the most difficult chance he had all day.
It has to be said that he is a great outlet up front for Galway, we have no one else with that raw pace and if he could just show the type of finishing he displayed in the first two league games more consistently he would be a huge threat for Galway.
Replaced by Shane Walsh with 15 left. Aside from a nice take and quick hand pass to setup Varley's goal chance, Walsh didn't really feature in the minutes he was on the pitch. In retrospect I'd say Kevin Walsh probably regrets not leaving Cummins on as he was offering more from play than his replacement.

Quote from: INDIANA on March 08, 2015, 05:05:45 PM

Quote from: PadraicHenryPearse on March 08, 2015, 03:51:20 PM
Anyone championing Roscommon or John Evans needs their heads examined. Same old shite, absolutely clueless. As bad a performance as the last 5/6 yrs or 20/25 years being honest. Lateral hand passing, senan Kilbride spening his time in our half, no one wining the breaks and backs who cannot tackle and one paced.

i've never understood the hype surrounding Roscommon personally.

When was the last notable championship win at senior level? Must be pre 2007

To the best of my knowledge it was 12 years ago in 2003 when they beat a Cork team in disarray in the second round of qualifiers, think it was Thompkins last game as manager. 12 years ago since a victory in the championship against a division 1 team, they really are a super power alright as billed up by SOME of their supporters.

Quote from: Put Up That Flag on March 09, 2015, 12:38:15 PM

Quote from: INDIANA on March 08, 2015, 05:05:45 PM

Quote from: PadraicHenryPearse on March 08, 2015, 03:51:20 PM
Anyone championing Roscommon or John Evans needs their heads examined. Same old shite, absolutely clueless. As bad a performance as the last 5/6 yrs or 20/25 years being honest. Lateral hand passing, senan Kilbride spening his time in our half, no one wining the breaks and backs who cannot tackle and one paced.

i've never understood the hype surrounding Roscommon personally.

When was the last notable championship win at senior level? Must be pre 2007

To the best of my knowledge it was 12 years ago in 2003 when they beat a Cork team in diseray in the second round of qualifiers, think it was Thompkins last game as manager. 12 years ago since a victory in the championship against a division 1 team, they really are a super power alright as billed up by SOME of their supporters.

Funny, I would have sworn that match was in the Hyde.

Quote from: Put Up That Flag on March 09, 2015, 12:38:15 PM

Quote from: INDIANA on March 08, 2015, 05:05:45 PM

Quote from: PadraicHenryPearse on March 08, 2015, 03:51:20 PM
Anyone championing Roscommon or John Evans needs their heads examined. Same old shite, absolutely clueless. As bad a performance as the last 5/6 yrs or 20/25 years being honest. Lateral hand passing, senan Kilbride spening his time in our half, no one wining the breaks and backs who cannot tackle and one paced.

i've never understood the hype surrounding Roscommon personally.

When was the last notable championship win at senior level? Must be pre 2007

To the best of my knowledge it was 12 years ago in 2003 when they beat a Cork team in diseray in the second round of qualifiers, think it was Thompkins last game as manager. 12 years ago since a victory in the championship against a division 1 team, they really are a super power alright as billed up by SOME of their supporters.

In fairness Armagh were a division one in 2012 when they lost to Roscommon in championship.

It's a cracking division for unpredictability

Saturday March 14th: Meath v Laois.
Sunday March 15th:  Galway v Cavan; Kildare v Roscommon; Westmeath v Down.
Weekend of March 22 :  Galway v Laois;  Roscommon v Meath.
Saturday March 28th: Cavan v Westmeath; Down v Meath; Laois v Kildare.
Sunday March 29th: Roscommon v Galway.
Sunday April 5th: Down v Laois; Galway v Kildare; Meath v Cavan; Westmeath v Roscommon.

Down have 2 difficult matches against Westmeath and Meath   
Laois and Kildare would need to get another 3 points at least to be safe.
Cavan have a tough run-in, as do Ros.

You'll need at least six points to be safe in this division. I doubt five will cut it.

Think Galway are still in a pretty decent position with 3 home games left. Unlucky to lose up in Down yesterday. Cavan and Laois at home up next. Two games they would be fancied to win although Laois showed yesterday that you can't write any team off in the division. Should have the Corofin lads back for the final two games up in Roscommon and at home to Kildare. 3 wins would probably get them promoted. 2 wins would probably see them safe enough in mid table. Seems like teams will continue to take points off each other.

Actually possible that 8 points might get someone promoted this year depending on their points difference.

The real div 2 table ie points dropped. Total available to each team 14
down         2
galway       2
meath        2
ros            3
wmeath     4
laois          4
cavan        5
kildare       6
So now lads resharpen yere pencils, as as for the ros naysayers well the Rossies are well used to it, some of them will not even register their county name, are they afraid to put up the flag? Time will tell but over the years ros have punched way above their weight, recent history has been poor at senior level but we are coming with a good competitive footballing team, it will take a little time but not too many will fancy meeting us even this year, yes we are still on a learning curve but we have top class young players that will only improve. 

Quote from: giveballaghback on March 09, 2015, 01:39:55 PM
The real div 2 table ie points dropped. Total available to each team 14
down         2
galway       2
meath        2
ros            3
wmeath     4
laois          4
cavan        5
kildare       6
So now lads resharpen yere pencils, as as for the ros naysayers well the Rossies are well used to it, some of them will not even register their county name, are they afraid to put up the flag? Time will tell but over the years ros have punched way above their weight, recent history has been poor at senior level but we are coming with a good competitive footballing team, it will take a little time but not too many will fancy meeting us even this year, yes we are still on a learning curve but we have top class young players that will only improve.

Disagree. Points on the board and a bird in the hand and all that. An Dun abu.

Quote from: giveballaghback on March 09, 2015, 01:39:55 PM
The real div 2 table ie points dropped. Total available to each team 14
down         2
galway       2
meath        2
ros            3
wmeath     4
laois          4
cavan        5
kildare       6
So now lads resharpen yere pencils, as as for the ros naysayers well the Rossies are well used to it, some of them will not even register their county name, are they afraid to put up the flag? Time will tell but over the years ros have punched way above their weight, recent history has been poor at senior level but we are coming with a good competitive footballing team, it will take a little time but not too many will fancy meeting us even this year, yes we are still on a learning curve but we have top class young players that will only improve.

The top 4 teams are Down, Westmeath, Meath and Galway. Only points dropped by them are between each other apart from Down losing to the Rossies. So who played going forward is as important as points on the board.
Eg down have still to play Westmeath and Meath

At the moment given how the division has gone so far, I would see whoever does end up getting promoted from Division 2 struggling massively to pick up points in Division 1 next year.

None of the likely contenders look like being up to the standard to compete against Division 1 season, or developing into that by the time the next season rolls around.

Normally you have at least 1 team who looks like they would be capable of giving survival a decent shot if they get promoted but this year it looks very much like the standard is very even and that it looks a fair way of Division 1 fare. - I'd also be tipping whoever does get relegated from Division 1 to be very strong candidates for promotion.

Doubt anyone relegated from D1 will be all that special next year. D2 is a good division for developing a team. D1 seems to be about giving fringe lads a run out before the real matches start.

Quote from: Syferus on March 09, 2015, 02:52:21 PM
Doubt anyone relegated from D1 will be all that special next year. D2 is a good division for developing a team. D1 seems to be about giving fringe lads a run out before the real matches start.

I don't know - Monaghan and Derry have both been missing a fair chunk of lads and Tyrone if they went down would surely have a new broom in charge and I think they would benefit from that. Right now I'd be backing pretty much all 3 of them in games against any of the likely promoted candidates.

Very much idle speculation on my part I know but just thinking promotion to Division 1 could be a bit of a poisioned chalice in the longer-term for whoever goes up.

The summary above from An Fhairche Abu was fair enough, and there is no doubt that Galway deserved something from the game in Newry, but the suggestion that Down made a switch after only ten minutes because of Galway's midfield dominance is wrong. McArdle had take a heavy knock in our previous match against Cavan, still managed to start on Sunday but was in no position to continue after his first tackle.

Galway were in control at midfield for most of the afternoon, and provided a brilliant supply line to Cummins, who tortured our defence until he was amazingly taken off with 15 minutes left. He had missed a couple of chances, but he won every ball that went down his wing and Galway's tactical plan seemed to collapse when he was replaced. If Galway don't need him any more, he is probably qualified to play for Down through his legendary grandfather Patsy O'Hagan, and we will readily take him on board.

Quote from: Mourne Rover on March 09, 2015, 04:19:58 PM
The summary above from An Fhairche Abu was fair enough, and there is no doubt that Galway deserved something from the game in Newry, but the suggestion that Down made a switch after only ten minutes because of Galway's midfield dominance is wrong. McArdle had take a heavy knock in our previous match against Cavan, still managed to start on Sunday but was in no position to continue after his first tackle.

That's fair enough Mourne Rover, the multiple changes in the midfield area by Down to try and gain some level of control made me think it was a planned switch as ye were getting no change at all there in the first twenty minutes, if the player was injured it's a different story of course.

Its hard to say. With Ulster teams, anyone can beat anyone on the day, look at the Derry/Tyrone/Donegal/Monaghan results against each other. Its Dog eat Dog. So if for example, Down or Cavan went up, they would have a 50/50 shot against whatever Ulster teams remain in Div 1 (eg Down beat Donegal and drew with Monaghan last year in Div 2). I agree though they would struggle against the rest of the teams. Looking at it, with the exception of maybe Armagh, the leagues really do show where your team is at in fairness. Very hard to argue that Down/Galway/Roscommon etc should be anything but Div 2 for example, or that Monaghan/Derry arent in the top 8 etc.

Quote from: Down Follower on March 09, 2015, 05:22:29 PM
Its hard to say. With Ulster teams, anyone can beat anyone on the day, look at the Derry/Tyrone/Donegal/Monaghan results against each other. Its Dog eat Dog. So if for example, Down or Cavan went up, they would have a 50/50 shot against whatever Ulster teams remain in Div 1 (eg Down beat Donegal and drew with Monaghan last year in Div 2). I agree though they would struggle against the rest of the teams. Looking at it, with the exception of maybe Armagh, the leagues really do show where your team is at in fairness. Very hard to argue that Down/Galway/Roscommon etc should be anything but Div 2 for example, or that Monaghan/Derry arent in the top 8 etc.

I suppose Galway do have a few lads missing with Corofin and they are still a developing team in terms of bringing lads through from U21 while Down have lost a lot of right chunk of serious experience/talent the last while. I just think squad depth is such a key factor in retaining Division 1 status and I don't think any of the likely candidates look like they have enough of it to survive in Division 1.

Both Roscommon and Cavan are only up from Division 3 this year  and it would be a serious jump in quality to go from Division 3 to Division 1 football so quickly and Cavan's lack of firepower would surely be a massive hindrance in Division 1

Quote from: Down Follower on March 09, 2015, 05:22:29 PM
Its hard to say. With Ulster teams, anyone can beat anyone on the day, look at the Derry/Tyrone/Donegal/Monaghan results against each other. Its Dog eat Dog. So if for example, Down or Cavan went up, they would have a 50/50 shot against whatever Ulster teams remain in Div 1 (eg Down beat Donegal and drew with Monaghan last year in Div 2). I agree though they would struggle against the rest of the teams. Looking at it, with the exception of maybe Armagh, the leagues really do show where your team is at in fairness. Very hard to argue that Down/Galway/Roscommon etc should be anything but Div 2 for example, or that Monaghan/Derry arent in the top 8 etc.

I think Galway have come on a good bit from last year and another year would bring them on even more. Last year they had zero points after 3 matches. Monaghan were division 3 recently and went up to d1 and stayed up.
D2 only says your country is in the top 50% of teams which isn't saying much.   

No team in div 2 would cut it in div 1. Down and Galway are the better teams. Any of the rest could be relegated. Fancy Laois to beat Meath, decent team.

The year Monaghan went up from div 3 Roscommon defeated them in the hyde when a win would have secured promotion for monaghan and ros were without the brigids players that day and brigids were a much bigger part of our panel than they are now. League football is a law onto itself in all divisions and really anyone can beat anyone in all divisions, just look at this weekend, monaghan win after mauling in mayo, kerry losing after overrunning dubs, laois rout rossies, sligo score 2-26 to beat louth by 19pts for their first win leitrim draw with offaly in tullamore and carlow pushing for promotion, the leagues are a great competition where counties can at least have limited success and their day out. Their are no certainties in league football, a little bit of luck is vital.

Quote from: Rudi on March 09, 2015, 06:40:07 PM
No team in div 2 would cut it in div 1. Down and Galway are the better teams. Any of the rest could be relegated. Fancy Laois to beat Meath, decent team.

Having seen Down I don't think they are up to much. I expect whoever goes up will come back Down the following year.

Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on March 09, 2015, 11:28:11 AM
A decent but not great game in Newry – I must say that it was a great venue for getting in and out of being so close to the motorway – with a big wind blowing which Galway had in the first half to go up by 6, Down managed a point more against the wind than Galway and that was the difference in the end.
etc.

Good report Fhairche, tallies exactly with the ones I got from the lads that were there. (I was in Salthill). Big Kev sounded like he was talking through his teeth a bit on GBFM afterwards, you could tell he knew it was a chance spurned. Lot of store been put into the fact that the Corofin contingent will strengthen the team further, I hope it's not misplaced, as the team certainly needs competition for the corner-back slots at the very least. Would also like to see even another couple of forwards pushing through, just don't think Martin will cut it at the highest level and, as stated, Patrick Sweeney isn't the paciest, in spite of his other qualities. Don't think Walsh (K) has too much patience with Walsh (S) and is laying down an early marker as to who's boss. I hope Walsh Minor heeds the lesson as he will be yet needed this year.

Home wins now a must, but not a given. Wonder where the Kildare game will be played if a result is really needed in that tie?

Fair play to ya Fhairche for the excellent match report.

Quote from: seafoid on March 09, 2015, 06:10:20 PM

Quote from: Down Follower on March 09, 2015, 05:22:29 PM
Its hard to say. With Ulster teams, anyone can beat anyone on the day, look at the Derry/Tyrone/Donegal/Monaghan results against each other. Its Dog eat Dog. So if for example, Down or Cavan went up, they would have a 50/50 shot against whatever Ulster teams remain in Div 1 (eg Down beat Donegal and drew with Monaghan last year in Div 2). I agree though they would struggle against the rest of the teams. Looking at it, with the exception of maybe Armagh, the leagues really do show where your team is at in fairness. Very hard to argue that Down/Galway/Roscommon etc should be anything but Div 2 for example, or that Monaghan/Derry arent in the top 8 etc.

I think Galway have come on a good bit from last year and another year would bring them on even more. Last year they had zero points after 3 matches. Monaghan were division 3 recently and went up to d1 and stayed up.
D2 only says your country is in the top 50% of teams which isn't saying much.

This is Monaghan's first year in Div 1 but they are performing admirably getting good away results to Tyrone and Donegal. 2 successive promotions from Div 3 got them there, goes to show what a good manager can bring to the table.

Monaghan also won an Ulster and got to 2 AI qtr finals at the same time.
Cavan and Ros on the other hand were real D3 teams.

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on March 10, 2015, 09:42:50 AM

Quote from: seafoid on March 09, 2015, 06:10:20 PM

Quote from: Down Follower on March 09, 2015, 05:22:29 PM
Its hard to say. With Ulster teams, anyone can beat anyone on the day, look at the Derry/Tyrone/Donegal/Monaghan results against each other. Its Dog eat Dog. So if for example, Down or Cavan went up, they would have a 50/50 shot against whatever Ulster teams remain in Div 1 (eg Down beat Donegal and drew with Monaghan last year in Div 2). I agree though they would struggle against the rest of the teams. Looking at it, with the exception of maybe Armagh, the leagues really do show where your team is at in fairness. Very hard to argue that Down/Galway/Roscommon etc should be anything but Div 2 for example, or that Monaghan/Derry arent in the top 8 etc.

I think Galway have come on a good bit from last year and another year would bring them on even more. Last year they had zero points after 3 matches. Monaghan were division 3 recently and went up to d1 and stayed up.
D2 only says your country is in the top 50% of teams which isn't saying much.

This is Monaghan's first year in Div 1 but they are performing admirably getting good away results to Tyrone and Donegal. 2 successive promotions from Div 3 got them there, goes to show what a good manager can bring to the table.

In fairness plenty of the Monaghan panel has Div 1 experience it was poor management and successive relegations that got into Div 3.

Quote from: Captain Obvious on March 10, 2015, 11:00:01 AM

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on March 10, 2015, 09:42:50 AM

Quote from: seafoid on March 09, 2015, 06:10:20 PM

Quote from: Down Follower on March 09, 2015, 05:22:29 PM
Its hard to say. With Ulster teams, anyone can beat anyone on the day, look at the Derry/Tyrone/Donegal/Monaghan results against each other. Its Dog eat Dog. So if for example, Down or Cavan went up, they would have a 50/50 shot against whatever Ulster teams remain in Div 1 (eg Down beat Donegal and drew with Monaghan last year in Div 2). I agree though they would struggle against the rest of the teams. Looking at it, with the exception of maybe Armagh, the leagues really do show where your team is at in fairness. Very hard to argue that Down/Galway/Roscommon etc should be anything but Div 2 for example, or that Monaghan/Derry arent in the top 8 etc.

I think Galway have come on a good bit from last year and another year would bring them on even more. Last year they had zero points after 3 matches. Monaghan were division 3 recently and went up to d1 and stayed up.
D2 only says your country is in the top 50% of teams which isn't saying much.

This is Monaghan's first year in Div 1 but they are performing admirably getting good away results to Tyrone and Donegal. 2 successive promotions from Div 3 got them there, goes to show what a good manager can bring to the table.

In fairness plenty of the Monaghan panel has Div 1 experience it was poor management and successive relegations that got into Div 3.

You've basically called them Longford on steroids.

Quote from: Syferus on March 10, 2015, 11:24:53 AM

Quote from: Captain Obvious on March 10, 2015, 11:00:01 AM

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on March 10, 2015, 09:42:50 AM

Quote from: seafoid on March 09, 2015, 06:10:20 PM

Quote from: Down Follower on March 09, 2015, 05:22:29 PM
Its hard to say. With Ulster teams, anyone can beat anyone on the day, look at the Derry/Tyrone/Donegal/Monaghan results against each other. Its Dog eat Dog. So if for example, Down or Cavan went up, they would have a 50/50 shot against whatever Ulster teams remain in Div 1 (eg Down beat Donegal and drew with Monaghan last year in Div 2). I agree though they would struggle against the rest of the teams. Looking at it, with the exception of maybe Armagh, the leagues really do show where your team is at in fairness. Very hard to argue that Down/Galway/Roscommon etc should be anything but Div 2 for example, or that Monaghan/Derry arent in the top 8 etc.

I think Galway have come on a good bit from last year and another year would bring them on even more. Last year they had zero points after 3 matches. Monaghan were division 3 recently and went up to d1 and stayed up.
D2 only says your country is in the top 50% of teams which isn't saying much.

This is Monaghan's first year in Div 1 but they are performing admirably getting good away results to Tyrone and Donegal. 2 successive promotions from Div 3 got them there, goes to show what a good manager can bring to the table.

In fairness plenty of the Monaghan panel has Div 1 experience it was poor management and successive relegations that got into Div 3.

You've basically called them Longford on steroids.

Longford were what one year in Div 2 and zero points?

Quote from: Captain Obvious on March 10, 2015, 11:28:58 AM

Quote from: Syferus on March 10, 2015, 11:24:53 AM

Quote from: Captain Obvious on March 10, 2015, 11:00:01 AM

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on March 10, 2015, 09:42:50 AM

Quote from: seafoid on March 09, 2015, 06:10:20 PM

Quote from: Down Follower on March 09, 2015, 05:22:29 PM
Its hard to say. With Ulster teams, anyone can beat anyone on the day, look at the Derry/Tyrone/Donegal/Monaghan results against each other. Its Dog eat Dog. So if for example, Down or Cavan went up, they would have a 50/50 shot against whatever Ulster teams remain in Div 1 (eg Down beat Donegal and drew with Monaghan last year in Div 2). I agree though they would struggle against the rest of the teams. Looking at it, with the exception of maybe Armagh, the leagues really do show where your team is at in fairness. Very hard to argue that Down/Galway/Roscommon etc should be anything but Div 2 for example, or that Monaghan/Derry arent in the top 8 etc.

I think Galway have come on a good bit from last year and another year would bring them on even more. Last year they had zero points after 3 matches. Monaghan were division 3 recently and went up to d1 and stayed up.
D2 only says your country is in the top 50% of teams which isn't saying much.

This is Monaghan's first year in Div 1 but they are performing admirably getting good away results to Tyrone and Donegal. 2 successive promotions from Div 3 got them there, goes to show what a good manager can bring to the table.

In fairness plenty of the Monaghan panel has Div 1 experience it was poor management and successive relegations that got into Div 3.

You've basically called them Longford on steroids.

Longford were what one year in Div 2 and zero points?

Longford yo-yo up and down the divisions.

Quote from: Rossfan on March 10, 2015, 10:43:51 AM
Cavan and Ros on the other hand were real D3 teams.

A little soon to coming to the conclusion Rossfan. Will know for sure on April 5th i suppose. Must remember both ourselves & Cavan were promoted after just 5 games last year the step up to Div 2 as expected much tougher.

I meant as in we'd been there a good while as opposed to Monaghan who kind of dropped down for a flying visit.I certainly hope we can survive in D2 and leave D3 ness behind......although we certainly revisited it on Sunday.

Quote from: Rossfan on March 11, 2015, 12:43:38 AM
I meant as in we'd been there a good while as opposed to Monaghan who kind of dropped down for a flying visit.I certainly hope we can survive in D2 and leave D3 ness behind......although we certainly revisited it on Sunday.

If Ros can hang on in D2 it will be a big sign of progress and far more impressive than winning th'oul FBD.
4 hard matches ahead. 

poor result for the rossies at the weekend beaten well by a poor laois side.

I see in the local media in Ros, where an esteemed former Roscommon player writing in his weekly column, has taken issue with what he claims was the verbal abuse of some of the Roscommon players in Portlaoise by some Roscommon supporters in the stand..Due to work, i wasn't at the game myself, so i can't offer an opinion one way or the other. I know 2 lads who were there, but they said apart from a few moans and groans at some wides and misplaced passes, there was nothing else that you wouldn't hear at an U-12 game.. Did any of the other Ros posters hear anything over and above what happens at most games?

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 12, 2015, 05:34:15 PM
I see in the local media in Ros, where an esteemed former Roscommon player writing in his weekly column, has taken issue with what he claims was the verbal abuse of some of the Roscommon players in Portlaoise by some Roscommon supporters in the stand..Due to work, i wasn't at the game myself, so i can't offer an opinion one way or the other. I know 2 lads who were there, but they said apart from a few moans and groans at some wides and misplaced passes, there was nothing else that you wouldn't hear at an U-12 game.. Did any of the other Ros posters hear anything over and above what happens at most games?

It could get a lot worse as the support base in roscommon are truly convinced they are on the road to massive things. I don't envy that squad if they were to do something like get an unmerciful hiding in a connacht final off Galway or whoever this year. " the best is yet to come "

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 12, 2015, 05:34:15 PM
I see in the local media in Ros, where an esteemed former Roscommon player writing in his weekly column, has taken issue with what he claims was the verbal abuse of some of the Roscommon players in Portlaoise by some Roscommon supporters in the stand..Due to work, i wasn't at the game myself, so i can't offer an opinion one way or the other. I know 2 lads who were there, but they said apart from a few moans and groans at some wides and misplaced passes, there was nothing else that you wouldn't hear at an U-12 game.. Did any of the other Ros posters hear anything over and above what happens at most games?

GAA supporters vacillate towards sucidal after almost any loss. Player x is shite because he missed a tackle or a point, player y isn't up to the required standard, even if the same player played lights out the week before etc. I hope the young lads know how fickle any county's supporters are.

I was at the game right in the middle of the ros support and can honestly say I did not hear any abuse from the rossies, indeed when the subs were being made every player being withdrawn got a generous round of applause even though some of them had not covered themselves in glory on the day, It was Tony Mcmanus wrote the article and I am sure Tony would not say it if it did not happen, but there are ahos in every county, if I was near any of them and heard abuse I would challenge them as every right minded supporter should, enough said about that, really looking forward to Newbridge on Sun, I feel we will lift our performance but it remains to be seen if its good enough or not, I think it will as I watched Kildare game v Cavan on tele last Sat eve and it looked a very disjointed affair,but as we have seen things change and form changes from week to week so heres hoping for a good result. Come on the Rossies.

Didn't hear any player abuse. Plenty of moans and shouts  of " kick the effin ball" or "pass it forward for f sake".
Plenty of " get in a bloody tackle" and so on.
Mind you I saw a number of Summer type fans ...maybe some of them were upset because we're not as good as Larreejit and others say we are.

Quote from: Rossfan on March 12, 2015, 07:22:53 PM
Didn't hear any player abuse. Plenty of moans and shouts  of " kick the effin ball" or "pass it forward for f sake".
Plenty of " get in a bloody tackle" and so on.
Mind you I saw a number of Summer type fans ...maybe some of them were upset because we're not as good as Larreejit and others say we are.

You do have more than your fair share of "agriculturals" amongst your supporters. However, over 90% in my experience are as good as you could find anywhere.

Quote from: Lar Naparka on March 12, 2015, 07:33:24 PM

Quote from: Rossfan on March 12, 2015, 07:22:53 PM
Didn't hear any player abuse. Plenty of moans and shouts  of " kick the effin ball" or "pass it forward for f sake".
Plenty of " get in a bloody tackle" and so on.
Mind you I saw a number of Summer type fans ...maybe some of them were upset because we're not as good as Larreejit and others say we are.

You do have more than your fair share of "agriculturals" amongst your supporters. However, over 90% in my experience are as good as you could find anywhere.

Not sure about what percentage are absolute counts but in my experience any Rossie from the far side of frenchpark are 100% ,from frenchpark in they have the worst hatred for Mayo I have ever witnessed. Worked with lads from Ross only recently on site , main contractor was roscommon man , workers were from clubs  like clan, ros Gaels, croans etc , I had to remind myself they were actually Rossies ,totally different breed to the ones I grew up with, sound as two pound they were , knew their GAA too.

Quote from: Syferus on March 12, 2015, 06:25:02 PM

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 12, 2015, 05:34:15 PM
I see in the local media in Ros, where an esteemed former Roscommon player writing in his weekly column, has taken issue with what he claims was the verbal abuse of some of the Roscommon players in Portlaoise by some Roscommon supporters in the stand..Due to work, i wasn't at the game myself, so i can't offer an opinion one way or the other. I know 2 lads who were there, but they said apart from a few moans and groans at some wides and misplaced passes, there was nothing else that you wouldn't hear at an U-12 game.. Did any of the other Ros posters hear anything over and above what happens at most games?

GAA supporters vacillate towards sucidal after almost any loss. Player x is shite because he missed a tackle or a point, player y isn't up to the required standard, even if the same play played lights out the week before etc. I hope the young lads know how fickle any county's supporters are.

Especially in Connacht . Galway hurling supporters are nearly as nihilistic as Mayo fans.
 

Galway team named for the Cavan match on Sunday in Pearse Stadium @ 12.45

Manus Breathnach
Johnny Duane
Finian Hanley
Cathal Sweeney
Paul Varley
Garreth Bradshaw
Gary O'Donnell
Fiontán Ó Curraoin
Enda Tierney
Sean Denvir
Michael Martin
Damien Comer
Danny Cummins
Paul Conroy
Adrian Varley

Quote from: GaillimhIarthair on March 13, 2015, 10:37:35 AM
Galway team named for the Cavan match on Sunday in Pearse Stadium @ 12.45

Manus Breathnach
Johnny Duane
Finian Hanley
Cathal Sweeney
Paul Varley
Garreth Bradshaw
Gary O'Donnell
Fiontán Ó Curraoin
Enda Tierney
Sean Denvir
Michael Martin
Damien Comer
Danny Cummins
Paul Conroy
Adrian Varley

Any word on the injury Sweeney picked up?

Quote from: GaillimhIarthair on March 13, 2015, 10:37:35 AM
Galway team named for the Cavan match on Sunday in Pearse Stadium @ 12.45

Manus Breathnach
Johnny Duane
Finian Hanley
Cathal Sweeney
Paul Varley
Garreth Bradshaw
Gary O'Donnell
Fiontán Ó Curraoin
Enda Tierney
Sean Denvir
Michael Martin
Damien Comer
Danny Cummins
Paul Conroy
Adrian Varley

No place for Shane Walsh either

Kevin  Walsh was interesting in this interview. I wonder how he sees things now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9In3bD0D4n8

Down team to face Westmeath:

S Kane
G Collins
L Howard
D Turley
P Devlin
B Mc Ardle
C Maginn
P Turley
R Mallon
C Mc Govern
K Mc Kernan
M Poland
C Laverty
A Mc Conville
D O Hare

'Hon the lads. A decent blend of power and poise in there now. Kane looks to have nailed his place down, good to see Mallon & Collins get the nod and of course Big A at the edge of the square. And some choice footballers to call on from the bench too.

Quote from: GaillimhIarthair on March 13, 2015, 10:37:35 AM
Galway team named for the Cavan match on Sunday in Pearse Stadium @ 12.45

Manus Breathnach
Johnny Duane
Finian Hanley
Cathal Sweeney
Paul Varley
Garreth Bradshaw
Gary O'Donnell
Fiontán Ó Curraoin
Enda Tierney
Sean Denvir
Michael Martin
Damien Comer
Danny Cummins
Paul Conroy
Adrian Varley

Good to see Duane coming back into it; Kyne from Clonbur didn't seem good enough. The presence of Conroy and Comer (both of whom played well in Newry apparently) (physically) strengthens things up more in the forwards where P Sweeney must still be injured (he wasn't a no. 11 as played last week though). Doubt if Martin will hold on when more forwards become available.

Quote from: mouview on March 13, 2015, 12:35:12 PM

Quote from: GaillimhIarthair on March 13, 2015, 10:37:35 AM
Galway team named for the Cavan match on Sunday in Pearse Stadium @ 12.45

Manus Breathnach
Johnny Duane
Finian Hanley
Cathal Sweeney
Paul Varley
Garreth Bradshaw
Gary O'Donnell
Fiontán Ó Curraoin
Enda Tierney
Sean Denvir
Michael Martin
Damien Comer
Danny Cummins
Paul Conroy
Adrian Varley

Good to see Duane coming back into it; Kyne from Clonbur didn't seem good enough. The presence of Conroy and Comer (both of whom played well in Newry apparently) (physically) strengthens things up more in the forwards where P Sweeney must still be injured (he wasn't a no. 11 as played last week though). Doubt if Martin will hold on when more forwards become available.

Think if P Sweeney hadn't got injured it might have been him at 14 and Conroy in midfield this week.

Interesting to see Shane Walsh left out again alright. Hope he takes these demotions in the right way as Galway will undoubtedly need him come the Summer.

Meath (FL Division 2 v Laois) -


Strong enough team. No room for Wallace or Carroll.

Both Reilly and Tormey are one black card away from getting suspended.

Prediction time.

Ros to beat Kildare
Galway to beat Cavan
Meath to beat laois
Westmeath to beat Down

Kildare
Galway
Laois
Westmeath

Kildare
Galway
Meath
Down

Meath 0-09
Laois 0-04

Meath dominating all over the field. Laois had a couple of goal chances at the end of the half but POR made some good saves.

Meath 0-11
Laois 0-05

Meath well on top. looking sharp

Quote from: thejuice on March 14, 2015, 07:59:28 PM
Meath 0-11
Laois 0-05

Meath well on top. looking sharp

Meath 0-11
Laois 0-11

Laois with 7 in a row. Meath with a terrible miss just now.

Fer fuk sayk

Sounds like a cracker

Meath missed several scoring opportunities in the last 10 mins, 10 to go.

Bit of relief. 1 ahead.

Meath 0-12
Laois 0-13

5 to go

Laois have a bit of character

All square, 2 mins of added time to go.

Draw game 0-13 apiece.

Good comeback by Laois pity we couldn't hold on.
A point is better than nothing I suppose.

Makes the Rossies game a crucial one

Quote from: laoislad on March 14, 2015, 08:34:30 PM
Good comeback by Laois pity we couldn't hold on.
A point is better than nothing I suppose.

Good result for Laois. Bad result for Ros. Meath will be staying in d2 probably unless they beat Down

Quote from: thejuice on March 14, 2015, 08:35:58 PM
Makes the Rossies game a crucial one

Puts Kildare under pressure as well

Quote from: seafoid on March 14, 2015, 08:44:06 PM

Quote from: laoislad on March 14, 2015, 08:34:30 PM
Good comeback by Laois pity we couldn't hold on.
A point is better than nothing I suppose.

Good result for Laois. Bad result for Ros. Meath will be staying in d2 probably unless they beat Down

Good.
We've no business being in Division 1.

A lot to play for yet a draw for meath better than a loss,they created so many chances which is always good. galway v cavan, galway are not great against packed defence, Westmeath will test down.kildare to win too.cavan and roscommon will struggle to stay up.

Cavan beating Galway today just shows how tight the division is. Almost any team could go down, and yet if you win your remaining games promotion would be a real prospect.

The D3 teams who will struggle to stay up both won away from home today.

It's very interesting this year.
Will go down to the wire.

We've to play the other 3 teams in the top 4 yet.
Squeaky bum time.

Big win for Down today +13 to their score difference as well as 2 points has them looking good for promotion especially with 2 home games to play.

brilliant win and performance by down today. was expecting a much tougher game but we were well on top all over the field. looking good for promotion and a trip to croke park for the divisional final.

Delighted with Cavans win today, a massive result.

Can anyone tell me if two teams are level is it score difference or the head to head that decides who is in front?

Two teams - head to head
Three teams - score difference (even if one team has beaten the other two)

once again the real table ie points dropped.
Down         2
Ros           3
Meath       3
Galway      4
Cavan       5
Laois         5
Westmeath 6
Kildare       8
\next week when the games in hand are played points won will be the real table

 POS   TEAM   P   W   L   D   F   A   POINTS
1   DOWN   5   4   1   0   91   73   8
2   MEATH   4   2   1   1   63   54   5
3   ROSCOMMON   4   2   1   1   72   69   5
4   CAVAN   5   2   2   1   65   67   5
5   GALWAY   4   2   2   0   67   65   4
6   WESTMEATH   5   2   3   0   69   86   4
7   LAOIS   4   1   2   1   58   61   3
8   KILDARE   5   1   4   0   78   88   2
POS       Position       L       Lost       A       Against
P       Played       D       Drawn           
W       Won       F       For

The winners next week will catapult themselves from the relegation battle to the promotion race. Even Laois winning would give them five points and a lot of momentum heading into the final rounds.

Quote from: SHEEDY on March 15, 2015, 08:07:36 PM
brilliant win and performance by down today. was expecting a much tougher game but we were well on top all over the field. looking good for promotion and a trip to croke park for the divisional final.

Well done, should have been more, Westmeath for whatever reason never showed up, bizarre.

Looks like Down and Derry will swap places next year. Kildare can re group in three division has worked that way with  Monaghan.

Any one of the other 6 could be promoted or relegated.
The 2 back games next Sunday will make it a little clearer.

Quote from: Rossfan on March 16, 2015, 11:03:01 AM
Any one of the other 6 could be promoted or relegated.
The 2 back games next Sunday will make it a little clearer.

With Laois and Kildare still to play each other you'd have to fancy one of them to be relegated. Galway will have a huge say as well seeing as they still have to play both of them.

Croí na hÉireann, it was pretty clear that the loss after a couple of minutes of your big number ten, Daly, who had started at midfield, caused you considerable disruption and ruined whatever gameplan you had.  There was a big moment just before half time when one of your forwards missed a one-on-one with our keeper which would have brought you back to within three points at the break. However, there was a virtual collapse after we tagged on a couple of scores early in the second half and the rest of the match was a training run. This was surprising, given that you had won two of your first four games, but your defensive match-ups simply did not work on the day.

Quote from: Mourne Rover on March 16, 2015, 12:58:45 PM
Croí na hÉireann, it was pretty clear that the loss after a couple of minutes of your big number ten, Daly, who had started at midfield, caused you considerable disruption and ruined whatever gameplan you had.  There was a big moment just before half time when one of your forwards missed a one-on-one with our keeper which would have brought you back to within three points at the break. However, there was a virtual collapse after we tagged on a couple of scores early in the second half and the rest of the match was a training run. This was surprising, given that you had won two of your first four games, but your defensive match-ups simply did not work on the day.

Daly has been contesting the throw ups but playing inside ala Donaghy. While it no doubt contributed to the unease you could feel up in the stand I wouldn't hold it up as a pivotal reason for our no show. We put together a new gameplan of dropping a sweeper back, in lieu of the Meath game, and a week was no preparation for a completely different outlook. That was a big moment alright but we got away with an even bigger one just before that when somehow ye hit the bar rather than palming it into the empty net. We were very lucky to be only 5 points down at half time. Can't explain the collapse, especially in light of how promising we looked in the first 3 and a half games. Good Down crowd at the match, sure what else would you be at on a Sunday.

A worthwhile trip to Newbridge in what was total shootout where we had the better gunslingers.  St Conleth's Park a good compact ground narrow pitch with atmosphere as good as any league venue but unfortunately for the locals it has become a happy hunting ground for all the visiting teams in div 2 this year.

They say you learn more in defeat & in the evidence of yesterdays performance we learnt plenty from our fruitless trip to O Moore park. The goals we gave away in the first half yesterday would have floored many teams but our lads showed great character in their play never panicked & took their scores. Second half was a superb display from both the players and management however the butt of the post saved us on one of Kildares breakaway chances a goal scored then could have been a turning point but it was a bit of luck we deserved especially the luck that went against us on the second Kildare goal. A bizarre ending to the game though it didn't make much difference to the result and the best side on the day won.

Must say i'm enjoying our visit back to Division 2 football, much better than our last visit & i wouldn't mind sticking around for another year at least. THB its probably the best place for young panel to develop and improve further as a group though i suppose we'll see where the next three games will take us.

Quote from: Jinxy on March 14, 2015, 09:50:09 PM

Quote from: seafoid on March 14, 2015, 08:44:06 PM

Quote from: laoislad on March 14, 2015, 08:34:30 PM
Good comeback by Laois pity we couldn't hold on.
A point is better than nothing I suppose.

Good result for Laois. Bad result for Ros. Meath will be staying in d2 probably unless they beat Down

Good.
We've no business being in Division 1.

If we get promoted by accident, that'll surely cost Mick O'Dowd his job. Remember what happened Eamon O'Brien after we hammered Dublin before accidentally winning Leinster.

Can't wait for the gunslingers against galway we need it and will win it.

Quote from: cornetto on March 19, 2015, 12:54:27 AM
Can't wait for the gunslingers against galway we need it and will win it.

Are we the 'gunslingers'? Because after you said both us and Cavan would find it tough to stay up last week I sincerely hope we are.

Yes indeed ros are the gunslingers.yes I have to eat my words,any 2 of galway, w/meath, kildare, laois for the drop.laois will prove a handful Sunday, don't think we have beaten them in last 3 meetings.

If Meath lose to Ros they should give up.

As should Galway. Imagine losing at home to Cavan..... :P

Would 9 points get you promoted in this division?

I was going over the numbers and 9 just might.10 pts be sure. Rossies have meath galway and westmeath(away) two wins against westmeath and either galway meath, it would go to points difference.rossies are +3 .with 9 points and a difference of +12 might just do it. Two wins and 1 draw would be better. Personally i think we will finish second to down and beat them in croke park and win the title. That will be a great day heading into championship plse god  ;)

Quote from: Itchy on March 19, 2015, 07:04:15 PM
Would 9 points get you promoted in this division?

It might. If Down top the group then 9 points might be feasible.
Ros are hardly going to get 6 points from the next 3 .
Meath have to play Down. I think some years 8 points was enough - it all depends on the split of points among the other teams.
   

I did a rough calculation on a few possible results there. You could definitely go up with 9 but I don't think 8 would be enough bar a load of draws. 5 would be unlikely to keep you up but you could go down with 6.

Quote from: Itchy on March 20, 2015, 06:00:50 PM
I did a rough calculation on a few possible results there. You could definitely go up with 9 but I don't think 8 would be enough bar a load of draws. 5 would be unlikely to keep you up but you could go down with 6.

there are going t be some cracking matches, Itchy. Laois are going to burst a gut to try to stay up. Kildare can still get to 8 points in theory. It will all go down to the last day.

Quote from: seafoid on March 20, 2015, 06:11:18 PM

Quote from: Itchy on March 20, 2015, 06:00:50 PM
I did a rough calculation on a few possible results there. You could definitely go up with 9 but I don't think 8 would be enough bar a load of draws. 5 would be unlikely to keep you up but you could go down with 6.

there are going t be some cracking matches, Itchy. Laois are going to burst a gut to try to stay up. Kildare can still get to 8 points in theory. It will all go down to the last day.

Kildare have 2 points with 2 games left, two wins = 6 points total.

Hard to see kildare getting four points an lost two players to straight reds last day

Galway live candidates to be relegated now, no score in the 2nd half at all today and sounded like another really poor showing from the team.

Fair play to laois but what is wrong with Galway?

Quote from: seafoid on March 22, 2015, 03:45:08 PM
Fair play to laois but what is wrong with Galway?

Ye might be the ones fighting for your D2 survival next week at this rate, Sea.

Galway have had half-time leads of 6, 5 and 6 points in the past 3 games and have lost all 3 games. You couldn't make it up. I don't even know how you can manage to do that?

Quote from: Syferus on March 22, 2015, 03:46:13 PM

Quote from: seafoid on March 22, 2015, 03:45:08 PM
Fair play to laois but what is wrong with Galway?

Ye might be the ones fighting for your D2 survival next week at this rate, Sea.

There's no might about next week, in a real scrap to stay out of Div 3 now.
Deserved nothing from the Laois and Cavan matches but two points left behind in Newry is the blunder that may send us down.

Ros a point down at half time with Meath playing with the breeze in the 2ind half

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 22, 2015, 03:47:33 PM
Galway have had half-time leads of 6, 5 and 6 points in the past 3 games and have lost all 3 games. You couldn't make it up. I don't even know how you can manage to do that?

That's depressing sh*t for Galway fans alright

Ros 1.08 Meath 0.08  Cathal Cregg with the goal

Senan Kilbride with a goal that makes it 2-9 - 0-10

Fantastic result for Laois.

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 22, 2015, 03:47:33 PM
Galway have had half-time leads of 6, 5 and 6 points in the past 3 games and have lost all 3 games. You couldn't make it up. I don't even know how you can manage to do that?

Galway had  a strong wind in the first half against Cavan, wasn't that they were the better. Galway scored nothing today in the second half against the wind.

Games not won in the first half

Quote from: rodney trotter on March 22, 2015, 04:33:55 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 22, 2015, 03:47:33 PM
Galway have had half-time leads of 6, 5 and 6 points in the past 3 games and have lost all 3 games. You couldn't make it up. I don't even know how you can manage to do that?

Galway had  a strong wind in the first half against Cavan, wasn't that they were the better. Galway scored nothing today in the second half against the wind.

Games not won in the first half

Comer was sent off too. The Ros match should be a cracker.

Quote from: seafoid on March 22, 2015, 05:06:56 PM

Quote from: rodney trotter on March 22, 2015, 04:33:55 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 22, 2015, 03:47:33 PM
Galway have had half-time leads of 6, 5 and 6 points in the past 3 games and have lost all 3 games. You couldn't make it up. I don't even know how you can manage to do that?

Galway had  a strong wind in the first half against Cavan, wasn't that they were the better. Galway scored nothing today in the second half against the wind.

Games not won in the first half

Comer was sent off too. The Ros match should be a cracker.

He's been sent off twice in less than 24 hours so? The lad would want to calm down a biteen or every marker will spend the rest of their days needling him.

Quote from: rodney trotter on March 22, 2015, 04:33:55 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 22, 2015, 03:47:33 PM
Galway have had half-time leads of 6, 5 and 6 points in the past 3 games and have lost all 3 games. You couldn't make it up. I don't even know how you can manage to do that?

Galway had  a strong wind in the first half against Cavan, wasn't that they were the better. Galway scored nothing today in the second half against the wind.

Games not won in the first half

You don't say. I always used to leave after 35 minutes. Never knew there was another 35 after that.

Go on the rossies.proud of the boys:) promotion within grasp

Quote from: rodney trotter on March 22, 2015, 04:33:55 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 22, 2015, 03:47:33 PM
Galway have had half-time leads of 6, 5 and 6 points in the past 3 games and have lost all 3 games. You couldn't make it up. I don't even know how you can manage to do that?

Galway had  a strong wind in the first half against Cavan, wasn't that they were the better. Galway scored nothing today in the second half against the wind.

Games not won in the first half

Same in the down game, Galway had the wind in first half

Galway can have the wind to start the match next Sunday so.

To be honest I don't think Galway are going to have too many complaints about the Cavan and Laois results, clearly the  2nd best team on both days.
Whatever about Down having the wind in the 2nd half in Newry, on the balance of play Galway should definitely have won, even Down supporters would admit that I think.
We did get a win in Mullingar that should have been a draw game in fairness so I'd say 5 points is what we should have so far in the league, very poor Galway performances since Newry, especially playing at home.

Quote from: Syferus on March 22, 2015, 08:27:48 PM
Galway can have the wind to start the match next Sunday so.

Sure you will probably be in Cork shouting on Mayo anyways so it won't make much difference to ya

Current table:

Pos   Team   P   W   L   D   F   A   Points
1   Down   5   4   1   0   91   73   8
2   Ross   5   3   1   1   88   83   7
3   Meath   5   2   2   1   77   70   5
4   Laois   5   2   2   1   74   71   5
5   Cavan   5   2   2   1   65   67   5
6   Galway   5   2   3   0   77   81   4
7   W/meath   5   2   3   0   69   86   4
8   Kildare   5   1   4   0   78   88   2

Outstanding fixtures:

28 Mar 2015 7pm    Laois    v    Kildare    Portlaoise
28 Mar 2015 7pm    Cavan    v    Westmeath    Kingspan Breffni Park
28 Mar 2015 7pm    Down    v    Meath    Pairc Esler
29 Mar 2015 3pm    Roscommon    v    Galway    Dr Hyde Park
5 Apr 2015 3pm    Meath    v    Cavan    Pairc Tailteann
5 Apr 2015 3pm    Galway    v    Kildare    Pearse Stadium, Galway
5 Apr 2015 3pm    Down    v    Laois    Pairc Esler
5 Apr 2015 3pm    Westmeath    v    Roscommon    Cusack Park

Hard to see past Down & Rsocommon going up - one win for Down guarantees promotion and one win for Roscommon would leave it down to head to head / points difference if one or more of Laois / Meath / Cavan win their next two games.

Relegation will be much tighter, could be any of the bottom six teams but Kildare (2 pts and 2 away games to come) and Westmeath (-17 pts difference) look the most likely.

Our game against Galway has been moved to 1:30pm in case any Galway lads haven't heard.

Interesting that our game is the only Sunday one - if results went our way we would know going in that we'd be promoted with a win.

Quote from: Syferus on March 23, 2015, 09:25:30 AM
Our game against Galway has been moved to 1:30pm in case any Galway lads haven't heard.

Interesting that our game is the only Sunday one - if results went our way we would know going in that we'd be promoted with a win.

There'll surely be a massive Rossie crowd if that turns out to be the case, and a chance to beat Galway which is rare for ye.
How many were at the Meath game?

My estimate would be about 3,000 but I'm not the best at estimating.

Quote from: Rossfan on March 23, 2015, 10:01:05 AM
My estimate would be about 3,000 but I'm not the best at estimating.

That's more than ye brought to mc hale park in 2009.

Two huge games on Saturday evening, us away to Cavan and Laois at home to Kildare. Two 4 pointer games.

Thanks to macdanger for the updated table/fixtures.

2 big Ros/Galway games coming up at senior and u 21 before the championship starts

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on March 23, 2015, 10:22:10 AM
Two huge games on Saturday evening, us away to Cavan and Laois at home to Kildare. Two 4 pointer games.

A Cavan win will  see us safe.

Quote from: Rossfan on March 23, 2015, 10:53:19 AM

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on March 23, 2015, 10:22:10 AM
Two huge games on Saturday evening, us away to Cavan and Laois at home to Kildare. Two 4 pointer games.

A Cavan win will  see us safe.

Aim for the stars and not the slurry pit buck, a Cavan loss is better for our target now.

Quote from: Rossfan on March 23, 2015, 10:53:19 AM

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on March 23, 2015, 10:22:10 AM
Two huge games on Saturday evening, us away to Cavan and Laois at home to Kildare. Two 4 pointer games.

A Cavan win will  see us safe.

I think you're safe enough.

Quote from: seafoid on March 23, 2015, 10:50:55 AM
2 big Ros/Galway games coming up at senior and u 21 before the championship starts

The U21 game is a championship game. The last thing Galway seniors will want before the championship is relegation to div 3. I would expect the tribesmen to pick their strongest team and fight tooth and nail to stay up.

you would worry for any side who goes up to division 1. leix had some turn around giving roscommon a lesson, beating meath and a cruel Galway who couldn't score in the second half again laois Walshs p45 should have been on the table this morning.

its a funny league as i can see kildare getting something out of the laois game  and maybe Galway and westmeath to go down who i think both won their first two games

Quote from: larryin89 on March 23, 2015, 10:09:57 AM

Quote from: Rossfan on March 23, 2015, 10:01:05 AM
My estimate would be about 3,000 but I'm not the best at estimating.

That's more than ye brought to mc hale park in 2009.

And certainly more than they had left in the crowd at HT that day.

Quote from: Thewildcat on March 23, 2015, 12:38:27 PM
you would worry for any side who goes up to division 1. leix had some turn around giving roscommon a lesson, beating meath and a cruel Galway who couldn't score in the second half again laois Walshs p45 should have been on the table this morning.

its a funny league as i can see kildare getting something out of the laois game  and maybe Galway and westmeath to go down who i think both won their first two games

Worry??
Whats the worst that can happen? A few hammerings and you get relegated to Div 2. No big deal
By staying in division 2 (and it will be  stronger division 2 next year) with Armagh and maybe Donegal in it you have a chance to drop to division 3.
This could be the best chance for these division 2 teams to go up to the top tier for years

Quote from: Rossie11 on March 23, 2015, 01:47:12 PM

Quote from: Thewildcat on March 23, 2015, 12:38:27 PM
you would worry for any side who goes up to division 1. leix had some turn around giving roscommon a lesson, beating meath and a cruel Galway who couldn't score in the second half again laois Walshs p45 should have been on the table this morning.

its a funny league as i can see kildare getting something out of the laois game  and maybe Galway and westmeath to go down who i think both won their first two games

Worry??
Whats the worst that can happen? A few hammerings and you get relegated to Div 2. No big deal
By staying in division 2 (and it will be  stronger division 2 next year) with Armagh and maybe Donegal in it you have a chance to drop to division 3.
This could be the best chance for these division 2 teams to go up to the top tier for years

You loose all your games by a large margin. Lads start playing pool in the nip again at all hours. Drains everything from management and they call it a day. Confidence of a young panel takes an unmerciful battering. You struggle to get a decent manager appointed and have to settle for some journeyman shyster. He stifles whatever enthusiasm is left and you lose all your games again. All of a sudden you find yourself right back where you started.

Well you did ask. (Any similarities to teams living or dead is purely coincidental).

Quote from: Rossie11 on March 23, 2015, 01:47:12 PM

Quote from: Thewildcat on March 23, 2015, 12:38:27 PM
you would worry for any side who goes up to division 1. leix had some turn around giving roscommon a lesson, beating meath and a cruel Galway who couldn't score in the second half again laois Walshs p45 should have been on the table this morning.

its a funny league as i can see kildare getting something out of the laois game  and maybe Galway and westmeath to go down who i think both won their first two games

Worry??
Whats the worst that can happen? A few hammerings and you get relegated to Div 2. No big deal
By staying in division 2 (and it will be  stronger division 2 next year) with Armagh and maybe Donegal in it you have a chance to drop to division 3.
This could be the best chance for these division 2 teams to go up to the top tier for years

Very true when you look at it like that.  The big guns arent as scary as you would imagine either. We went up from 3 to 1 in consecutive years (2009 & 2010) and then had 3 consecutive years in Div 1.  Its great being able to play Cork/Dublin/Kerry etc on a weekly basis no matter the outcome.

Quote from: Owenmoresider on March 23, 2015, 01:45:09 PM

Quote from: larryin89 on March 23, 2015, 10:09:57 AM

Quote from: Rossfan on March 23, 2015, 10:01:05 AM
My estimate would be about 3,000 but I'm not the best at estimating.

That's more than ye brought to mc hale park in 2009.

And certainly more than they had left in the crowd at HT that day.

My memory only goes back to 2010.
A lot of us were there till very late that day Owen more although you were no doubt back home by then ;)

Weren't we being praised for staying and shouting the U21s after they got roasted in the first half of the AI final? You just can't please the haters 8)

For the most part, Roscommon have a young panel. Stepping up from Div 3 to Div 2 was going to be a step up in class for them. I think it's fair to say that we have exceeded expectations so far.. Barring a particular set of results, we have secured Division 2 football for next year, which was management's target at the outset.. But now, we find ourselves in the position where there is the chance of a bigger prize, promotion to Division 1.. Galway and Westmeath are both desperate for points, so two tough games are assured.. Even though John Evans and now Eugene McGee have expressed reservations, i think it would be a great learning experience for our young team. Imagine playing the likes of Dublin, Kerry and Cork every week.

You will learn more losing in div 1 than winning in div 2 in my opinion.

you are right there itchy, playing top teams will either make or break you, if your team is good enough well its good enough, if not then back down you go.

In my view, a team should always aim to play at the highest level possible.

Why would a team not want to get promoted to division 1??

My county, Laois got promoted to division 1 from division 2 in 2011 along with Donegal.

The following year, 2012, while Laois fell short and got relegated, we still got to the quater finals of the championship while Donegal went on to win the All Ireland.

Higher standards of football egual higher standards of player.

Here here. We have to play the best to reach long term goal of summit. Madness from posters to suggest we will learn more by staying in div2. That is bs. We should grasp this and kick on which im confident we will.

There is another damn good reason for wanting to get up to Div 1 next year. In 2016 div 2 will be a nearly all Ulster affair.  Fermanagh, Armagh, Cavan, Derry, and one from Tyrone or Donegal are potentially in the melting pot - and maybe even Down  :o  What county manager in their right mind would want to be in with that lot?

Quote from: Aristo 60 on March 24, 2015, 08:39:44 PM
There is another damn good reason for wanting to get up to Div 1 next year. In 2016 div 2 will be a nearly all Ulster affair.  Fermanagh, Armagh, Cavan, Derry, and one from Tyrone or Donegal are potentially in the melting pot - and maybe even Down  :o  What county manager in their right mind would want to be in with that lot?

Handy for fuel costs though.

Sure you barely pay for fuel as it is.

Quote from: Aristo 60 on March 24, 2015, 08:39:44 PM
There is another damn good reason for wanting to get up to Div 1 next year. In 2016 div 2 will be a nearly all Ulster affair.  Fermanagh, Armagh, Cavan, Derry, and one from Tyrone or Donegal are potentially in the melting pot - and maybe even Down  :o  What county manager in their right mind would want to be in with that lot?

Now that you mention it that sounds horrible.

Quote from: gibbs32 on March 23, 2015, 11:10:19 PM
Here here. We have to play the best to reach long term goal of summit. Madness from posters to suggest we will learn more by staying in div2. That is bs. We should grasp this and kick on which im confident we will.

Depends. Ros have a lot of potential but they need to do the iterations. It takes time to build a sustainable winning formula.
Supporters need to be patient. Maybe d2 would be better for the moment ? 

Quote from: Aristo 60 on March 24, 2015, 08:39:44 PM
There is another damn good reason for wanting to get up to Div 1 next year. In 2016 div 2 will be a nearly all Ulster affair.  Fermanagh, Armagh, Cavan, Derry, and one from Tyrone or Donegal are potentially in the melting pot - and maybe even Down  :o  What county manager in their right mind would want to be in with that lot?

Jaysus, relegation mightn't be such a bad option after all.

Quote from: seafoid on March 25, 2015, 07:36:58 AM

Quote from: gibbs32 on March 23, 2015, 11:10:19 PM
Here here. We have to play the best to reach long term goal of summit. Madness from posters to suggest we will learn more by staying in div2. That is bs. We should grasp this and kick on which im confident we will.

Depends. Ros have a lot of potential but they need to do the iterations. It takes time to build a sustainable winning formula.
Supporters need to be patient. Maybe d2 would be better for the moment ?

If ye promise to stay up we would consider staying down - if we could rely on ye  :D

Best of luck to both Roscommon and Galway at the weekend, espevially now Marty Duffy's reffing.

I thought someone said it was Michael Duffy?.. How can they do this to us? Ah well, the dream of promotion was nice while it lasted. Farr, are you sure it's Marty Duffy >:(

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 25, 2015, 05:39:36 PM
I thought someone said it was Michael Duffy?.. How can they do this to us? Ah well, the dream of promotion was nice while it lasted. Farr, are you sure it's Marty Duffy >:(

You could be right, either way there isn't much between them.

Meath (FL Division 2 v Down)


I fully expect us to win now there is some St. Vincent's/Curragha stock on the field.

I really hope there is a strong finish to the league although that line up doesn't suggest a massive shift in approach. Same midfield pairing as before which haven't done the best the last two times out.

Cavan to beat Westmeath.
Galway to beat Roscommon
Kildare to beat Laois
Meath to beat Down

The group will be all over the place with these results.

Quote from: thejuice on March 27, 2015, 06:23:16 PM
Meath (FL Division 2 v Down)

Paddy O'Rourke;

Donnacha Tobin, Conor McGill, Donal Keogan;
Mickey Burke, Kevin Reilly, Brian Power;

Bryan Menton, Adam Flanagan;

Graham Reilly, Padraic Harnan, James McEntee;
Eamon Wallace, Michael Newman, Mark O'Sullivan.

I fully expect us to win now there is some St. Vincent's/Curragha stock on the field.

I really hope there is a strong finish to the league although that line up doesn't suggest a massive shift in approach. Same midfield pairing as before which haven't done the best the last two times out.

Juice, I can't remember when we last had a player on the senior team. I can't remember anyone playing championship since Terry Kearns, but I must have  forgotten someone.

'We' as in who?

Our club. Yours and mine.

To be fair James is from the 'ha side of things.  :( But still even they only get about 1 a decade on the senior panel

A lot of things gone into melting pots tonight.
Down 8
Ros Meath Cavan 7
Laois 5
Kildare Galway Westmeath 4.
Us and the herrings play tomorrow.

If we beat Galway it's only the top four currently that will be in the promotion shake-up, the division will be properly split in two halves. If we lose it will still be an absolute mess head into the final day.

Down, Roscommon, Cavan and Meath all safe from relegation now.

Westmeath, Kildare and Galway all on 4 points but Galway do have the game tomorrow.

In terms of scoring difference Westmeath's is -17, Kildare's -10, Galway's -4 and Laois who have 5 points are on +3.

If Galway do get beaten tomorrow , the last thing they want is to lose by a lot as that scoring difference could be key.

Final round of games are
Westmeath v Roscommon
Down v Laois
Galway v Kildare
Meath v Cavan

What exactly are the rules for tie-breakers? If two teams are on equal points will head-to-head decide who's ahead of who?

Two teams - head to head
More than two - score diff

Quote from: Rossfan on March 28, 2015, 09:12:59 PM
Two teams - head to head
More than two - score diff

Down beating Laois, Meath beating Cavan and us beating anyone puts us into Division 1 of the National Football League so..

1   DOWN   6   4   2   0   101   90   8
3   MEATH   6   3   2   1   94   80   7
2   ROSCO   5   3   1   1   88   83   7
5   CAVAN   6   3   2   1   76   73   7
4   LAOIS   6   2   3   1   86   86   5
6   GALWAY   5   2   3   0   77   81   4
8   KILDARE   6   2   4   0   93   100   4
7   WESTME   6   2   4   0   75   97   4

It goes on score difference. Rossies must get 3 from 4 points for promotion. If we finish on 9 and meath win last game they have superior difference. Rossies will play without fear as its in our own hands to either stay or evolve and get promoted which i fully believe we will. In rossies we trust

I just saw a post saying its head to head for two teams and score difference if three. Maybe i got it wrong. Plse god we beat galway and wont b up all night thinking of permutations

If ross lose tomorrow but beat wmeath an meath beat cavan ross are promoted

Brilliant.so meath beat cavan and 1 win from 2 will do rossies  to confirm?

Heard that if two teams finish level, it's decided by who won when they met. If they drew, then it's points difference. If three or more teams finish level, then it's points difference... At least ,that's what i heard.

This head to head rule could prove crucial for Roscommon. All they have to do is match the final points tally of Down and Meath, then they would be promoted before either one, as Ros have already beaten Down and Meath. It could get very interesting if we finish level on points with Cavan.

You would like to think that rossies would win well in westmeath.

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 28, 2015, 09:53:02 PM
This head to head rule could prove crucial for Roscommon. All they have to do is match the final points tally of Down and Meath, then they would be promoted before either one, as Ros have already beaten Down and Meath. It could get very interesting if we finish level on points with Cavan.

Shredness you're not too shrewd. Finish level with Meath and Down head to head won't count. Be points difference as more than two teams.

Quote from: gibbs32 on March 28, 2015, 09:56:48 PM
You would like to think that rossies would win well in westmeath.

They will beat them no bother by at least 6 points.

really poor from down tonight. 2nd best all over the field. we were let down by some woeful shooting and passing. 15 wides and numerous more into the keepers hands says it all. very disappointing night.

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 28, 2015, 09:35:44 PM
Heard that if two teams finish level, it's decided by who won when they met. If they drew, then it's points difference. If three or more teams finish level, then it's points difference... At least ,that's what i heard.

Correct.

If it wasn't for the dodgy ref in the Hyde we'd be heading for division 1.
















God bless that ref.

Don't see anything in here that would bother Geezer. A short stay on our way home to Division 1.

Quote from: Jinxy on March 28, 2015, 10:53:09 PM
If it wasn't for the dodgy ref in the Hyde we'd be heading for division 1.

God bless that ref.

Can't really complain dodgy refs has helped Meath over the years.

Ask Mayo.

Quote from: Jinxy on March 28, 2015, 10:53:09 PM
If it wasn't for the dodgy ref in the Hyde we'd be heading for division 1.
















God bless that ref.

General feeling last week was that everything was a free to Meath.
So if we win our 2 games we top the Division. If we win 1 we are up if Meath bate Cyaavan or it goes to score diff if Cyaavan win.
If we lose both we stay in D2.
Also we save Kildare if we win 2.
James...I'm starting to get excited about th'oul League...

The main thing is that we've held our place in Division 2 for next year, which was the target at the start of the year.. Anything else now from the league is bonus territory.

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 29, 2015, 12:26:24 AM
The main thing is that we've held our place in Division 2 for next year, which was the target at the start of the year.. Anything else now from the league is bonus territory.

We shouldn't be looking at it as bonus territory, that's an incredibly dangerous mindset to have when playing against teams clawing for survival. We have to chase promotion with the same intensity that we chased survival.

This is an excellent chance to be promoted to Division 1.

Wasn't questioning our mindset. Only stated that John Evans initial target of Division 2 survival has been achieved. Great chance to reach Division 1, one that should be grasped with both hands.

Poor game in tough conditions in Breffni. Westmeath were very poor, is there a last kick in them on the last day of the year? Who knows in this division. I think Cavan will beat Meath on the last day, we have no fear of playing them and gave them a good hiding the last time we were in Navan. If that happens we would be relying on Laois to beat Down. Good thing for us is that Laois need the points and have been improving. Galway are also now really need something from Ros today, I wouldn't be surprised if they got it too.

From a Cavan perspective I am just relieved we are safe with a game to spare as its so unpredictable in this division you just don't know what you would come up against on the last day.

Was looking forward to ros v gal today,not so confident now, ros are on the up, gal have stalled.[b]sice and lundy[/b] should give options but momentum still with ross.shud be a good game.

Dodgie ref in the hyde is right, meaths last four scores came from dodgie frees to say the least, should have black carded at least 2 more meath players and let meath pulling and draging and third man tackles go all day, Ros were way the best team in the hyde last sunday and hopefully will repeat the performance today.

If it wasn't for referees Ros would be in beaten in the last 20 years.

Quote from: mylestheslasher on March 29, 2015, 09:02:14 AM
Poor game in tough conditions in Breffni. Westmeath were very poor, is there a last kick in them on the last day of the year? Who knows in this division. I think Cavan will beat Meath on the last day, we have no fear of playing them and gave them a good hiding the last time we were in Navan. If that happens we would be relying on Laois to beat Down. Good thing for us is that Laois need the points and have been improving. Galway are also now really need something from Ros today, I wouldn't be surprised if they got it too.

From a Cavan perspective I am just relieved we are safe with a game to spare as its so unpredictable in this division you just don't know what you would come up against on the last day.

What make, model and colour of car are you driving these days Myles?
Just curious.

Ros up by 1-08 to 0-04 at H/T.
Destiny....

Quote from: Jinxy on March 29, 2015, 02:05:37 PM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on March 29, 2015, 09:02:14 AM
Poor game in tough conditions in Breffni. Westmeath were very poor, is there a last kick in them on the last day of the year? Who knows in this division. I think Cavan will beat Meath on the last day, we have no fear of playing them and gave them a good hiding the last time we were in Navan. If that happens we would be relying on Laois to beat Down. Good thing for us is that Laois need the points and have been improving. Galway are also now really need something from Ros today, I wouldn't be surprised if they got it too.

From a Cavan perspective I am just relieved we are safe with a game to spare as its so unpredictable in this division you just don't know what you would come up against on the last day.

What make, model and colour of car are you driving these days Myles?
Just curious.

Myles, like his role model Moses, favours the Triumph.

I imagine the Rossies will too adopt this model if they dispatch Galway.

Around Crossmaglen we don't bother with Triumphs we have a Bentley!

1-10 to 1-09 for Roscommon at the minute. Surprised that Galway have managed to put in a second half performance at all after the last three games, never mind to be nearly level.

Galway 2 ahead, Corofin players must have gave them a lift

3 ahead now, looks like no one wants to win this division.

A lot of teams are at an equally high level.

All over Galway by 4, wheels come off the Roscommon bus.

See you lot soon

Roscommon 1-10 Galway 1-14

We did the reverse of what we had been doing and came from 7 down at half-time.  Needed that one.

So basically, everyone needs to win the next day.

Quote from: Jinxy on March 29, 2015, 03:07:13 PM
So basically, everyone needs to win the next day.

Ourselves and Fermanagh are safe.

Very tight division, still all to play for. Who'll go up, who'll be relegated?

Excuse me, this is the Division 2 thread, mind your own business.

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 29, 2015, 03:04:40 PM
Roscommon 1-10 Galway 1-14

We did the reverse of what we had been doing and came from 7 down at half-time.  Needed that one.

Its called wind, when its at your back you normally score more than when its in your face.

Everyone is trying hard to get out if this division, some collection of thugs will be gate crashing it next year.

Quote from: Itchy on March 29, 2015, 03:51:26 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 29, 2015, 03:04:40 PM
Roscommon 1-10 Galway 1-14

We did the reverse of what we had been doing and came from 7 down at half-time.  Needed that one.

Its called wind, when its at your back you normally score more than when its in your face.

Pity nobody told the Pat's lads that. Still there.

Quote from: Itchy on March 29, 2015, 03:51:26 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 29, 2015, 03:04:40 PM
Roscommon 1-10 Galway 1-14

We did the reverse of what we had been doing and came from 7 down at half-time.  Needed that one.

Its called wind, when its at your back you normally score more than when its in your face.

There wasn't much wind up in Newry and we let a 6 point lead slip so I'll take any kind of win. Wind related or not.

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 29, 2015, 04:14:20 PM

Quote from: Itchy on March 29, 2015, 03:51:26 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 29, 2015, 03:04:40 PM
Roscommon 1-10 Galway 1-14

We did the reverse of what we had been doing and came from 7 down at half-time.  Needed that one.

Its called wind, when its at your back you normally score more than when its in your face.

There wasn't much wind up in Newry and we let a 6 point lead slip so I'll take any kind of win. Wind related or not.

Galway were just that bit better. FOC ruled the skies and we never really slowed him down. Likewise Comer just needed to get near the ball and he looked like scoring goals. We could have robbed Galway if Senan and Murtagh had their goal scoring boots on but in play we were second best. Some of our passing was really, really poor.

Quote from: Syferus on March 29, 2015, 04:19:35 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 29, 2015, 04:14:20 PM

Quote from: Itchy on March 29, 2015, 03:51:26 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on March 29, 2015, 03:04:40 PM
Roscommon 1-10 Galway 1-14

We did the reverse of what we had been doing and came from 7 down at half-time.  Needed that one.

Its called wind, when its at your back you normally score more than when its in your face.

There wasn't much wind up in Newry and we let a 6 point lead slip so I'll take any kind of win. Wind related or not.

Galway were just that bit better. FOC ruled the skies and we never really slowed him down. Likewise Comer just needed to get near the ball and he looked like scoring goals. We could have robbed Galway if Senan and Murtagh had their goal scoring boots on but in play we were second best. Some of our passing was really, really poor.

Sure sounded like a decent game anyway considering the conditions and errors. Many more meetings between the two to come I imagine.

Down 6  8  +11
Meath 6  7  +14
Cavan  6  7  +3
Ross  6  7  +1
Galway  6  6  0
Laois  6  5  0
WestM  6  4  -22
Kildare  6  4  -7

Westmeath v Roscommon
Down v Laois
Galway v Kildare
Meath v Cavan

I'd fancy Laois against Down i have to say.
Are Cavan any use this year?

Quote from: Jinxy on March 29, 2015, 04:34:10 PM
I'd fancy Laois against Down i have to say.
Are Cavan any use this year?

They have Liam McHale on the sideline. He'll have them thinking they were the ones robbed in '96 by the weekend.

If as expected Derry are joined by Tyrone in Division 2 next year and Meath and Roscommon get promoted it leaves us with Armagh, Fermanagh, Derry, Tyrone, Cavan and Down. It'll be competitive at least.

Quote from: Jinxy on March 29, 2015, 04:34:10 PM
I'd fancy Laois against Down i have to say.
Are Cavan any use this year?

Jinxy - I'm in a MF35 these days but thankfully that shitehole Kells is no bypassed so the good folk of Cavan do not need to pass through its smelly streets. In fact most towns in Meath are now by passed for the same reason.

I would say Cavan are decent from 1-12, FF line is  struggling on wet windy days as they are light so I'm hoping for a nice day down in Navan. I am quietly confident as there is no fear factor for us playing Meath. Our goal this year was to consolidate Div2 this year and that is also achieved so the last day is about bonus territory. Meath would more than likely have been aiming for promotion so I think there will be more pressure on them.

I also think there are decent chances of other games going our (or Meaths) way. Laois are still in bother on 5 points and are just as good as Down, they could win there and Westmeath with a blanket defence in Mullingar will make it tough for Roscommon.

Quote from: Agent Orange on March 29, 2015, 04:55:17 PM
If as expected Derry are joined by Tyrone in Division 2 next year and Meath and Roscommon get promoted it leaves us with Armagh, Fermanagh, Derry, Tyrone, Cavan and Down. It'll be competitive at least.

It'll be nice and cosy with all those blankets.

4 teams left in the promotion race, heres the story from each teams point of view IF THEY WIN THEIR LAST GAME.
1. Down.  promoted.
2. Meath. if Down lose or draw Meath be promoted, if westmeath beat or draw with ros meath promoted.
3.Cavan. if down lose promoted, if ros win ros need to win by 3 points more than cavan win by or cavan promoted, if ros win by 2 points more than cavan win by than it goes on who scored the most in the league overall.
4 Rossies. if down lose or draw promoted, if meath win ros promoted, if cavan win see cavan.
if ros and meath win and down draw it goes to score difference between the 3.
all clear as mud God help us all. it has been fun and heartbreak, some great posts on here and the best of luck to all div 2 teams in the championship.

The points difference between Cavan and us is two in Cavan's favour. Not four. If the third tie-breaker is points scored we almost surely would only need to win by two points more than Cavan do, assuming we both win of course. We have 101 points scored whereas Cavan have only 76, which is a pretty insurmountable difference with one round to be played.

For whatever reason johnny evans is happy not to b promoted which is madness. Attitude from management and team stank. If we dont get promoted there is every chance we will get relegated from div 2 nxt year with the amount of blanket grenades going to b in the pot. Beat wmeath and by a few to be safe and we will be promoted.very frustrating being at hyde today.massive worry over our midfield or lack of.hopefully higgins injury not too bad. Why was cothal shine taken off.madness.we capitulated.

Isn't there're a small chance Galway could go up?

Down get beat, Meath and Cavan draw and the Ross get beat whilst Galway hammer Kildare.

Well done syf you spotted the deliberate mistake, had it corrected before your post came on.

Quote from: Maroon Manc on March 29, 2015, 06:35:47 PM
Isn't there're a small chance Galway could go up?

Down get beat, Meath and Cavan draw and the Ross get beat whilst Galway hammer Kildare.

Down and Cavan and Galway plus Meath would have 8 points
Galway beat Meath but lost to Down and Cavan who would go up, surely

If comer was sent off for u21 and senior in last two weeks how was he allowed to play?should he not have been banned ?

maroon manc.  they have no chance, to many ifs

Quote from: seafoid on March 29, 2015, 06:40:25 PM

Quote from: Maroon Manc on March 29, 2015, 06:35:47 PM
Isn't there're a small chance Galway could go up?

Down get beat, Meath and Cavan draw and the Ross get beat whilst Galway hammer Kildare.

Down and Cavan and Galway plus Meath would have 8 points
Galway beat Meath but lost to Down and Cavan who would go up, surely

If more than 2 team on same points it would go to scoring difference?

Quote from: Maroon Manc on March 29, 2015, 06:35:47 PM
Isn't there're a small chance Galway could go up?

Down get beat, Meath and Cavan draw and the Ross get beat whilst Galway hammer Kildare.

Relying on too many other results. Blew it by losing all 3 games we had big leads in. Even had we won one of those it might have been enough. Probably would have been if we had the Corofin players from the start. Anyway will be happy enough to stay up at this stage.

Rossies u21 playing saturday evening and seniors following day.same as galway. No wonder galway went all out today. Murthagh and smith will b missing for us in senior and 1or two more.galway wont b too pushed comer not available. On another note.fixture lists from gaa are slave driven and disgusting

Quote from: mylestheslasher on March 29, 2015, 09:02:14 AM
Poor game in tough conditions in Breffni. Westmeath were very poor, is there a last kick in them on the last day of the year? Who knows in this division. I think Cavan will beat Meath on the last day, we have no fear of playing them and gave them a good hiding the last time we were in Navan. If that happens we would be relying on Laois to beat Down. Good thing for us is that Laois need the points and have been improving. Galway are also now really need something from Ros today, I wouldn't be surprised if they got it too.

From a Cavan perspective I am just relieved we are safe with a game to spare as its so unpredictable in this division you just don't know what you would come up against on the last day.

Yeah, there was some amount of players loosing their footing all game. That game Saturday was another game we left behind. We were in a superb position at half time after playing against that swirling wind, whilst not playing particularly well. Again, we failed to push on and Cavan took over the game really. That's the second game this year where woeful shooting has cost us and the heads going down towards the end again was very disappointing to see. I don't know what is going on in our headspace but there's definitely a thesis for someone to get out of it.

Hard to see us getting out of this now. Not only do we have to win our game but are reliant on Down beating Laois and Galway getting a result against Kildare.  :-\

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on March 30, 2015, 11:45:49 AM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on March 29, 2015, 09:02:14 AM
Poor game in tough conditions in Breffni. Westmeath were very poor, is there a last kick in them on the last day of the year? Who knows in this division. I think Cavan will beat Meath on the last day, we have no fear of playing them and gave them a good hiding the last time we were in Navan. If that happens we would be relying on Laois to beat Down. Good thing for us is that Laois need the points and have been improving. Galway are also now really need something from Ros today, I wouldn't be surprised if they got it too.

From a Cavan perspective I am just relieved we are safe with a game to spare as its so unpredictable in this division you just don't know what you would come up against on the last day.

Yeah, there was some amount of players loosing their footing all game. That game Saturday was another game we left behind. We were in a superb position at half time after playing against that swirling wind, whilst not playing particularly well. Again, we failed to push on and Cavan took over the game really. That's the second game this year where woeful shooting has cost us and the heads going down towards the end again was very disappointing to see. I don't know what is going on in our headspace but there's definitely a thesis for someone to get out of it.

Hard to see us getting out of this now. Not only do we have to win our game but are reliant on Down beating Laois and Galway getting a result against Kildare.  :-\

Galway should beat Kildare
I would expect Down to  beat Laois as well

Quote from: seafoid on March 30, 2015, 12:23:05 PM

Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on March 30, 2015, 11:45:49 AM

Quote from: mylestheslasher on March 29, 2015, 09:02:14 AM
Poor game in tough conditions in Breffni. Westmeath were very poor, is there a last kick in them on the last day of the year? Who knows in this division. I think Cavan will beat Meath on the last day, we have no fear of playing them and gave them a good hiding the last time we were in Navan. If that happens we would be relying on Laois to beat Down. Good thing for us is that Laois need the points and have been improving. Galway are also now really need something from Ros today, I wouldn't be surprised if they got it too.

From a Cavan perspective I am just relieved we are safe with a game to spare as its so unpredictable in this division you just don't know what you would come up against on the last day.

Yeah, there was some amount of players loosing their footing all game. That game Saturday was another game we left behind. We were in a superb position at half time after playing against that swirling wind, whilst not playing particularly well. Again, we failed to push on and Cavan took over the game really. That's the second game this year where woeful shooting has cost us and the heads going down towards the end again was very disappointing to see. I don't know what is going on in our headspace but there's definitely a thesis for someone to get out of it.

Hard to see us getting out of this now. Not only do we have to win our game but are reliant on Down beating Laois and Galway getting a result against Kildare.  :-\

Galway should beat Kildare
I would expect Down to  beat Laois as well

Most people would expect them results, which in this division is near a cast iron guarantee that they will go the other way...

Alone among the four divisions, no team has yet been guaranteed a place in either the top two or the bottom two. Down lead on eight points but can be overtaken by Roscommon, either Meath or Cavan (or conceivably, although it is highly improbable, both), and even fifth-placed Galway.
Down can simplify matters with a win over Laois in Newry, leaving the other place in the final almost certain to come down to points difference. Meath are the favourites thanks to a home tie against Cavan and a points difference surplus of +14. But if Cavan win and Roscommon beat Westmeath, it will be a calculator job.
Today's irish times.

Assuming a  Down win - If  Meath and Roscommon finish on 9  Roscommon go up due to the head to head result.
If Kildare can beat Galway and Laois and Westmeath lose then the latter 2 go down.

That's what I thought too, head to head.
guess it's true a paper never refuses ink!

If Westmeath lose or draw with Ros, they either finish with 4 or 5 points and go down. If Laois beat Down, they finish with 7 points. If Kildare beat Galway, they both finish with 6 points....With a combination of the 3 results above, Westmeath and Galway would be relegated. Unlikely i know, but in this crazy division, anything could happen.

Quote from: Shrewdness on March 31, 2015, 02:56:49 PM
If Westmeath lose or draw with Ros, they either finish with 4 or 5 points and go down. If Laois beat Down, they finish with 7 points. If Kildare beat Galway, they both finish with 6 points....With a combination of the 3 results above, Westmeath and Galway would be relegated. Unlikely i know, but in this crazy division, anything could happen.

I don't think  those results above are that far out.

Quote from: Syferus on March 29, 2015, 04:37:55 PM

Quote from: Jinxy on March 29, 2015, 04:34:10 PM
I'd fancy Laois against Down i have to say.
Are Cavan any use this year?

They have Liam McHale on the sideline. He'll have them thinking they were the ones robbed in '96 by the weekend.

:D

Just to confirm.if two teams on same pts head to head. If 3 teams score diff. Come on rossies and down and meath

Come on rossies.do us proud.we will win u21 v galway sat and win on sunday without murtagh smith etc. I hope senan kilbride has a masterclass sunday.

Prediction time. You will note I got all last week's games correct. This weekend...

Cavan to beat Meath
Roscommon to beat Westmeath (bye bye Westmeath)
Galway to beat Kildare (bye bye Kildare)
Laois to beat Down

So up will go Cavan and the Ros boys.

If it goes like that. Fair enough ;D

Warm(ish), dry day predicted for Newry tomorrow. Interested to hear from Laois boys how they
fancy their chances without Kingston?

No kingston = down win.  Rossies most exciting forward line going

Down 8/15  Laois 15/8  say the bookies.  Down will be glad of the firm ground and the sun on their backs.  I would be very nervous of the damage Down forwards could do if they click.
Donie Kingston has been our main man - will be a huge loss tomorrow.

Rossies are the most stylish arrogant team i have seen in my time. Gra gael mo cri rossies

Quote from: gibbs32 on April 04, 2015, 09:21:26 PM
Rossies are the most stylish arrogant team i have seen in my time. Gra gael mo cri rossies

Rossies are one of the most useless arrogant teams, most of the rest had actually won something of note before becoming arrogant albeit in the last century.

armaghniac, should you not be on the div 3 thread or are you sleep walking?

Go back orange

I'm casing out the Div 2 tbread where Armagh people will be returning after a short visit to Div 3.

Ros wil b in div 1 so wait again pal

Quote from: armaghniac on April 04, 2015, 09:58:12 PM

Quote from: gibbs32 on April 04, 2015, 09:21:26 PM
Rossies are the most stylish arrogant team i have seen in my time. Gra gael mo cri rossies

Rossies are one of the most useless arrogant teams, most of the rest had actually won something of note before becoming arrogant albeit in the last century.

He's a Mayo man pretending to be a Roscommon poster. Its best not to be quoting someone i and many others have blocked.

United Islamic Cyber Force team to play Galway at Pearse Stadium today (throw in 3pm):

Mustafa al-Donnellan
Osama bin-Lyons
Mohammed O'Grady
Khalifa Fitzpatrick
Pervez Kelly
Faisal Conway
Ahmed Bolton
Ghazzal White
Pasha al-Cribbin
Khalid al-Cribbin,
Ibrahim O'Flaherty
Farukh bin Dowling
Ayman O'Callaghan
Pashtun Fogarty
Allah al-Smithi

Manager: Jalal Ryan