Cork v monaghan. 13th March at 2pm

[charlie linkbox]

Was at the game.

We're too small. Simple as that. Ryan Wylie, Karl O'Connell, Ryan McAnespie, Shane Carey, Dermot Malone, Conor McCarthy; good and all as they may be there's nearly half a team and all small light men. And that was the main problem as far as I could see today. Cork were far bigger, faster and more powerful and we just couldn't compete. FFS Karl O'Connell jumped to compete for both throw ins!!! What was that about?!!! We were completely overrun today and a seven point gap flattered us.

Our tactics didn't help either. We dropped McAdam back to the full back line in the first half presumably to counteract the long ball in but it was pointless. Cork just ran at us from out the field and kicked their points from further out - their No.7 got three points in the first half I think. It also meant we were down a body out the field for Cork's kick outs and their goalie found his man almost every time which put us on the back foot all the time.

Our defence was very slack in the first half with Cork players often kicking points with no pressure.

Mayo and now Cork have kept McManus quiet by double marking him and we have no other scoring options. We have to address this. No point in having one of the best talents in the game bottled up in the full forward line. Maybe try him on the 40 to get him on the ball a bit more and give him a bit more space to operate. Was listening to the radio back up the road and the report on the game said Monaghan relied on McManus and Beggan in the second half for scores. That says it all.

Few positives. Karl O'Connell played well. The boys kept going even when it had become a lost cause which was commendable. I'm clutching at staws here.

[charlie linkbox]

However lets not forget that the real villains here are Roscommon.

We were supposed to beat Roscommon and Down in our first two games and then those two were supposed to get bate every week so that four points would be enough to stay up. F**k Roscommon anyway!!! 

[babarino]

However lets not forget that the real villains here are Roscommon.

We were supposed to beat Roscommon and Down in our first two games and then those two were supposed to get bate every week so that four points would be enough to stay up. F**k Roscommon anyway!!! 

I hear ye Charlie. Thon Rossies are contrary arsed feckers. Thought we were home and hosed in D1 after the first two games. Mayo, a quality outfit and all that, hurt us at home, which I reckoned was going to be a win.

We really need to beat Kerry now. We can't always depend on beating Donegal .

[Main Street]

If we don't beat Kerry,  there's always Donegal.

[Maguire01]

All this talk about Monaghans great defence. Looking back we haven't really defended 'great' since the 2013 c'ship.(bar one or two games).
Is it complacency ? or what ? Never mind the one scoring forward or weak midfield. Now when we lose possession we cant stop the opponents. 1-20 against a cork team who got their asses handed to them for the past month. This is sh**e........
Kerry coming up next week. Need to get back to what made us in 2013.

I wasn't at today's game, but think our defence would be grand if we could sort out midfield.

The whole idea of defence is to stop opponents. Midfield wont win possession all the time.

No, but if they won it even 40% of the time then defence isn't constantly under pressure. We lost the Mayo game despite some great defensive play (even if there were a few lapses). Very hard to win these games without being at least competitive at midfield. IMO defence is the least of our problems.

[J70]

If we don't beat Kerry,  there's always Donegal.

Unfortunately for us. We have Dublin away before that game too.

Could go down on six points.

[Main Street]

If we don't beat Kerry,  there's always Donegal.

Unfortunately for us. We have Dublin away before that game too.

Could go down on six points.

If it comes down to 6 points, there will be more than 2 teams,  then Cork or Mayo would be favorite for the drop.

It could  also come down to ourselves and Mayo  on 4 pts,  then we would go down.