Mayo v Galway NFL Division 1. 7/2/2010

[venter]

. It was suggested to me earlier that K Higgins would be a better option at 6. I must say it had nt occured to me but mo dhuine
pointed out he is a better stopper/tackler than Howley while both are short on size anyway. Howley is a hit or miss stopper with a reliance on the shoulder.

I would also like to see Higgins get a shot at centre back. He is a class act but his form at corner back is starting to get a bit worrying. In fairness, with his height it is hard for him to compete aginst the bigger forwards in the air , like meath last year and even meehan on sunday. But he also has a tendency to stand well off his man, it's like he has too much confidence in his own pace. This isn't going to work against the very top corner forwards.
Having said that, there is no way he could be dropped as he has so much to offer.He seems to read it well and would have the pace for the running centre forwards like o'sullivan or Pierce O'Neill.

Howley is our centre back but he doesnt seem to be dominating his area. If we are going for the hard hitting type of centre back he has to dominate. For Crossmolina, we had Damian Mulligan doing it for years. He was the man and he knew it, anyone that came down his channel got hit and they new they were going to get hit. At a higher level, the same could be said about McGeeney for Armagh. I'm not sure if Howley has the presence and the leadership for that type of game. not yet anyway.

Seamus O Se, Varley and Mcloughlin were all great additions the last day. Mcloughlin is a lovely footballer and you could put him nearly anywhere. How was he not on the team last year?

I was delighted Seamus O se did well. He has a massive physical presence around the middle and he pretty much cleaned Gary O'Donnell out of it. Aidan O Se struggled against Hanley. In one way, thats probably a good thing as we performed well without over-relying on him

Good debut for Varley as well. The forwards have plenty of competition for places with Dillon,mort,harte,B Moran and Kilcoyne all yet to come back. How many of those 5 will make the championship 15?

[Lar Naparka]

. It was suggested to me earlier that K Higgins would be a better option at 6. I must say it had nt occured to me but mo dhuine
pointed out he is a better stopper/tackler than Howley while both are short on size anyway. Howley is a hit or miss stopper with a reliance on the shoulder.

I would also like to see Higgins get a shot at centre back. He is a class act but his form at corner back is starting to get a bit worrying. In fairness, with his height it is hard for him to compete aginst the bigger forwards in the air , like meath last year and even meehan on sunday. But he also has a tendency to stand well off his man, it's like he has too much confidence in his own pace. This isn't going to work against the very top corner forwards.
Having said that, there is no way he could be dropped as he has so much to offer.He seems to read it well and would have the pace for the running centre forwards like o'sullivan or Pierce O'Neill.

Howley is our centre back but he doesnt seem to be dominating his area. If we are going for the hard hitting type of centre back he has to dominate. For Crossmolina, we had Damian Mulligan doing it for years. He was the man and he knew it, anyone that came down his channel got hit and they new they were going to get hit. At a higher level, the same could be said about McGeeney for Armagh. I'm not sure if Howley has the presence and the leadership for that type of game. not yet anyway.

Seamus O Se, Varley and Mcloughlin were all great additions the last day. Mcloughlin is a lovely footballer and you could put him nearly anywhere. How was he not on the team last year?

I was delighted Seamus O se did well. He has a massive physical presence around the middle and he pretty much cleaned Gary O'Donnell out of it. Aidan O Se struggled against Hanley. In one way, thats probably a good thing as we performed well without over-relying on him

Good debut for Varley as well. The forwards have plenty of competition for places with Dillon,mort,harte,B Moran and Kilcoyne all yet to come back. How many of those 5 will make the championship 15?

I've had one major reservation about Johnno's tactics- for the first two years at any rate. He had kept chopping and changing players about and giving nobody a chance to settle in any position.
Andy Moran is a fine player but he couldn't be expected to excel as a corner forward and a wing back at the same time. Billy Joe must have been tried in every line of the team and he winds up by dropping out of the reckoning. Trevor Mort is one more example. Whatever chance he has of making it as a back or as a forward, he can't make a success of both.
I mean it's not just a case of an individual player being good in any position but you'd have to give him and the others around him some time to build up some sort of understanding.
Sine the beginning of the championships last year, O'Mahony seems to be getting some of idea as to his best line-up. That's positive thinking and means he won't have to disrupt every line on the field if he needs to make a change or a switch. Maybe Keith would be a better individual choice at CHB than Howley but this might cause problems in the FB line. Same goes for Trevor; I think he deserves his place but if Johnno goes hunting for a spot for him right now, this could cause problems elsewhere.

I'm thinking here about John Maughan and the '97 final. When Dermot Flanagan had to go off, Maughan made  4 switches to replace him and a real chance of winning that game was lost.

[Foreverhopeful]

i'd have never really thought of higgins as a no. 6 but he would be the one man who could live with declan o sullivan. For me d o' sullivan is the complete footballer and the one who does the most damage for kerry. If he plays well Kerry play well.

Its great the competition for places this year. Suddenly we have 3 big target men in A O'S, Barry Moran & Alan Freeman ( whom i rate highly)  We had varley & ronaldo in the corners. We have douglas, kilcoyne, c mortimer to compete as well. In the half forwards we have pat harte & alan dillon to return as well as the option of K McLoughlin.
Midfield we have J Kilcullen, J gibbons, B Kelly & G mc donagh to back up mcgarrrity, parsons & S O'S.
I had nearly forgotten about tom cunniffe at this stage. He will give us options along with c barrett, k conroy, Lee keegan (worth a look again at 6) & s nally for the half back spots.
In the full back line we have liam o'malley (worth a shot also in the half backs) and alan feeney (must be given some game time during the league).
This competition for places must be utilised. J O'M can't afford to stick with current 15 and then be fucked when one gets injured.

[Tubberman]

I thought Howley would make a good CHB, and maybe he will yet, but I'm getting more doubtful.
It's his height and pace that would worry me. Keith Higgins is a very good half back, but I think that has to be on the wing, not the centre.
Higgins is hardly the tallest, and he certainly isn't the strongest/most physical. So I'd have major reservations about him starting CHB. I'd prefer to see Tom Cunniffe back there again (when is he due back anyway), or else Ger Cafferkey with Alan Feeney at FB.

[RedandGreenSniper]

I'm sorry to whoever said K Higgins could mark Pearse O'Neill because that, to me, is nonsense. O'Neill would be far too strong and Higgins would have got ate by Joe Sheridan last August too. I take the point about Declan O'Sullivan - Higgins could do well there. But in a man marking job and not as a centre-back so simply move him there for that game.
Centre-back does remain a problem as do the corner-back slots. If we had two good, tough corner men I wouldn't be concerned about Ger Caff at 3. But at the minute, I would be.
I'd like to see Kieran Conroy given a shot at 6. Howley, for me, is too small. Maybe on the wing or in the corner. Or even wing-forward. BUt not centre-half back. McLouglin, of course, would do  a fine job at 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15. Maybe 6 but may be a bit light. Perhaps worth a shot.

We do have more options now though. We'll see where that brings us in the league.

[HowAreYeGettinOn]

We do have more options now though. We'll see where that brings us in the league.

+1

Nice to see that there's a lid being kept on the optimism. Sunday suggests that we're not as bad as the Meath game indicated, and that when Mayo are disrespected enough the team do (eventually) bare their teeth.

I think Sunday next in Tyrone will give us a better idea where we're really at though.

[Farrandeelin]

When is Tom Cunniffe's groin ever going to clear up? He could be tried at no 6, I wasn't too impressed with Howley either the last day.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Is there any potential in either of the Kilcullen brothers, David or James at number 6?

[moysider]

When is Tom Cunniffe's groin ever going to clear up? He could be tried at no 6, I wasn't too impressed with Howley either the last day.

Is there any evidence to suggest that Tom Cunniffe would be an improvement? Another attacking wing back if he did play 6 underage, it was underage after all. No more physically imposing than Higgins. Less so than Howley. He d be grand behind a dominant midfield, they all would.

[Foreverhopeful]

if u want a big strong strapping centre back ala graham canty look no further than Seamie O Se!! Ah no with him playing as an extra man in the middle he should be able to help out the no.6 a bit more. Dont think howley should be there tho. Is it just cos he is the only mayo defender to use his shoulder?!

[Mayo4Sam]

Jees lads give Howley a chance, he has 1 yr under his belt. His positional sense is unmatched on the panel.
McLaughlin looks like a serious footballer, we seen scoring half back before but his 2nd pt on Sunday was taken with such confidence & surity. Timed all his runs forward to perfection. Be interesting to see how he gets on this Sunday

[An Fhairche Abu]

Bit late with the comments on this match but the main thing I took from the match was that it's a fine stand ye Mayo lads have in McHale park! Not gone on the blue seats but the poles in the front aren't as bad as I thought they would be and it's certainly well built, it's still a shame a cantilevered stand wasn't used.

Mayo were quite good on Sunday but Galway were dreadful, an error ridden performance combined with legs that looked like they were stuck to the ground from (I'm assuming) heavy training. As poor a performance as I've seen from any Galway team in a long time, if Mortimer hadn't got the line it would have been a total and utter rout.
Galway have showed false form in the league the last few years and hopefully we will not be half as bad come the summer, certainly if the form the last day wa repeated in any other games we'll get another good trimming. I think everyone will know a lot more about both teams after a few more league games.