NFL Division 1 - 2020

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

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thejuice

Teams

Donegal
Dublin
Galway
Kerry
Mayo
Meath
Monaghan
Tyrone

3 weeks to go till it starts off. We have Tyrone in Omagh first. It's a really big game for us as we will need to pick up every point we can to stay up. We will need all guns blazing in the first game. We have a good number of newcomers from the underage ranks coming through like Matthew Costello, Shane Walsh, Brian Conlon and David Toner as well the return of a few seasoned campaigners from the O'Dowd era such as the Wallace brothers, Donal Lenihan, and Ronan Jones. Óisín O'Brien is another new addition to the squad though he's in his late twenties.

We have a few injuries ahead of this game which are concerning though. We are without Mickey Newman, Paraic Harnan and possibly Lenihan who had only just rejoined the squad. There might be others on the injured list but I'm not sure.

Obviously the big talking point in Tyrone is the loss of McShane this week which certainly helps us. That aside though how fired up would Tyrone be for the league in reality?

Other first round games

Kerry vs Dublin
Mayo vs Donegal
Galway vs Monaghan
It won't be the next manager but the one after that Meath will become competitive again - MO'D 2016

galwayman

How has Oisin O Brien been doing for ye?
He's from around my area in Galway

thejuice

He only came on in the last O'Byrne Cup game in the second half. But he must be doing something right to get a call up so late on in his career. Was minor in 2007 the last time he played for Galway?
It won't be the next manager but the one after that Meath will become competitive again - MO'D 2016

larryin89

We have donegal away and Dublin at home first two games , unless we can manage something from them two games,  you'd imagine we are in deep s h I t . Seems to be a lot of same faces for 2020 from what ya can gather from challenge games . It's hard to know where we are heading tbh , sometimes you're thinking , great,  load of promising players coming up and then ye get the feeling it's going to be Higgins, Barrett and boyler again, Not that there is anything wrong with them absolute legends of mayo football but they are getting on now and losing sharpness year on year , but what can you do if they are still better than the wans coming up or is there a point where you have to take the hit and give them the experience , love to see Cathal Horan given a run (I believe he's got the stuff )

Midfield we have a found a gem in Mattie Ruane , Tom P will be interesting to see where he is at , could still do with finding another at least . Is seamie togging this year or has he retired ?

Few forwards coming through it seems , Carr has a year under his belt now , Reape and Diskin need to show more of the potential they have if given a run, Tracey and Fionn mcdonagh also have a years senior training now .  Ryan o Donoghue is really promising if he keeps it together , I like Jordan Flynn also , he has fire in the belly .  I'd be disappointed if Conor diskin isn't on the panel , he's a big unit and shows well , you could vision him developing into a right good county player .( could be another one though with the aul discipline issues )

Overall should be a decent year 2 of rebuilding , I'd expect us to be a right good side in 2021/22 , it's important we keep playing division one though throughout the rebuild .I don't believe it's any benefit at all to play outside division one .

Verdict on Mayo , stay up just about .  Tyrone to win it . Meath and Galway to be relegated cause I dislike them the most out of the others available.
Walk-in down mchale rd , sun out, summers day , game day . That's all .

An Fhairche Abu

Galway could do with winning their first home league match against Monaghan as two very tough away matches against Kerry and Donegal are to follow.
That said I wouldn't like to predict any matches or make snap judgements based on the performances and results from the very early rounds, teams could be at very different levels depending on training schedules, player availability etc.
Interested to see the composition of both the Galway team and the squad for this league particularly with new management in place, it's best time of the year for being optimistic anyway as there's no concrete evidence out there yet to puncture the hopes for 2020!

galwayman

Quote from: thejuice on January 07, 2020, 11:47:27 AM
He only came on in the last O'Byrne Cup game in the second half. But he must be doing something right to get a call up so late on in his career. Was minor in 2007 the last time he played for Galway?
Well he only transferred from his club in Galway to Navan O'Mahoneys for the 2019 season so this is really realistically the first year he would have been on the radar of football people in Meath.
He definitely played FBD (our equivalent of your O'Byrne cup) for the seniors in later years but I don't think he made any NFL or championship squad. He was a very decent club player but I don't think he is quite good enough for senior county personally.
Good luck to him though.

Hound

Triple bill in Croke Park it seems:

Saturday January 25

AIB All Ireland Junior Club Football Final
Kilmaine (Mayo) or Na Gaeil (Kerry) v Rathgarogue-Cushinstown (Wexford) or Blackhill (Monaghan), Croke Park, 3.15pm

AIB All Ireland Intermediate Club Football Final
Oughterard (Galway) or Templenoe (Kerry) v Mattock Rangers (Louth) or Magheracloone (Monaghan), Croke Park, 5.15pm

National Football League Division 1
Dublin v Kerry, Croke Park, 7.15pm


seafoid

2 questions for me are :

Will Monaghan improve or be as poor as last year?
Will the Dubs be arsed, because they weren't last year .
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

thejuice

Dubs under Dessie could go either way. I would imagine there would be lads out to earn their place but might not lend to a cohesive team performance. Monaghan might be in a similar position but they'll always be tough to beat.

Meath will be treating this like championship but I'm not sure if we'll have a strong enough squad to see it through but I shouldn't write us off just yet.
It won't be the next manager but the one after that Meath will become competitive again - MO'D 2016

Hound

Quote from: thejuice on January 09, 2020, 01:12:06 PM
Dubs under Dessie could go either way. I would imagine there would be lads out to earn their place but might not lend to a cohesive team performance. Monaghan might be in a similar position but they'll always be tough to beat.

Meath will be treating this like championship but I'm not sure if we'll have a strong enough squad to see it through but I shouldn't write us off just yet.
Jack McCaffrey had a good interview on OTB this week.

He said that the announcement by Gavin caught everyone off guard. But the players met up to reminisce about the Gavin times and by the end they were all pretty excited and determined about 2020.

Interestingly, he'll be working in a hospital in Kilkenny from February for 6 months so will have to deal with a commute for training/matches that so many non-Dubs have to deal with. Of course, Dub-KK is far from the worst commute going.

manfromdelmonte

Quote from: seafoid on January 08, 2020, 10:24:43 AM
2 questions for me are :

Will Monaghan improve or be as poor as last year?
Will the Dubs be arsed, because they weren't last year .
Monaghan would have been relegated last year only for a push and a dive in the Tyrone v Roscommon game.

I think they will go down, probably with Meath or Galway

Main Street

Do the same special rules apply for the League this year, the sin bin & the mark?

Eire90

The dubs should take it seriously the league is just as good as the all ireland if you look at it competitively. 

Eire90

Id have a semi final between 2nd and 3rd  less chance of day rubbers in final games if you do that it rewards the team top of league with a bye to final too.