So what do people think their counties main aims this year should be in the National League...
For Dublin the main aims I think should be...
1 - Win Div 2 and get promoted.
2 - Give more experience to the younger players such as McConnell, Brennan, B Brogan, Vaughan, Connolly, O'Mahony, Bonnar
3 - Give more gametime to players such as O'Shea, Shaughnessy, Lally, Magee, Quinn, Goggins
4 - Try out options at centre back (eg Cahill/Magee/Brennan)
5 - Decide who is possible replacement for McConnell at full back if things not working.
6 - Decide on a centre forward and play him for the whole league campaign - Keaney/Brogan/Cullen
6 - Ensure a more clinical view of shot taking
7 - Try to ensure a more efficient defensive performance
Cluxton - not for all games
Shaughnessy
McConnell
O'Shea
Henry
Cahill
Brennan
O'Mahoney
Magee
Connolly
Keaney
Brogan
Quinn
Bonnar
Vaughan
for example being a team which leaves Casey, Moran, Cullen, Whelan, Ryan, Brogan etc a rest and have guys like Lally, Magee, Goggins etc on the bench to come on....
Tir Eoghain - NFL 2008 Wishlist
1. Find and establish a FB and viable alternative.
2. Achieve 1a by giving Joey McMahon a decent run there.
3. Get Mugsy fit.
4. Find a half decent right footed free taker.
5. Find a new MF partner for Sean.
6. Failing that get Hub fit and back on form.
7. Find at least 2 new scoring forwards (McGinn plus 1)
8. Further develop Raymie Mulgrew.
9. Start looking at alternatives to Ricey at CB
10. Experiment a bit more with alternative patterns of play (e.g. Kerry / Armagh route 1 - depends on (7) though)
11. (Since it's a wish list) See Brian McGuigan back on the pitch
12. Shake up the team a bit, create some competition
13. Get the Mayo monkey off our back.
14. Beat the Dubs (again)
and most of all.........ENTER THE 2008 CHAMPIONSHIP WITH A FULL, FIT AND HEALTHY PANEL
Simple for us. Promotion into Division 3. No excuses, no rubbish about trying lads out, just play at least 13 of our first 15 every week, and get promoted. It was ridiculous that they allowed themselves get into that position in the first place, but now they must get themselves out of it.
1. Get promoted from Div 2 or at the very least finish in the top half.
2. Sort out the half forward line for once and for all.
3. Win the last league game so we're going in against the Slashers in the right frame of mind.
4. Find someone who can regularly kick a 45, has Connaughton the accuracy???
5. Beat Eastmeath.
6. Play Flan FF if we're gonna go with a 3 man inside forward line for the championship.
7. Be a more physical and aggressive team.
For Kildare
1. Staying in the top tier
2. Really trying to blood new players, giving them a run in the team.
3. Develop a mean streak
4. Take teams on phsically
5. Show a consistent game plan
6. Weed out deadweight
On a personal note id like to see Johnny Doyle rested for a fe wgames and see who will take up responsibility.
Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on October 22, 2007, 02:00:31 PM
1. Get promoted from Div 2 or at the very least finish in the top half.
2. Sort out the half forward line for once and for all.
3. Win the last league game so we're going in against the Slashers in the right frame of mind.
4. Find someone who can regularly kick a 45, has Connaughton the accuracy???
5. Beat Eastmeath.
6. Play Flan FF if we're gonna go with a 3 man inside forward line for the championship.
7. Be a more physical and aggressive team.
I'd nearly be up for ye! It's gone beyond a joke at this stage. :D
Quote from: Jinxy on October 22, 2007, 02:40:54 PM
Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on October 22, 2007, 02:00:31 PM
1. Get promoted from Div 2 or at the very least finish in the top half.
2. Sort out the half forward line for once and for all.
3. Win the last league game so we're going in against the Slashers in the right frame of mind.
4. Find someone who can regularly kick a 45, has Connaughton the accuracy???
5. Beat Eastmeath.
6. Play Flan FF if we're gonna go with a 3 man inside forward line for the championship.
7. Be a more physical and aggressive team.
I'd nearly be up for ye! It's gone beyond a joke at this stage. :D
Well sure since there's not a chance of yous making the Leinster Final beating yous in the league will have to do for this year... ;)
Good to see 5 teams will be winning Divison 2 this year ;D
Antrim...couldn't be simpler:
Take it seriously and get promoted
Wish - we hold on in div 2 ,develop as a team and give some experience to the Minors of 06.
Fear - 7 straight defeats, more army training from MaughTAN, and a demoralised team at the end of it plus some of the 2006 Minors ruined.
For Monaghan:
At the very least, retain division 2 status. Being relegated would be a disaster, but not likely in my opinion.
We're playing the following:
Cavan
Armagh
Cork
Dublin
Meath
Westmeath
Roscommon
There's a few tough ones there, but Monaghan should pick up the necessary points.
What's the story with semi-finals or finals? Do we have 4 cups now? Does the winner of each league (i.e. top of the table) get the cup or are there still 'final' stages?
Oh, and i'd also like Armagh and Cavan to be away games...... and Cork to be a home game. Would just make travelling easier. :P
I reckon everyone in that division wants Cork at home, all the others are close enough.
If Dublin get Cork at home I think I could get all games in without having to fork out for hotels,
Stingy git that I am!
Quote from: Maguire01 on October 22, 2007, 06:19:54 PM
For Monaghan:
At the very least, retain division 2 status. Being relegated would be a disaster, but not likely in my opinion.
We're playing the following:
Cavan
Armagh
Cork
Dublin
Meath
Westmeath
Roscommon
There's a few tough ones there, but Monaghan should pick up the necessary points.
What's the story with semi-finals or finals? Do we have 4 cups now? Does the winner of each league (i.e. top of the table) get the cup or are there still 'final' stages?
Oh, and i'd also like Armagh and Cavan to be away games...... and Cork to be a home game. Would just make travelling easier. :P
Want Cork away, hit Langerland for the weekend...
Could be a friday nighter though, how early do you get off work!!
Kerry: After taking a break from the league in 2007 it would be nice to win it again in 2008, there are some of the Kerry lads who now have more AI's than League medals and that can't be right, while there are a few others who have never won it and that's not right either. Pat O'Shea would like it added to his CV too.
We need to blood a few players too as our panel looked weak at times this year espeically the backs. They may be needed for the crack at the auld 3-in-a-row later in the year.
Derry.
Win games but not enough to qualify for any knock out stages.
practice with muldoon and gilligan in different positions to see were we can get the best out of them.
Try eoin Bradley out the field.
Try out different goal keepers.
Practice moving the ball quickly between defence and attack.
Try and get that half back line sorted out.
Good league form has not hurt teams AI chances in recent years (except Donegal) and weve seen a few league and championship doubles. A coulple of backs well blooded and another apprentice for Darragh to train in would do nicely.
Quote from: his holiness nb on October 22, 2007, 07:27:53 PM
Could be a friday nighter though, how early do you get off work!!
Sure ur not mixing Friday night up with Saturday???
I see this year as a transition year for Laois.The squad we have from what we have seen over the last few years isn't good enough and it's a bit early for the talent of the U/21 and minor teams of the last couple of seasons to come through
I would be happy if we finished in the Top half of Division 1 and with it consolidating our top flight status
Donegal
Stay in Division 1. Forget about winning the bloody thing, unless we happen to slip into the knock-outs on the back of experimenting in problem areas. The less big heads around the better.
Find a scoring forward or two or at least give some of the other young lads such as Michael Doherty and Leon Thompson a decent chance.
Continue with Michael Murphy at full-forward (assuming the changes regarding youngsters not playing senior that Colm O'Rourke was on about don't come to pass).
Try an alternative to Paul Durkin - he can be superb, but he's too error-prone. If Michael Boyle isn't going to make it, try someone else.
We still have a problem at midfield, although I'm not sure if there is an alternative to putting Cassidy in there. Maybe Rory Kavanagh would be worth a shot, but we'd miss him in the half-forwards.
Defense is sound enough, although I'm still not convinced by Paddy Campbell. Again, we may have no alternative.
I'd be happy to see the bulk of Tyrone's All-Ireland medal winners sit out the first 3-4 games. The established Red Hands need to find something within, a burning fire has to be rekindled. Tyrone reached the last 8 this year playing at half-pelt again, similar to last year's efforts. I would never accuse an All-Ireland winning Tyrone county player of not having the fight - it's something more than that - a willingness to go the distance again. Some say that'll come when McGuigan, O'Neill, Jordan and Mulligan are fully fit but that's not good enough. Mickey needs to find a hardened panel, not just a big panel, and he can achieve that by playing such fringe players right though the McKenna and February NFL. He has a habit of dropping players like hot spuds in favour of the old reliables when the going gets tough, even when the latter are 40% fit.
So what Tyrone can achieve by the end of 7 NFL games is to have almost every position finding itself with at least 2 takers. Gormley, Cavanagh and O'Neill are the players to build around.
Promotion is obvisouly the aim for us in 2008, but part of me wants us to get a team together for the Ulster Championship. This will mean blooding a few new players and getting some fellas back into the fold (Rory Gallagher included no matter what he's done, he's class). At least in Division 3 we can experiment and still have a realistic chance of winning every game (depending on the availability of Brewster Park). But crucially we have to give Malachy O'Rourke time to insert his own influence on Charlie Mulgrew's team.