A little over two weeks to this game. Sligo's poor league form will worry many but I'd put more store on challenge games than Sligo's league form. London will be stronger than during the league and running Clare to 4 points in their last match shows they were no mugs towards the end of the league either. They will take a scalp sooner or later, just hopefully not this year.
After a lot of thinking about it decided not to go this year. Too many other things had to get attention so this trip got squeezed.
Hoping to make Sligo's last warm up game in Dublin against the Dubs tomorrow week. I think we play Wexford this Sunday.
Well I'm not heading across! Work commitments! Yeah some of them cuts are expected. A very good friend of mine is on the panel and he says they are still keeping lads on and not telling them whether they are dropped or not! Here's my crack at the panel
Greene
Farrell
Doherty
Harrison
Ewing
McGuire
Naughtan / Murphy
Donovan
O'Neill
Phillips
Davey
McNamara
McGovern
B Kivlehan
E McHugh
Quinn
O'Hara
Gilmartin
Henry
Curran
Egan
S Davey
Gaughan
Kelly
Brehony
Sweeney
McPartland
Flannery
G McGowan
S Coen
Any opinions? I know i'm missing someone but can't think who.
The last time we were there we won 3-11 to 0-9. Settle for anything close to that this time. Were missing McGuire so Id expect Naughton at FB. In a recent challenge game against CAVAN our defence conceded 4 goals but we still won 2-19 to 4-7. Naughton at FB is a worry for me but should be able to cope with london.
I lost all respect for challenge game results when I seen a full strength Sligo beat a full strength Donegal in oxfield a few yrs back and then lose to Leitrim tamely 2 weeks later in CSFC. So i wont be reading too much into them.
As seanie said on club thread mcpartland is playing well for the club and quinn has got over his injury he had for longford game. Mcpartland should be pushing for start if fit but missed all of the league. I know wilson has pulled out of panel to concentrate on getting over a few injuries.
Read an excellent interview with OHARA in ydays star mag and on hoganstand. Mans self belief is unshakeable.
My starting 15 for this game would be:
Greene
Donovan
Naughton
Harrison
Phillips
Egan
J Davey
Quinn
Ohara
Curran
McNamara
Gaughan
Kelly
Flannery
Brehony
Below are a few reports from the Wexford challenge from hoganstanders not me as I was in Leeds, some things never change though, oharas mouth :-\and naughtons FB ability(will start against london) because we have no one else but we need mcguire back ASAP:
They won well versus Wexford. Mattie Forde didnt play. Breheny scored two good goals, kelly got a penalty. Wexford played Donegal the night before so i wouldnt think it was their full team. Gary Gaughan did well wing forward. O hara played well but needs to zip it. Couple of 40-60's we possibly shouldve got but thought was overreaction on O Hara's Part.
I was at the game yesterday. Wexford didnt have a full team out by any means, they had played Donegal already this weekend so had their second string out yesterday. They caused a few problems but were second best to a near full strength Sligo team in the end. O'Hara could and should have been sent off, the ref actually asked the line to take him off but he refused, doesnt bode well for his discipline being tested in the Mayo game, they will get under his skin, hope he doesnt react like yesterday! Overall a solid if not spectacular performance, at least it keps us on track and winning is a good habit to be in no matter what the level of opposition. Naughton good in the air but dodgy on the ground, very slow on the turn which is not good for a full back. Hope Maguire is back for Mayo, or else Mortimer will clean Naughton! Good to see Egan at centre back, he is not 100% yet but looks comfortable enough there. Its hard to judge where we are cos the opposition was so poor, but better than the league anyway! We are getting thtere...
Quote from: magpie seanie on May 09, 2008, 11:38:44 AM
Hoping to make Sligo's last warm up game in Dublin against the Dubs tomorrow week.
Did you make it to St Margarets for the game Seanie?
Yeah, was up there on Saturday. Nice setup they have there and great potential for the future with all the lands they have and hopefully their development plans work out well. It was a grand day with a surprisngly small crowd. Still, it was great to see the young kids in their Dubs/Margarets/Isles jersies getting so close to their heros. I watched the game from close to the Dublin bench and I have to say massive credit to the Dubs for the way they put up with the endless stream of kids wanting autographs, photos etc. Poor Jayo in particular gets haunted but every single one of them were greart with the kids. It certainly must add to the frustration of being out injured or suspended!
To the game itself - it was typical challenge game fare. Sligo were missing 2 probable starters Kieran Quinn and David Kelly and Dublin were unable to call on about 11 guys through injury and suspension. Hound and the Dubs will have to forgive me in that I was more focussed on the Sligo performance but I'll report what I can. Sligo started like this - Greene, Harrison, Naughton, Donovan, McGovern, Phillips, J. Davey, Egan, O'Hara, McPartland, Breheny, Curran, Gaughan, McNamara, S. Davey. From the throw in McNamara moved out leaving a 2 man FF line for Sligo. Dublin started the better but found scores hard to come by into a stiff breeze. Sligo showed some good stuff at times and flashes of the high workrate tackling and swift attacking that are the hallmarks of this team. Gaughan at corner forward gave O'Shaughnessy a torrid time and won a lot of ball and a few frees. Henry was eventually switched over and got a better handle on the young fella but overall I'd say Gaughan impressed and should start against London. At the other end our defence was tight and Donovan was having a great battle with Brogan which the Dublin man was just shading. Naughton had a good outing on Keaney (though himself and Donovan got caught badly for the Dubs goal right at the start of the second half). Approaching the end of the first half Sligo were only level when a well worked move involving McPartland & Harrison was finished to the net by Curran. A 3 point half time lead was probably a fair reflection but it never looked like being enough - especially as the Dubs equalised 10 seconds into the second half as already mentioned. Ryan got through a power of work as usual until he was replaced. As the substitutes came in for both sides it became less and less meaningful and Dublin kicked on to take the win 1-13 to 1-8. Still - it was a good workout for both sides. There were some good hits and a fair bit of pace to proceedings. Sligo gave a half each to Davey, McPartland, Cawley and Sweeney. Of the 4 I'd rate their performances as McPartland best (I would though, wouldn't I!), then Cawley, then Davey, then Sweeney. Other subs got runs including Stephen Gilmartin and Eoin McHugh but was sad to see Karol O'Neill is still frozen out. Got 1-2 from play from wing back v. Harps on Sunday but he'll most likely not feature in London now.
Team I think will be picked for next week:
Greene, Harrison, Naughton, Donovan, McGovern, Egan, J Davey, Quinn, O'Hara, McPartland, Breheny, Curran, Gaughan, McNamara, Kelly.
I'll post up the Dublin team later - haven't got it to hand now. Don't remember goalies name, not Cluxton. Henry and O'Shaughnessy were corner backs and even though Cahill was named full back he operated mostly in the half back line. Ger Brennan also started in the half backs. Magee and Ryan were midfield. Wasn't too impressed by Magee though midfield was 50/50. Up front Alan Brogan was lively. Keaney was quiet and moved out to midfield when Ryan was taken off. Vaughan was ok. Kicked a few lovely frees but not overly involved. Tiarnan Diamond and McManamon started with the latter contributing one point that I remember at least. Hope that helps. Again - sorry but I wasn't too interested in your guys.
Thanks for that Seanie. Was really disappointed I couldn't get out to this game in the end.
Personally I am glad to hear that Eamonn played well when he came on.
How did our midfield shape up and in particular Egan?
Egan played quite well and of the lads that played in midfield from both teams caught the most clean ball. He looks to be going well. Gave and took a couple of really heavy hits. O'Hara, while not the player he was, is still good enough to mix it with most guys in that sector. He made a few trademark runs and did grand. Looks to be ticking along nicely.
Thanks seanie for the report, interesting team selection by Jordan. Funny thing is I heard last few challenges he played kelly and j davey in two man FF line. But against Dublin reverted back to normal service of J Davey at WHB. Gaughan has really stepped up to the plate. Definitly our best u21 performer. How the lad didnt start aganst louth and longford I'll never know. Hope mcgovern has his confidence back and glad to see hes getting chances. Looks like Mcnamaras days at CHB are over which is good news but Id have egan there. I hope kelly and quinn arent injured but were just unavailable. It always seems to take mcpartland a while to get going, this he was injured alot but hopefullly is fit now. We need his strength in our forward line. Personnally I would play gaughan HF and john in the corner.
On Karl O Neill it looks like hes training for a place on the bench. Must be very frustrating. Its a sign of poor management that IMO. The lad didnt get one game all year. All the seen of him so is in training. He is not the only one. Similiar thing happened last yr with Johnny Martyn was frozed out after he got injured against waterford. He had started the league very well and it does annoy me to see players treated this way. Would it kill them to go to a few club games aswell?
Anyways look forward to discussing the team when its announced. Is it this thursday night after traiining?
Quinner was just unavailble on Saturday and played for Coolera on Sunday as management wanted him to get a game under his belt. Not sure about Kelly but I heard nothing about an injury - most likely exams were his difficulty. I seem to recall he didn't go to NY last year because of exams.
Would be fairly surprised if the team I think it will be is far off the mark.
Team i would pick for Sunday would be the following.
Greene
Harrison
Naughton
Donovan
McGovern
Egan
Davey
O'Hara
Quinn
Curran
Brehony
Gaughan
Kelly
McNamara
McPartland
I would prefer to have O'Hara at centre forward but i don't think we have any other option but to play him in the middle as there are no alternatives-rest of team picks itself i think.
We wouldn't have been relegated if team above had been selected during the league. Egan, McPartland missed entire league and others missed games due to injury, suspension. While Gaughan was ignored for early part of the league as he wasn't from North Sligo where selectors seemed to be concentrating until Tony Carty came on board. I think we should win this game with a 6 or 7 points to spare after an early scare or two.
Agree with your post and would be surprised if anythnig other that positional differences are in the actual team. Only reason I had Gaughan in corner and Mac at wing forward was thats where they played v. Dubs. Thankfully it looks like the team is reasonably settled just in time for championship. Think we will get a good stiff test but prevail by the margin you suggest.
Any idea what sort of team London have this year and how well they are prepared.
Quote from: Tatler Jack on May 21, 2008, 10:48:13 PM
Any idea what sort of team London have this year and how well they are prepared.
A friend of a friend plays for London. He was hoping that their championship team would be a lot better than their league team with more players being available. However, when asked this week as to whether they'd be worth a punt on an upset given their long odds, the reply was a short and simple "No".
Theyll probably have a different squad for the championship than the league alright with the influx of some decent players. Daniel Davey on our squad this yr played for london last yr and unless there is massive changes from last yr he should be able to let the management team know what there like. So no slip ups.
Team was announced last night on www.sligogaa.ie containing the exact personnel that Mano and I had though several in different positions. Happy enough with that. Good luck to them.
Well done to Mano and Seanie on accuracy of 15 but hard to see the logic behing the team last week in St Margarets if that team starts withso many positional changes. Obviously Maguire is a big loss as Naughton is much better suited to half back line. Indeed you would imagine that Maguires injury has secured McGovern place rather than Naugghtons. In the last few years Mc Govern has went into championship under pressure and has responed with some excellent performance particuliarily in Connaught.Presumably the big talking point is "selection" of McNamara at centre half back. With the protection afforded by defense minded wing forwards , hopefully it will signal a return to last years form. Personally I dont agree with common held view that McNamara is a better forward than back and I cant see how he could be worth his place in forward line. Agree with Mano in that dont think O Hara should be playing midfield at this stage but it is only against quality midfields like Cork where he may be exposed. Presume McPartland has license to roam around forward line where he is at his best. As a conventional full forward, he would struggle longterm. This leaves the pace of Gaughan and Kelly inside and to me this team looks like a departure back to last years tactics rather than the changes made in the league. This is either due to player power , selectorial power or Tommy Jordan realising the strengths of the Sligo panel ( or indeed a combination of two or more of these). Gaughan should take some pressure of Kelly in this regard and this can only be positive. My contacts in London are extremely downbeat about their chances so am confident of a decent performance and us to pull away in the second half. It only seems like yesterday that Maguire was lifting the Nestor Cup aloft !!
McNamara still at CHB?
*shakes head*
Otherwise happy enough with the team. Should win after a difficult time, but puling clear in the end. Not by more than ten unless London are a shambles.
Quote from: Owenmoresider on May 23, 2008, 03:11:57 PM
McNamara still at CHB?
*shakes head*
It shouldn't be an issue for this game and indeed he'll no doubt have a good outing if London are as poor as is being rumoured.
I think most of us would like to see Brendan Egan in there in his place.
As TG says, it does look like the management may have reverted to last years formula.
Good Luck, lads
I hope all goes well for you today.
We'll be waiting in Castlebar!
Listened on Ocean FM. Sligo won 2-17 to 0-7 so straightforward enough after a little wobble with conceding a penalty when only leading 1-1 to 0-3. Mark Breheny's personal tally of 1-11 not enough to secure man of the match honours but gives him the edge over Emlyn Mulligan for top scorer in province. Gary Gaughan supposedly excellent on debut. All must be weighed up against who you were playing but all in all a succesful trip. Disappointed for Johnny Mac that he didn't start despite being named in the team but he'll be there or thereabouts for Castlebar.
Yep, good result though it's hard to know how much of that is down to the opposition. Things might have been more trickier had that penalty (which looked nothing like a penalty) had been converted. The game was fairly one-sided after that. Anyway a much easier outcome than our previous visits to Ruislip, which is welcome. Now for Castlebar.
Good to get a game and a championship win under our belts. The important thing was to get a good win and build players confidence and momentum before the Mayo game and to avoid injuries. Also Eamon didn't get sent off and seemed to behave as he has failed to do for many games over last while.
Worrying thing is our continuing overreliance on Brehony and frees for our scores. We will need more forwards to chip in the next day. Also performance of debutant and neighbour Gary Gaughan was encouraging (If any of selectors were at senior championship games last year he would have been in squad much earlier). He is a direct runner and is very hard marked when in possession-however he won't get as much space the next day and i'm sure Mayo selectors will have noted him for the next day.
Hopefully we can build on this over the next few weeks and give Mayo a good crack in Castlebar
Jordan is coming good at the right time. Egan was CHB, mcnamara HF and J Davey in the forwards. Someones listening to me :D. Eoin Mchugh started hb. Shock :o well it wasnt really, rumour was around our club all last week I just didnt believe it so never bothered mentioning on here. But hey good luck to the lad, one half of NFL game in louth where he plays terrible gets taken off at HT then starts championship. You couldnt write it. About the only selection I wouldnt agree with for last sunday but I wouldnt begrudge the lad, he is my clubman and good luck to him.
Was away there for a few days ;).
Too depressed and wrecked to type much more for obvious reasons. Dont worry MANO seen the mayo thread but not in the mood for WUMs so wont react. I'll give a much longer report on things in london tomorrow.
Was over at the game for the weekend. Sligo started very slow and were hesitant in possession and not winning much around the middle of the park. Londons big midfielder Waldron went off and Sligo started to come in to it. Londons defenders could not keep up with the pace of Gaughan , Kelly and Davey and were resorting to pulling and dragging. It would have come to no surprise if they had two or three sent off for persistant and blatant fouling. There was a nice bit of late hitting. McNamara seemed to get a few slaps off the ball, including a blatant punch to the nether regions. O'Hara done serious chirping to the ref and on one occasion was running side by side with the linesman roaring at him "are you watching it!!!?" when some off the ball antics were taking place. I have great time for the man but have this awful feeling if he persists with that kind of crack he wont last long on the pitch against the muck savages.
The highlight of the first half for me was Egan's play at CHB. He hit hard and mopped up serious breaks. Defo better option than MMcN. McN was playing in a kid of roving role around CHF but disappointingly he did not win one break in the first half and curiously seemed to pull away from the action in the direction of the opponents 21 on our kick outs. Interstingly in the second half he was stationed on our own 45 for our kickouts and attacked the break from there and won several of them.
We crowded the midfield sector a lot during the game and tried to isolate Kelly and Davey in a 2 man ff line with Gaughan getting up to support them. 75% of our scores came from frees on these three men. Mayo will be way more disciplined.
Player ratings
Greene- 6 - not a lot to do, looked a bit uncomfortable under one high ball. A few poor kicks out. Penalty hit straight at him.
Charlie- 7 - Done his usual high standard job
Naughton-6- Does not look at home at FB, however done what he had to do, gave away one ridiculous free for a shove on the back on the 21, hopefully Noel back for Mayo
Ross- 7 - As per Charlie
Mcgovern- 6 - Great tackling as usual, but still no confidence shooting. Turned back on the 21 at one stage a la in croker last year.
Egan- 8 - Superb work rate and tackling . Great hard hitting and reading of the game at CHB. Needs to learn to keep the head though, at one stage thought he was going to get himself sent off.
McHugh- 7 - Impressive debut. Got stuck in, highlight was a superb pass of 40 yards along the right wing in the 1st half to set up a score. Don't know will he have the experience for Mayo. I hope he proves me wrong.
Quinn - 5 - Looked a bit off the pace. Had one of those days when everything went wrong from passing to soloing. We need him Back to last years standards for Mayo game.
O'Hara- 7- Not the all action O'Hara of a few years back. Now sticking to playing between the two 45s. Broke ball well in the 2nd half. Has to learn to keep quiet.
McNamara-5- Disappointing. Got a few hits and did not seem to like it. Won a few breaks when playing in a deeper role in 2nd half. Taken off near the end
Curran-6- Got a nice point. Not as prominent at the breakdown as usual. Tried for goals a few times when a point was the easy option
Brehony-9 - Some achievement to score 1-11 in a championship game regardless of opposition. Seems to have bulked up and toughened up a fair bit. Got hit by three London lads in one clash and never budged.
Gaughan- 9- My MOTM, Excellent work rate and willingness to tackle back. Most impressive thing for me was that he sees a gap and goes for it unlike our usual failing in turning back looking to offload to someone else.
Davey-8 - won a lot of frees. Hit a great free from 45 on the sideline in first half with that short run up. Cant help feeling that he plays better running on to the ball and towards goal than away from it. The ball in against Mayo will have to be better. Too much ball played out to the corners will allow Mayo corner backs to swallow up Jonny and Kelly
Kelly- 8 - As per J Davey.
Now to castlebar-who knows, I for one think we can do it.