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It was a poor performance on saturday.

The backs were pretty slack on several occasions. I don't think any of them did themselves many favours.  Ger Cafferky looked to be under pressure ( was that Niall Mcnamee he was marking?)Tom Cunniffe had a bad second half and was getting it in the ear from the manager.
Gibbons was anonymous at midfield. We completely collapsed when James Kilcullen was removed from that area for peace keeping reasons. He played well when he was on the pitch and adds much needed steel to the team.

Freeman was the pick of the forwards.I reckon this will be the championship team Horan picks for the galway game
:
D Clarke

D Vaughan/C Barrett
G Cafferkey
K Higgins

R Feeney
T Cunniffe
D Vaughan/P Gardiner

J Kilcullen
R Mcgarrity

A Moran
A O'Se
A Dillon

J Doherty
A Freeman
K Mcloughlin


I think Vaughan is viewed as one of the key men and will be kept in at the expense of c barrett or peadar.
Its worrying that there are so few nailed down for the team
Higgins
R Feeney
Mcgarrity
A Dillon
A Freeman
J Doherty
A Moran (maybe)
Thats only 6/7

good game. Brilliant effort by Dillon to free himself from 4 tacklers to set up Mcloughlins score. Freeman looks to have massive potential. He wins his ball and drives at the defence every chance he gets.  I dont know whats happening with A O'Se. Anytime he did actually win the ball cleanly (which was rear), he went to ground, and then didnt have the leg strength / fitness to spring back up.
Would like to see O'Connor get a decent run in the league, probably at the expense of Ronaldson

Very shocking and sad! RIP Michaela.

solid performance from the corner backs on sat evening! Two midfielders were good too, especially Mcgarrity in the second half. O'Connor looks like he has a bit of potential in at corner forward, lovely point at the end. Disappointed not to see James cafferty not togging for Gmit, he's been cursed with injuries for last 2 years.  Fairly poor performance, 7 pints in Johnny's and wrote off all of sunday!

very sorry to see this news about ardmhacaabu. very sad. RIP

I have managed to get my handicap down from 22 to 14 this summer. I made hay during may and june when the weather was good. I got a 25 minute lesson last year that turned my drive from a feeble slice into a fairly solid draw. I hit my drive fairly consistently with the odd duck hook thrown in. However, with the draw shot I'm hitting the drives about 30+ yards further than I used to.

I go out with a plan most days, but once i hit a bad shot the plan goes up in smoke. From there on in, its pretty much just playing on instinct. The plan usually comes back into my head when im on my way home!
Typical example : Par 4: I hit a drive into the rough. About 160yds to green. lie not great! ah sure I'll hit a 6 iron and knock it on the green. Club gets wrapped in the rough, ball goes about 30 yards into worse rough or a drain.
The sensible shot would be to hit a 9 iron about a hundred yards or so down the fairway and leave yourself a 50 or 60 yard chip in. Take 2 putts, and leave with a steady 5.
Now the sensible shot sounds logical and makes a lot of sense when I have it written down in front of me, but for some mad reason, i never ever take that option.

Another issue I have is that i do not understand the mechanics of my swing at all. I just take a few practice swings till it feels right. When it does eventaully/inevitably go wrong, I'll have no idea why.

My goal over the winter is to try and understand whats actually happening with my swing. I think i'll need to know this to get down in to single figures. Also need to stop being so clumsy around the green and leaving myself with 10 footers that should be 5 footers

Rose will be doing well to partner anyone!!! He is NOT in the team!! Ross Fisher might not be too happy with you for leaving him out 

I doubt Fisher will be reading Gaaboard, so i should be alright. Anyways thats the man i meant! Himself and poulter are fairly pally so they should go well as a pairing...

The molinaris will probably played 4somes with harry and partner playing the 4balls. Form on the day will probably lead to lads going well in the 4balls getting a shot at the 4somes

That was a brilliant performance by Molinari! I argued against his selection but you couldnt leave him out after that.Top class!!

Hope they do well in the cup!

Possible pairings

McDowell/ McIlroy
Poulter/Rose
Molinaris
Harry/Kaymer
Jiminez/Hanson
Donald/Westwood

too many mistakes from Cross to win any game. The backs just kept handpassing the ball to knockmore. It was very frustrating. Knockmore clearly have more talent than us but I would be worried for them.They started to crumble a bit when it was put up to them.

Shrule looked good but they are all over the shop in the full back line. Havent seen C'bar or Ballintubber so not sure how it will all pan out!

Just to challenge the people stating that Harry cannot be picked because of his form and then turning round and saying that E molinari should be picked.

There is a theory that E molinari is in good form and deserving of a spot. People are generally selecting him at the expense of Harrington, based on Harrington's apparent abysmal form.

I think people perceive Harrington to be in terrible form because they expect better from him, but I think if you look at the stats he is every bit as deserving as Molinari.

Harrington is about 5 spots higher than Molinari on the qualification table because his form has been just as good ( and probably better in higher quality events), and this is borne out in their respective positions on the table.

2010 results

Molinari : 1 win & 4 top ten finishes. Best finish in a 2010 major : 29th (3 cuts made)
Harrington : No win & 7 top ten finishes. Best finish in a 2010 major : 22nd (1 cut made)

So if molinari is in good form, and he still cant manage to get past the awful Harrington, then leave him at home!

I know the Molinari bros did well to win the 2009 world cup, but they were equally as bad in the 2007 and 2008 world cups. The other thing is that the americans wont be sending thier world cup representatives John Merrick and Nick Watney (although he may have a case for selection) to the Ryder cup.

Harry could easily have finished level. He missed a couple of 10 footers on 7 & 8, his 16th and 17th. Still he should be reasonably happy with that. Only 3 back so far. Could be very difficult going out tomorrow afternoon if you are within a few shots of the cut line. The course looks tough. I'd love to be out there for the week. spectacular

I thought Cross would go fairly well this year, but there is a lack of experience that might cost us. Still if they could get through the round robin and get a bit of confidence in each other I think they will turn out to be a decent side.
It's good to see that up and coming sides like Ballintubber are still finding it hard to close games out against us , eventhough we are relativly inexperienced in a lot of positions.

The league final was a major let down, especially the half forward line of Andy Moran, Alan Dillon and Trevor Mort. None of the three of them were able to have a go at thier man and beat him. In fact Kevin Mclaughlin showed them all up by having the bit of class/energy/drive to beat his man in one on one situations.

Johnno should drop all three of them to send out a warning that their is competition for places and he's not afraid to trust in some of the lads that havent seen too much championship game time.

No doubt Dillon,T Mort and Andy will play a big part in any championship run we might have, but a spell on the timber might focus the minds.

Barring injuries, Half forward line of Harte, SOS and Kilcoyne to start against Sligo.

Thats frightening and shocking news. The poor lad.

RIP

My Guess for the team to line out on sunday:

           D Clarke
L O' Malley   G Cafferkey   K Higgins
D Vaughan   T Howley    K Mcloughlin

        S O'Se      T Parsons

A Moran       A Dillon      T Mortimer
C Mortimer   A O'Se        M Ronaldson

Potential championship starters not starting on sunday

T Cunniffe
C Barrett
P Gardiner
R McGarrity
P Harte
E Varley
A Kilcoyne
B Moran

Of those 8, 7 have being hindered by injury or work commitments over the last while. Given a clean run of health for the next few months all 7 would be in with a shout of a starting spot.

Barrret seems to be improving all the time and might even start ahead of Mcloughlin the next day.

Probably not a runner but I'd like to see Cunniffe given a go at full back with Ger Cafferkey beside him at corner back for the championship. I seem to remember Cunniffe playing full back against Tyrone in 08 and marking Sean Cavanagh. My memory is a bit hazy on it , but he seemed to have done alright only for Cavanagh pulling out some spectacular scores.