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The Change in the All Ireland series has meant that Kerry have the same number of better teams to play before they get to the Semi-final stage as all the other teams (all-be-it the rest of the teams in their Province [as is Dublin] are of a poor standard)

Gone forever are the "good old handy years" for winning Sam.

Their support in Croker for the Armagh game was a disgrace. 

Armagh and Galway also have very large and experienced backroom teams.  The preparation dynamic for matches and how players of very large panels are treated has become very professional for a so called Amateur Association !!!. 

I doubt that this trend can be sustainable for a great number of County Boards in all Provinces.

 

I'd say its unlikely we could access big sponsorship unless we have an experienced proven Manager and backroom team ... that leaves RG and M O'R and maybe M O'R/R Porter does not want it. 

In the current game at least one of the Management has to be full time and all good managers like to bring their own Trainer plus their choice of S&C coach with them

Not easy to sort

When you are playing Div 1 football it is very difficult to experiment with younger/less experienced players ... and managers will tend to put their best team out so that they don't get into a relegation battle.  In fact if you have a descent squad like Derry has had this past 3 seasons its almost easier to prepare for the championship while in Div 2.  In Div 1 the pressure is always on not to lose any matches as is the case in 2024,  Harte did that well this year but we were not able to give younger players a chance, and this along with injuries contributed to the problem.

In hindsight the system that was so successful with R Gallagher needed to continue to be practised on a training ground basis but i get the impression that this was not happening and this plus the fact that we lost our S&C coach to New Zealand Rugby (an indication of his quality !!!) and Ciaran Meenagh there was no continuity from the RG era. Also seemed to be missing was that players' bond with the team management/medical/ game prep and match analytical teams which was probably the most important factor that led to us losing 4 championship matches. Only once during the Championship period did I detect the positivity in the players body language and that was in Castlebar when the players game onto the field to play the extra-time against Mayo.

We need RG back asap and ride-out any social media storm from any quarter.  We have come too far to let the progress slip and and there are many young players of good potential coming through our underage system.

Galway have a very strong bench some good young talent coming through and are have very effective manager in Joyce.

And even if Comor doesn't start he is a top quality player to bring on in the last 15mins

Armagh beat a Derry team not 'tactically' prepared for the Armagh game and no real on the bench.

I think this Galway Armagh game will be a cracker and the Ref will have eyes in the back of his head to keep the players in check. 

I'm hoping that Harte & Horse have enough pride  and football knowledge to prepare properly for the Westmeath game and set up the team using the most of Gallagher's successful tactics to be able to won our kickout's as well as Westmeath's 

Also effectively close down large spaces in front of the Derry defence !!! ... they surely  have learned from the mistakes made in the Donegal and Armagh games.

We know they have missing players but that in itself is no excuse ... they need to have Westmeath well analysed and prepare accordingly ... No excuses.

And 'Horse Devlin' needs to treat all the players with respect and not be shouting at them from the side line like animals.

Our players are not getting paid 

[Rawhide]

Was reading over this thread back from December 2023 and I have to say that Rawhide seems to have his finger on the pulse of how the set up has changed since Harte has come in ... and it is certainly not for the better and it also explains the performances/lack of the 'RG winning system' in the Championship so far.

So where now ?

When i think of O Lynch its the getting caught sometimes when he's outfield that's a problem.  However mostly he gives us that +1 when our play goes into attacking mode that he makes a significant contribution.  As a shot stopper he is also excellent .. had 2 great saves v Roscommon.  As far as Shane McGuigan is concerned he covers a lot of ground from the opposing 14 to his own 14yrd line and is very often the 'break ball winner' in mid field and of course a top drawer efficient finisher so it's also great for L Murray, C Murphy and D Gilmore giving us more options. Baker is not ready yet to mark players like C O'Callaghan, C Basquel (nor are there many that could ? ) ... So to beat Dublin we need a floating additional 4 players can add to our defensive system during the course of the game .... Dublin will not let that happen. 

The best we can hope for is to limit them to a 8 t0 10 pt defeat.  Here's hoping i'm wrong

Sure if the Canavan's can do it  ...!!!!

I get the feeling that E Bradley must have missed some training and wasn't part of the panel ... did any of you guys see him at all.  B Rogers since he got his All Star is a very closely marked/fouled players and isn't as nearly as influential as last year .... although he has played a lot of Club football and Hurling and also has got married .... there's only so much an amateur can do ... he needs a rest.  So maybe Emmet Bradley( could help with the Right Footed free kicks along with N Loughlin ) will come in for the Roscommon game . Just watched the game last night again and its unbelievable how much ground Shane Mac covers during the course of a game.  In the last ten mins he was inside his own 14yrd line helping out his defence ... incredible engine and very much the team player. 

Emmett was there and kitted out on Sunday.

Good to know that JoG2 ... he needs at least a 35 min competitive run out and who do you think are the U20's most likely to feature in the Ulster SF Championship squad?

Indeed your correct E Brad is left footed ... Loughlin and Toner are right footed

I get the feeling that E Bradley must have missed some training and wasn't part of the panel ... did any of you guys see him at all.  B Rogers since he got his All Star is a very closely marked/fouled players and isn't as nearly as influential as last year .... although he has played a lot of Club football and Hurling and also has got married .... there's only so much an amateur can do ... he needs a rest.  So maybe Emmet Bradley( could help with the Right Footed free kicks along with N Loughlin ) will come in for the Roscommon game . Just watched the game last night again and its unbelievable how much ground Shane Mac covers during the course of a game.  In the last ten mins he was inside his own 14yrd line helping out his defence ... incredible engine and very much the team player. 

 Interesting to see which Derry team will start v Mayo .... any word on the injuries to O Lynch, C Doherty and G McKinless also Mayo have used a lot of players so far will Paul Durkin be fit to play ?

Well folks what's the Derry starting team v Mayo gonna be ?

What age are the County Minor teams 17 or 18 ?

And who is in charge of the Minors in 2024 ?

Agree with DS on the performance of the Ref and assistant officials there very very poor no protection given too (in patricular ) targeted players on one occasion Conor Glass charged/went through B Rogers and Glen still got the free ) .... also disappointed with Shane McG's shooting ... earlier in the year he was scoring from the corner flag ....