Could the wait be over?

[irunthev]

Just a topic to throw out there, but from what I have heard from people in London, the sights are been firmly set on a Connacht Final appearance this year. With games against Roscommon and Leitrim standing in their way, the feeling coming from London is that they have the ability now to overturn those two teams.

It has little to do with anything great that the London CB or management have been doing themsleves, but more to do with the huge influx of experienced inter-county players declaring for London. At present on the team they have:

Johnny Niblock - Derry
Conor Beirne - Roscommon
Derek Hayden - Carlow
Paul Geraghty - Galway
Kevin McMenamin - Donegal
Eamonn McGee - Donegal
Darren Horan - Limerick
Declan Lally - Dublin
Brian Smyth - Westmeath

- all available to them and no doubt more to come in. There could be a massive shock on the cards and given that it is over 35 years since they won a game, it is a story worth watching. They might not be all top class players, but they are far better than what London have been wheeling out over the years. In the 20-odd years I was involved, I have never seen a squad containing more talent or experience.

I appreciate it isn't always about the players available and it is more about the player's committment to the project and the preparation etc but London have a decent package at the moment with former Mayo trainer Martin McGrath training them

Roscommon at this stage are scoring well in games but are unable to win any, and I am sure they would rather not be coming to Ruislip this year.

Any thoughts?

[heineken_on_tap]

Absolutely the way things are at the moment in Ros, London will fancy their chances in Ruislip alright  In saying if Ros can get all their players back and play them in the correct positions and start playing with confidence then I would expect us to come through this one

[irunthev]

Absolutely the way things are at the moment in Ros, London will fancy their chances in Ruislip alright  In saying if Ros can get all their players back and play them in the correct positions and start playing with confidence then I would expect us to come through this one

In 2005 you arrived with no confidence and ina total mess and nearly got found out, you ended up winning by a point I think in the end.

It was actually a surprisingly good London side that year in terms fo past and future county experience and the team that year had.

Paul O'Dowd - Cavan
Paddy McConigley - Donegal
Damian McKenna - Monaghan
Johnny Niblock - Dery
Paul Hehir - Clare
Senan Hehir - Clare
Shane McAnarney - Meath
Scott Doran - Wexford
Jamie Coffey - Cavan

Roscommon will certainly need to be focused for it to stop the shock.

[INDIANA]

Lally has not officially transferred. people jumping the gun there.
Also the logistical nightmare that is London when it comes to training makes it very difficult to see an upset regardless of players availability.

[irunthev]

Lally has not officially transferred. people jumping the gun there.
Also the logistical nightmare that is London when it comes to training makes it very difficult to see an upset regardless of players availability.

Oh I'm certainly not predicting anything great myself, but I will acknowledge the potential.

I was involved for long enough with the county team there to know the difficulties and also to know that players aren't at all like Ronseal wood stain when they get to London, in that they don't always do exactly what they say on the tin.

However, from a London point of view, it is positive for the short-term, but still only papers over the cracks in terms of the deficiencies that exit within the county structures. However, it will also put a little more fear in the visiting Roscommon team knowing that they will be facing a London team that should be considerably stronger than most of the previous ones they have faced in the Championship. I played against them in 2000 and we were beat by 20-points and I also played in 1995 and were beat by 9-points. The single point defeat last time out was more to do with Roscommon's dire state than London's excellence, despite the personnel that London had.

But with the draw presenting Roscommon and Leitrim, it is easy to see why London are maybe a little more optimistic than usual.

The fact has been proven though over the past 15 years of boom in Ireland that the London football structure is not capable of preparing personnel, be they London born or Irish, for the demands of inter-county football and that goes for both players and management. The leagues and Championships are not of sufficient calibre to prepare players for the rigours of top class football.

[Cosmo Kramer]

Is the London championship team likely to be much different from the one that isn't doing too well in Division 4? Even with the good draw, they'd need to improve on how they've been playing in the league.

It's interesting though that the lopsided way that the draw in Connacht has worked out this year means that one of the worst teams in the country will make the last 12 of the championship. My money would still be on Roscommon of the three though, although I'd fear for them in the Connacht Final and round 4 of the qualifiers if they can't improve on their recent performances.

[neilthemac]

Kosmo, i'd get rid of the U21 connacht champions avatar. its gone the way of the dodo

[Cosmo Kramer]

I know! I might leave it up until the Ros/Sligo game is played - or until I think of something else interesting to put there...

[Mourne Rover]

London could have beaten Down at the Marshes in the open draw first round last July, so they will  be worth watching if they have improved still further. There was only a point in it going into the final quarter, and London were totally on top. Then Benny got a goal against the run of play, London lost momentum and the game drifted away from them. Down won by nine in the end, but the scoreline did not reflect London's overall performance at all. They were well organised and had some decent players. While Down were poor on the night, London will know exactly what they need to do this summer.

[irunthev]

It is always impossible to predict the London team. I played on a Championship team in June and by the start of the league the following October there were only two of us left from the Championship 15 and the same applies in reverse, I have seen as many as eight or nine changes from the team that played in the final game of the league and the one that started in the Championship six weeks later.

There are a lot of decent players in London at the moment, decent but not exceptional, and there are a few exceptional players like Eamonn McGee. However, molding them into a team with a well-drilled game plan is another thing and the management, although it has been in place for six years, has never been in a position to be tested as far as their ability to win games from behind goes or to hold on to a narrow victory. They have won seven or eight games in the past five or six years, three of those against Kilkenny, another against a dysfunctional Sligo team ( and the current manager was on sabbatical for that game), one against a woeful Carlow side and another against Waterford, so it is not only the ability of the players that would be scrutinized in the Championship, as the management, for all their commitment and hard work, are untried in terms of winning close matches. Not a criticism of the management, just a valid observation.

If inter-county football is as complex and difficult as managers like us to believe it is, then London shouldn't be in a position to win in May against Roscommon, as this team is being cobbled together on a week by week basis depending on who turns up in London with the biggest reputation. There will be quite a few very bitter squad players in London when the team to play Roscommon is picked, based purely on the fact that they will be over-looked in favour of the bigger names.

However, that said, London will be there or thereabouts in that game, so maybe inter-county football isn't that difficult after all.

As for the team that played in the Marshes last June, this year's team will bear no relation to it at all.

[the colonel]

I know another fella who would add a bit to the squad. Sean McVeigh from Antrim has been in and out of the squad for a few years is studying in London. He has signed for Parnells but says he might not even bother playing club. If Dunning could get a hold of him he would be a great asset. Won player of the tournament in the plate at British Uni Championships (I know it was the plate but he won it by an absolute country mile)

[irunthev]

I know another fella who would add a bit to the squad. Sean McVeigh from Antrim has been in and out of the squad for a few years is studying in London. He has signed for Parnells but says he might not even bother playing club. If Dunning could get a hold of him he would be a great asset. Won player of the tournament in the plate at British Uni Championships (I know it was the plate but he won it by an absolute country mile)

The trouble is that with less than 10 weeks to the Championship, there has to come a time when you stop bringing new lads in and start to focus on who you have. If you don't what's the point with London being in the Nat League in the first place? Time and time again London managers have continued to take players in late in the day, Dunning and all those before him, and it doesn't work. You need to pick a squad early and stick with it and make the most of it. I could almost guarantee that there will be players playing in the Championship for London who never kicked a ball in the Nat League. I have yet to see a London Championship team where that wasn't the case.

[mylestheslasher]

Word was James Reilly, all star nominee goalie from Cavan and Gerard Pierson also from Cavan were over in UK too. Are they not involved with London too?

[Rossfan]

, but more to do with the huge influx of experienced inter-county players declaring for London. At present on the team they have:

Conor Beirne - Roscommon

Bit of an oxymoron there me boy.
3 or 4 games for Ros in 2005 until he "left" the panel.

[the colonel]

He's been there since last August, should have been approached by now. Studying at UEL