NFL Division 2 2012

[Ard-Rí]

FT - Derry 0-13 Meath 0-10

String of defeats for us at this point. I would say that we are having difficulty making scoring opportunities, to judge by the last two games. Forget Promotion, it's about avoiding relegation now.

[seafoid]

That looks like a bad result for Meath.

[Jinxy]

A truly abject, pathetic performance.
You'd see u-12 teams with more cohesion and penetration.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Mixed display again from Kildare. Picked off some great scores but we were far too loose at the back and went to sleep for long periods. We also butchered a handful of goal chances and Morgan O'Flaherty was fortunate enough for our second goal. Louth themselves could have had two in the first half after hitting the bar twice. Thought Johnny was a class above anyone else on the field but he appeared to pick up a heavy enough knock from a late tackle in the second half. Hopefully he'll be back for Westmeath next weekend. Conway and Leper also showed quite well today.

[Maguire01]

Truly awful display from Monaghan. Can't believe I made a 4-hour round trip for that!

In the first 15 minutes Monaghan had so many opportunities and converted so few. None of the forwards wanted to score. Kieran Hughes avoided every opportunity to have a go and time and time again the ball was passed across the field rather than heading for the posts. Keogh had an absolute stinker - I didn't have a clue what happened for the Westmeath goal, but apparently when the WM player hit the free, the keeper - thinking the ball was going over the bar - went around to get a ball for the kick-out... but the WM free went under the bar! There were at least 3 other times when he made mistakes that could have led to goals - Westmeath had a goal disallowed for square ball, but the keeper seemed stuck to the ground on that occasion.

The biggest problem for Monaghan is on the line though. There's no plan when things start to go pear-shaped. Substitutions aren't made until it's pretty much too late. And players were nowhere near their positions - i'm not sure if that's a tactic, or just a total lack of organisation - McGuinness and Hanratty were both running around the half-back/midfield area and Walshe (playing #4) was sent off from Monaghan's forward line!

It's not easy to find positives in the middle of all that... David Hughes was decent when he came on and was making himself available for short kick-outs. Ciaran Hanratty came on for the second half and was lively enough and hit a few nice points. Malone definitely looks like a player to watch and has great strength and hunger. Finlay's goal also deserves a mention - nice and low into the corner. But the positives were few and far between.

Worth mentioning that Westmeath put in a great performance themselves and hit some great points (almost all from play) and were good value for their win.

This result lands Monaghan into a real relegation battle now, and realistically, we have to get at least one point from Galway next week as I don't think we'd have much hope against Tyrone in the last game. Meath, Derry, Westmeath and Louth are all in the mix to drop, and 3 of those 4 teams have beaten us, so if it comes down to a head-to-head, we're in trouble.

So despite the good results against Kildare and Louth, Monaghan have yet to win back-to-back games, or win away from home.

[Bill Haven]

Monaghan were woeful alright but I was impressed by Westmeath.

Best performances I've seen at this level from Ger Egan and David Glennon by a distance. Ran the Monaghan defence ragged and their movement gave the midfield easy options.

Win was blighted by some injuries to key players though. Kieran Gavin, Garry Connaughton, Kieran Martin and Michael Ennis all hurt.

Decent chance of staying up now. I thought we'd be dead and buried by this stage.

[Maguire01]

Decent chance of staying up now. I thought we'd be dead and buried by this stage.

It'll more than likely come down to your game with Derry (can't see you picking up points v Kildare). By that stage, i'd expect Derry to be on 6 points (having beaten Louth). But it's all still very tight. I think Louth will drop - 2 away games v Derry and Meath left for them. The other place is between Monaghan, Westmeath, Derry and Meath. I wouldn't be surprised with a 3 way tie, which would bring it to points difference - every score could be important for these last 2 games.

[Jinxy]

It's head to head.
If Monaghan, Meath and Westmeath are level on points, Monaghan go down on the head to head.

[Maguire01]

It's head to head.
If Monaghan, Meath and Westmeath are level on points, Monaghan go down on the head to head.

It's only head to head if it's between 2 teams - when there's more than 2, it's scoring difference.

[timmyot501]

Monaghan were v poor today. 2-11 isn't a bad score but we missed plenty in the first half. But 1-19 shows up our defending which at times wuz non existant. The glennons and egan were constant threats because they were under little or no pressure. Westmeath tapped over point after point by just waltzin through and realistically could have scored 2 or 3 goals in the first half alone. But in fairness westmeath were v good today and the 5 point win by no means flattered them

[seafoid]

Meath are hardly going to beat Tyrone. Not looking good for de Ryals.

Kildare - Westmeath will be a cracker
Can Kildare hang on or will another team overtake them for second place ?
Has Div 2 ever been so exciting ?

[Jinxy]

It's head to head.
If Monaghan, Meath and Westmeath are level on points, Monaghan go down on the head to head.

It's only head to head if it's between 2 teams - when there's more than 2, it's scoring difference.

Bizarre.

[Main Street]

Monaghan have bouncebackability, at least enough for another 2 points before the inevitable slide kicks in.

[thejuice]

Then that hammering we gave Westmeath might actually save us so. If we can lose by less than 3 against Tyrone we'll be doing alright.

[Fuzzman]

Was reading on the GAA website their that Division 1 are having semi finals and then the final but Div 2 is just having the final on 29th April. Is this usually the way? I thought they did away with semi finals altogether. Kildare would probably love a second go at us.