NFL Division 2 2015

[seafoid]

Very nice to have a bit of sport to talk about again.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Decent win for Westmeath yesterday, considering we were missing Duffy, didn't really make use of the wind in the 1st half and lost McCormack and Heslin to black cards before half time. Referee very inconsistent with black cards yesterday, home support none too happy with him although he wasn't too bad otherwise I thought. Wasn't much in this match until Laois lost their discipline, they were playing a physical game from the start and lost a man to a yellow/black midway through the second half, which was closely followed by a straight red and they were unable to stem the tide that followed. They look a side heading towards the trap door already.

Midfield a problem area for Westmeath, both starters were substituted although Sharry did well there in the second half. Kevin Maguire led from pillar to post and is right up there with the best full backs in the country. Kieran Martin and Ger Egan very good as well. We play a nice crisp short passing game but need to work on deliveries into the ff line. Great to get a league win, its been a long couple of years...

Great start alright. There are some very good footballers on this Westmeath team. Maguire (as you mentioned), Ger Egan, Heslin, a soon returning Kieran Gavin, are all top bracket players. Midfield is the concern. I think 1 big and 1 mobile will be the preferred option with Duffy/Daly being partnered by Egan/Sharry. Although it could be argued that Daly falls in to the mobile category as he is very quick and not very physically strong for a man of 6-6.
Galway game is huge now, mainly because it's a home game. Win it and watch the confidence grow. Lose and the relegation fight will go right to the wire.

Ger Egan is probably the best midfielder on the club scene in Westmeath but I'd be loath to take him away from the roving box to box half forward role he has made his own for Westmeath in the last couple of years. Sharry stood up well to Quigley so I'd give him the nod there for Sunday with Daly to partner him as Tom Flynn is more his mould than physical. I would see Duffy making the team when fit though.

Yeah, when Kieran Gavin comes back, we'll have one of the best fb lines around and Martin and Dolan were good in the hb line yesterday. Killian Daly was very energetic beside them and Holloway/Boyle/Gonoud could also do a job there so we have options. John Connellan showed very well when he came on as well.

Galway game big but a lot of pressure off though. Got the league monkey off our backs and had to beat Laois as they are the weakest of our home games. Win 2 out of the remaining 3 and we should be okay, Cavan and Eastmeath away very much winnable as well.

[Hardy]

Galway 2-13
Meath 1-12

Any Royalist comment?

[ONeill]

"One is not amused"

[Hardy]

Off with their heads.

[seafoid]

Galway 2-13
Meath 1-12

Any Royalist comment?

Defending very cavalier apparently

[seafoid]

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/danny-cummins-leads-way-for-galway-as-kevin-walsh-gets-off-on-right-foot-1.2087408

"Manager Kevin Walsh was happy to win his first national league game in charge of his native county. "Yes, it is important to win the home games but it's important also to have a performance whether we're winners or not," said Walsh.
"I don't think we went down at any stage which was important and Meath did come back at us, we kicked on again.
"I know we shipped maybe four points and a goal and a point at the end. I suppose the ruthless teams wouldn't allow that to happen, but look, it's our first day out," said Walsh.

Cummins' goal in the 14th minute gave the Tribesmen a 1-5 to 0-1 advantage and it was the least their slick play deserved. Meath fought back to only trail by four at the break, thanks largely to the dead ball exploits of Newman and goalkeeper Paddy O'Rourke.
Stephen Bray came to the fore as Meath went about dragging themselves back into contention, but manager Mick O'Dowd was infuriated by his side's overall display as they were blitzed by the Tribesmen.
"It was a shocking performance. We went 20 minutes without scoring after scoring a free in the first minute. That's not acceptable," he said."


I bet he said lookit.

And Meath need to have a good hard lookit  that bare patch of 20 minutes without scoring.   

[Maroon Manc]

Galway also went over 20 minutes without scoring which I'm sure will be addressed.

I was expecting a closer game considering the amount of good players who were unavailable. I hear Shane Walsh was quiet but still managed to score 1-2 from play.

Did Bradshaw play was he wing half or centre back?

[Jinxy]

Bring back Banty.

[seafoid]

Bring back Banty.

It's all Mickey Harte's fault . He hasn't changed tactics since 2010 and is channeling Sean Boylan
somewhere different in the time/space continuum

[Donnellys Hollow]

Whoever decided it was a good decision to extend the duration of league matches to 70 minutes all those years ago did this current Kildare team a serious disservice.

[Jinxy]

I suppose you think it'll be a walk in the pairc against us next week.
Ah yeah, typical Kildare arrogance.

[Donnellys Hollow]

It's the only thing we could console ourselves with yesterday. A trip to sample the delights of Navan is enough to lift any man's spirits.

[mylestheslasher]

None of the scores looked remotely controversial, and the Cavan lads around me had a good view of both goals and there were no complaints early in the second half with non-points, or any other time for that matter.

If you want to get into that game let's talk about the belt Niall Daly got nearly immediately after the second half throw-in, Myles..

The 2 points were clearly visible from the shadowed side of the pitch, from the stand. I had a good chat with 4 Ros lads leaving the ground and they like me said that both calls were wrong. But that's life when you have blind umpires and brutal refs. As for the belt, please tell me what you saw. The ball was being thrown up and next thing I see your Ctr Back down. I didn't see anything, the umpires didn't see anything, the linesmen didn't see anything and amazingly Duffy didn't see anything. Maybe there was nothing to see. All I know is that I've never seen Barry Reilly (Cavan Ctr Forward) throw a dirty dig at anyone so I would guess  it was an accidental collision of some sort. The Ros player didn't react in anyway afterwards to Barry either which I think he would have done if he got an intentional Belt.

Also - Have a read here to "megadodge", A Ros view that is similar to mine http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056343522&page=86

Also a big well done to Roscommon who printed about half as many programs as they needed despite the fact it was a 3k all ticket match - I can see how they got caught out with that one.

[Syferus]

None of the scores looked remotely controversial, and the Cavan lads around me had a good view of both goals and there were no complaints early in the second half with non-points, or any other time for that matter.

If you want to get into that game let's talk about the belt Niall Daly got nearly immediately after the second half throw-in, Myles..

The 2 points were clearly visible from the shadowed side of the pitch, from the stand. I had a good chat with 4 Ros lads leaving the ground and they like me said that both calls were wrong. But that's life when you have blind umpires and brutal refs. As for the belt, please tell me what you saw. The ball was being thrown up and next thing I see your Ctr Back down. I didn't see anything, the umpires didn't see anything, the linesmen didn't see anything and amazingly Duffy didn't see anything. Maybe there was nothing to see. All I know is that I've never seen Barry Reilly (Cavan Ctr Forward) throw a dirty dig at anyone so I would guess  it was an accidental collision of some sort. The Ros player didn't react in anyway afterwards to Barry either which I think he would have done if he got an intentional Belt.

Also - Have a read here to "megadodge", A Ros view that is similar to mine http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056343522&page=86

Also a big well done to Roscommon who printed about half as many programs as they needed despite the fact it was a 3k all ticket match - I can see how they got caught out with that one.

Plenty of programs for anyone that arrived at a proper time.

Nothing in that post says we got a point that should have been waved wide, what's you're point, that we played poorly relative to what we expect to do at home? Of course.

Doesn't mean we were lucky to draw a game we led for 90% of the allotted time. If Diarmuid Murtagh had studs that let him kick off the ground on Sunday you'd have had no recourse to Duffy's soft frees, of which he gave a few to both sides. He hardly decided what was a close contest, but one where Cavan's main strength was the middle and not in attack or even defence where ye were carved open too easily at the times we did get some ball out of the middle - Donie Smith blasted a goal chance over the bar for our final point and every time Senan touched the ball Cavan's only response seemed to be to foul.

I hope both Cavan and ourselves survive but both teams will need significant improvement to get points off the established order. We were woeful in the middle, Cavan were one-dimensional in attack.