Derry Club Football & Hurling original

[Estimator]

Listened to the game on the radio. Couple of things stood out at the start of the second half. One was the three handy frees given away which handed Laois the initiative, second was the fact that on at least three/four occasions on the Derry kickout the commentary mentioned the fact that there was 2 balls on the pitch, which slowed things down. Was this a deliberate act? Just like the member of the Kildare management last year standing on the pitch for Derry's kickouts.

[Wildweasel74]

Dublin put 16 on Meath, who in turn, put 11 on Laois. Kinda says we're Derry at in general.

[Tony]

Dublin put 16 on Meath, who in turn, put 11 on Laois. Kinda says we're Derry at in general.

That's very very stupid logic, in fairness. Laois man here. Meath and Laois are even enough, that result greatly flattered Meath. Keep that "Team A beat Team B by 10 and Team B beat Team C by 15, so Team C is....blah blah" . out of your logic reasoning. Your brain will explode if you don't   

Regarding the match, hard luck to Derry. You are a good side, it could have gone either way. It's hard to get a run in the championship with being in Div 4 for the year. Going up the leagues like we've done (Div 4 - Div 2 in 2 years) will really bring you on. This is the best Laois side in 7 years or so. I wouldn't be getting too down about the loss, ye will def be back better and stronger next year.

[BackInTheGame]

Listened to the game on the radio. Couple of things stood out at the start of the second half. One was the three handy frees given away which handed Laois the initiative, second was the fact that on at least three/four occasions on the Derry kickout the commentary mentioned the fact that there was 2 balls on the pitch, which slowed things down. Was this a deliberate act? Just like the member of the Kildare management last year standing on the pitch for Derry's kickouts.

No, the ball just rolled onto the field after it hit the ball catch. It was absolutely ridiculous that we didn't have a ball boy or something. Slowed us down every time.

[oakleaflad]

Just a few thoughts from the game.

Laois got their scores so much easier than we did. For us to score it seemed like one man had to beat 3 or 4 players running about 50 yards, we were absolutely killing ourselves in comparison to Laois and it told in the long run.

On the above, early ball in to McGuigan, Bell and Heron seemed to work well early on and we just stopped doing it (not sure why)

Decision making was poor early on. Rocks should have shot, McGuigan shouldn't when he was blocked down etc. We should have been about 5 up at HT given our possession.

Laois got their scoreable frees so much handier than we did.

Were we conceding the kickout or pushing up? Seemed to mix it up and maybe this was a tactic but not sure how players knew when to do which.

Bringin on Concannon at full back was a disaster. He wasn't physically strong enough to play there and got roasted, turned about 4 times and man clean through on goal. Should have been off 10 minutes earlier. Postie saved them a few times.

Some amateurish stuff at times. Bell hadn't a gumshield on him and so couldn't hit the free kick that McGuigan dropped short from 20 yards out.

T Mallon - 1 or 2 mistakes with kickouts but more than made up for it with the saves he made. Kickouts were mostly good.
K McKaigue - Very good in all aspects. Kept his man quiet and was good in possession.
L McGoldrick - His man looked very sharp but he was doing ok, came off at HT (assuming injured)
B Rogers - Not great, probably poorest I've seen him play. Think he won one out in front but was far off at times too and lost possession.
J Rocks - Full of running, should have had a score early. Ran into trouble a bit (was probably unlucky not to get a free once or twice though too)
C McKaigue - Drove them on. Beat about 4 men down the sideline and won a free and kicked a great score at start of 2nd half.
N Keenan - Solid in possession. Had a decent game.
C McAtamney - Competed for kickouts well, his man went clean through the back of him a few times and he didn't get a free. Kicked a couple poor wides.
C McFaul - Willing runner, capable of kicking a ball long and kicked a great score. Think he misplaced one pass badly but overall had a good game.
P Cassidy - Ran at them time and time again but often had very little support or options after he beat the first man. Seemed as though his good work was often wasted. Had a solid game though.
R Bell - Looked dangerous in possession but didn't see enough of it. Was heavily strapped on one leg.
J Doherty - Game passed him by a little but made runs and was solid enough in possession.
E Lynn - Worked hard and another who ran at them a lot causing early bother. Looked tired towards the end.
B Heron - Had a very good first half but faded after that.
S McGuigan - Looked dangerous throughout and I thought there was possibly a goal in him if we kicked the long diagonal ball in more. He did miss a very easy free, dropping short from 20-odd yards out.

Subs didn't have much of an impact. Concannon found it hard. Others did ok. Would liked to have seen Sammy on earlier as he can pick a pass and the running game wasn't working in 2nd half. Thought we missed Emmet Bradley quite a bit.

[toby47]

At the risk of getting a good bollocking I think Brendan Rodgers is a very overrated defender. A fine athlete, but for me he's not a great marker

[BackInTheGame]

At the risk of getting a good bollocking I think Brendan Rodgers is a very overrated defender. A fine athlete, but for me he's not a great marker

I disagree, although I'd love to see him play at half back if we had another specialist full back (we don't)

[Keyser soze]

Once tiers come in Derry will red up all around them at junior level.

[quit yo jibbajabba]

If they dont there will be tiers

Ill get me coat

[Derry Optimist]

I totally agree with Oakleaflad's  excellent and very accurate  analysis of Derry v Laois game last Saturday.Derry individually and collectively played very well against a strong wind in the first half and should actually have been more than one point up at half time.However,when Laois effectively went man to man in the second period they dominated the game, especially regarding possession.

During this half Derry were found badly wanting in several key positions.In other words in vital one on one situations Derry lost out.The fact that Laois played in a higher League Division than Derry meant that they held the upper hand as they were more intense in their general play and more alert and faster in their thought processes.Laois players were in the main stronger,bigger and more pyhsically developed than their Northern counterparts.

There is no room in the modern game for more than two smallish light players, no matter how skilful they, are in any team.Furthermore when you are playing essentially a running game as Derry do you must be able to replace your runners half way through the second half with players of similar quality.Unfortunately, except for Christopher Bradley, Derry had no other such player on the bench on Saturday.It was also a great pity that most of Padraig Cassidy's many long lung bursting  runs were rendered ineffective because he had no player to support him.

However, on the positive side Derry achieved thee of their start of year targets.They were promoted from Division Four in impressive fashion and against Tyrone they not only were competitive  but played well also.The third objective of getting a competitive run in the Qualifiers depended on getting a favourable draw. Laois proved to be that much better as they realised that some of Derry's players were not effective on the day so they persisted on their high press system in the second half.

Despite these reservations I believe that the team and the Management team are on the right road.Thanks to new hands on coach Ciaran Meenagh  Derry's defensive system has tightened up considerably and there is more fluidity and less predictability in their offensive play.The availability of a fit Liam McGoldrick and the returning  Kevin Johnston,Paul McNeill and Michael McEvoy should bolster the defensive options for next year.

The presence of a fit Emmet Bradley( his skill and strength was sorely missed on Saturday)and the availability  again of the hugely talented Niall Loughlin and the industrious Niall Toner would considerably make the forward line much more potent and dangerous.In addition for 2020 I would expect that least three or four of this year's U20 side to be picked for the Senior Inter county panel If  all the best players are available and all relevant stakeholders ensure that all of them are there for the whole season next year I  have every confidence in  Derry returning o Division Two football within the next two years at least.
Doire Abú

[Red10]

All this talk about who could be there and might be playing for Derry always comes round.  If lads for their own reasons have decided to go travel after the league games then we got to work with those who have committed and put the effort in.
Derry had enough to beat Laois but for some reason we decided to abandon the defensive set up second half. The decision for the sweeper and others to bomb forward and who don't have the legs to get back and leave the house down cost us. Laois must have thought Christmas had arrived early when they started winning all the ball around the middle, had no pressure on the man playing a pass and had acres of space between the lines. Even a man like Rodgers was hung out to dry plus bringing in subs with ball and men coming at them after every kickout.                                                                                     
Contrast that with the Ulster final Sunday. Donegal for most of the game gave no space tackled like demons around the 45 so no good ball could be played in and when they did look under pressure they had the likes of Hugh McFadden on the edge of the square helping out plus the rest sprinting back and tackling. That takes serious athleticism and playing for the team to get back at speed and not caring if you don't get your name in the headlines. When Donegal did slacken off from that when it was already over the likes of Paddy McGrath and others looked ordinary. Up until that himself and the rest looked like the best defensive set up in the country. I'd say Rodgers would be All Star material with that defensive help around him. Top teams rarely have one on one contests with a forward getting good ball inside the 20 with space to turn and run unless they're so wide it's not a danger. We let Laois who had got scores and a goal chance in the first half from limited possession win loads of the ball and gave them space through the middle they didn't have first half.  Unfortunately for all the names of who could/should not be playing we lack a big man or two who can field a ball when a team pushes up on the kickouts as well as real leadership on the field to change things and settle it. Hopefully that can be changed otherwise we will have this underage talent coming in and not getting the support to develop.

[BackInTheGame]

You're not wrong in your last few lines there. We do lack a big man or two. I don't know if it's just bad luck, but for all of the talent coming through, most of them are not big men.

Of course, it doesn't help that Conor Glass, Calum Brown and Anton Tohill are on the other side of the world.  Looking forward to reading Glass' interview in the Gaelic Life this week, fingers crossed he hasn't ruled out coming home...

[tonesfirstandlast]

What this team needs is a good ruthless manager. We should break the bank and get Damian Cassidy in.  He wins everywhere he goes and he's taking our camogie team this year and they all love him.
I was talking to a man last night and he said would give a pound or two if they got him

[toby47]

What this team needs is a good ruthless manager. We should break the bank and get Damian Cassidy in.  He wins everywhere he goes and he's taking our camogie team this year and they all love him.
I was talking to a man last night and he said would give a pound or two if they got him

He was there before with a better team than there is now?

[lenny]

What this team needs is a good ruthless manager. We should break the bank and get Damian Cassidy in.  He wins everywhere he goes and he's taking our camogie team this year and they all love him.
I was talking to a man last night and he said would give a pound or two if they got him

If we're breaking the bank what about malachy orourke?