Tír Eoghain v An Mhí (AI Quarter Final '07)

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Starting this to let the Tyrone v Monaghan thread drop, in deference to the sensibilities of the Monaghan folk -- they may not appreciate the continual reminders  , and I'll change the thread title when the draw's made on the 29th.

Most like to meet: Meath
Least like to meet: Louth

[uselessfootballer]

At this stage would be happy to avoid Cork and Donegal.

On Cork's performances so far they would have very realistic aspirations of lifting Sam and now that Donegal have gone through a successsful rehabilitation and have their full squad returning they would not be beat as easy as the last day and would probably relish the chance to get revenge on us.

I know that if we aspire to win the thing then we shouldn't really care who we meet and when,  but the performance against Monaghan highlighted several areas that require work and improvement (as previously covered by many posters), so to buy that time for the work to be done I would prefer to avoid the 2 above teams

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

See where you're coming from uf, and that was my own thinking too, i.e., which teams have we least work to do in motivating ourselves against... hence Meath    Conversely with Louth, we found it difficult against them in Navan last year, where they should have beaten us on that particular day.

We've suffered a recent enough thumping against Cork that the lads would be itching to atone for, Derry and Laois still rankle raw from last year, and there'd be enough to rise them against either Monaghan or Donegal too.

[uselessfootballer]

Definately wouldn't mind a wee slap at Derry at some stage this season.
Never a good situation when they percieve themselves to have he upper-hand. ie. when they have won the last championship encounter.

[orangeman]

I think that out what is left only Cork, Kerry, Donegal and Dublin along with Tyrone have the potential to go the whole road - If we get Louth, I think they're the weakest opposition left - Derry will falter for reasons already highlighted -

[clarshack]

meath would be the best draw for motivational purposes.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

I wouldn't be too sore on Penrose. Granted, he hasn't quite cut it consistently at this level, yet. His ball handling is suspect too often, particularly when receiving passes, which then means he can't execute his intended pass (usually). But he mustn't be having such problems in training, and in that case this would be a psychological issue on the live stage, which Mickey must feel can be overcome with high-pressure game performances.

He's had his moments, it's just a question of him stepping up that last rung.

[ONeill]

Interested Fear ón Srath Bán why you'd like Louth least of all. I thought that despite being seriously understrength we handled them eventually last year (and we owe them for exactly 50 years ago!!!).  I wouldn't fancy Meath at all.

I fear Cork and Donegal, Cork because they're fed up to the back teeth with recent defeats in Croker and will be mightily determined to rectify that this year, and we also tend to struggle with Cork, and Donegal because I've been having nightmares about some of the triumphalism some of our players indulged in and the fact that it could come back to haunt us. I posted that on the original Donegal/Tyrone thread.

Derry'll be a tough nut but I'd be slightly more confident than if it was in the USFC. I wouldn't mind Galway either.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Indeed ONeill, I'm coming at it from the angle that on any given day if we get our act together we're capable of beating any of the qualifiers, provided we're fully up for it. And I think the team that we'd have the greatest problem motivating for would be Louth, simply because they left it behind them in Navan last year (despite our casualty list), though I hadn't figured on that result exactly 50 years ago!   

Regarding Meath, we still owe them one, big time, and again from a motivational perspective we'd not be found wanting (though I won't be disconsolate if we don't draw them). After Meath, Laois, Galway, Derry, Monaghan, Cork, Donegal, Louth.

[Star Spangler]

We need a good scalp in the quarters to get us in the right frame of mind for the finishing straight.  Beating a team like Louth (with all due respect) won't put us where we need to be mentally for the semi-final.  I think Cork is probably the toughest team we're likely to have to face in the next round so bring them on!

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

We need a good scalp in the quarters to get us in the right frame of mind for the finishing straight.  Beating a team like Louth (with all due respect) won't put us where we need to be mentally for the semi-final.  I think Cork is probably the toughest team we're likely to have to face in the next round so bring them on!

Yes SS, but don't forget, if Louth are in the final four shake up, they will have beaten Cork!

[Star Spangler]

Aye, right enough. 

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

One more consideration here, is that Donegal/Monaghan and Derry/Laois will have had only 1 week's recovery from their qualifier. Shouldn't be the case if the games had been planned properly at the outset, but that is a definite disadvantage for those teams, especially at this advanced stage of the competition, i.e., the 2-week recovery period was adhered to right up until the last game before the quarters!

[Goin Down]

One more consideration here, is that Donegal/Monaghan and Derry/Laois will have had only 1 week's recovery from their qualifier. Shouldn't be the case if the games had been planned properly at the outset, but that is a definite disadvantage for those teams, especially at this advanced stage of the competition, i.e., the 2-week recovery period was adhered to right up until the last game before the quarters!

Yeah with the qualifiers depending on what date you get for the quater finals you are playing every week from the first round of them.

[Gnevin]

How this isn't merged is beyond me