Sligo 07 review

[SLIGONIAN]

Sligo 07 Report card
It all started against Galway in FBD league in tubber. Good display and then to GMIT where we won comfortably. Beat letrim in the park with a great goal from p gallagher.

Then to the league. Tipp game, we were poor but sweeney saved us when we were 4pts down. Showed character. Waterford game, did well with 14 men. Cavan game, hughes the ref enough said. Meath game, very flat and never got going. Wexford game I wasnt at. Antrim game, played poor but came good in the last 10 mins. Wicklow game, great performance outclassed them and played best stuff of the league. Overall was disappointed with league. The panel underperformed.

CSFC NY easy win,

Ros game, played poor for 50 mins then woke up and played good stuff outscoring them 9-1 in last 20 mins.

Connaght final Highlight of the year. Still in my opinion didnt play to our potential but backs saved us and we won.

Cork game, well what can I say. It felt weird in the sense of anti climax. Players just didnt perform. Full back line great again and egan very good. J davey very good when moved half forward. Itd be easy to have a go at the lads but I wont do that. For whatever reason the looked really tired and holding back. The forwards lacked penetration.

We won Connaght so fair play.

Tommy Breheny: I wouldnt say he is a good manager but he is a lucky one. Some of yee will think thats a crazy statement. Only for peter ford we would not be connaght champions and heres why. J Davey was getting roasted by n joyce and ford switched him off davey in to harrison and also taking off meehan saved us. 50+ mins yday for a change?? too slow on the line. Too indecisive. That is true and constructive. Something he needs to work on to make him a better manager.

I watched the warm up very closely yday and you could see who was up for it and not. Some of the players looked tired and lazy where as some looked sharp and fit. McGarty was flying, looked in great shape. I know its irrelavant but if I was manager these are things Id look out for because its all on the day.

Pat mceamney did us no favours yday. Was far too quick to award cork soft frees all day and we have to be battered to get one. That meant our defenders couldnt create any intensity in the tackle but cork could. A clear penalty aswell not given. S davey was clearly pulled back and mcemamy gave free for keeper picking ball on ground all the above is true.

We beat ourselves with easy wides and underperforming. Missed 3 goal chances in first 10 mins.

But anyways well done on winning connaght. Hopefully we'll learn and find some new talent and maybe play to our potential someday. Hopefully sloyan will get fit because hes strong and accurate from long range. All year we never played 70mins and never really played to our potential. McNamara isnt a chb and Jdavey is not a defender. Push them to forwards bring in martyn and phillips and I'll guarntee we'd better.

When you lose sometimes its a blessing in disguise. You learn alot more about the team. lets hope we can retain the nestor next year. We play london in qtrs and are guarnteed home draw if we get ros, leitrim or galway in semi. So great chance to get to a connaght final again. After the league this yr I didnt think in my wildest dreams we'd win connaght and I probably did get a bit carried away with thinking we'd win all ireland but one has to believe. Kinda dissapointed with our exit. Way too tame. But there is always hope and this team is young and a bright future lies ahead.

Sligeach abu.

[Shrewdness]

and don't forget to mention the fact that O'Hara flopped as usual when the going got tough. He looked an absolute joke in those yellow boots. Only for the glare off them on the periphery of the action, we wouldn't have even known he was on the pitch.

At least he spared us the crocodile tears he ''shed'' when coming off in the Connacht Final.

[AZOffaly]

That's unfair on Eamon O'Hara. He delivered on a lot of big days for Sligo, and he delivered in the Connacht Final again. He's been dogged by injuries the past few years, but I remember him marauding up and down Croker around the time Sligo switched to the Black jerseys. Delighted he at least got his Connacht medal. Of course the media don't realise anyone else but him plays for Sligo, but he has been a warrior for a good few years for them now..

[sligeach]

Eamon was clearly not 100%, nowhere near it.

[neutral]

Hes a poser lads, The cork midfielders fed him farts the whole game.

[paddypastit]

I didn't see any FBD or League performances so can't argue with Sligonian's analysis of them and would agree with the takes on the NYC, Rosc and Conn finals

I don't agree with the comment that TB is not a good only a lucky manager. I met a few of the Sligo players at the GPA Awards in Nov 2005 and was alarmed at the stories about the regime at the time - and this was a year after the whole Tommy Murphy Cup debacle and the meltdown of the management structure before that again. Anybody who then took a group that was clearly divided, gave them belief and brought back others that clearly were not motivated to stay in or join in during the previous 3 years and get them all pointed in the same direction as TB has done over the past four - six months is a good manager and I say that as somebody that has seen a variety of managers - good and bad -  up close and inside the dressing room over the years.

That is not to say that things could not have been managed better in this instance, but that is a whole pile away from calling TB lucky - he made the luck.  The 'failing' in this instance was not so much on the day but in the preparation of the forward line in advance.  It was pretty well articulated after the Connaught final that there was little or no movement out of the Sligo forward line and that this was an issue, and that's before you deal with the basic lack of scoring forwards.  The real disappointment of last Sunday was that there was no evidence of a game plan to overcome those well known and well flagged shortcomings.  That is indeed a management issue, but to be brutal, how much football knowledge is there in the backroom team after TB and Kent

I was the other side from the warm up - Hogan at the Hill end - so couldn't make a judgment on that but the point that you can see on a given day who is up for it and who is not is well made, but much more seasoned managers than TB miss that trick

We were way off the pace on Sunday and with such serious under performances up front, what all could be done from the line - not a lot I would suggest.

I wouldn't agree at all re the ref.. in fact I thought that he gave us the benefit of the doubt on numerous occasions. Some of the Sligo tackles were less than punctual and we were not pulled once.  Egan was I agree he was generally among the better players on the day but he was not once penalised for charging with the ball.  As a case in point that McEnaney did do us any harm, Sligo's point just before half time should have been pulled for Davey taking at least nine steps with ball in hand out under the Cusack and for the most blatant of frontal charges, ball in hand, by Egan just after.  The penalty you refer was no penalty or anything near it based on watching video replay.

I would agree though with your final point that you have to lose to win.  We have though to find a good few players to move up a notch. 1 to 4 we are in good nick.  I have reservations about all of the half backs.  O'Hara does a power of covering for McNamara which some don't see and the two work that well.  I'd not be afraid to persist with him as CHB as he has a presence but if you do, you can't afford the looser type of wing men.  Johnny Davey is a gem in many ways and he'd lift your heart with his guts and have a go approach, but he is not a top class defender.  For all his silkiness in Roscommon, neither is Paul McGovern.  For me, technically in terms of core defending ability, Conor McGowan and Karol O'Neill are two more natural 'destructive' wingmen and Johnny Martyn is a better defensive minded option across the line.  For all his qualities Doohan, while an option too across the line, and into MF, is also a point or too short of being top class and is running out of time to improve. In '02, Philips should really have had an All Star nomination, but if he plays, he has to be in the corner, as he is too fond of sallying up the field and not getting back.  I say that with reservations as he's not a guy that I'd be convinced is a team player and anyone that was around the team in the '01 to '03 era would know and understand.  There is also P Naughton as an option in there somewhere

As to MF.  Lets start with O'Hara and perhaps give a little learning to bitter little numbskulls like 'nuetral' and 'Shrewdness' who clearly know nothing about gaelic football.  Yes O'Hara was less than fit on Sunday - as would anybody who didn't train for four weeks and who seemed to get a knock on the affected area on his injury relatively early in the match.  So what if he was wearing yellow boots.  He is way more than a poser and although he may not have been as swashbuckling, he did a lot of hard graft last Sunday and over the past 13 + years he owes Sligo nothing.  The statement that he never delivers on the big day is so stupid and without basis that it is amusing - who set up the Connaught final win, who bossed MF in the Connaught semi, who drove the team in '01 and '02... need I go on.  Add in that this is a guy that has overcome a dislocated shoulder in the early years of his career and has had a cruciate and a Gilmore's groin in the past four years and has still despite being in his 14th championship season come back to deliver what he has this year??? Sure he plays on the edge and talks a big game but he has never not taken responsibility and he has never ever complained when the heavy stuff comes his way on the pitch. out there so in short, cut the cheap shots in that direction and if you have nothing better to add, take a hike.

Looking forward, MF as a whole is an area where we did better all year than might have been expected.  Quinner is no Daragh Se but he is still well worthy of a county MF berth as long as he is on for it and I think that he is generally in a better space in that regard right now.  It would be nice to see how T Taylor develops as he was beginning to show form by all accounts and am I right in assuming that Kevin Byrne was being brought along for the experience this year in the hope that he might develop in the future - he certainly has the physique.

Up front, now then we have issues.  Sean Davey has flagged retirement.  Brutal to say, but he will never get a better chance and he won't leave a warmer memory by hanging around another year - potentially brilliant but frustrating talent.  McNamara is an option for FF - physique and pace to get on the ball and th ability to play others in.  Up to this year M Breheny has played his best football at CHF but Egan may have more to offer there and Markie will still score out of a corner.  It would be nice to see Kelly develop and the team will always need a player like Curran in a ball winning and hod carrying capacity - what a man for the hits!!  After that though where can we get the scores. Is Dermot McTernan an option.  What about young Scanlon (St Johns) or is he gone the way of soccer.  I presume there  is little chance of attracting Gary Curran back?  Are there other options out there?

It will be interesting to see what the ambition is now.  I think it has to be to restructure the team around what we have and get out of Div 3.  In a partial agreement with Sligeach, I think that TB needs to add some guile to that management team, particularly in terms of planning forward play.  I would have though J Kent would have that but maybe he needs to be released from other work with the team to concentrate completely on coaching forwards and forward play.  Perhaps time for a switch of role for P Taylor?

Anyway on the whole, a year that will be remembered.  As I said elsewhere, thanks lads, enjoy the celebrations

[sligeach]

Lads i'm not going to base the following on last sunday but on the year as a whole.

The one thing i will say about last sunday is Eamon shouldn't have stayed on. The mans a legend and a brilliant footballer but he clearly was not fit and not recovered fully from that injury. It was as clear as day he wasn't to anyone who has ever seen him play before. Why TB left him on .. well, i don't know and i won't blame TB for it.

Anyways ...

Goalkeeper -> Very few problem, Philips one of the best shotstoppers in the country and has saved us from a cricket score several times. One thing i will say though which applies to the whole defence and is probably a tactical management decision not the players themselves is this short handpassing out of defence which nearly gives me a heart attack several times every match. He could also try and vary his kickouts a bit more.

Full back line -> Solid, can't ask for better for the talent we have available. McGuire and Donovan are as solid as rocks, Donovan could get an all-star nomination this year imo.

Half back -> Can be dodgy enough but again, who do we have to replace them ? I also think that Johnny Davey might be better suited to a roaming half forward line place. Hes one of the few players that is well able to run at defence and carry the ball from his relatively numerous excursions forward. McNamara again, maybe better suited to full forward if only for bringing a bit of height up there and he seemed well able to win a high ball this year when he wanted it.

MF -> Eamon is one of the best in the Country and if he was fit/uninjured Cork wouldn't have won half the possession in MF they had. Kierans a good ball winner and i don't see anyone else any better at our disposal anyways.

The "Attack" -> Well ... what can i say. Sean was a great player but its probably time to call it quits. Mark might benefit more from the corner, he can be very, very static at times and really needs to change that. David Kellys a great player but its just a matter of physique at the moment, i.e > Hes too small and not strong enough.

I think our major problem is a severe lack of height/ball winners around the square and a very very static attack. How many times last saturday were aimless high balls sent into Kelly ?? Kellys a small guy but hes fast so why wasn't he out around the corners waiting for a nice low ball into the space ?? What was the point of having him around the square and lobbing in high balls to him when his marker was a head taller then him ?

I think TB needs to look around the county for options in attack. I'm not saying we have better players out there then he already has on the panel but surely there are some big ignorant bastards who can catch a ball and lay it off ?

[orangeman]

Fair play to Sligo for winning Connacht but how the hell did you do it ? Galway must have been shameful.

[Dont Matter]

I dont think ye Sligo people should be getting too dissapointed. Ye ended your long wait for a connacht title and it could be a long while before you win it again so enjoy it. But ye're right O'Hara did look like a bit of a tool wearing those boots and then hardly getting to kick the ball with them.

[Mano]

Shrewdness you bitter Rossie clown-still bitter about what he said on TV about Ross a few years ago perhaps!!

I think Paddypastit has defended Eamon well enough there so i have no more to say-apart from the above.

[Shrewdness]

Mano........what did he say about Ros on television??? He's regarded by many as hugely over rated.

[magpie seanie]

He's regarded by many as hugely over rated

By many who haven't a clue about football (by the way did O'Neill find his way out of Eamonn's pocket yet?). I can count on one hand the poor championship games he's had for Sligo and every one of them to my recollection were due to injury.

I will comment more tomorrow and the days to come on his thread. Would agree with a lot of the contributions here byt the Sligo folk.

[paddypastit]

Shrewdness, If you're from Rosc, then ye have plenty of hugely over rated so called footballers of yer own to be getting on with. Away and play with yer sheep.

[SLIGONIAN]

Shrednesss, if you were as good as ohara and offered a boot sponsorship would you wear them?? No..clown.

How important was his goal in the connaght final, he made oneill look like a sheep herder in the semi. People from outside Sligo always ask me is OHARA big headed? with them not even knowing the man. People seem to have this gripe against great footballers or successful people. He is a sound lad. If you go up to him he'll talk away to ya. He doesnt care what anyone thinks of him. Why should he.

O hara is an awesome footballer. Any county would love to have him. Only people who know nothing about football or never seen him play would think hes overrated.

[orangeman]

To be fair O'Hara didn't seem fit at all - he sat back and let others do the work.