National League Final

[the green man]

Have Derry ever defeated the kingdom in anything more than a league game?  I dont believe so.

Centenary Cup 1984.

[feetofflames]

Tut, tut. 1958 All Ireland Semi-Final
cheers gm

[Maximus Marillius]

But surely you can win your individual or indeed lose your indiviual battle, and that has fcuk all to do with the midfield battle unless you are a midfielder.  Holy christ!! 

oh fleet your ignorance is really starting to show through....if ur midfield is loosing its battle the outcome is poor ball to the forward and thus the defender is protected...at least if the midfield sector is 50/50 in possession then the situation is balanced. For what my opinion is worth....Bradley getting feed good ball in the correct part of the pitch, he will destroy all markers


green man you have a memory like an elephant. 84

[Bogball XV]

green man you have a memory like an elephant. 84

Tuam??

[screenexile]

But surely you can win your individual or indeed lose your indiviual battle, and that has fcuk all to do with the midfield battle unless you are a midfielder.  Holy christ!! 

oh fleet your ignorance is really starting to show through....if ur midfield is loosing its battle the outcome is poor ball to the forward and thus the defender is protected...at least if the midfield sector is 50/50 in possession then the situation is balanced. For what my opinion is worth....Bradley getting feed good ball in the correct part of the pitch, he will destroy all markers


green man you have a memory like an elephant. 84

Take the Galway game as a caase in point! Derry got absolutely destroyed in the middle of the field next thing people are proclaiming Finnian Hanley as some sort of superstar for holding Bradley scoreless from play... On the otherhand Conor Gormley is a superstar (and I would rate him above M O'Sé) but he got roasted by Bradley because Tyrone's midfield got cleaned out... it's not rocket science!

[feetofflames]

Max so its a face off between Bradley O Se and the midfield quartet then 

Who dares wins 

[orangeman]

But surely you can win your individual or indeed lose your indiviual battle, and that has fcuk all to do with the midfield battle unless you are a midfielder.  Holy christ!! 

oh fleet your ignorance is really starting to show through....if ur midfield is loosing its battle the outcome is poor ball to the forward and thus the defender is protected...at least if the midfield sector is 50/50 in possession then the situation is balanced. For what my opinion is worth....Bradley getting feed good ball in the correct part of the pitch, he will destroy all markers


green man you have a memory like an elephant. 84

Take the Galway game as a caase in point! Derry got absolutely destroyed in the middle of the field next thing people are proclaiming Finnian Hanley as some sort of superstar for holding Bradley scoreless from play... On the otherhand Conor Gormley is a superstar (and I would rate him above M O'Sé) but he got roasted by Bradley because Tyrone's midfield got cleaned out... it's not rocket science!

Screen - a lot of what you say is right - but Conor Gormley has been in poor form recently - was cleaned out yesterday as well.

[screenexile]

But surely you can win your individual or indeed lose your indiviual battle, and that has fcuk all to do with the midfield battle unless you are a midfielder.  Holy christ!! 

oh fleet your ignorance is really starting to show through....if ur midfield is loosing its battle the outcome is poor ball to the forward and thus the defender is protected...at least if the midfield sector is 50/50 in possession then the situation is balanced. For what my opinion is worth....Bradley getting feed good ball in the correct part of the pitch, he will destroy all markers


green man you have a memory like an elephant. 84

Take the Galway game as a caase in point! Derry got absolutely destroyed in the middle of the field next thing people are proclaiming Finnian Hanley as some sort of superstar for holding Bradley scoreless from play... On the otherhand Conor Gormley is a superstar (and I would rate him above M O'Sé) but he got roasted by Bradley because Tyrone's midfield got cleaned out... it's not rocket science!

Screen - a lot of what you say is right - but Conor Gormley has been in poor form recently - was cleaned out yesterday as well.

That may be true but Mickey Harte said after the match against us, and I agreed with him, that Gormley did everything right against Bradley but when a player of his calibre is getting quality ball played into him there is very little a defender can do without the necessary backup from out the field and the men around him.

[Maximus Marillius]

ask fleet for advice on this issue, he doesn't see midfield as having any bearing on whether a forward or back gets good or bad ball

[feetofflames]

so theres no such thing as an individual battle or  face off then?

[Maximus Marillius]

so theres no such thing as an individual battle or  face off then?

read over my posts again...especially the one about Bradley V O'Shea. An individual battle within a TEAM game...and how a TEAM performance will either enhance or detract from the individual performance. If you want a real individual battle watch Tommy Hitman Hearns V Sugar Ray leonard.

[lynchbhoy]

as well as all of the above, you could win midfield and still lose the game through losing out on the 'breaking ball' factor. If midfielders are swamped and have to offload the ball then breaking ball exponents such as dooher and galvin turn games on being able to steal 'dirty ball' aroung the centre of the park. Then distribution to forwards is the critical aspect for forwards and scoring. Too slow allows defenses to get behind the ball and for men who have made a break to be marked up. The space is eaten up by a retreating readguard defense and thats the kind of thing all top forwards need (space in front or to the side to be able to collect the ball and fast ball in to them).

Max - I was against he man BEFORE he was appointed, having seen him at close range in the late 80's as a manager, he was likable but not the kind of guy who you knew once you spoke to him that he was a Gaelic footbal tactician, obsessive or someone inspirational (in comparison to those who are good - Harte, Kernan, Micko, Boylan etc).

[North Longford]

To be devils advocate wouldn't half the ball to Bradley have to be good and half be bad for it to be a battle set on even ground. As we've stated if midfield is losing and ball is bad then the advantage is with the back. But if midfield is winning and the ball is good then its surely advantage to the forward. Could we set up some sort of system where we alternate the quality of the ball in each time..............then we can truely say we have a winner!

[Oakleafer1993]

O'Kane knee injury 'not serious'
Derry defender Gerard O'Kane should be fit for Sunday week's Allianz National Football League final against Kerry.

O'Kane sustained a knee injury in Derry's win over Donegal on Sunday but an initial examination suggests he will be available for the decider.

"The physio doesn't think the injury is serious," Derry manager Paddy Crozier told BBC Sport.

O'Kane was forced off midway during the second half of Derry's 0-15 to 0-10 victory in Ballybofey.

Crozier was pleased to report that all his other players had appeared to come through Sunday's Letterkenny contest unscathed.

"Everybody else is fine.

"We'll also have a few men back in contention for Sunday week.


"Sean Marty Lockhart is back in contention again and Joe Diver, Paul Murphy, Raymond Wilkinson all came on as subs against Donegal
"Paul Cartin is there or thereabouts again after his cruciate ligament injury last year and he was in the subs in Letterkenny so that's another boost for us.

"Unfortunately, Michael McGoldrick is still out because of injury so he won't be in contention for the league final."

Crozier was giving little away about who will fill the goalkeeping jersey on Sunday week.

John Deighan was originally down to play against Donegal but he picked up a niggle in a club game in midweek and was replaced by Barry Gillis.

Crozier has been rotating the goalkeeping duties during the NFL and the Derry boss admitted that it is coming near a time when he will have to make a firm decision on the issue.


"We'll have to make a decision before the Championship," added Crozier.

Kerry forward Bryan Sheehan is a fitness doubt for the league final after suffering a knee injury in Sunday's win over Galway.

Sheehan scored eight points in the game at Pearse Stadium before his second-half substitution.

[tbrick18]

here's one for all you face-off debators.....how much would paddy b have to score to have won his individual battle?
Would this amount change based on the amount of quality ball he gets? 
More to the point....how can you compare a full back to a full forward? Who cares?

It's the team v team comparison that is the only comparison to worry about. I think Kerry full strength and full fitness would still account for Derry, even though Derry are in fine form at the minute. I dont know if Kerry will be full strength for the league final but certainly if Sheehan is out it will be a big plus for Derry.
If Derry can keep a grip on the Kerry full forward line they will win just about....otherwise a tanking could be in order. Good as the Derry full back line is, I think if they come up against a pacy full forward line they will struggle.

As good as it would be for Derry to win a league title, I'm not sure it would be the best thing for this Derry team to progress in the championship. Beating Kerry in the final may well breed complacency, as we have seen so many times in the past with this team. A loss however, would increase the hunger to do well in the championship. Donegal will be a different side come the start of June!