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Is that Patrick O'Kane, the Paddy playing midfield for Dungiven? I presume it is, that lad fair player.

Pretty sure he played midfield with Dan Higgins in an all Ireland minor winning team.

Could anyone really argue that we are any better than 14th in Ireland?

https://x.com/i/status/2083176275108139161

The only thing I would say is this lad has Meath 13th and they were hammering Mayo for a good while in that game, so there isn't a pile in it across most division 1 and 2 teams.

Plus they, Meath, gave Derry a beating in Celtic Park.

Derry never looked to be in the game in the second half.

I rate that Meath team tbh, they dominated us in Celtic park. Be interesting how they go in the next year or 2. I think they may get close.

Could anyone really argue that we are any better than 14th in Ireland?

https://x.com/i/status/2083176275108139161

The only thing I would say is this lad has Meath 13th and they were hammering Mayo for a good while in that game, so there isn't a pile in it across most division 1 and 2 teams.

Who the lad plays No.11 for Glenullin? Hes about the fastest player i seen in the league this year, goes direct and takes his man on ever time.

Skinner Bradley??

Forwards,we lack bite and heart, thats the biggest problem, look at Monaghan and Tyrone, show plenty of heart, and that take u a fair way, wouldnt beat Kerry but u be competive. On forwards, theres hardly a player who can kick 2 pters from play in the Division 1, on a steady basis or a forward who can take a man on and beat him with sheer pace.

Not sure if anyone beats Kerry but to do so you need to hit at least 25 points to have a chance. I don't think we have that type of scoring in us. Tyrone went score for score with them and the new rules encourage teams to go for it. Gone are the days where you can try and hold a team to 13 odd points and win a big game in Croke park.

I felt that Cork played similar to what we would have done and tried to run everything and they looked v one dimensional. To win in Croke park you need to mix it up, kick when it's on and go through the hands when it slows down. Until Derry get the right balance in how we play, I don't think we can really threaten the top teams in Croker. A lot of it comes down to whether we have the players, but the approach and tactics we employ also needs to evolve.

Watching big Sargent tonight I could only think if we had him, Eamon Young on a healthy knee and Oisin Doherty a lad who kicked 13 or 14 in a game recently, all playing U20 this year. That's enough talent to brute force any lack of tactics upfront I think lol

Lol there was serious players in the 20s team, a couple of injuries and brutal tactics go a long way to messing that up. What's the deal with Eamon Young, he played a couple of games earlier in the year but never looked right.

I also felt that because we won so little ball from kickouts in the first and second half, we had to do some amount of running. It felt like we were chasing the ball for long spells all day. I felt this contributed to the last 20 mins where it never felt we had another gear or the energy to up it again.

First thing, Meath looked a good side and a team who may not win it all but I wouldn't be shocked if they beat a so called top 3 team.

A few things to address. I believe Meenagh needs to stay, we need continuity and someone who can start the rebuild because that's what's needed. Changes to his backroom team and tactics are needed. He was very loyal to his senior players and I would say a good few of them let him down.

If we play man to man which I think we do going forward, we need another man marker in the full backline next year. James Murray, Small, McEldowney need games to see who can do that job.

Cleaned out at kickouts again. I think McGuckin got spooked after the early short went wrong and they should have had a goal. Watching the warmup they spent 10 mins working on short kickouts and that was abandoned early on. Getting lynch in goals will not automatically fix that. Lumping balls to midfield is a lottery at the best of times, and it seemed all the battles in the air and on the breaking ball we're going in Meaths favour. Not sure there is any other midfield options in the county other than what we have so based on that we need better plans, movement and a confident keeper who can mix it up and hit his targets.

Player wise changes are needed. We don't tear up the team sheet and start from scratch but new blood has to get proper game time now. I hope McKinless and Rogers stay about the place as their experience is still needed, but I wouldn't play them in the league bar the the last 1 or 2 games.

I think there is any number of lads who played well in underage sides who should be looked at as well as a few boys who had longer term injuries like Gilmore and McWilliams. It will be interesting who stands out in the club championship.

I would say we should be starting at least 3/4 new names at every league game and see who stands up alongside the likes of Clucky, CD, McEvoy, Forbes, Sargent, Ethan, Murray. Some of our other leaders have it seems become too comfortable in the shirt, playing badly for a stretch of games and there be no consequences. That needs to change, and if it means short term pain for a year or 2 then so be it.

Crunch time tomorrow night. No idea what to expect. Just hope we get a decent support to get behind the team. Momentum is huge and if we can get a run on them the crowd will row in behind the team and that might give them a bit of energy when it counts. Really hoping we show a bit of fight and stomach for it.

That Minor keeper has a fair bagful of saves this campaign, can't remember the last County representation Moneymore had

Don't tell the lads but I'm pretty sure the keeper Doherty has represented the GAWA at underage, so not sure if we will see him much longer in a Derry shirt.

Get Glass out of CHF I would say. If he's not in midfield should be CHB.

Glass was incredible last year, the team obviously struggled, but to my mind, he was pretty much the best player on the field in many of our games, he hasn't hit those heights this year yet, so I'd agree he needs to be further out the pitch, is the thinking that he's actually our only real 2-point threat? Shane was moved out to chf earlier this year on that basis too, but it didn't work out.
Speaking of 2 PT threats, Paul Cassidy is definitely one, so wasn't clear why he didn't start - maybe we wanted to have something off the bench?

I'd say if you watched the previous 3 or 4 games you'd have a fair idea on why Cassidy was benched. Shane McGuigan will likely still start, but he is also out of form and needs to get his head back in the game. Big Glass was powerful last year but hasn't hit the same heights. It's a strange one where we have pretty much had a full pick but so many of our go to boys are out of form. A few of our lads need a rocket to light a bit of a fire under them as we are being looked at as a soft touch. Hoping for a home draw tomorrow.

Is it fair to question how we are coaching how to attack and it feels like this has been the case for a long time.

Everything needs to be so precise with boys weaving in and out, and back door cuts etc. It has and prob will create us a few goal chances per game but there is no variety to what we do. It seems to me that its pretty much all on Ethan to make the half break and deliver these precise passes to mainly Murray to go at the black spot.

I don't think it's possible to change in the next couple of weeks but it's something we need to really look at because the slow possession based attack is not working or hurting the better teams.

On another note our shooting has been woeful for most of the year. I don't know how many wides and shorts we have hit in the 3 championship matches played but we most be one of the most inefficient teams in Ireland. Plenty to mull over and no easy fixes. I'm also not sure what the policy is when selecting our underage teams but looking at the 20s and minors, we seem to prioritise playing a team of half backs, we either don't have natural forwards or don't want to pick them because they are not hitting whatever metric they look for.

Did anybody watch the minors last nite? Derry U20 v Tyrone, all the Derry teams are playing the same way. Then go watch Kerry, Galway, Armagh, Donegal and even Roscommon. None of these teams play like this. All use quick counter acts. And actually kick the ball. Donegal play a simlar handpassing game but are fast on the counterattack and got alot of power around midfield too.

I agree and it's a brutal watch. The new rules reward attacking teams and we haven't adapted at all.

We did play like this when we won our Ulsters but with a few caveats, we were full throttle, pace on every line, had an edge to our game, less miles on the clock and played with a belief and confidence that we were a top team.

I read we had a 30% success rate in the first half from our shots on goal. So with all of our slow sideways hand passing we still created chances and a fair few of them were handy enough. The best tactic is still putting scores on the board and if we don't have boys to do that we won't go much further.

We don't have a define right to beat anyone at this point. But I would hope after 4 weeks we could put together a performance to really challenge for a win. We are no minnows with most of that team with Ulster and Div 1 medals, but we look a team that has maybe peaked and are now going in the other direction. Did we really fire a shot at Armagh tonight, were they ever really rattled and think the win was in doubt? I don't think so.

To be fair to Meenagh it is natural that in his first year back he would look to the boys that had success with him previously, but in the cold light of day a fair few of them are not playing at the same level. Here's hoping for a home draw and a big game or two before the season is over because I think that's the best we can hope for this year.

We need a big performance from Shane. His form has been patchy all year. I think party due to coming back late from Hurling but also as he has played around midfield a lot of the time. Regardless his shooting and decision making on the ball have to improve if we are to have a chance.