Ciarraí vs Tír Eoghain NFL 2008

[longball]

Heard the rumour about Gormley a number of times at work 2day. wud like to think there nothin in it but the last time  heard rumours from the same sources about this were about a certain Steven O'Neill

[red hander]

I was at the game on Saturday night and to be honest i never felt that Tyrone  really looked like winning the game and to be fair i was quite pleased at the way they battled hard to keep in touch in a game that as Orangeman says we should have lost by 10 points!

It was a strange game to analyse, the forward line where very economical when they had decent ball, but complaining about the ball in is unfair when you look down the pitch and nobody is making a meaning run to get into space to receive the pass. Our scores came mainly from breaks up the field by the half backs - usually the outstanding Philip Jordan! Colm Cavannagh has come in for a bit of stick lately, but i thought at least he was consistently trying to show for the ball - ok he made a few mistakes but at least he showed willing - unlike Mulgrew, Mugsy and Gormley! I thought McCullagh had a good game, but i'm concerned at halving our most capable scoring forward popping up to make defencive tackles inside his own 21.

The defence did a decent job - McCarron was struggling to be fair, but our midfield was so over run it was difficult for him when the supply has plenty of time to pick the perfect ball from someone like Donaghy! I thought Justy did well when he came and got into Donaghy's face a bit - which seems to put him off his game as he spent most of the rest of the game with his arms out complaining looking for frees! Maybe this is the way to deal with him!

As i said, Jordan was superb, during the second half it seemed like it was Kerry V Philip Jordan - perhaps CHB is his place, which would mean Gormley can come back into the square (speaking of which, we heard in the pub before the game that he wasnt playing and it was because of flu!) and Carlin can move to the wing where i feel he could be very dangerous!

Big Pascal made 3 great saves, but his kick-outs were shocking although the movement by the midfield didnt help! Overall though, a more encouraging display with a bit more bite, however we are severely short in major areas i.e. midfield and a ball winning and accurate scoring forward!

I couldn't make the match cos I work Saturdays (f****** floodlights) but I watched the highlights on Sunday on TG4 and I have to say the performance with what is a seriously understrength team was very encouraging IMO ... I totally agree with Benny's summary, especially considering he was there

[tyroneman]

Encouraging enough game alright. At no stage did I ever think we would win it but by the same token I never thought we'd get hammered either.

To be fair the kerry defence wasn't far off Championship staring line up and the O'Se brothers are simply rolls royce players.Scanlon looked good and the advantage of a good free taker was made very clear.

Positives For Tyrone:
1. Justy put the brakes on "star" and may just be the answer at FB (we need Conor at CHB, no debate)
2. Jordan put 2 fingers up to those who felt he should be dropped - a rolls royce of our own and MOM
3. Enda looking sharp. Not a MF plyer by any shape but would do sterling work at HF in place of Dooher.
4. Mulgrew I thought was very good - composed on the ball and placing some excellent passes into the forwards, when they could be ar*ed to make runs. Also seemed able to take a good dirty punch to the stomach (we seen ye alright AOM)
4.McCaul, PJ and to a lesser extent Swift.all coming along nicely
5. Colm McCullogh.at least he looks like he wants to be there.

Negatives
1. McCarron not up to it just yet........maybe in another year or two
2. More injuries
3. Mugsy..........simply awful for almost 2 years now. Should never be taking frees. Not a leader.
4. Hub..looks finished as far as MF goes
5. Very little forward threat.

Finally..have Silke and co climbed back out of "star"'s ar*e yet???

Ye would think the lad took 10min at HT to cure cancer, deliver 4 babies and solve the Middle East Crisis before notching up 4-8 the way they slavered over him.

I would also copyright "lording it", everyone from ref to keeper to crowd were feckin "lording it" at some stage.

[orangeman]

 Mugsy..........simply awful for almost 2 years now. Hub..looks finished as far as MF goes

What do you do with Mugsy and Hughes ? Do you continue to play them in the hope that they eventually deliver or do you give them a rest in order to get their appetite back again ?

[orangeman]

This Conor Gormley story simply isn't going away and is doing the rounds tonight again. If this story has any semblance of truth about it, it is a very very worrying development which we could all do without.

[ONeill]

Two good posts from tyroneman and rrhf - a mixture of the two suggests our expectations should perhaps lower a little from 03-05 vintage whilst some positives are obvious. Jordan and McGinley's performances are extremely welcome. If we see the same from Ricey, Gormley, Sean, Davy, Carlin/McGee, McMahon (x2) then there is a sound basis there that will have us competing despite a misfiring forward unit, and that could still be worked on. Are we missing any forwards of note (scoring) apart from Dooher?

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Enough already of the Conor Gormley scare stories until we know for sure what the craic is.

Fair assessments from BennyHarp and Tyroneman, and my own feeling is that if we can restore a functioning midfield, partial or whole, then a few of the concerns about the last third should seem a little less weighty.

Anyway, here's to the Galway game!

[Fuzzman]

Can anyone PM me what they have heard about Block if you don't want to post it.

It seems to me as we have loads of good defenders again but not so many forwards.

Well said Fear but who would you play there. Holmes. joey?

[ONeill]

I can't see Holmes gaining a mf berth after this length - he's a fair stop-gap though. I'd like to see Sean and Justin there although the latter will continue to plug a hole at FB.

However, Mickey is a Hughes man.

Fuzz re your pm, I'd completely forgotten - will get them copied tomorrow for sure.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Seán C should be back indeed for the Galway game Fuzzman, with Enda moving up properly to the half-forwards (where he will absolutely flourish in his current form), and ONeill could be right about Hughes being his partner (Joey's out for the League), though I'd be happier with that than Enda and Hub.

[Kerry Mike]

Just watched it again on Setanta and we missed a pile but will take the two points gratefully, gets the year off nicely.

Just a quick view on the Kerry performances, there are enought experts on Tyrone.

1 Diarmuid Murphy dealt easily with an first half flick on from a Mulligan free dropped short, other wise not tested in the game, Kick outs found his men, mostly Scanlon all the time.

2 Marc O'Se another immense game made 3 vital interceptions, has great antipitation and is very assured on the ball.

3 Tom O'Sullivan cleaned out Cavanagh in the First half and Mulligan in the second , made some great bursts from the full back line and his foot passes were intelligent. A good day for the full back.

4 Padraig Reidy started well but seemed to fade,  need to be tighter to his man.

5 Tomas O'Se saw alot of the ball and his usual driving style setup up alot of attacks , his fitness is lacking but we will probably give him another chance.

6. Aidan O'Mahony another who is playing great football this early in the year, has great strength in the tackle and pace makes him probably the best centre back in the country over the last 2 years. Lucky to escape a booking for a dig but a man you want on your side, who said we would never replace Seamus Moynihan and Mike McCarthy last year??? The 2 men from Rathmore have stood up and been counted.

7. Killian Young very composed on the ball and seems to be stronger this year, great game.

8. Tommy Griffin put in a huge workload but struggled with McGinley when he moved forwards but still won plenty of primary and breaking ball.

9. Seamus Scanlon was man of the match and he towered over everyone in midfield, as one stage we had won 12 of 17 Tyrone kick outs and he got on most of them, how his "point" was signalled wide is baffling. Darragh O'Se will have to work his arse off to get back in, which is the way it should be.

10. Sean Sullivan lots of ball, 3 wides and 2 points, but faded out in the end, replaced mid way in second half.

11. Declan OSullivan another who has taken up where he left off last year, his deliveries to Donaghy in first half were spot on, 2 points and 2 wides , ran hard through the middle of Tyrone backs.

12. David Ogie Moran picked up alot of breaks around the middle, big but needs to strengthen up as he lost alot of ball in the tackle, one wide but will improve with a few more games and experience.

13. Kieran O'Leary small and fast looks like a young Mike Frank, took 2 very good points and had a 3rd ruled out by some woefull umpiring. Got stuck in well in first half but faded in second , needs to stay closer and read Donaghys game better. Shure a handy man to keep the Gooch's jersey warm for the spring.

14. Kieran Donaghy "lorded" the air in the first half but it was down to some great ball in from midfield, the type of ball that seems to hang in the air allows him to get great positions, caught 2 balls one handed and laid off well for most of Kerry's first half scores, surprised he was not brought out the field in the second when things slowed down but still took a point well.
Good to see himself and Declan sheparding a tyronie out over the sideline and throwing a few skelps at the tyrone subs and mentors who got involved, reminded me of a clip a few years ago when kerry men were being surrounded by Tyrones finest.
Still if he gets the right ball he is hard to stop, goalie made a good save to deny him a goal.

15. Bryan Sheehan: good first half but over does the soloing and runs into trouble , great chance of a goal early on which he should have stuck away, finished with 4 points and 3 wides , 2 bad frees at the end.

Subs Darren O'Sullivan looked lively as he always does and kicked a great point, should have done better with a late goal chance.
Donnacha Walsh and Tommy Walsh did not do anything after coming on.

From a Tyrone point of view McConnell saved tyrone 3 times but undid it with a soccer style 2 fisted punch giving away a 45, Thought his kickouts were very poor kept trying to hit Hughes who was having a mare against Scanlon.

The 2 corner men struggled early on with Sheehan in particular seeing alot of the ball, McMenemin was missed.

At full back twas a pity not to see Gormley on Donaghy but McCarron had a game to forget and you would wonder why Harte had not moved him before he got injured, McMahon did a bit better on him but the ball just wasnt coming their way in the seconld half.

Carlin Was stuggling with Declan O'Sullivan before he went off and Declan seemed to get the better hand on his marker Jordan I think near the end. Harte was poor and struggled to stay with Sean O'Sullivan.

Jordan was not great in the first half when David Moran seemed to get on alot of breaks but improved in the second half and was Tyrones best player.

Midfield was a disaster for Tyrone , Hughes should have been moved earlier was making no impression i think his best years are well behind him, McGinley though he struggled in the middle did well when he got forward and kicked 2 good points.

Half forwards were very poor, Mulgrew tried hard but got little from O'Mahony, I thought McGuigan did okay with the limited ball he got but was finding it hard to make headway. Cavanagh started at full forward but got little from Tom O'Sullivan who had one of his better games for Kerry.

The small lad Gormley in the corner found it tough going against Marc O'Se but then who wouldnt, McCullagh did well enough and ended up with 4 points , 3 from frees but seems to be lacking physically.

Mulligan has gone back alot I think and was a big dissapointment for someone who has promised so much he finds it hard to deliver. Who is the Tyrone leader up front hear to pick one out.

Good to see Sean Cavanagh back playing again, surprised Harte did not give him a longer run espeically with Tyrone struggling at midfield. Not much to rate about any of the other Tyrone subs.

Anyway we will take the win, dissapointed we did not score more of our chances, 13 wides is piss poor and we created 3 good goal chances on top of that but there is no point in beating Tyrone by too much at this time of the year

Our defence played really well at times and limited Tyrone to only 3 more chance on top of the 9 points they scored, but there is room for improvement there.

And when you consider we were without the likes of Darragh O'Se, Colm Cooper, Paul Galvin, Eoin Brosnan and have lost Mossy Lyons and Declan Quill from the panel and also Mike Frank has yet ot committ to 08, we are looking in a very healthy position. Fingers crossed its stays that way.

[Oraisteach]

KM, is David Moran Ogie's son?

[Zapatista]

Any word on the boys injured from Saturday?

[AZOffaly]

KM, is David Moran Ogie's son?

He is indeed. (Sorry, I know that was addressed to Mike).

[orangeman]

Who all got injured ?